Thanks to everyone who reached out after the last couple of newsletters,
my inbox has been busy
In particular, the post about principles and Gary Wards 2nd Rule of Anatomy in Motion saying Joints act, muscles react.
Some of you asked to hear about the other rules.
So lets do the sensible thing and go to Rule 1.
Muscles Lengthen Before They Contract
In my mind, rules 1 & 2 are interchangeable and say similar things, just looking at it from a different perspective.
This idea of perspective is important, when we consider most viewpoints on the human animal are all talking about the same things but from different perspectives, then we can quickly and easily cut through the crap.
For example, Powerlifting and Yoga may seem like absolute opposites, but they both look at trying to improve the human body in some way, one from the perspective of moving the most weight, the other from the perspective of creating great flexibility.
Are these two goals mutually exclusive?
Only if you're looking for extremes. Most people if they did a bit of both would get stronger and move better. It's rarely a case of doing this excludes you from doing that, we're all looking to upgrade our human animal, why not learn from as many sources as possible and utilise the resources that best suit our current needs?
Anyhow, back to Rule 1. Muscles Lengthen Before They Contract
In the Chinese Martial Arts there are little riddles they use to teach movement principles.
One goes:
"To go up, first go down. To go left, first go right"
That is Rule 1 from a different perspective.
Consider throwing a ball.
The first thing we do is move the ball backwards, usually behind us if we're looking for a big throw, then we rotate the body to whip the arm through.
That whole action puts length, a stretch into the muscles that need to contract to throw the ball.
We reflexively, intuitively wind up by lengthening the muscles before they contract.
Now, think about basic walking or running.
Our weight lands into the foot as it contacts the ground, what happens?
As our weight sinks into the foot, the calf, the quads, the upper hamstrings, the glutes and so on, will stretch as they absorb that weight. The body loads up like a spring, muscles are lengthening like bungie cords.
And as they lengthen, the sensory organs within the tissues send signals up to the central nervous system saying "we're under strain, send orders" and the nervous system says "Contract!" and we bounce forward into the next step
The leg behind us as we step, the hip flexors are all stretching as out weight shifts forward of the foot, that stretch is what "pings" the leg through to land in front of us ready for the next step
By utilising the stretch, we almost gain free energy, we become incredibly efficient and effective in our movement.
Muscles lengthen before they contract
To go left, first go right
To swing the kettlebell up better, swing it back faster
The second rep of a deadlift always feels better than the 1st
If ever there was a perspective to explain why I prioritise things like skipping, jumping, joint mobility, dynamic range of motion exercises and kettlebell lifts, clubs, etc
As well as talk about "elasticity" as a property we should aim to develop as part of our training Rule 1 is it
Look me up on YouTube, go to the playlist on my channel marked Mobility Collection
and the one with the 100 Rep Warm Up examples and start to follow the info found there.
Become and remain elastic, and you will be effecient
There's plenty of time for being stiff when you're dead
Chat soon
Dave
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