Living in a three dimensional world part II

At the end of the last post I mentioned that in addition to increased strength and injury prevention working our bodies and limbs through all potential angles was also good for the brain.


Here's why;  Our brains are interactive.  You probably already know this.  We take in information, analyze it, use it as seems appropriate.   You know that reading and learning throughout life helps keep the neurons firing and developing.  The old adage "use it or lose it" applies here.


While it is obvious in academic learning and in life it is less obvious in movement. 


In the case of movement the data is not external like reading a book or figuring out how to nail  together a door frame.  Learning movement is mostly internal.  In this case the data is sent to the brain by sensors we have throughout the body called proprioceptors.  These proprioceptors constantly feed information to our brain about how our body and limbs are aligned, how quickly they are moving and how much tension is being put on the muscles, tendons and joints. 


The more and varied the data the more the brain has to process and analyze and the more capeable it becomes. 


Instead of "push ups hurt my shoulder" the dialogue becomes "The left shoulder was higher than the right and the push up was harder on the left side"  The ability to identify subtle changes in the body BY FEEL helps performance but it also challenges the brain.




This subject was worth a two part talk because as neuroscience continues to develop we are learning about the very powerful interaction between movement and mental health.  We are moving away from a mechanistic view of ourselves and our bodies to an organic one where everything touches and affects everything else.  As we evolve our view of our bodies so we evolve our view of the world.


Stay tuned true believers. There is always more to learn.


All the best
Steve

Living in a three dimensional world

I had some of my best feedback ever upon ending a class.  The client, already pretty fit came up to me and said what was shocking to her was that when she did my class it didn't seem all that hard, but she noticed when she took other instructor's bootcamp classes after taking a few weeks of mine, THEIR classes were a lot easier.



She wanted to know what was the secret of her getting stronger, more endurance, more control and stamina without me killing her to do it.



Not a GREAT secret but a good one.



Circular training.



In most training we move and think like our limbs (arms and legs) are piston like, they go out and they go back, they go up and they go down, in and out. 



In reality our muscles are not attached in straight lines parallel to the bones.  Mostly the muscles sweep in a gentle arc spiraling around the bone (to varying degrees).  That means when they contract the motion is somewhat circular, other muscles counter that to keep the motion in a straight(ish) line.



By working in a spiral, twining fashion we use the body as it was designed, and by following this smart natural design we get stronger with less perceived effort and as a bonus we avoid injury and, believe it or not (believe it) we get just a wee bit smarter.



Have I blown your 2D world, let me know.


Stay tuned true believers.

A Thinking Man's Guide To The Warm Up Part II

Earlier this year (snickering behind my hand) I blogged about what the real purpose of warming up is.  Very literally warming up the muscles so they are soft enough to move with force yet activated enough to respond to it FASTER than the speed of thought.

My questions for you at this point is, when we move, when we exercise, are the muscles the only things that move? What do the muscles move? And WHERE does the movement actually take place.

Think on that.  Yes I am going to give you the answer and yes if you don’t already know it then you are gonna go duh, but I do want you do really think about it.  Make your brain itch just a bit and when we scratch it, it will be all that much better.

Okay enough of the filler.

Bones are moved by the muscles, and movement actually takes place at the joints.

Okay if any of you actually said Duh or Doipe I am sorry and I hope you did not smack your forehead to hard.

Now, what has that to do with warming up?

Remember what I said about getting the muscles more loose and fluid.  The key word here is fluid.  In the case of the joints we are literally talking about fluid (as opposed to fluid like).


Synovial fluid is produced at the joint capsule as a result of movement; it has a lubricating effect, helping the bones slide around more easily where they meet at the joint.  Going back to my car/oil metaphor, do you want to be driving around with low oil?  What’s good for the pistons is good for the joints (bet you never heard that variation before).

There is a LITTLE BIT more to the story, but I will save that for part III of warm up, later this same year but I will leave you with this.

                                                     MOVE YOUR JOINTS.

And also a question…

How many angles and degrees do your joints move in?

I look forward to your questions and comments.

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