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.
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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
Monday, September 8, 2008
Why Attend the Minnesota ZHealth Workshop: move better, feel better - really (a workshop preview)
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Tweet
Want to last longer, move better, reduce pain? At the end of october - in fact, that's halloween (Oct. 31) to Nov 2 - Dragon Door is hosting a Z-Health workshop called " Z-Health
The Essential Secrets of Elite Performance" for Athletes. Athletes is a term defined broadly: if you move, and want to improve your movement - your athletic effort - you're an athlete.
Why would you want to attend this workshop? There's a couple of big reasons:
(1) If you're an athlete who suffers from any kind of ache, tweak or out and out pain, and have repeatedly hit the manual therapists' offices - whether chiro, massage or similar, the approach presented in ZHealth (or Z-Health or Z Health) will help. That's a bold claim. It's true and i'll come back to it.
(2) If you're an athlete who's hit a plateau, you'll learn skills that will help you tune your performance in what are likely very new ways - unless you're already working with a trainer certified in the Z approach that will help you move past your plateau.
(3) if you're an athlete who needs good hand/eye coordination for your sport, believe it or not, you'll improve it.
(4) If you're an athlete learning a new sport or have been playing a particular sport for awhile, the workshop will help you move with more efficiency. More efficiency means more power, speed - more of what's good for your game. The same goes for whether you're a powerlifter, kettlebell'er or hockey player.
You may say, ok, those sound like incremental improvements. So what?
On the one hand, the answer might be well, increments are what it's all about in sport: in the recent olympics, the difference between a world and olympic record in the 200m men's sprint was 2/10ths of a second. it took almost a generation to beat that record, too. You may say well you're not competing at that kind of elite level; those kind of increments don't mean much to you.
OK. If getting better measurable gains in your activity is not important to you, that's fine. For instance, you mayn't care that you can walk your circuit faster; you just want to keep doing it.
So therefore, on the other hand, that's the other rationale for improving efficiency: improving function while reducing wear and tear on the body. If we move with more efficiency, we're using our bodies more effectively. That means less energy is put into that movement, which means we have more energy for other things. Likewise, that efficiency means better use of our limited resource - ourselves - which means fewer problems over the long haul.
A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
One of the things we learn about in human physiology is that we're internally extremely well connected - a tweak that starts in the foot can effect the knee, can effect the hip, can trigger the back, can bug the shoulder, can screw up the jaw, can hurt the head. The cumulative effect of these little things can mean at the least less effective, efficient movement and at the worst means a whole host of pain, and a set up for problems like injuries in the movements to come.
The z approach takes this science of our wiring and shows us how to tune our movement to create the clearest path, the freest signal through that wiring so that we can work as effectively as possible. That efficiency means better performance, reduced pain. It's freaky how these things connect, and how quickly the effect can be demonstrated.
The Missing Manual
One of the biggest drags about us is that we don't come with The Manual.
I used to work a lot on motorcycles - this was necessary as i could only afford ones that were made a decade or more before the period in which i was riding them, and so, that telling you something about my finances, i had to be able to maintain them. One of the best resources for this up keep was (a) canadian tire, home of many parts that could be jury-rigged into working and (b) clymer manuals on how these things fit together - both the mechanicals and the all-important electrics. Without these manuals, hacking around the bike to try to tune it was just guess work. If it worked, it was often more luck than knowledge.
We don't come with Clymers. Netter's Anatomy and Guyton and Hall's Physiology while great texts on body parts and discrete physical systems, ain't great when it comes to seeing how, to put it loosely, the mechanical interacts with the electrics.
Without such a manual, what we often do in our own training, especially those of us who do not have coaches, is our best guess hacks. We read the articles, maybe follow some forums, watch friends, and try to put together an effective approach to get results, from getting the right gear to applying "correct" form. But how do we know what we're doing *is* actually right? is actually good for us? We're extremely complex, highly adaptive systems. We take tons of abuse, from poor eating to high heel shoes and keep functioning. So sometimes it's hard to tell if what we're doing is wrong - especially if we seem to be making progress. But at what cost progress? Perhaps if you're making loads of gains and are completely pain-free (either during or apart from your activity), you've lucked out and are operating optimally. Way to go. For the rest of us, well, there's this tension we get in the neck, or the back kinda aches, or sometimes when we walk our knee hurts. Pavel has this comment on his seminar with Charles Staley "Put up your hands anyone who's had a shoulder injury. Anyone who hasn't put up their hands, can't"
Anyone who's been in pain, and been helped out of it knows how much better their activities or daily lives are. For some of us, we go to manual therapies, and feel great for a time once we're off the table. For some, that treatment's enough. For many of us, we have to keep going back to get that release.
For all of us in such tweaked categories, getting a manual to deal with these tweaks proactively can make a world of difference to our performance - on and off the field; in and out of the gym.
Demystifying Movement
In the Z approach, athletes get a broader view of movement than muscle. After all, we have bones, muscles, nerves, but we also have sensory and perceptual functions or various systems that maintain those bones muscles and nerves in space. Without these we couldn't stay upright, little own move. The Z approach takes each of these components into account when talking about tuning movement.
Some folks think that Z is about joint mobility: that its thing is just to focus on moving the bendy bits instead of manipulating muscles, like other folks do.
In my experience of Z the answer is yes and no. Yes, the initial approach (Day 1 of the workshop, R Phase focus) is HUGE on getting full range of motion around joints, but the focus on joints is there as a powerful means to an end. The real meat and potatoes of the this initial phase is about what's happening around those joints with our nervous system, particularly with mechanoreceptors. Joints have more of these awareness detectors than any other part of the body. If one part of the body is having issues with its reception, the ENTIRE rest of the body responds. You'll see a demo that shows a problem with a thumb - no pain, but a less than fully mobile joint - will substantially, hugely shut down the ability of the hamstrings to generate force, but how freeing up that thumb joint will bring that strength back. That improvement in strength had nothing to do with building mass; it had to do with improving the signal path from a seemingly unrelated joint back to the brain - to give the all clear for that joint.
Bottom line of R: decreased joint mobility (a joint that cannot move through full range of motion), decreased strength; increased mobility, increased strength.
In Day 2 with I phase, the focus moves from the joints' relation to movement into how our visual and vestibular systems - balance, eye tracking and so on effect movement.
The S part of the workshop begins to put these components together into movement practice for coordinated benefit.
THE GOODS
The workshop promo uses terms like "massive" development of power and "immediate" strength gains. These sound very much too good to be true, don't they? And (to me, unfortunately) the workshop also talks about "revealing secrets" to making these gains.
For the Less Trained. The thing is, if you haven't worked with a coach before ANY good coach will help you improve your performance - likely immediately. And if you haven't worked with a coach before, they may even break your current personal best in one session. So i'm not too moved by such claims. So on the grossest level, if you take this seminar you will definitely learn stuff to improve your performance, and you will see benefits right away. But what differentiates this approach from perhaps others is the longer haul: there are many many carry over effects of the whole Z approach that go beyond sport specific training.
If you learn how to squat right, for instance, you learn how to do this one activity well. If, however, you learn how to stand in balance on your bones, using as little energy as possible to hold a "long" spine, you have a foundation for effective powerful movement in any movement/activity (on day 3, if you're a kettlebeller, ask about "femur snap rather than hip snap" in the swing/snatch).
For the More Coached/Trained. If you have worked with coaches before, or do so right now, then you know how precious any gains can be. If your coaching/training has focused on mainly muscle work, it doesn't take a big leap of the imagination to get that if you can bring on board the other systems of the body like proprioception, like the vestibular and visual systems, that you're going to do better, harmonizing more of what the body has to offer to improve performance. Check out Mike T Nelson's posts about deadlift improvements with Z approaches for more.
For Those With Pain or Injury. If you've had an injury or are coping with one now, you'll know how valuable it can be to get out of pain so you can get back to your training. You may see a specialist to treat your ills and feel great while that happens. But have you asked yourself why do you have to keep going back to feel well? Do you believe that you will have to keep going to feel well? Would you like to explore the options of how you could take care of yourself such that you could get out of the treatment cycle?
If you are in pain, and would like that attended, may i recommend booking an appointment during the weekend with Dr. Cobb who will be delivering the workshop? He can assess and point you to a proactive plan for your own well being. It's worth it.
IN SUM
If you are keen to make your body last as long as possible pain free, running effectively, and efficiently, and if you want to improve your athletic performance, the skills you'll learn over these three days will literally last a life time.
Note for Instructors: if you're a trainer and want to learn how to provide these kinds of techniques for your clients, as well as how to do assessments of performance, you may want to consider taking in a Z-Health certification course rather than this workshop (here's a review of my experience with the first z-health cert, r-phase). Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Want to last longer, move better, reduce pain? At the end of october - in fact, that's halloween (Oct. 31) to Nov 2 - Dragon Door is hosting a Z-Health workshop called " Z-HealthThe Essential Secrets of Elite Performance" for Athletes. Athletes is a term defined broadly: if you move, and want to improve your movement - your athletic effort - you're an athlete.
Why would you want to attend this workshop? There's a couple of big reasons:
(1) If you're an athlete who suffers from any kind of ache, tweak or out and out pain, and have repeatedly hit the manual therapists' offices - whether chiro, massage or similar, the approach presented in ZHealth (or Z-Health or Z Health) will help. That's a bold claim. It's true and i'll come back to it.
(2) If you're an athlete who's hit a plateau, you'll learn skills that will help you tune your performance in what are likely very new ways - unless you're already working with a trainer certified in the Z approach that will help you move past your plateau.
(3) if you're an athlete who needs good hand/eye coordination for your sport, believe it or not, you'll improve it.
(4) If you're an athlete learning a new sport or have been playing a particular sport for awhile, the workshop will help you move with more efficiency. More efficiency means more power, speed - more of what's good for your game. The same goes for whether you're a powerlifter, kettlebell'er or hockey player.
You may say, ok, those sound like incremental improvements. So what?
On the one hand, the answer might be well, increments are what it's all about in sport: in the recent olympics, the difference between a world and olympic record in the 200m men's sprint was 2/10ths of a second. it took almost a generation to beat that record, too. You may say well you're not competing at that kind of elite level; those kind of increments don't mean much to you.
OK. If getting better measurable gains in your activity is not important to you, that's fine. For instance, you mayn't care that you can walk your circuit faster; you just want to keep doing it.
So therefore, on the other hand, that's the other rationale for improving efficiency: improving function while reducing wear and tear on the body. If we move with more efficiency, we're using our bodies more effectively. That means less energy is put into that movement, which means we have more energy for other things. Likewise, that efficiency means better use of our limited resource - ourselves - which means fewer problems over the long haul.
A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
One of the things we learn about in human physiology is that we're internally extremely well connected - a tweak that starts in the foot can effect the knee, can effect the hip, can trigger the back, can bug the shoulder, can screw up the jaw, can hurt the head. The cumulative effect of these little things can mean at the least less effective, efficient movement and at the worst means a whole host of pain, and a set up for problems like injuries in the movements to come.
The z approach takes this science of our wiring and shows us how to tune our movement to create the clearest path, the freest signal through that wiring so that we can work as effectively as possible. That efficiency means better performance, reduced pain. It's freaky how these things connect, and how quickly the effect can be demonstrated.
The Missing Manual
One of the biggest drags about us is that we don't come with The Manual.
I used to work a lot on motorcycles - this was necessary as i could only afford ones that were made a decade or more before the period in which i was riding them, and so, that telling you something about my finances, i had to be able to maintain them. One of the best resources for this up keep was (a) canadian tire, home of many parts that could be jury-rigged into working and (b) clymer manuals on how these things fit together - both the mechanicals and the all-important electrics. Without these manuals, hacking around the bike to try to tune it was just guess work. If it worked, it was often more luck than knowledge.
We don't come with Clymers. Netter's Anatomy and Guyton and Hall's Physiology while great texts on body parts and discrete physical systems, ain't great when it comes to seeing how, to put it loosely, the mechanical interacts with the electrics.
Without such a manual, what we often do in our own training, especially those of us who do not have coaches, is our best guess hacks. We read the articles, maybe follow some forums, watch friends, and try to put together an effective approach to get results, from getting the right gear to applying "correct" form. But how do we know what we're doing *is* actually right? is actually good for us? We're extremely complex, highly adaptive systems. We take tons of abuse, from poor eating to high heel shoes and keep functioning. So sometimes it's hard to tell if what we're doing is wrong - especially if we seem to be making progress. But at what cost progress? Perhaps if you're making loads of gains and are completely pain-free (either during or apart from your activity), you've lucked out and are operating optimally. Way to go. For the rest of us, well, there's this tension we get in the neck, or the back kinda aches, or sometimes when we walk our knee hurts. Pavel has this comment on his seminar with Charles Staley "Put up your hands anyone who's had a shoulder injury. Anyone who hasn't put up their hands, can't"
Anyone who's been in pain, and been helped out of it knows how much better their activities or daily lives are. For some of us, we go to manual therapies, and feel great for a time once we're off the table. For some, that treatment's enough. For many of us, we have to keep going back to get that release.
For all of us in such tweaked categories, getting a manual to deal with these tweaks proactively can make a world of difference to our performance - on and off the field; in and out of the gym.
Demystifying Movement
In the Z approach, athletes get a broader view of movement than muscle. After all, we have bones, muscles, nerves, but we also have sensory and perceptual functions or various systems that maintain those bones muscles and nerves in space. Without these we couldn't stay upright, little own move. The Z approach takes each of these components into account when talking about tuning movement.
Some folks think that Z is about joint mobility: that its thing is just to focus on moving the bendy bits instead of manipulating muscles, like other folks do.
In my experience of Z the answer is yes and no. Yes, the initial approach (Day 1 of the workshop, R Phase focus) is HUGE on getting full range of motion around joints, but the focus on joints is there as a powerful means to an end. The real meat and potatoes of the this initial phase is about what's happening around those joints with our nervous system, particularly with mechanoreceptors. Joints have more of these awareness detectors than any other part of the body. If one part of the body is having issues with its reception, the ENTIRE rest of the body responds. You'll see a demo that shows a problem with a thumb - no pain, but a less than fully mobile joint - will substantially, hugely shut down the ability of the hamstrings to generate force, but how freeing up that thumb joint will bring that strength back. That improvement in strength had nothing to do with building mass; it had to do with improving the signal path from a seemingly unrelated joint back to the brain - to give the all clear for that joint.
Bottom line of R: decreased joint mobility (a joint that cannot move through full range of motion), decreased strength; increased mobility, increased strength.
In Day 2 with I phase, the focus moves from the joints' relation to movement into how our visual and vestibular systems - balance, eye tracking and so on effect movement.
The S part of the workshop begins to put these components together into movement practice for coordinated benefit.
THE GOODS
The workshop promo uses terms like "massive" development of power and "immediate" strength gains. These sound very much too good to be true, don't they? And (to me, unfortunately) the workshop also talks about "revealing secrets" to making these gains.
For the Less Trained. The thing is, if you haven't worked with a coach before ANY good coach will help you improve your performance - likely immediately. And if you haven't worked with a coach before, they may even break your current personal best in one session. So i'm not too moved by such claims. So on the grossest level, if you take this seminar you will definitely learn stuff to improve your performance, and you will see benefits right away. But what differentiates this approach from perhaps others is the longer haul: there are many many carry over effects of the whole Z approach that go beyond sport specific training.
If you learn how to squat right, for instance, you learn how to do this one activity well. If, however, you learn how to stand in balance on your bones, using as little energy as possible to hold a "long" spine, you have a foundation for effective powerful movement in any movement/activity (on day 3, if you're a kettlebeller, ask about "femur snap rather than hip snap" in the swing/snatch).
For the More Coached/Trained. If you have worked with coaches before, or do so right now, then you know how precious any gains can be. If your coaching/training has focused on mainly muscle work, it doesn't take a big leap of the imagination to get that if you can bring on board the other systems of the body like proprioception, like the vestibular and visual systems, that you're going to do better, harmonizing more of what the body has to offer to improve performance. Check out Mike T Nelson's posts about deadlift improvements with Z approaches for more.
For Those With Pain or Injury. If you've had an injury or are coping with one now, you'll know how valuable it can be to get out of pain so you can get back to your training. You may see a specialist to treat your ills and feel great while that happens. But have you asked yourself why do you have to keep going back to feel well? Do you believe that you will have to keep going to feel well? Would you like to explore the options of how you could take care of yourself such that you could get out of the treatment cycle?
If you are in pain, and would like that attended, may i recommend booking an appointment during the weekend with Dr. Cobb who will be delivering the workshop? He can assess and point you to a proactive plan for your own well being. It's worth it.
IN SUM
If you are keen to make your body last as long as possible pain free, running effectively, and efficiently, and if you want to improve your athletic performance, the skills you'll learn over these three days will literally last a life time.
Note for Instructors: if you're a trainer and want to learn how to provide these kinds of techniques for your clients, as well as how to do assessments of performance, you may want to consider taking in a Z-Health certification course rather than this workshop (here's a review of my experience with the first z-health cert, r-phase). Tweet Follow @begin2dig
Friday, August 29, 2008
Brilliant RKC's? It's academic: meet Al
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Awhile ago, i pointed to RKC Mike T Nelson's ongoing reports on research for recovery. That piece in turn pointed to an interview i ran with Mike over at IAMGEEKFIT. Mike, as many of you know, is a PhD student in kinesiology.
This week, it's my pleasure to introduce you to another RKC who's area of interest lies in yet another field of inquiry: health sciences. Suleiman Al-Sabah is a PhD working as a researcher at the University of Reading in the UK doing amazing things with drugs around the issue of drug resistance. Within this, he's a martial artist who's turned to kettlebelling as the way he does his GPP. You'll find he's also a strong TSC participant as well. Hope you'll find the interview interesting.
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Follow @begin2dig
This week, it's my pleasure to introduce you to another RKC who's area of interest lies in yet another field of inquiry: health sciences. Suleiman Al-Sabah is a PhD working as a researcher at the University of Reading in the UK doing amazing things with drugs around the issue of drug resistance. Within this, he's a martial artist who's turned to kettlebelling as the way he does his GPP. You'll find he's also a strong TSC participant as well. Hope you'll find the interview interesting.
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Follow @begin2dig
Monday, August 25, 2008
Increase the Weight and Challenge of your KB's: Kneel!
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Some have shown that if you want a cheap way to increase the weight of your upper body Kettlebell work, go "bottom's up": hold the handle so the butt of the bell is in the air, rather than hanging down. Here's another that can increase the effort on your presses, whether with dumbbells or kettlebells: kneel. If you want to challenge your stability as well as strength, genuflect.
Taking the legs out of the equation to induce more of an upper body challenge is not new: Pavel Tsatsouline in More Russian Kettlebell Challenges uses various seated presses; Mike Mahler does likewise at least once in most of his DVDs.
The difference is that these are seated variants, and kneeling is the kind of halfway house between standing and sitting; kneeling vs genuflecting provides even more opportunities for working balance and motion. In the CK-FMS, more about these challenges are taught as corrective strategies for mobility and stability.
But even without such study, you can give kneeling/genuflecting a try: you'll be surprised no doubt at how the bell you feel comfortably challenged pressing from your feet becomes impossible on one's knees.
This simple positional change adds a radical new dimension to one's training. I'm personally blown away by how an adaptation that costs nothing gives me a whole new way to practice familiar moves with a new perspective, as shown by Rif here
Give it a try. Let me know what you find.
Tweet
Follow @begin2dig
Taking the legs out of the equation to induce more of an upper body challenge is not new: Pavel Tsatsouline in More Russian Kettlebell Challenges uses various seated presses; Mike Mahler does likewise at least once in most of his DVDs.
The difference is that these are seated variants, and kneeling is the kind of halfway house between standing and sitting; kneeling vs genuflecting provides even more opportunities for working balance and motion. In the CK-FMS, more about these challenges are taught as corrective strategies for mobility and stability.
But even without such study, you can give kneeling/genuflecting a try: you'll be surprised no doubt at how the bell you feel comfortably challenged pressing from your feet becomes impossible on one's knees.
This simple positional change adds a radical new dimension to one's training. I'm personally blown away by how an adaptation that costs nothing gives me a whole new way to practice familiar moves with a new perspective, as shown by Rif here
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