Movement Literacy: The alphabet with which your body speaks.
With each step of our training we need to consider that everything we do falls into one of three categories, each stage building on the last:
competency
capacity, or
specialisation
This is known as:
When movement patterns, movement efficiency, and movement skill, are balanced and sufficiently supported by the underlying layer (s), performance is optimised. Through training, this is consistently refined, with improvements made at each level - but we must be careful not to upset the balance.
When we view our physical development through this lens, it becomes apparent why many find this to be such a struggle. We a taught to build our pyramid upside down.
If you remember your 'physical education', you'll recognise that this class was essentially, ‘sport’. And if we look at the pyramid we can see that this should never be the starting point or the medium through which we might best learn about physical fitness. Sport is the pinnacle - the advanced, skill-based demonstration of physical fitness. It assumes a degree of movement competency, a knowledge of BASIC fitness principles, as a starting point.
Teaching fitness through sport is like learning to drive in a Formula 1 car. P.E., at best then, was only preaching the virtues of movement to the converted, those for whom movement was already a given. It quickly alienated all others. Beyond this formal schooling, we see that mainstream fitness is concerned only with the middle layer - the spotlight focused squarely on capacity. More. Faster. Longer. Further. But if our physical capacity outweighs our movement competency, a disparity assured through this upside-down approach, the only possible outcome is injury.
As to the remaining bottom layer, it's this, the demonstration of fluid, coordinated, elegant movement, that we have come to see as a singular and rare talent. Which it is, but only because we have things backwards.
Rather than any one facet of fitness taking precedence, all movement should be performed so as to enhance flexibility, strength, speed, muscular endurance and skill. But these will only be achieved in a particular order. At Leftfield we are primarily concerned with the first two levels of the performance pyramid. The base defines how well our body functions regarding mobility, stability, balance, symmetry and movement sequence.
These combine to determine to enable us to move adequately through fundamental patterns of movement - our movement literacy.
We get the mobility for free - born with a full range of movement available to us at every joint. This allows us to position ourselves so that we can get the right muscles to do the job asked of them, but it also decides the overall quality of movement. The joints all play a sensory role so not only are we sending information from the brain to our joints. We are uploading information from the joints to the brain - a two-way street.
If mobility is restricted, this sensory capability is dulled, affecting the quality of information passed back up the chain. Every joint beyond that point in the chain then operates on only part of the story - best guesses and rumour over the full facts. This is why a sprained ankle, typically rehabilitated only to a point of no-pain rather than full movement, is a recipe for ongoing trouble. You now have the first link in the chain compromised so any and all movement further up the body becomes a game of Chinese whispers.
Garbage in, garbage out.
Notwithstanding our lack of any useful physical education, by adulthood, little of this mobility survives unscathed. A history of injury, restriction, or a lack of movement, mean it may no longer be possible to gain full mobility. The priority then is simply to optimise it. And, more importantly, to ensure a buffer zone whereby any training for capacity allows for feedback. Nice feedback, of the 'that was bit wobbly' kind. Not the, 'I just ripped my hamstring off the bone' variety.
Perfection is the goal for all because, although rarely realised, any improvement will change perception and enhance input. Mobility can be improved relatively quickly so we should look to take what we can get. And especially before we go further - only to cement poor movement by adding load or other stressors.
So we are born with this mobility of the joints, all of which are providing the full suite of neural stimulation that is so vital to the developing brain. But then we encounter external stimuli - sounds and shiny objects that prompt us to explore more. With motion, we now need control and, unlike mobility, our stability is hard-won.
Stability is the ability to resist an undesired movement. We start to explore our environment well before we walk - the shoulder is our first weight-bearing joint. From rolling, crawling and kneeling we progress through the developmental stages, learning at each, the stability required for the next.
Eventually, we take a step, we fall, and this continues until we develop that delicate combination of joint, tendon and muscle action required to hold a joint in position. But this is not static. Our stabilisers are smaller muscles that keep the bigger muscles, the prime movers, on course, and this demands a subtle yet constant dance of timing, coordination and synergy.
They are the conductors, without which our options reduce to chaos or stillness (silence).
Although mobility precedes stability, they are complementary and together allow the body to function as an integrated unit. Your positioning, alignment, ability to create tension and complete a movement while all of great importance all run secondary to one thing. Your awareness. Deliberate focus and intent is how you best (re)draw these movement maps. A training session presents an opportunity to learn, to further develop the mind-body connection. The workout is a sideshow.
When performing movement drills move slowly and being careful to avoid discomfort. Test subtle variations to see whether you can be either more efficient or more comfortable. Take a cue from the martial arts and work as slowly as possible for as many repetitions as you can. Ensure your breathing is also sending the right messages - if you can't breathe evenly or are holding your breath the only signal you are sending is - panic.
Above all, remember that any training, yes, even Leftfield, is just a means to an end. Unless you plan to join the pro pushup circuit, then a pushup is only good for one thing - making your life better. As you develop your movement literacy, then you open up new possibilities of movement, but similarly in every other facet of your life.
This is the alphabet with which your body speaks.
References:
http://www.functionalmovement.com/articles/Philosophy/2011-09-27_survival_of_the_fittest_part_i
http://saveyourself.ca/articles/mobilizing.php
Further Reading: