13 Nov Insights Into Human Movement – The Truth About Why We Need To Move Well

I recently attended an outstanding seminar and certification.

It was a 4-day course on Human Movement.

Here’s an important statement on why we need to focus on the qualities of human movement.

“Movement doesn’t matter too much, until you can’t.”

Back to my seminar experience, 4 long days looking at the importance of functional human movement.

My brain was overloaded and and it was one of the better courses I’ve ever attended.

Human movement, the way we move, provides extensive information about appraising our level of health and fitness.

Yes, indeed, if we don’t move well, on a fundamental basis, how can we be expected to function or perform well?

If we don’t move well, generally we don’t function well and we don’t perform well.

Movement doesn’t matter…until you can’t.

But, what is good movement?

This is a question that I’ve asked many guests on the podcast.

I have my own definition, but one answer that stuck out to me was…

“Good movement depends on the context. To an 85 year old grandmother, good movement may be getting up and down from a chair, while good movement for a 25 year old weightlifter may mean having the flexibility, mobility and stability to receive an overhead snatch.”

In essence, good movement is being able to meet the demands of your everyday life, isn’t it?

Here’s an analogy to think about.

It’s often used because it makes sense.

If a house has a weak foundation, how could it be expected to hold up over time?

A crack in the foundation will reveal itself over time.

Our bodies are the same way.

Sooner or later, that foundation will crack and that provide trouble in one form or another.

With our body, it will likely mean injury.

If we “load” our bodies with heavy weight training and high level movements (speed and jump training, as examples), without having a solid foundation of quality movement, at some point the foundation is going to crack.

By looking at whole body movement patterns, we can assess whether someone has a good, core foundation to perform well with a load or weighted exercise program.

Just as an example, if you aren’t able to do a full bodyweight squat sufficiently, then how could you effectively train that pattern without fixing the deficiency first?

By performing a simple series of baseline movements, the information from this series of tests can provide some very valuable information about what you should be avoiding with your exercise program, if you don’t have a proper baseline of movement.

What does this mean for you?

I think that no matter where you are in your exercise journey, you should always consider the importance of movement assessment and programming in your training plan.

Why?

To keep the foundation strong.

Strength training must be built on the foundation of quality baseline movement.

And, ultimately to help prevent the risk for injury.

A simple Functional Movement Screen (FMS) – or other movement assessment – can take only 10 minutes to complete.

It’s worth your time and helps to identify any “red flags” in movement patterns.

How do you do this?

The easiest way is to find a certified specialist close to you at Functional Movement.

This is something I do with all of the students that I work with to establish a proper baseline of movement prior to training.

Ultimately, you’ll feel better and perform better, once any potentially problematic patterns have been corrected.

It means the pattern should be corrected prior to the appropriate exercise load.

It’s simple.

We screen your movement before we train your movement and if something isn’t quite right, we attempt to correct things through simple corrective exercises.

Corrective exercises are just exercises that are specific to you to address any gaps in mobility or stability that were assessed during the movement screen.

This is not a big deal, but training poor movement patterns only reinforces poor quality of movement which will ultimately lead to injury.

Make sense?

I hope so because this is some of the most important and potentially game changing information we may see in the area of physical fitness and performance.

For more information on the importance of movement screening, see the book Movement by Gray Cook.

In closing, I thought this was an extremely important subject and something that will clearly separate an exceptional strength and conditioning specialist or coach/trainer from the rest.

Appraising movement must precede physical fitness and performance training for the best interest of the student, athlete, or client.

Why?

To help reduce the incidence of injury.

Fundamental movement should be the first assessment prior to exercise training and progression to help prevent injury.

“Do no harm” may be the first and most important rule of exercise training.

CLOSING ACTION:

Get screened.

And, if you haven’t been screened in the last 6-12 months, you’re due.