Function

"As a term functional movement has started to drift in the same direction as the term core stability which started out well and then became far distant from its original meaning. People have come to understand this as a specific kind of training with specific kinds of equipment. And if you use this equipment then it’s somehow functional.

People think that standing swinging something about is functional as compared to sitting on a machine. But this is a long way from what I would consider to be functional movement.

Functional movement is the movement that you need to perform the tasks and activities that you enjoy and want to do in your daily life.

What is it you need to do in your job and for recreation? So it’s a much bigger umbrella. Instead of FM being a thing, AN exercise, it’s actually an overall concept. So what is functional for one person is not for another."

 -- Joanne Elphinston via this wonderful podcast by Ariana Yoga

MovNat

"We’re a mess. So the question has to be why, and the simple answer is that we live in a time and a place where we no longer need to use our bodies in order to make sure we are fed, clothed, and sheltered. Instead we live in a time and a place where we earn money to buy what we need, work primarily in static positions (hey look! I’m doing it right now!), and segregate our movement only to the small portion of time we may spend exercising. This lack of natural human movement is causing a plague of chronic pain and physical dysfunction, as well as contributing hugely to the disease processes of contemporary. culture. In short: it’s a big problem."

-- Brooke Thomas (BreakingMuscle)

Founder of MovNat, Erwan Le Corre's  passion for re-establishing healthy movement habits and building natural strength based on our innate human abilities is contagious. Or at least it is for me. After reading multiple interviews and following along with the workouts that come on a weekly newsletter (sign-up here), I decided a MovNat workshop is on my list of things to do for 2015! 

The following is a list of the basic principles and skills and if that floats your boat then I would recommend getting a copy of the Exploring Functional Movement DVD Erwan has created with Gray Cook of Functional Movement Systems.

The 10 principles that underlie the MovNat approach:

1. 
   Evolutionary
2. Instinctual
3. Universal
4. Practical
5. Vital
6. Unspecialized
7. Efficient
8. Adaptive
9. Cooperative
10. Environmental

The 13 movement skills are:

1. Running
2. Balancing
3. Jumping
4. Crawling and Rolling
5. Climbing
6. Lifting
7. Carrying
8. Catching
9. Walking
10. Swimming
11. Throwing
12. Grappling
13. Striking

I think I'm only regularly ticking 9 of those boxes so far...

sit down, stand up

Can you get up and down off the floor without “touching” anything?

" My oldest client ever was a woman named Myrle. She was 89 when she started seeing me and we worked together for 5 years. When we first met, I asked her to get down on the floor and back up. I wanted to get a sense of her functional strength. It took her about 2 minutes to get down (with the use of a chair) and it took her 72 minutes, 4 pieces of furniture, and every one of MY muscles to get her back up again.
She was mortified and told me how the exercise brought up memories of her mother. She had cared for her mother in the end stages of her life, and when she watched her mother struggle to get off the floor, she swore “I will NEVER be like that.” Of course, most physical goals require some sort of physical practice beyond grand declarations. Myrle, like most people, didn’t get down on the floor regularly the last 20 (or 40) years and so the muscle strength necessary to do so silently slipped away..."

Read the rest of this brilliant blog post from Katy Bowman here.

Joints, technique and tlc

A few things I've found useful and inspiring recently, for students and myself...

This works a treat! It's worth having a good search through Kelly Starrett's archive, he's seriously knowledgeable and passionate about his craft.

Try this the next time you sprint for the bus!

And if you want to be running barefoot then those feet are gunna need some work. I'd recommend taking control of your feet regardless of your plans for them anyway.


SQUAT! It's important.
I have studied with Peter a few times, and what he has to say about yoga really resonates. I highly recommend his book Intelligent Yoga.

(found all over the place via Google serendipity, the magic of twitter, Facebook and other peoples generosity.)

Exploring functional movement

Just added this DVD from Erwan Le Corre (founder of MovNat) and Gray Cook (founder of Functional Movement Systems and author of Movement) to my ever growing online shopping basket because of this post from Brooke Thomas.

"We’re a mess. So the question has to be why, and the simple answer is that we live in a time and a place where we no longer need to use our bodies in order to make sure we are fed, clothed, and sheltered. Instead we live in a time and a place where we earn money to buy what we need, work primarily in static positions (hey look! I’m doing it right now!), and segregate our movement only to the small portion of time we may spend exercising. This lack of natural human movement is causing a plague of chronic pain and physical dysfunction, as well as contributing hugely to the disease processes of contemporary. culture. In short: it’s a big problem."

Click here to read more...if it tickles your fancy...