The 4 Basic Rules Of Movement Retraining

All month long we have been discussing movement patterns, why we have them, why they are important, how they can lead to pain, and the process we go through when re-learning movement. Today I will discuss the 4 principles of teaching yourself how to move differently. Training yourself to move in a new way can be challenging, but it will be simpler and more effective if you follow these 4 basic rules:

Move Slowly and Smoothly – Retraining movement requires self-observation first. You must become aware of what you are doing before you can do something differently. It is very difficult to uncover subconscious movement patterns and explore subtle intricacies of your movements when you are moving quickly. This may seem obvious, but often when encountering a challenging part of a movement we tend to try to quickly get past it. We use momentum rather than control to overcome the challenge and settle into the part of the movement we are more comfortable with. For example, if you are doing a simple pelvic rock movement while laying on the floor and you have one or two vertebrae that don’t fall to the floor that easily, your inclination will likely be to quickly move past those segments to get to the ones that find the floor easily. This often happens without our awareness and requires us to slow down to explore that challenging movement. As you get accustomed to this style, you may notice that you are exploring smaller and smaller pieces of movements. This is your self-awareness getting more and more refined. I liken it to a wine connoisseur who can uncover so much information by savoring a small sip of wine, much more than they could from a large gulp. You are trying to be a connoisseur of your own movement.

Ease over Effort – There is an old adage in sports that you perform how you practice. We need to train in a way that replicates what we want to achieve. The goal of movement retraining is to make moving free and easy, therefore we need to practice by moving in a fee and easy manner. Practicing movement in a range that allows you to move easily is of greater benefit than struggling and straining to move more. How you move is far more important than how much you move. Personally, this is my biggest struggle when practicing movement. If the goal is to reach my arm overhead, it takes a lot of discipline for me to stop halfway when I could push through and get my arm all the way up. I need to remind myself that the goal isn’t merely getting my arm overhead, it is getting there effortlessly. I need to explore and expand my effortless range. The “achiever” side of my brain just wants to get it done, but I have to quiet that down and remember to do less. Whenever you begin to feel an effort to moving or begin to strain or hold your breath, you should relax your muscles and your mind and try to do a little bit less.

Longer is Better – In general, the body moves more efficiently when the limbs and the spine are in an elongated position. Whether you are elongating your leg into the ground as you take a stride, or your crown to the ceiling as you sit, or lengthening your arm as you raise it overhead, finding length in the spine and in the limbs allows for easier movement of the joints. If you sit in a slouched position and turn your head, you will not be able to move as far or as easily as you would if you were in a taller posture. However, we must still abide by the ease over effort rule. The goal is to be easily long. Straining to be your tallest self will only create tension and restrict movement. Precisely the opposite of what you want. The goal is to find your easiest tallest or longest self, and then over time, with training, that easy range will expand allowing you to be taller with less effort. As you are going through your movement retraining exercises it is good to ask yourself can I be easily longer or taller. We often subconsciously hold tension preventing elongation. If you can relax a muscle and get more length you are on the right track. Who doesn’t love getting more for doing less?

No Pain Know Gain – If your goal is to learn to move without pain, then why would you train movement in a painful way? Certainly, there are times where pain is necessary to accomplish a task or complete a strength training exercise, but in the context of movement retraining, we want to keep pain to a zero. In fact, we want to see if we can even make movement not just painless, but pleasant. If you are feeling pain with a particular movement, do less. Do less, do less, do less. One more time, DO LESS. Make things smaller until they are no longer threatening. It is impossible to be relaxed and effortless if you are moving into pain, even if it's minor pain. Take time to explore where the comfort resides in your movements. I often find myself practicing the very initiation of a movement. The first .01% of the movement. Many times, if I can start it differently and comfortably I can finish it the same way. Get away from the “achiever” mentality of pushing to finish the movement. Revel in the pain-free. Savor it.  If you practice moving with no pain, you will inevitably know gain.

Move slowly, keep movements effortless, find your easily longest self, and practice only in pain-free, or better yet, pleasant ranges and you will teach yourself to move with ease and comfort. I enjoy your questions, so feel free to reach out to me at [email protected]