exuberant animal

change your body, change the world

national applied functional physical education conference

october 24, 2009

an integrative, multi-disciplinary approach to health and performance

exuberant animal

the ancestral environment

okavango delta, botswana, southern africa

4

5

sedentary living, fake food (efls), noise, temporal poverty, sleep deprivation, tribal ambiguity, asc

alien environment

practical

what is functional training?

Vern Gambetta: “Work movements, not muscles.”

• multi-joint, multi-plane

• emphasis on movement, not appearance

• emphasis on locomotion

• emphasis on the nervous system

• emphasis on real-world challenges

• relevant to the individual’s life!

functional movement skills?

locomotionsquattingdigginglifting carryingthrowing

functional movement skills

terrain, momentum, bodies, rocks and sticks

March 1998

function v. structure

“asymptomatic abnormalities”

yin and yang of animal movement

spinal cord

isolation v. integration

whips and chains

“Lift the weight with your whole body.”

“Hit the ball with your whole body.”

“Coordination is the quality which enables the individual to integrate all the powers and capabilities of his whole organism into an effective doing of an act.”

Bruce Lee

athletics, dance and martial art

“Is your workout wasting your time?

Best Life December 2007by Paul Scott

illustration by Matt Mahurin

functional movement

v. isolated machine training

“it’s all one muscle.”

core: what do we want?

strength?skill?speed? a skinny waist?

core body control

130-300 vertebrae

lateral undulation, waves of muscular contraction

spine as the locomotor engine

on your feet!in the position of function!

specific to real-world challenges!

a world of free weights

balance and proprioception

proprioceptive data:390 feet per second

motor commands

from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own"

the “sixth sense” or the “secret sense”

sagittal: marching

frontal: side-hill

transverse: dance

multi-plane performance

it’s psychophysical

a better biped

1984 Air Jordan 1

6 million years of barefootingv.

25 years on marshmallows

today

earliest bipedalism:6 mya lucy

AMHS

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"pleasure is power."Kay Redfield Jamison

Exuberance

how old is play?

• all mammals play

• all primates play

“Jurassic beaver”120 mya

February 2006

Play is vital to learning and growth.

It is also vital for social, organizational and cultural function.

(also language, music, dance and aesthetics)

play is a human universal

Donald Brown 1991

play deprivation has consequences

photos courtesy Stuart Brown MD, National Institute for Play

the power of play

Play contributes to increased resilience, creativity, curiosity, learning and adaptation.

Play helps us transcend false endpoints. (ideas and methods believed to be complete) see Dick Fosbury

BDNF and neurogenesis

“Play exists, in significant measure, to promote plasticity and to teach an animal to take advantage of opportunity.”

Kay Redfield JamisonExuberance

long term athletic development

10 years or 10,000 hours

make it sustainable!

creating a culture

the martial art model

respectdisciplinecommunityapprenticeshipfocus on learning

more discipline = more fun

everyone’s a coach

roles

frequent role reversals

(but only one sensei)

clinical play

find a weakness, then create a game to challenge it

or, assume a weakness

toys, tools, technology

low-tech, high touch

• look for appropriate technology

• simple toys and tools

• any floor, indoors or out

invest in people and training!

in search of the perfect pump:

intro to partner resistance training

a cooperative contest

how to:

Choose a functional movement.

Find the opposing movement.

Develop rapport.

Keep adjusting as desired for the perfect pump.

“slow the other guy down” “smooth resistance”

athlete or coach?don’t worry about it!

high speed

low resistance

high speed

high resistance

low speed

low resistance

low speed

high resistance

speed

resistance

progression