In the last article, we discussed the foundation of movement and covered effectiveness and efficiency. Now, we will take a deeper dive into efficiency and break down all the components involved in creating better techniques or the formation of techniques. Let’s start with a couple of definitions.

Key Words

Positional Integrity, refers to how a specific position of the joints relates to each other. Think of how your spine is aligned in the Deadlift.

Points of Support are the specific parts of your body and how they relate to the Surface of Support, which is what holds your body. Think of the floor or sand at the beach. Is your surface stable or unstable? In terms of points of support, how many of them are in contact with that surface support?

Your Base of Support is the area below you. The wider your base of support, the greater your stability. For example, if you are lying completely flat on your stomach, you have a substantial base of support. If you are standing on one foot, you have a very narrow base of support.

Sequence refers to a particular order in which each body part moves as they combine to complete a specific movement or task.

Timing concerns the rhythm of movement. For example, when we think of cyclical things like running or swimming, we talk about how our arms, legs, and limbs move sequentially. The timing is the rhythm, such as the speed and duration of the movement of each limb.

Body Weight Shift, shifting your body weight from one part to another, such as from one leg to another leg when you run or when you’re shifting side to side.

Body Weight Transfer is the movement of an individual or set of limbs to complete a task, such as your arms swinging when you’re about to perform a forward jump or your legs swinging before you climb something.

Tension and Relaxation refer to what is tense and what is relaxed. For example, when doing a pull-up, your hands and lats tense while your legs relax.

Now that we have the keywords out of the way, we will apply them all to specific movements and see how they tie into making a movement more efficient. 

The Get-Up is a perfect movement because all movement evolves from the floor. We learned how to move by growing up from being infants to becoming adults. All the exploration and adventuring we did as kids resulted in us having some level of movement proficiency. Unfortunately, as we age, we stop being mindful of the movement we can perform. Although it’s great to perform a movement without thought, that shows a high level of mastery. It’s also interesting to see adults move poorly with a high level of proficiency. It’s like thoughtless poor movement, and we don’t think anything of it, and then we wonder why we’re hurt.

So, like anything, you can forget it if you don’t think about it too much. Out of sight, out of mind. Let’s remind ourselves how we can move much better or improve our movement practice.

The Get-Up starts flat on our back and involves some concepts right off the bat, and that first concept is a body weight shift. We will drive out of that left leg to roll our body onto our right arm.

So we’ve shifted our body weight onto our right elbow. Next, we need to know what’s tense and what’s relaxed. In this position, you should feel that right lat muscle engaged and tight, and you should feel some tension on that right side of your body as you’re driving away from the ground and stabilizing your weight using that right elbow. The rest of your body should be relaxed.

Let’s go a couple of steps further. The next move is after I’ve posted my elbow, then post to my hand, and then I will perform a low sweep. In each of these positions, I want to know how my body would be transferring, where I have tension and relaxation, what my surface support is, and what my points of support are. The easiest thing to understand is that my surface support is the floor; it’s pretty flat and stable, so it should be easy to manage the movement and execute it. The next thing to understand is what all my points of support are. When I was lying flat on my back at the beginning of this tutorial, my entire body was essentially my point of support, and then as I continued to stand, I minimized my points of support – an elbow, a hand, maybe two knees, and a foot. Think of all these things as you perform the movement and see what it feels like. Be mindful of what your body feels like as you go through each movement. When you’re performing that low sweep, do you feel your obliques? Do you feel your shoulder? Do you feel the weight in your hand as you shift your body weight from facing forward to facing down as you try to get your legs underneath you to stand?

In a nutshell, this is how we become more efficient when practicing a movement. We become more mindful of each step and each phase of the task or movement we’re trying to perform. I used the Get-Up in this example, but you can apply the same concept to anything. In the last article, I used the Deadlift and talked about the various positions – breaking the bar, packing the lats, ensuring tension in my hamstrings and glutes, and ensuring I have a neutral spine. All those things are essential, and yes, I’m saying them, but it’s different when you feel and understand, and internalize them.

Finally, let’s look at a more straightforward example. Prone Reaching is an excellent shoulder prep and rehab movement practical in teaching shoulder stability. Prone Reaching has a significant carryover to crawling patterns and climbing patterns. Start on your elbows, laying face down. Push away from the ground with your forearms. Drive your elbows toward your feet. Reach in various directions with each arm one at a time.

You will be surprised to note that you feel your abs engage, and your glutes might even involuntarily engage. Your quads, shoulders, and lats will also join the party. 

Be mindful of what is happening when practicing movement. The following article will discuss how natural movement can teach natural things we never thought about.