Welcome back to part 2 of my Over 40 Blueprint journey. If you perhaps missed the first part, and this is your first reading click here to catch up. Now to quickly recap on the first blog, I introduced you to the WHY of our movement problems and also why this concerns me so. I also made mention of our attempts or lack of addressing these concerns. And Im also sure were not purposefully going out of our way to destroy our bodies and our joints. Although I have seen some strange things in our local gyms.
Now to get things started right away, Im going to introduce you to my 7 movement rules. I would like you to understand and apply these 7 rules because it is whats going to help you get your movement health back, and also make your activities and/or sports so much more rewarding. As I explained in my ebook, it doesn’t matter if you play sports at the highest levels or play with your kids in the park, anyone can benefit from these rules.
Rule number 1
Rule of assessment
In everything that we do, assessing our environmental situations has to come up as the highest priority. We do it because we need to make the best decisions we can not only in order to succeed, but also for survival. Whether its finance, social, economical or behavioural we assess our environmental situations as a golden standard. It is also how we as humans learn. Making mistakes during our assessments, and we pay the price whatever that may be.
In looking after your health however, we don’t seem to have the skills or the disciplines to apply the same logic or principles. Maybe we should blame the poor attempt that was made during our physical educational years, where it seems it was more important to learn what shape balls we used for each sport, or that sport was the yardstick that would be used to measure your movement competency. Leaving half of us off the field, while cheering on the other half that was on the field. Getting into our poor physical education standards is a debate that I would likely cover in the near future, but for now think of it as the starting point for our concern.
My rule of assessment is simple. It is always the first thing we do in order for us to achieve our goals. It is also a universal rule, as you will see if forms the basis of everything we do in life. But this time its about you and you alone. The tools I use to help you get where you want to go is the self screen. It may not be as intricate and specialised as myself conducting a full screen, or orthopaedic and neural evaluation, but you will get the job done. The movement screens tell us 3 things about quality only. All a screen tells us is whether you:
you can,
you can’t,
you have pain.
Thats all, it divides the room into three. If we pick up any dysfunction during the screen, we will then usually follow this up with an assessment and/or evaluation. Performing a movement self screen on yourself will give you at least some direction as to what you’re capable of. The screen is not a performance indicator, nor does it measure skill. It only shows us what your movement competency is, and therefore shines a light on the following aspects of movement:
Mobility
Stability
Alignment
Balance
Asymmetries
Pain
Dysfunction
Remember, a self screen is only as good as the person performing it so be strict. Just to remind you of what a self screen is. Its based on the fundamental human movements that we all should be able to perform, for example a squat, a hip hinge, pushing and pulling patterns and of course locomotion. Having said that, any form of natural movement can be used as a screen such as a push-up! The self screens were designed to challenge your competency while performing a series of movement patterns. These patterns are universal to all, so they are nothing new although it may seem new to your body. If your have difficulty performing them, it just means that your body lacks the fundamental basics which you once had, but lost over the years.
An important note should you experience any pain during your movement screen, have it checked out by a healthcare practitioner if its pain you cannot explain. But if you feel that its related to stiffness or restriction, then you have some work to do. Following a self screen you will be classified into the above 3 levels. You will then follow the blueprint program Foundation to guide you back to the first level. During this process, you will learn allot not only about your body and how it functions with respect to movement. But also how your nervous system integrates the necessary control needed to perform basic fundamental movement patterns. You will learn that your nervous system is the most smartest and complicated organisms on the planet, capable of the most amazing adaptations and movements.
If you enjoyed this post or have any questions about me or this post, please leave me a comment below. Looking forward to our next blog.
To your movement health.
Marius
