Why on-ground exercise should be part of your repertoire for prescription in helping your Movement quality?..
From: Paul Edmondson
Whilst we should be thinking a lot about training upright as bipedal creatures, being on the ground for training too has multiple benefits to us as humans and how our physiology adapts and our movement quality transfers to upright tasks in life.
When I say on- ground exercise I don't mean the old skool static planks (which we've discussed last month is not healthy for the human organism) and robotic one-dimensional press-ups, I'm talking about transitional movements that are omni-directional and cover ALL 11 of our functional spectrum considerations in picture number 3 (on this post).
Training on the ground, in a movement based fashion offers first and foremost a 'break' from our day-to-day standing and seated environments and helps us decompress from these positions greatly to improve 'traction' or 'tension' of the spine, (instead of constant compression- life's movements boil down to TWO, Compression and Tension) which hydrates the discs facilitating movement 'local' to that region-Whilst discussing 'hydrodynamics' this change in position allows fluids to transfer nourishing cells, hydrating contractile tissues of myofascia and MOST optimally Organs because of the position relative to gravity and ground- meaning organ and systemic cleansing/health, but circulation body wide is what creates vitality of all components of the body (water, blood and lymph) serve every cell, tissue and organs function, longevity and contribution to movement (the fluid itself can mean 'sticky' stiff motion of fluid if it mimics a solidified viscosity, if it runs clean and fresh movement is optimised at tissue level- variable transitional movement is best for this).
Being on the ground also 'un-weights' the nervous system and takes the person back to their childhood meaning 'lost' movements can be re-learned and integrated back into the individuals functional capacities.
Ground based motion (supine and prone) also 'Gravitationally' loads the body, giving an altogether different subconscious reaction of Proprioceptive 'feeding', joint mechanics and 'tissue' lengthening/deceleration, as the limbs move and the body requires Anti-Rotational strategies- meaning bodywide Strength and Stability- through Tissue fortification and multiple stress lines on the body, more robustness and resilience to lifes variable tasks.
Last of all (but certainly not ALL, haven't even gone in to metabolism, stress management, restoration of lost, dysfunctional movement, many more to add) ground based movement is fun, challenging and a great place to begin, condition, re-visit and integrate into whatever it is you want to train with/for.
For the best ground based program around check out my friend Mike Fitch and his awesome Animal Flow courses, accessible successful to clients of all abilities, it will really add a new dimension to your training and he and his Master Trainer team deliver world class education globally.
Source: Sir. Paul Edmonson - Gray Institute
