The following article is part of a series on the foundations and principles behind human movement.
Instead of emphasizing performance metrics like strength or power, or aesthetic goals like toning or losing weight, we should emphasize learning movement. Metrics like strength and power will all come automatically with practice. Here are the principles that underline the foundations of movement.
- Effective
- Efficient
Effectiveness is your ability to perform the desired movement. It does not matter if it is a handstand, Deadlift, or a backflip. Just ask yourself, did I do it?
If yes, we work on efficiency. If no, we regress or continue to practice the movement until we can be effective. As coaches, we can deconstruct the movement for our clients and work from there.
Efficiency is the ability to perform the movement, you guessed it, more efficiently. MovNat has an excellent definition: “Efficiency outcomes result in highest performance, lowest metabolic cost, and greater safety.” You can use performance metrics like height, speed, strength, and conditioning. When performing the handstand, can I do it for longer? When doing a Deadlift, can I lift more?
Conditioning (energy conservation) is essential; how much did it tax your metabolic system? Are you less or more winded? Did it feel physically easier to perform the task? Finally, safety is the technique employed. When Deadlifting, did I use proper bracing and breathing? Did I maximize my tension to the bar? Do I have the most optimal joint angles before I attempt to Deadlift?
How can we become more efficient?
It all starts with mindfulness. We must know what is happening with our bodies when practicing movement. We need to take the time to work on the technique we choose to perform.
So how do we form technique?
Mindfulness is the first step in the formation of a technique. What body parts or muscles are tense, and which are relaxed?
Let’s look at the Deadlift as an example:
Let’s look at the Deadlift as an example. The Deadlift is a hinge pattern where you aim to reach for an object you’re trying to pick up below you. You can take that object to hip or chest height; it doesn’t matter. For this example, we’re going to be using the barbell. So, if I wanted to perform the Deadlift with a barbell, it’s simply stepping behind the bar, reaching down, grabbing it, and picking it up. If I can do that, I will become effective, but I need to be more efficient. And I’m not efficient because I need to be mindful.
So, how do we become mindful?
What are we trying to use to pick up the barbell? To do that, you have to understand what is used to lift the barbell: your hamstrings, your glutes, your back extensors, your multifidus, your lats, and your arms are holding the bar to pick it up. My first step should be to brace while I’m standing, then I’m going to reach down to the bar, then I’m going to grab the bar. Now, this is the first step we used to make ourselves more efficient: brace, reach down, pick it up. I’m still effective, but I’m more efficient.
What else do we do to continue to be more efficient?
Well, I reach down to the bar, and I grip the bar. Now, I’m still braced. Now, I will try to break the bar and pack my shoulders. Be mindful of whether I am taking my shoulders to my hip. I should feel those muscles turn on and have that mind-muscle connection.
Am I feeling this in my lats?
That should be the question I’m asking. If yes, I go and execute picking up the bar, and now I’ve made myself even more efficient. There are multiple more steps we can take. At some point, you want to be able to grab the bar, and you should be breaking the bar. You should be braced; your lats should be active, and you should pull out all the slack away from the bar. My hamstrings should feel engaged; my glutes should feel engaged. And when I pick this thing up, I’m driving out of the ground and shutting my hips forward. Now, what did I do? I’ve made the lift as efficient as I can. Can I continue to practice? Of course, I can, but I’ve made the movement much more efficient and safer. At some point, I’ll be able to lift more, etcetera.
When you are ineffective, you need to take a step back from the movement you are trying to complete because you do not have the current physical ability to perform the movement task in question. What we do is a little thing called deconstruction, which is also called regression. Let’s continue with the example we used before: the hinge pattern. It is not the end of the world if I cannot perform an effective hip hinge with a barbell. I will take a few steps back and talk about how we can improve that hip hinge from various positions. For example, I might start from a kneeling position, then move to an open half-kneeling position, and then to a standing hip hinge position using Tripod Getups. Using various positions is a beautiful opportunity to improve and teach me what a hinge is while being mindful of the same experience.
From there, I will progress back up and eventually make it to that barbell Deadlift I desperately tried to do. It raises whether I should have started with the barbell Deadlift if I don’t know how to hinge my hips. Movement is not so black and white that you can’t do a barbell Deadlift unless you can Deadlift a kettlebell or hex bar. You can do any movement or perform any movement at any time as long as you can be effective. But you have to ask yourself if that is your goal. Is this the thing that you want to do? If I want to do a barbell Deadlift by any means necessary and only work on a barbell, then sure. But I can still practice all the other things to improve that movement. We know that practicing as many different random skills will have some carryover as long as we are practicing the same idea of a pattern. Hip hinge from kneeling, from tall kneeling, from split kneel, from half-open kneeling, from a deep hip hinge pattern. All of these things can assist in your ability to get into a hinge pattern, to begin with, teaching your body to act in any context.
The most important takeaway message should be that you should enjoy practicing movement, learn to be mindful of what you are trying to accomplish, and feel happy about the new things you can achieve and your autonomy over your body. Focus on the practice because all the results you have been craving for years – getting stronger, looking better, losing weight, jumping higher – are all products of you becoming more efficient at moving. Remember, movement is in your DNA.