24 Aug Notes On Movement And Mobility… How To Become A Supple Leopard.

I recently had the honor to dive deeper and expand my own knowledge into movement and mobility at workshop here in South Florida.

The workshop was so important, I thought I’d put together a short summary and share it.

What you do with the information is up to you, but I definitely hope you act on it.

I had the privilege to attend Kelly Starrett‘s Movement and Mobility seminar.

While I won’t be able to explain all I learned in the workshop, taking 9 pages of copious notes, I will provide a very general overview of the message and a few key learnings for you to consider.

Before I get into that, I should mention that Kelly is one of the smartest, passionate, and nicest guys you’ll probably ever meet.

If you ever have the chance to learn from him in his workshops, I highly suggest you take advantage of it.

Here’s a guy with massive success based on his movement paradigm and methodology in his ground-breaking best selling book, Supple Leopard (which I highly recommend for every serious fitness enthusiast, athlete, and coach.)

So, what did I learn?

According to Kelly, approximately 98% of our musculoskeletal problems (injuries and dysfunctions) are preventable.

If that stat is true, that’s absolutely unreal.

Here’s the deal and here’s what I firmly believe in and agree with.

We need to have a good fundamental baseline of human movement.

We need to have optimal positioning of our bodies in daily function and certainly in athletics and training because when we don’t, we will eventually break down.

Coach Dan John has an amazing and profound quote from his book Intervention.

He said, “fundamental human movements are fundamental.”

Thin about that for a minute.

Basic human movement is a fundamental thing, it’s fundamental.

That’s why problems are preventable because we have the capacity to restore movement and mobility, if we learn how to optimize our joint positions, improve motor control, and apply simple rules and principles.

For example, one of the big concepts Kelly speaks about and covers in Supple Leopard is the ability to “organize our spine.”

This is of vital importance because if our spine is not set in an optimal position, then everything else will be out of position, as well.

Makes sense, right?

This is a simple concept to get organized or “get set” in an optimal spinal position before anything else.

Especially when you consider the incidence of low back pain and the fact that approximately 40% of us will experience low back pain at some point in our lives (I’ve already been there, done that).

So, his principle of getting organized is extremely valuable and can not only significantly influence your training approach, but your day to day function.

Another huge concept he covered was the law of torque (which can be found in great detail in Chapter 4 of Supple Leopard).

This concept is game changing, as well, in your training and body positioning.

Essentially you are stabilizing your shoulder and hip joints with the law of torque.

I fully agree with this principle because it creates stability in our joints prior to generating a force, as we must do in strength training.

If we create a force without being stable, we are setting ourselves up for injury.

These are just 2 quick examples of the concepts he covered in the seminar.

For a complete and thorough understanding of these principles and others, definitely get Kelly’s book as he goes into much more detail and you will clearly understand how to apply these principles, especially with all the visuals in the book (with literally hundreds of pictures).

The Supple Leopard approach is extremely valuable and I personally changed my own training techniques based on the principles in the book (getting organized and the law of torque are both examples).

What action should you take after reading this?

I have 3 suggestions for you;

1.) Obviously, get the book Supple Leopard (if you don’t have it already).  It’s an outstanding book and one you will reference over and over again, as I have.  Read it, then apply the concepts that are relevant to where you are in your training and mobility.

2.) Consider attending one of Kelly’s Movement and Mobility seminars and learn directly from Kelly himself.  Don’t wait too long to sign up though, as these seminars sell out fast.  Click here to see his seminar schedule.

3.) And, finally check out his Creative Live video course.  I have this myself and it’s awesome.  It covers the key principles in his movement and mobility approach and it’s a completely downloadable product, as well.

If you’re serious about your training and performance and want to keep out of the “pain cave,” then pick one of the 3 options and get it going.

And, don’t forget I interviewed Kelly on episode 25 of the podcast, if you haven’t heard that, check it out now.

This is really great information and it’s shifting the movement based training approach in the right direction.

I wrote this up because it’s these principles that can truly help us all.