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Primitive Initiative™- Biomechanical Training

March 26, 2015 By Garrett

As mentioned in the previous blog the Primitive Initiative® is a movement oriented training model based on 14 fundamental movement patterns arranged in a specific sequence to maximize results.  It combines biomechanical training with energy system sequencing to provide real life fitness for real life movements.  This can be an “end all be all” program or can be supplemented into current training programs.  Because this is a real life program it is specific to each person.  If someone likes to do bodybuilding, power lifting, distance running etc. many of these movement patterns can still be implemented in each person’s training regimen for better results and less injuries.

So let’s get started……..what is “Biomechanical Training”?  Well, that’s just a fancy way of me saying human movement training.  I have identified 14 human movement patterns that are common throughout life.  As young children we incorporate many of these as we learn to move and play.  As we become older we either begin to become sedentary or very specific in the nature of our training.  In either situation, we start to lose or neglect certain movement patterns.  This gets worse and worse as we go through our life.  The biomechanical training is designed to help reestablish the mobility and movement of the early years in our life.

Here are the 14 movement patterns that I have grouped into 3 categories:

 

Manipulative:

  1. Throwing/Catching: To propel an object through the air from a limb and then to grasp and hold onto an object as it propels back to the body.
  2. Picking up: Bringing an object up off of the ground and then bringing it back to the ground.
  3. Pushing- To press against an object with force in order to drive or impel in the direction of the force.
  4. Pulling- To exert force upon an object so as to cause or tend to cause motion toward the force.
  5. Chopping- To make a quick stroke or repeated stroke in an arcing motion.
  6. Carrying- To move an object through a distance while supporting it.

 

Locomotive:

 

  1. Reaching- ability to touch, pick up, or grab by moving, stretching, or extending limbs.
  2. Jumping/Landing: To spring into the air and then absorbing impact as the body is brought back to the surface.
  3. Getting up: Bringing the body up off of the ground from a laying position to an upright position.
  4. Crawling:  To advance in a prone or supine position where hands and feet are in contact with the ground.
  5. Climbing:  Moving suspended from the ground with gradual continued process.
  6. Crouching:  To lower the body stance while bending at the legs.

 

Variable:

 

  1. Transit:  An act of passing through or over terrain.
  2. Dynamic Methods- Activities that are fluid, connected, and skilled in their patterns. (Ok, I will admit this my catch all category for those movements that were hard for me to classify.  Things like dancing, tumbling and fighting will fall in this category)

 

Some of these are self-explanatory, some are not.  I will use future posts to further explore each movement and how to progress people through the movements.  Much like any program design, progression is key.  After all, if people have come to a point where they have not done a certain movement pattern since their childhood they are just as likely to injure themselves in a gym setting doing it as they would in a real life setting.  That is why they need to be progressed.  This we will leave for later, but for now, try to absorb the movements and look at your own programs to see what they might be missing.  Next week I will discuss another fancy word: Energy System Sequencing.

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Filed Under: certification, functional assessments, functional movement, fundamental movement patterns, human movement, movement, periodization, personal training, running, sports performance, strength and conditioning, weight loss Tagged With: beginnings, functional assessment, functional movement, fundamental movement patterns, health and fitness professional, human movement, movement, periodization, personal training, program design, weight loss

Primitive Initiative™- The Movement for movement!

March 18, 2015 By Garrett

In my near two decade fitness career I have had the pleasure of working with many clients of varying ages, abilities, dysfunctions, and goals.   In that time span I have worked with many Collegiate Athletes, budding youth athletes, obese and overweight populations, post-rehab/surgical clients, elderly populations, medical populations, the generally healthy, and even an Olympic athlete.  With this wide spectrum of clients I began to find one common problem within each demographic: the lack of movement within their training programs.

I am sure that it is not a surprise for some of these groups, but it may come as a surprise for other groups.  In my experience modern life has made us less and less likely to move.  As the human race has evolved we have developed lifestyles of efficiency.  Unfortunately this efficiency of life has made us inefficient operators of our bodies.

When we are brought into this world we are a blank slate, ready to absorb as much as we possibly can.  Everything we learn is through experimentation and exploration.  It is trial and error.  The more error there is the quicker we learn.  It is an amazing time in our lives.  Everything is a new experience.  We learn to smile, laugh, talk, crawl, walk, and run.  We learn to interact with others.  We learn to interact with and manipulate objects.  We learn to play.  Our play is wide and vast, almost limitless.

At some point in our lives we take one of two tracks.  We either become sedentary or we become specialized.  We may choose to play video games and watch tv instead of going outside and running around playing.  We may choose to play organized sports.  If we do play sports we start to specialize very early.  Many sports have become year round with the school season sport, AAU sport, Travel leagues, and sport specific training.  Our wide and vast movement patterns that we once had begun to disappear.

As we grow even older we go to college and take jobs that have us bound to a desk, hunched over a computer.  If we have the time and motivation to go to the gym, we pick select exercises that are inefficient and may cover only a very few of the movement patterns that are woefully missing from our lives.

Due to this slippery slope of non-movement, as we age we are unable to perform certain tasks efficiently.  Picking things up off the ground, reaching for a seat belt, getting up off the floor all become arduous tasks.  Our joints begin to get immobile, sore, swollen and broken down.  Sudden movements become risks of severe injury.  If an injury occurs it will take nearly two to three times as it once did to recover fully from it, if at all.  Chances are there will always be a limitation from the injury which ultimately will cause a compensation pattern. This will put undue stress upon another system or joint until there is another injury.  Once this injury cycle is entered into it is hard to escape.  Quality of function and ultimately quality of life is severely diminished.

It has been said that exercise is the only singular thing that reduces the risk of every known disease and illness and prolongs life.  I submit that movement is the only singular thing that will enhance and extend functional capacity, reduce injury, and increase quality of life.  My aim is to add movement back into fitness and into people’s lives.

Because of this I have created the Primitive Initiative®(notice the that I trademarked it!  That’s how strongly I believe this is the direction that the field should be and is going). The Primitive Initiative® is a movement oriented training model based on 14 fundamental movement patterns arranged in a specific sequence to maximize results.  It combines biomechanical training with energy system sequencing to provide real life fitness for real life movements.  Whether you call it athleticism, mobility or functionality, Primitive Initiative® enables the human body to operate in all planes of motion, in all positions of center of gravity, at all levels of intensity, in varying bases of support with efficiency and proficiency.  The Primitive Initiative® aims to add real human movement patterns back into fitness and exercise.  This is the movement for movement, and I am excited to share this technique with you over the next several blogs!

 

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Filed Under: assessments, certification, functional assessments, functional movement, fundamental movement patterns, human movement, movement, nutrition, periodization, personal training, running, sports performance, strength and conditioning, Uncategorized, vacation fitness, weight loss Tagged With: beginnings, functional assessment, functional movement, fundamental movement patterns, health and fitness professional, human movement, movement, nutrition, origins, periodization, personal training, program design, running

It’s All About Those Pants

December 31, 2014 By Garrett

This is my first blog of many to come.  I feel that it would be fitting tell you a little bit about how I ended up in this field.  My personal story is very common amongst fitness professionals.  I once was sedentary and overweight.

As I grew up my parents owned a pizza shop, which we also lived above.  Can you imagine!  Unlimited supply of pizza and subs all day long!  Sounds heavenly doesn’t it?  Well, I won’t lie…….it was.  Unfortunately, the combination of this amazing food (I still can’t find a pizza that can beat it!) and an inactive lifestyle (my big weekend plans consisted of a large pizza, a couch and a tv) caused the inevitable.  My weight began to balloon.  Heck, my sister called me curtain butt on the account of how my shirt draped over the old gluteus!

It wasn’t until my 8th grade year that I decided to do something about it.  Sadly, I will admit that it was to fit into a pair of pants for the 8th grade formal.  Those Dockers were pretty sweet!  You should have seen them, pleats and all!  Unfortunately, they didn’t have them in my size but I just had to have them.  I vowed that I would fit in them for the dance…and…you know…actually be able to move in them without busting out the seams.  So I started to run.  I basically did a Couch to 5k, before Couch to 5k existed (I should be a millionaire!).  I ran a little, walked a little.  Each day I ran further and further until I was able to run 2 miles without stopping.  With each step I took, the curtain became less and less prominent!  My sister eventually had to find something else to make fun of me (don’t worry, she had plenty to choose from!).  And then it happened.  I decided my progress warranted a dress rehearsal to see if I met my goal.  I slid on those sleek, pleated, Kahki Dockers and to my surprise, they fit like satin Isotoners!  (ask Dan Marino how good those feel!).  Not only did they fit, they were a little loose!  I tucked my stonewashed jean shirt in, put on my leather braided belt and pegged up (tight rolled for you Midwesterners) my pants.   Damn…….I looked good!  I was ready!

Something that started out as an aesthetic mission, actually turned into an athletic one.  You see, I was never blessed with amazing athletic coordination (don’t believe me, throw something at me and see what happens).  As it turns out, I was ok at running.  Never great, but good.  At the end of my 8th grade year, after I rocked it out on the dance floor in my pantaloons, I went out for the summer track program.  I also started to lift with those old plastic encased cement weight sets in my basement.  I started to feel capable and confident.  I went out for the cross country team and track team in high school.  In college I ran track and power lifted.  In grad school I was a graduate assistant coach for the cross country and track team.  I also started to work at a local gym as a fitness instructor.  I wanted to learn more about helping people reach their potential.  I became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and then have amassed multiple other certifications and specializations.  I pursued a professional career in the field and have been here ever since, learning, exploring, and evolving so I can better serve my clients.  It was like a domino effect.  One thing led to another and my path to my career was laid out.  It’s funny, I owe my career to those pants!

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Filed Under: personal training, running, sports performance, strength and conditioning, weight loss Tagged With: beginnings, career, health and fitness professional, origins, personal training, running, weight loss

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Latest Blog Posts

  • Healthy Lifestyle vs. Busy Lifestyle
  • Primitive Initiative™- Climbing Progressions
  • Primitive Initiative™ Jumping Progressions
  • Primitive Initiative™- Crouching Progressions
  • Primitive Initiative™- Getting Up Progressions

Latest Blog Posts

  • Healthy Lifestyle vs. Busy Lifestyle
  • Primitive Initiative™- Climbing Progressions
  • Primitive Initiative™ Jumping Progressions
  • Primitive Initiative™- Crouching Progressions
  • Primitive Initiative™- Getting Up Progressions

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