Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Zen of Z?
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At 6am this morning, it's still dark, but from my hotel room, i can hear the sounds of the ocean, geese migrating, and seals calling out to each other.
In the dark, but happily much warmer room than back in the UK, i'm up and moving slowly into the Z r and i phase drills. Many of the i phase moves are newish variants on the r phase - they require attention of me right now, focus; while some of the r phase drills i feel i'm getting, in my body. There is a rhythm to them.
The thing is, it's interesting to have this time, to take these moments and be able to listen, listen, listen within the form of the movement - not having to worry first thing about pushing my body to deal with weight, reps or cycles but most particularly on form. There's something really cool about that kinda micro "ah ha" when something zones in. There are parallels in other movements, whether yoga or a swing or whatever when all the elements connect. It reminds me of playing with a band, and you're all jamming but totally in the zone, and there's the big finish together. Bam. it locks in.
There is a difference here from say holding a yoga posture in perfect balance: there is a constant balance between effort of holding oneself in balance - working those muscles - and maintaining form. In these z movements, there is far less emphasis on balance - indeed, hold a chair if that helps maintain tall spine - and focus on feeling the movement. Speeds become a way of exploring awareness rather than weight.
Anyway, there, in the dark, getting some things; having to focus and explore and figure out others, it was nice just to have that time for my self. if i can carry that calm into the rest of my day, wouldn't that be a nice thing, too?
Hope you will find a way to make some space for yourself today, too. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
At 6am this morning, it's still dark, but from my hotel room, i can hear the sounds of the ocean, geese migrating, and seals calling out to each other.
In the dark, but happily much warmer room than back in the UK, i'm up and moving slowly into the Z r and i phase drills. Many of the i phase moves are newish variants on the r phase - they require attention of me right now, focus; while some of the r phase drills i feel i'm getting, in my body. There is a rhythm to them.
The thing is, it's interesting to have this time, to take these moments and be able to listen, listen, listen within the form of the movement - not having to worry first thing about pushing my body to deal with weight, reps or cycles but most particularly on form. There's something really cool about that kinda micro "ah ha" when something zones in. There are parallels in other movements, whether yoga or a swing or whatever when all the elements connect. It reminds me of playing with a band, and you're all jamming but totally in the zone, and there's the big finish together. Bam. it locks in.
There is a difference here from say holding a yoga posture in perfect balance: there is a constant balance between effort of holding oneself in balance - working those muscles - and maintaining form. In these z movements, there is far less emphasis on balance - indeed, hold a chair if that helps maintain tall spine - and focus on feeling the movement. Speeds become a way of exploring awareness rather than weight.
Anyway, there, in the dark, getting some things; having to focus and explore and figure out others, it was nice just to have that time for my self. if i can carry that calm into the rest of my day, wouldn't that be a nice thing, too?
Hope you will find a way to make some space for yourself today, too. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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Friday, October 10, 2008
How many repetitions should i do of this mobility drill?
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Since starting to do Z training with folks, i get asked "how many times should i do this drill?" or "how frequently do i need to do that drill."
The cool thing about these Z drills - dynamic joint mobility - is that they are not just moving a joint through its range of motion to keep it healthy, these drills are hitting the thousands and thousands of mechanoreceptors around the joints, and adapting to those messages, as in the all pervasive principle of specificity (SAID). That's one.
Another one is what Courtney Neupert has been telling me about the application of Wolff's Law, or that bone and tissue get reshaped based on the load/stresses placed upon them, all part of the "continuous cycle of osteoclastic/osteoblastic activity - old bone gets eaten up while new bone tissue is formed. " And how that new bone is formed responds to these new patterns. Likewise, Courtney reminds me, tissue. That adaptation can result in hypertrophy (a good thing) or tight shoulders (not so good), all adaptations to load.
So that's SAID and Wolff, but there's also another, which doesn't seem to have a punchy name or acronym. It's called "motor learning" and back in 67 Fitts and Posner proposed three stages for motor learning: cognitive, associative and autonomous. Within 1000 reps one is still learning a skill, having to bring conscious (cognitive) attention to it. Within 1000 - 10,000 and beyond, one is making fewer mistakes, is aware of them, knows how to correct them. By 100 thousand to 300 hundred thousand, one can perform a move without thinking about it - autonomously.
So let's go back to that question of how frequently one should be practicing a joint mobility move.
We know that with SAID, we adapt readily to imposed demand, and that with Wolff's Law, repeating those loading patterns re-builds us according to these new patterns. With these effects, we'll want to get into practicing these SAID/Wolff patterns perfectly. And we know with motor learning, it takes about 1000 reps just to learn that pattern, and tens of thousands to perform it well.
Therefore, repetitions to remodel (and counteact other imperfec
t repetitions going on in our long standing autonomous actions like walking) need to be high, and repetitions just to learn the move also need to be high.
If you're a westerner, for instance, who's learned to use chopsticks as an adult, think of how many openings and closings of the sticks it may have taken just to have gotten the hang of it, and ask yourself if you're at the associative stage yet or truly autonomous where using these is a comfy and thought-less as using a fork.
So, in answer to the question of how frequently one should perform a drill, an answer may be "as frequently as you want," with the understanding that given the numbers of repetitions necessary to learn, repattern and remodel, the more perfect reps, the more often, the faster the desired change will be effected.
The key marker here is perfect rep: do a set for as many reps as can be done perfectly (maybe 3-5) then pause, redo. Better to do many times a day than all at once and fall into poor form, since it's that form that is creating what is learned and the pattern of the adaptation. Getting to the perfect rep faster to optimize that learning is another reason to see a trainer to tune your approach. You can find an international list of Z trainers on the Z site. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
The cool thing about these Z drills - dynamic joint mobility - is that they are not just moving a joint through its range of motion to keep it healthy, these drills are hitting the thousands and thousands of mechanoreceptors around the joints, and adapting to those messages, as in the all pervasive principle of specificity (SAID). That's one.Another one is what Courtney Neupert has been telling me about the application of Wolff's Law, or that bone and tissue get reshaped based on the load/stresses placed upon them, all part of the "continuous cycle of osteoclastic/osteoblastic activity - old bone gets eaten up while new bone tissue is formed. " And how that new bone is formed responds to these new patterns. Likewise, Courtney reminds me, tissue. That adaptation can result in hypertrophy (a good thing) or tight shoulders (not so good), all adaptations to load.
So that's SAID and Wolff, but there's also another, which doesn't seem to have a punchy name or acronym. It's called "motor learning" and back in 67 Fitts and Posner proposed three stages for motor learning: cognitive, associative and autonomous. Within 1000 reps one is still learning a skill, having to bring conscious (cognitive) attention to it. Within 1000 - 10,000 and beyond, one is making fewer mistakes, is aware of them, knows how to correct them. By 100 thousand to 300 hundred thousand, one can perform a move without thinking about it - autonomously.
So let's go back to that question of how frequently one should be practicing a joint mobility move.
We know that with SAID, we adapt readily to imposed demand, and that with Wolff's Law, repeating those loading patterns re-builds us according to these new patterns. With these effects, we'll want to get into practicing these SAID/Wolff patterns perfectly. And we know with motor learning, it takes about 1000 reps just to learn that pattern, and tens of thousands to perform it well.
Therefore, repetitions to remodel (and counteact other imperfec
t repetitions going on in our long standing autonomous actions like walking) need to be high, and repetitions just to learn the move also need to be high.If you're a westerner, for instance, who's learned to use chopsticks as an adult, think of how many openings and closings of the sticks it may have taken just to have gotten the hang of it, and ask yourself if you're at the associative stage yet or truly autonomous where using these is a comfy and thought-less as using a fork.
The key marker here is perfect rep: do a set for as many reps as can be done perfectly (maybe 3-5) then pause, redo. Better to do many times a day than all at once and fall into poor form, since it's that form that is creating what is learned and the pattern of the adaptation. Getting to the perfect rep faster to optimize that learning is another reason to see a trainer to tune your approach. You can find an international list of Z trainers on the Z site. Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Bare Feet with Sole(s) - Quick Review of Dopie Sandals by Terra Plana
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Recently i wrote about the benefit to our nervous systems and therefore general well being in freeing our feet and going barefoot as often as possible. I've learne
d the philosophy of the Twist Test: if you can't grab your shoe and the heel and toe and twist it around the middle, it's too stiff for decent foot bone mobility. Another test is: can you bend them just behind where the ball of the foot is, and are they heel-less? It's incredible how high tech trainers do not pass the twist or bend tests, and many shoes that pass the twist/bend test, ruin it by having heels. So since going through these multiple lessons on footwear failure, i've been looking for shoes that pass the Heel-less Twist Test and support barefootedness as much as possilbe.
So far, i've been disappointed in the mixed up sizing of the otherwise brilliant Vivo Barefoot boots for women (scroll down this article to "vivo" for why), and have been keenly waiting my next trip to the states to try out the much celebrated Vibram Five Fingers - ask RKCs Doug Nepodal (aka the kilted one) and Ronaldo Garcia (aka the elvis one) what they think of these flexible wonders (update nov08: see article on experience with how to fit FiveFingers).
Sandals Special Additional Factor: toe clutch One of the biggest challenges has been to find sandals to replace the venerable, but untwistable/unbendable birkenstocks, or even Reef flipflops. Two problems: don't twist, and many many flip flops require toes to remain pretty much in flexion (clenching or bending the toes) to hold the shoe on while moving. Guess what? that constant flexion, well that's not natural: when walking the toes should be able to do many other things than hold on a sandal.
The solution for now seems to be another product from the Terra Plana shop: the oddly named Dopies. The Dopies are, yes, flip flops BUT the toe clawing effect induced by the raw flip flop is both reduced by the weird toe holder that rather hooks over two toes; the clawing is even further mitigated by using the optional strap - even if that strap is really loose.
The cool thing about this sandal is that the sole is very thin. in this way, the shoe is effectively very close to being barefoot - with a wee protective sole on the foot.
There's quite the design development discussion on the sandal's web site. I'm not that persuaded by footware designed by artists rather than people who know foot mechanics, but in this case i have a simple test: does it twist? yes. does it cause toe flexion? not when the strap is attached. After that, is it comfy? yes. Is it fun? oh very.
COST Is Dopie cheap. oh no - or that depends. If you visit the Dopie site at Terra Plana, you'll see that the sandals sell
for thirty quid in the UK. That's more or less 60 USD - granted that includes 17.5% vat. That's 24.75 without VAT, so 50 USD. 50USD for foam rubber molded sandals. According to Terra Plana they sell quite alot at that price, so they were not interested in price matching with other online dealers. If you look around, you can find them for less - at least right now before new stock comes in in February. In the UK, i've found them from 10 quid to 19, pending on availability of size. In the US, amazon has 'em from 19 to yes 49 bucks. And sadly now, for us in the EU where this company is founded, in looking at the US version of terraplana.com, they're 30USD. Please explain how a product that comes from china is double the cost in the EU from what it is in the US.
Value: i only have my feet to go by, but they look interesting and feel fine. Walking on sidewalks and grass has been equally zippy. The thing between the toes is less noticeable, it seems, the more one walks. I've only tried them briefly without the strap, and as suspected they really do flip/flop - rather loudly.
I may experiment with that further, but was less inclined to do so due to the toe flexion thing. Without the strap - they really do look naked. The one disadvantage compared with birks for instance is that they're going to require ninja tabby toed sox if they'll be worn in the winter. That aside, unlike birks, these have the advantage of being highly wash and wearable.
Overall: Freeing Your Feet The tag line of the Dopie is "naked shoes for naked people." When naked footed people need a little sole protection, Dopies pass the twist test, and seem to pass the sandle toe flexion test. They're comfy and fun. While it's warm enough not to wear gloves, it may well be likely warm enough to go as barefoot as these Dopies afford
. 
Update, a month later
I've been wearing these sandals pretty much daily for the past month, both in the UK, and in the US. The longest walk has been about 3km. The average daily extended walk is 1km up and down hill, all on pavement, plus walking around in an office environ at work. I've worn them on 11hour flights and in the rain.
I like 'em. I like being able to kick them off to stretch my toes (even more), or put my feet up on a chair. My downhill heel strike seems to be softening in the gait too.
What i don't like: two things about fit
One Bug: On both feet the strap across the top of the foot has worn away the skin in a way that looks like a stigmata pattern on both feet. While one foot has recovered i'm still bandaiting the other. Another solution perhaps would be to put some moleskin on the strap that rubs.
Another Bug: The other issue, and one that others have noticed who have tried these on is that the toe peice can make a toe feel like it's suffering from an ingrown toe nail a bit when you put the shoe on. this feeling sort of goes away when you're walking, but i don't quite understand what's up with this. It's only happened to me on one side.
In each case, my feet have adapted, but can ya reasonably expect people to stick with a product that wounds them in the first moment of putting them on?
The pluses are such with the shoe that i'm going to experiment with these further until the weather turns colder: i figure when i start needing mitts, i'll start needing sox again.
What's been weird is that putting on sox and shoes the other night for a doo felt utterly horrible, even in nike frees. Perhaps this is something beech dwellers go through annually? But here's to foot freeing.
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d the philosophy of the Twist Test: if you can't grab your shoe and the heel and toe and twist it around the middle, it's too stiff for decent foot bone mobility. Another test is: can you bend them just behind where the ball of the foot is, and are they heel-less? It's incredible how high tech trainers do not pass the twist or bend tests, and many shoes that pass the twist/bend test, ruin it by having heels. So since going through these multiple lessons on footwear failure, i've been looking for shoes that pass the Heel-less Twist Test and support barefootedness as much as possilbe.So far, i've been disappointed in the mixed up sizing of the otherwise brilliant Vivo Barefoot boots for women (scroll down this article to "vivo" for why), and have been keenly waiting my next trip to the states to try out the much celebrated Vibram Five Fingers - ask RKCs Doug Nepodal (aka the kilted one) and Ronaldo Garcia (aka the elvis one) what they think of these flexible wonders (update nov08: see article on experience with how to fit FiveFingers).
Sandals Special Additional Factor: toe clutch One of the biggest challenges has been to find sandals to replace the venerable, but untwistable/unbendable birkenstocks, or even Reef flipflops. Two problems: don't twist, and many many flip flops require toes to remain pretty much in flexion (clenching or bending the toes) to hold the shoe on while moving. Guess what? that constant flexion, well that's not natural: when walking the toes should be able to do many other things than hold on a sandal.The solution for now seems to be another product from the Terra Plana shop: the oddly named Dopies. The Dopies are, yes, flip flops BUT the toe clawing effect induced by the raw flip flop is both reduced by the weird toe holder that rather hooks over two toes; the clawing is even further mitigated by using the optional strap - even if that strap is really loose.
The cool thing about this sandal is that the sole is very thin. in this way, the shoe is effectively very close to being barefoot - with a wee protective sole on the foot.
There's quite the design development discussion on the sandal's web site. I'm not that persuaded by footware designed by artists rather than people who know foot mechanics, but in this case i have a simple test: does it twist? yes. does it cause toe flexion? not when the strap is attached. After that, is it comfy? yes. Is it fun? oh very.
COST Is Dopie cheap. oh no - or that depends. If you visit the Dopie site at Terra Plana, you'll see that the sandals sell
for thirty quid in the UK. That's more or less 60 USD - granted that includes 17.5% vat. That's 24.75 without VAT, so 50 USD. 50USD for foam rubber molded sandals. According to Terra Plana they sell quite alot at that price, so they were not interested in price matching with other online dealers. If you look around, you can find them for less - at least right now before new stock comes in in February. In the UK, i've found them from 10 quid to 19, pending on availability of size. In the US, amazon has 'em from 19 to yes 49 bucks. And sadly now, for us in the EU where this company is founded, in looking at the US version of terraplana.com, they're 30USD. Please explain how a product that comes from china is double the cost in the EU from what it is in the US.Value: i only have my feet to go by, but they look interesting and feel fine. Walking on sidewalks and grass has been equally zippy. The thing between the toes is less noticeable, it seems, the more one walks. I've only tried them briefly without the strap, and as suspected they really do flip/flop - rather loudly.
I may experiment with that further, but was less inclined to do so due to the toe flexion thing. Without the strap - they really do look naked. The one disadvantage compared with birks for instance is that they're going to require ninja tabby toed sox if they'll be worn in the winter. That aside, unlike birks, these have the advantage of being highly wash and wearable.
Overall: Freeing Your Feet The tag line of the Dopie is "naked shoes for naked people." When naked footed people need a little sole protection, Dopies pass the twist test, and seem to pass the sandle toe flexion test. They're comfy and fun. While it's warm enough not to wear gloves, it may well be likely warm enough to go as barefoot as these Dopies afford
. 
Update, a month later
I've been wearing these sandals pretty much daily for the past month, both in the UK, and in the US. The longest walk has been about 3km. The average daily extended walk is 1km up and down hill, all on pavement, plus walking around in an office environ at work. I've worn them on 11hour flights and in the rain.
I like 'em. I like being able to kick them off to stretch my toes (even more), or put my feet up on a chair. My downhill heel strike seems to be softening in the gait too.
What i don't like: two things about fit
One Bug: On both feet the strap across the top of the foot has worn away the skin in a way that looks like a stigmata pattern on both feet. While one foot has recovered i'm still bandaiting the other. Another solution perhaps would be to put some moleskin on the strap that rubs.
Another Bug: The other issue, and one that others have noticed who have tried these on is that the toe peice can make a toe feel like it's suffering from an ingrown toe nail a bit when you put the shoe on. this feeling sort of goes away when you're walking, but i don't quite understand what's up with this. It's only happened to me on one side.
In each case, my feet have adapted, but can ya reasonably expect people to stick with a product that wounds them in the first moment of putting them on?
The pluses are such with the shoe that i'm going to experiment with these further until the weather turns colder: i figure when i start needing mitts, i'll start needing sox again.
What's been weird is that putting on sox and shoes the other night for a doo felt utterly horrible, even in nike frees. Perhaps this is something beech dwellers go through annually? But here's to foot freeing.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Peace One Day - Rannoch is More Profound
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Over the summer i wrote a piece about Rannoch Donald, RKC, whose perspective on life and practice just zen's me out. He also makes great t-shirt designs.
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Over the summer i wrote a piece about Rannoch Donald, RKC, whose perspective on life and practice just zen's me out. He also makes great t-shirt designs.So i dropped by his site today, and there was a new badge for Peace One Day. The global uber effort is to connect actions across the planet with peaceful actions for one day a year. The project has been operating since 1999.
Part of participating is to make a commitment for one day to do something, well, peaceful. Here's where Rannoch just keeps getting deeper. His commitment? "I will look at everyone and ask what can i do for you?" I wish i'd thought of that. What a powerful commitment
that is.
Way to go Rannoch. And thanks for pointing me, among others, to another cool place/state of mind. Way to help change the world.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
What is Z-Health R-Phase: not your daddy's joint mobility
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OVERVIEW: TO cut to the chase, if you're looking for a good follow-along dynamic joint mobility program, the z-health "movement rehab package" is a great way to go: it comes with three dvd's and a detailed manual: one DVD is instructional, going through each of the movements and what targets to focus on in the movement to get best effect. The next is a 20 minute program flow that goes through the set of movements in a sequence. And there's a 10 min daily mobility practice DVD (called the neural warm up) to keep all joints oiled, as it were. THe manual creates a 12 week approach to learning each component of the movements, to build practice, awareness, and most particularly, rebuilding or rehabbing the maps in the brain that learn and orient good movement.
More detailed overview of the DVD's in the "what's on the DVD's" below.
GETTING INTO IT What the heck is Z health (or ZHealth or Z-Health)? This is a fast review overview of Z-Health from the perspective of someone who's recently certified in the first level of z training called R-phase.
The usual response i've had to this very query about Z-Health is "it's joint mobility, right?" - which is frequently followed by "i do that already; don't need more/other."
Just as a quick aside, what is joint mobility work, anyway? It's usually construed as work to move joints through their whole range of motion. Ok. So why is that a good idea? And what if you can't move a joint through it's ROM? Or how do you know that you've done so?
Some folks talk about joint mobility work as an end in itself: that it's taking care of the surfaces of the joint for "joint health." And sure there's good there: move it or lose it. Body parts that don't get moved don't get the same attention as joints that do; moving joints also helps move waste materials away and good stuff in, and can stop weird growths from poor mobility or improper mobility.
Z health folks themselves however don't talk about joint mobility per se, but about the nervous system: yes there's joint mobility work in there, but initially that joint mobility work is designed to be a vehicle for getting to the nervous system; it's not an end in and of itself. That other good things come from moving those joints, specific to "joint health" is a bonus.
Granted, this insight of nervous system focus is a little tricky to get from the Z health web site or from the start up R Phase DVDs, and once you have it, ok - Z = nervous system, what does that mean anyway?
In the health culture, we're usually so focused on muscle work (and sometimes ligaments) that we either forget that the body has other, and higher order systems that co-ordinate activity. Or when we're reminded of it, we don't have a framework to utilize the information. What does it mean to what -talk?-to the nervous system via the joints; to focus on bones to nerves rather than muscles to lifts?
Recently, i completed the Z Health R phase certification in Edinburgh (full review and more detailed description over here), and the pieces came together. Z Health itself, it turns out, is actually this framework for understanding and working with the nervous system. It is a kind of paradigm shift away from the focus on muscles and ligaments in isolation, and to the nervous system, which after all, without which, movement doesn't happen Consider someone recovering from stroke: their loss of muscle function is not because their muscles fail, but because messages are no longer being sent via the nerves to innervate.
In Z Health, the R Phase certification material covered makes clear that the body always responds to exactly what it practices (a variant of the SAID principle). This adaptation happens quickly. Why? communication in the nerves moves at over 300mph. There are tons of nerves focused on receiving and communicating various kinds of information. Something that is make compellingly clear in Z is that if there is the smallest disruption in that signal path at one place in the body the WHOLE body is effected. No kidding. So reducing noise in the signal path is a good idea. And thus to the heart of the first phase, R phase, of the Z approach.
Our joints, it turns out, have the largest proportion of particular kinds of nervous system messengers, mechanoreceptors, that communicate our position in space. They are key to our ability to move. When there's immobility around a joint, there's compensation elsewhere in the body. Global performance is actually impinged. You don't have to take my word for this: go to a z workshop like the Essentials of Elite Performance and see this demonstrated.
In Z's R phase cert, from such demos, we learn that movement - from range of motion to pain release - is dependent on the nervous system's perception of the state of the body. Dealing with the joints - taking each one through its full range of motion - is a powerful way to help the body learn that things are ok. Likewise, restrictions in joint mobility are powerful indicators that work can be done to improve not just mobility, but through that joint mobility, clearer communication in the nervous system.
You may already do joint mobility work, and that's great. How do you know that it's having that optimal effect for you, that it's clearing the signal path to enable optimal movement/performance? That some of its movements are not, in fact, closing joints down rather than opening them up? It might be interesting to drop by a z cert'd instructor just to get a quick assessment - you may find that you're in great shape with what you do - or you may find that there's a few places to tune.
If you haven't looked at Z, you might want to consider doing so. In health we talk sometimes about what's the minimum a person should do for their health, for instance "if you do nothing else, do blah." If we look at biggest bang for the buck, there's an argument to be made that if you do nothing else, do joint mobility work - and do the joint mobility work that you know is opening your joints, providing the clearest signal path to enhance movement.
Ok, that's the basis of Z-Health. But where does it start?
Z-Health has several phases: R-Phase, I-Phase and S-Phase.
R-Phase teaches the movement vocabulary where one stands in a neutral stance with tall spine, and learns how to take each joint through a full range of motion.
I-Phase is the complement of R-Phase (b2d overview here), and begins to move the athlete from neutral stance into versions of the R-Phase drills in more natural planes of motion.
S-Phase takes these movements and makes them, er, move (b2d overview of S here).
Z-Health in each phase uses joint mobility as a vehicle for optimizing or clearing the nervous system. Kathy Mauck of Z-Health talks about this approach as helping to build a clearer map. That is, in mechanoreception/proprioception, where our body senses where we are in space, clearing joints of any mobility restrictions or impingements or whatevers means that more information about those locations is coming through. That's a good thing.
It's a first principles thing, isn't it? The nervous system is higher up the stack than muscles, ligaments, bones. These other systems are responsive to the nervous system, so it rather makes sense that if there's something we can do to improve that communication, other good things will follow. Like improved athletic performance. Improved daily mobility. And quite often, reduced pain.
Ok, Starting with R-Phase, what's in those DVD's?
So, this neuroreceptive approach to well being sounds interesting. Where does Z-Health begin?
Here's what you get in the R-Phase/Nerual Warm Up I combo set (i recommend getting both and i'll come onto why)
The R-Phase DVD set has two discs: a follow along and an instructional DVD. A lot of folks skip the instructional DVD. May i encourage you strongly to go through the instructional? These vids help you find and hit the joint targets that make a big difference in the effectiveness of the follow along drills. You'll also find alternative positioning not given in the Follow Along (but which can be used while doing the follow along)
toe pull targets and alternative position from R-Phase instructional
In the R-Phase follow along, it takes a little over 20mins to go through the drills for each joint in the body, as there are a few drills for each joint. Each movement is modeled by three people as it is described by Eric Cobb.
R-Phase Follow Along goes through mutliple movements for each joint
The Neural Warm Up I is a complement to R-Phase.
It's a ten minute series that also moves through each joint of the body, and introduces some movements not in the R-Phase package that optimize hitting joints in for a quicker series. It's easy to get the Neural Warm Up I in every day, or on alternate days from doing the complete R-Phase series. Eric Cobb leads this movement suite. As with R-Phase, NWUI also includes an instructional set to make sure you're comfortable with each movement.
Eric Cobb leading cross body figure 8's in Neural Warm Up I
Eye Drills in Neural Warm Up I. Another attribute of the Neural Warm Up series is that they include eye drills. Eyes may not have joints but they do have muscles. And like any muscle, use it or lose it. There are also more nerves in the eyes than just about anywhere else, so making sure the eyes are moving through there full range of motion is pretty critical (and part of why contacts rather than glasses are recommended).
This is why i recommend getting R-Phase and Neural Warm Up I together: R-Phase provides multiple drills for each part of the body that can be practiced as a complete sequence, or, as taught in the manual, as a particular focus on a given day: like today, i'll do shoulder circles at various speeds. The Neural Warm Up is a well thought out, short, routine to make sure you get through each joint effectively, as well as work the eyes, and get a muscle recharge.
Manuals. Both R-Phase and NWUI come with manuals on how to get into practicing R-Phase for most benefit, with two twelve week programs. The manuals also go over the four speeds at which R-Phase is best practiced. Once you have the speed down that the video demo's, what about going super slowly? Very different feel on the muscles and joints to bring it down. Awesome variants.
A Note on the DVD's and why seeing a Zed'er is a good idea
I've heard from colleagues who've said "i've looked at the video" or "i've tried it [once or twice] and it didn't do anything remarkable for me" or "i like X's flow better." That's ok; it's understandable. These movements are precise, designed to hit targets rather than look pretty. Though watching someone do double elbow circles is pretty cool. And if you're already in good shape and doing mobility work, you mayn't feel a kowabunga effect. I know for myself when i've done them either daily or every other day as recommended, after breakie in my case, i just feel more energized. I can't claim, though, that i was doing them to optimal effect. I also know the first time i had a Z-Health trainer really check that i was hitting the toe pull targets, i had a revelatory experience. Man, what a difference! It went from ok to awesome.
Like any athletic endeavor, when learning new technique, while DVD's are great references, where possible, we also hear the recommendation to seek out a certified trainer for a session to tune our positions. This is just as true of joint mobility work as it is doing a kettlebell swing or a lift.
Getting an expert pair of eyes on these movements will ensure we get the most effective communication to the nervous system going. This meeting will help make sure we are hitting the target joints in full range of motion as effectively as possible. Also, such a meeting can also help target drills for a particular sport or for to address pain.
Why Z?
It's that last point that still makes me shake my head. It can sound like one is talking about a revival meeting: i saw this guy do these itty bitty moves, and he tried his shoulder again and his range of motion went way way up. Wow.
I've also seen folks do muscle work and be able to touch their toes when they couldn't before, so people can be helped by many things and in many ways. umm hmm. That's likely true. And that's great. The thing about Z that appeals to me is that it's working at the higher level or root of an issue by going for nerves. That suggests to me that muscle work, whether stretches or pulls or pushes, is more or less trying to get to the same signal paths but that by going away from the nerve receptors to these bigger tissues requires far bigger effort/work and i'm guessing has less precision.
With z, because it's going directly for the nerves, i hypothesize based on what i've seen and know of the science, the approach is more compact and specific. This minimal effort has great transferability. Anyone sitting at their desk can do ankle circles or finger waves or head titls.
Lighter, faster, stronger.
And again, what i'm describing here is in no way to challenge anyone else's mobility system - i don't know anyone else's mobility system. It's simply to articulate that this approach is based on the bleeding edge of what we know about the nervous system, movement and pain. It is specifically designed to do a particular neurological job to improve mobility; reduce pain and thus improve performance. As well, it has a compelling assessment associated with it to evaluate immediately if that job is being effected.
If you're potentially interested in doing a Z-Health cert based on anything you've read here, and you feel so inclined, please email info@zhealth.net for info and let them know mc recommended the cert. Trainers don't get money from these recommendations, but there's a new program where we will get money off our next certification, which is awesome. It's also a nice way for me to see if these articles help at all :) Thank you for reading. And for your consideration. You can always drop a comment here, too, if something you read helped.
update march 2009:
i've added a review of z health five months post certification and how it's been working so well with athletes in ways i hadn't anticipated.
update June 2009:
what's I-phase?
updated July 2009:
when add I-Phase to R-Phase
I-Phase is the more "in the real" version of R. R is the starting point - the basic vocab of Zed. I-Phase is the more flexible template, moving out of "neutral stance" and into more usual planes of motion.
Review 2009:
S-Phase: The Complete Athlete, Vol 1.
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Note from Nov 2009: the article below was written shortly after my initial experience with z-health. After going through the whole certification suite of z-health's R,I,S,T and 9S certs, my view has clarified quite a bit and is hopefully easier to grok.
You may find the following piece interesting (i hope you do) but i think a clearer take on the z-health picture can be seen across a few pieces:
and for a total cut to the chase overview, an interview i did with chris highcock at contitioning research has i think the most succinct version yet.
- - the philosophy/science informing z-health
- - a practical overview of what R-Phase and I-Phase are trying to achieve and why/how
- - the z-health fundamental: never move into pain - and why that's so important
And now, back to your article:
 |
| zhealth movement rehab package |
More detailed overview of the DVD's in the "what's on the DVD's" below.
GETTING INTO IT What the heck is Z health (or ZHealth or Z-Health)? This is a fast review overview of Z-Health from the perspective of someone who's recently certified in the first level of z training called R-phase.
The usual response i've had to this very query about Z-Health is "it's joint mobility, right?" - which is frequently followed by "i do that already; don't need more/other."
Just as a quick aside, what is joint mobility work, anyway? It's usually construed as work to move joints through their whole range of motion. Ok. So why is that a good idea? And what if you can't move a joint through it's ROM? Or how do you know that you've done so?
Some folks talk about joint mobility work as an end in itself: that it's taking care of the surfaces of the joint for "joint health." And sure there's good there: move it or lose it. Body parts that don't get moved don't get the same attention as joints that do; moving joints also helps move waste materials away and good stuff in, and can stop weird growths from poor mobility or improper mobility.
Z health folks themselves however don't talk about joint mobility per se, but about the nervous system: yes there's joint mobility work in there, but initially that joint mobility work is designed to be a vehicle for getting to the nervous system; it's not an end in and of itself. That other good things come from moving those joints, specific to "joint health" is a bonus.Granted, this insight of nervous system focus is a little tricky to get from the Z health web site or from the start up R Phase DVDs, and once you have it, ok - Z = nervous system, what does that mean anyway?
In the health culture, we're usually so focused on muscle work (and sometimes ligaments) that we either forget that the body has other, and higher order systems that co-ordinate activity. Or when we're reminded of it, we don't have a framework to utilize the information. What does it mean to what -talk?-to the nervous system via the joints; to focus on bones to nerves rather than muscles to lifts?
Recently, i completed the Z Health R phase certification in Edinburgh (full review and more detailed description over here), and the pieces came together. Z Health itself, it turns out, is actually this framework for understanding and working with the nervous system. It is a kind of paradigm shift away from the focus on muscles and ligaments in isolation, and to the nervous system, which after all, without which, movement doesn't happen Consider someone recovering from stroke: their loss of muscle function is not because their muscles fail, but because messages are no longer being sent via the nerves to innervate.
In Z Health, the R Phase certification material covered makes clear that the body always responds to exactly what it practices (a variant of the SAID principle). This adaptation happens quickly. Why? communication in the nerves moves at over 300mph. There are tons of nerves focused on receiving and communicating various kinds of information. Something that is make compellingly clear in Z is that if there is the smallest disruption in that signal path at one place in the body the WHOLE body is effected. No kidding. So reducing noise in the signal path is a good idea. And thus to the heart of the first phase, R phase, of the Z approach.
Our joints, it turns out, have the largest proportion of particular kinds of nervous system messengers, mechanoreceptors, that communicate our position in space. They are key to our ability to move. When there's immobility around a joint, there's compensation elsewhere in the body. Global performance is actually impinged. You don't have to take my word for this: go to a z workshop like the Essentials of Elite Performance and see this demonstrated.
In Z's R phase cert, from such demos, we learn that movement - from range of motion to pain release - is dependent on the nervous system's perception of the state of the body. Dealing with the joints - taking each one through its full range of motion - is a powerful way to help the body learn that things are ok. Likewise, restrictions in joint mobility are powerful indicators that work can be done to improve not just mobility, but through that joint mobility, clearer communication in the nervous system.
You may already do joint mobility work, and that's great. How do you know that it's having that optimal effect for you, that it's clearing the signal path to enable optimal movement/performance? That some of its movements are not, in fact, closing joints down rather than opening them up? It might be interesting to drop by a z cert'd instructor just to get a quick assessment - you may find that you're in great shape with what you do - or you may find that there's a few places to tune.
If you haven't looked at Z, you might want to consider doing so. In health we talk sometimes about what's the minimum a person should do for their health, for instance "if you do nothing else, do blah." If we look at biggest bang for the buck, there's an argument to be made that if you do nothing else, do joint mobility work - and do the joint mobility work that you know is opening your joints, providing the clearest signal path to enhance movement.
Ok, that's the basis of Z-Health. But where does it start?
Z-Health has several phases: R-Phase, I-Phase and S-Phase.
R-Phase teaches the movement vocabulary where one stands in a neutral stance with tall spine, and learns how to take each joint through a full range of motion.
I-Phase is the complement of R-Phase (b2d overview here), and begins to move the athlete from neutral stance into versions of the R-Phase drills in more natural planes of motion.
S-Phase takes these movements and makes them, er, move (b2d overview of S here).
Z-Health in each phase uses joint mobility as a vehicle for optimizing or clearing the nervous system. Kathy Mauck of Z-Health talks about this approach as helping to build a clearer map. That is, in mechanoreception/proprioception, where our body senses where we are in space, clearing joints of any mobility restrictions or impingements or whatevers means that more information about those locations is coming through. That's a good thing.
It's a first principles thing, isn't it? The nervous system is higher up the stack than muscles, ligaments, bones. These other systems are responsive to the nervous system, so it rather makes sense that if there's something we can do to improve that communication, other good things will follow. Like improved athletic performance. Improved daily mobility. And quite often, reduced pain.
Ok, Starting with R-Phase, what's in those DVD's?
So, this neuroreceptive approach to well being sounds interesting. Where does Z-Health begin?
Here's what you get in the R-Phase/Nerual Warm Up I combo set (i recommend getting both and i'll come onto why)
The R-Phase DVD set has two discs: a follow along and an instructional DVD. A lot of folks skip the instructional DVD. May i encourage you strongly to go through the instructional? These vids help you find and hit the joint targets that make a big difference in the effectiveness of the follow along drills. You'll also find alternative positioning not given in the Follow Along (but which can be used while doing the follow along)
toe pull targets and alternative position from R-Phase instructionalIn the R-Phase follow along, it takes a little over 20mins to go through the drills for each joint in the body, as there are a few drills for each joint. Each movement is modeled by three people as it is described by Eric Cobb.
R-Phase Follow Along goes through mutliple movements for each jointThe Neural Warm Up I is a complement to R-Phase.
It's a ten minute series that also moves through each joint of the body, and introduces some movements not in the R-Phase package that optimize hitting joints in for a quicker series. It's easy to get the Neural Warm Up I in every day, or on alternate days from doing the complete R-Phase series. Eric Cobb leads this movement suite. As with R-Phase, NWUI also includes an instructional set to make sure you're comfortable with each movement.
Eric Cobb leading cross body figure 8's in Neural Warm Up IEye Drills in Neural Warm Up I. Another attribute of the Neural Warm Up series is that they include eye drills. Eyes may not have joints but they do have muscles. And like any muscle, use it or lose it. There are also more nerves in the eyes than just about anywhere else, so making sure the eyes are moving through there full range of motion is pretty critical (and part of why contacts rather than glasses are recommended).
This is why i recommend getting R-Phase and Neural Warm Up I together: R-Phase provides multiple drills for each part of the body that can be practiced as a complete sequence, or, as taught in the manual, as a particular focus on a given day: like today, i'll do shoulder circles at various speeds. The Neural Warm Up is a well thought out, short, routine to make sure you get through each joint effectively, as well as work the eyes, and get a muscle recharge.
Manuals. Both R-Phase and NWUI come with manuals on how to get into practicing R-Phase for most benefit, with two twelve week programs. The manuals also go over the four speeds at which R-Phase is best practiced. Once you have the speed down that the video demo's, what about going super slowly? Very different feel on the muscles and joints to bring it down. Awesome variants.
A Note on the DVD's and why seeing a Zed'er is a good idea
I've heard from colleagues who've said "i've looked at the video" or "i've tried it [once or twice] and it didn't do anything remarkable for me" or "i like X's flow better." That's ok; it's understandable. These movements are precise, designed to hit targets rather than look pretty. Though watching someone do double elbow circles is pretty cool. And if you're already in good shape and doing mobility work, you mayn't feel a kowabunga effect. I know for myself when i've done them either daily or every other day as recommended, after breakie in my case, i just feel more energized. I can't claim, though, that i was doing them to optimal effect. I also know the first time i had a Z-Health trainer really check that i was hitting the toe pull targets, i had a revelatory experience. Man, what a difference! It went from ok to awesome.
Like any athletic endeavor, when learning new technique, while DVD's are great references, where possible, we also hear the recommendation to seek out a certified trainer for a session to tune our positions. This is just as true of joint mobility work as it is doing a kettlebell swing or a lift.
Getting an expert pair of eyes on these movements will ensure we get the most effective communication to the nervous system going. This meeting will help make sure we are hitting the target joints in full range of motion as effectively as possible. Also, such a meeting can also help target drills for a particular sport or for to address pain.
Why Z?
It's that last point that still makes me shake my head. It can sound like one is talking about a revival meeting: i saw this guy do these itty bitty moves, and he tried his shoulder again and his range of motion went way way up. Wow.
I've also seen folks do muscle work and be able to touch their toes when they couldn't before, so people can be helped by many things and in many ways. umm hmm. That's likely true. And that's great. The thing about Z that appeals to me is that it's working at the higher level or root of an issue by going for nerves. That suggests to me that muscle work, whether stretches or pulls or pushes, is more or less trying to get to the same signal paths but that by going away from the nerve receptors to these bigger tissues requires far bigger effort/work and i'm guessing has less precision.
With z, because it's going directly for the nerves, i hypothesize based on what i've seen and know of the science, the approach is more compact and specific. This minimal effort has great transferability. Anyone sitting at their desk can do ankle circles or finger waves or head titls.
Lighter, faster, stronger.
And again, what i'm describing here is in no way to challenge anyone else's mobility system - i don't know anyone else's mobility system. It's simply to articulate that this approach is based on the bleeding edge of what we know about the nervous system, movement and pain. It is specifically designed to do a particular neurological job to improve mobility; reduce pain and thus improve performance. As well, it has a compelling assessment associated with it to evaluate immediately if that job is being effected.
If you're potentially interested in doing a Z-Health cert based on anything you've read here, and you feel so inclined, please email info@zhealth.net for info and let them know mc recommended the cert. Trainers don't get money from these recommendations, but there's a new program where we will get money off our next certification, which is awesome. It's also a nice way for me to see if these articles help at all :) Thank you for reading. And for your consideration. You can always drop a comment here, too, if something you read helped.
update march 2009:
i've added a review of z health five months post certification and how it's been working so well with athletes in ways i hadn't anticipated.
update June 2009:
what's I-phase?
updated July 2009:
when add I-Phase to R-Phase
I-Phase is the more "in the real" version of R. R is the starting point - the basic vocab of Zed. I-Phase is the more flexible template, moving out of "neutral stance" and into more usual planes of motion.
Review 2009:
S-Phase: The Complete Athlete, Vol 1.
Tweet Follow @begin2dig
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