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Specialized Training or Abilities

Now, let’s look at the top of the performance pyramid – special abilities. This should be the icing on top of the cake, but instead is the starting and ending point for many people.

What I mean by special abilities is a singular focus on one physical quality such as strength, or a program of sport-specific or occupational specific movements. The human body can be trained to do some amazing and very unique things. Some of these abilities are more along the lines of developing a certain physical quality to the max, such as sprinting 100m as fast as possible or running a marathon. Others are more highly developed skills – think professional golfer or circus performer. 

By nature, a very narrow focus on certain abilities requires an imbalanced approach. It often takes an incredible focus of time and energy to get great at something, and this leaves little left to train toward being well-rounded. Now, this doesn’t need to be a big problem if specific work is done to minimize imbalances and you have your foundation in order.

Movement Capacity:

This post, we look at the second tier of the pyramid – movement. How well can you move, how many movement options do you have available, how relaxed are you when moving, and are you moving in the appropriate way in which the body is designed? 

Someone with good range of motion AND control in all joints will have access to a great level of fitness by virtue of that. But, just like when we explored the first tier of being human, most people are far off the mark in this category also. Why?

The body adapts to any posture you adopt regularly to make it easier. The body always looks for ways to conserve energy, and we become distorted over time due to our unnatural lifestyles, eg: sitting all the time for work and relaxation.

In this mini-series, I’m going to talk about fitness, health, and longevity. We’ll also look at why the conventional approach is pretty far off base.

The first concept that it is important to understand is why we need to exercise at all: it’s essentially because in the modern world, we lead our lives completely unlike what a human being is designed for. We are supposed to be outdoors and move a lot, doing light physical activity daily. We’d do this year round, no matter whether young or old. Occasionally, we’d need high output bursts of activity. We wouldn’t sit much, squatting instead as a resting position. 

Continue reading “3 Tiers of Movement, Part 1”