Attention Must Be Paid

Lately I've been sounding a note about subtlety of movement, and how strength-training types should strive to master movements like the squat, deadlift, lunge, pullup, and so on with the same precision that a martial artist learns kata or a ballet dancer learns to plié:  more than simply exercises to be hurried through, they're the nuts and bolts of the practice of strength training; every time we do them we can learn from them.  

But precision of movement is a rarity in this hemisphere:  perfect, deep squats and strict pull-ups are so rare in the gym that when someone does them right I want to applaud--I don't care if it's a high-school kid with 135 on his back; if it's a good, solid, deep squat, I'm impressed, as much because the kid's ego hasn't overtaken his common sense (I'm remembering my days in my parents' basement, fooling myself into thinking that the half-rounded-back-Good-Morning with 275 pounds and no warmup was a legitimate squat.  Shudder.)

Anyway:  I was recently forwarded this video of an interview by Dr. Michael Merzenich with Anat Baniel, the latter of whom recently published a book called Move Into Life.  Among other things, what they're discussing is a concept which is fast gaining 'buzzword' status:  neuroplasticity, or the capacity of the brain to change and adapt.  At first glance, what they're talking about--using simple movement as a mechanism for healing--is pretty far afield from the world of burnished pecs, iron-pumping, and weight-loss.

But Baniel makes a point early on in the interview that applies to all of us, iron-pumpers, personal trainers, body-workers and complimentary-medicine practitioners alike, and I think it's worth highlighting:  that movement can be profoundly instructive and beneficial if AND ONLY IF you pay close attention to what you're doing.  Careless movement, she suggests--and she uses strength training as an example--can have the opposite effect:  you're practising and reinforcing a pattern that's sub-optimal and sometimes harmful. 

I see very little precise movement in the gym:  most of it is hurried, sloppy, and careless, and, in the long run, likely to do more harm than good.  If I've said it before, I've said it a billion times:  if you're in the gym exercising anyway...why not do it well?