Tag: functional movement

Natural Movement and Contralateral Reciprocation: A Perfect Harmony

Posted on by Michael Devon

When we talk about natural human movement, one of the most fascinating and essential concepts is contralateral reciprocation. This is the biomechanical process where opposite limbs (e.g., right arm and left leg) move in sync during activities like walking and running. It’s a fundamental aspect of how our bodies are designed to move, playing a key role in balance, coordination, and efficiency.

What Is Contralateral Reciprocation?

Contralateral reciprocation refers to the natural, coordinated movement of opposite sides of the body during locomotion. For example, when you take a step with your left leg, your right arm swings forward. This movement pattern is not random; it’s an integrated response that our nervous system has developed over millions of years of evolution.

This coordination allows us to move more efficiently and maintain balance. As one leg swings forward, the opposite arm counterbalances it, reducing the amount of twisting or rotating forces on the spine. This not only makes our movement smoother but also conserves energy, enabling us to walk or run for longer periods without tiring as quickly.

The Biological Basis:

Contralateral movement is deeply rooted in our nervous system. The brain and spinal cord are designed to coordinate these opposite limb movements through a network of neurons and reflexes. When one limb moves, signals are automatically sent to the opposite side of the body to engage the corresponding muscles.

This cross-body communication is what makes activities like walking and running feel natural and effortless. It’s also why these movements are prioritized in our workouts, as they are deeply embedded in our motor patterns.

The Importance of Contralateral Reciprocation in Daily Life:

In everyday life, contralateral reciprocation is essential for efficient and effective movement. It helps us maintain balance when walking on uneven surfaces, navigate obstacles, and even perform complex tasks that require full-body coordination.

Training and reinforcing contralateral movement patterns can enhance athletic performance, improve posture, and reduce the risk of injury. Exercises that emphasize cross-body movements can help fine-tune these natural patterns, ensuring that our bodies move as they are designed to.

Benefits of Embracing Natural Movement

By focusing on and enhancing contralateral reciprocation, we can achieve numerous benefits:

– **Improved Coordination:** Reinforcing these natural movement patterns sharpens overall coordination and motor skills, making everyday tasks easier and more efficient.

  

– **Better Balance:** Contralateral movements help distribute weight more evenly across the body, reducing the risk of falls and improving stability.

  

– **Enhanced Athletic Performance:** Athletes who train with an emphasis on contralateral movement patterns often experience better performance in activities that require full-body coordination, such as running.

– **Injury Prevention:** Proper contralateral movement reduces strain on the spine and joints, decreasing the likelihood of overuse injuries.

Contralateral reciprocation is a powerful reminder of the elegance and efficiency of natural human movement. By understanding and embracing this fundamental aspect of our biology, we can move through the world with greater ease, balance, and grace. Whether you’re walking, running, or training, paying attention to the harmony between your limbs can unlock the full potential of your body’s natural movement capabilities.

How Our Muscles Evolved from Walking: The Foundation of Human Movement (Part 2)

Posted on by Michael Devon

Walking is more than just a daily activity; it’s a fundamental movement that shaped the evolution of our muscles and overall physiology. Our ability to walk upright on two legs, known as bipedalism, is one of the defining characteristics of being human. This evolutionary milestone not only set us apart from other species but also influenced the development of our muscular system in profound ways.

•The Evolution of Bipedalism

Millions of years ago, our ancestors transitioned from moving on all fours to walking on two legs. This shift was driven by various factors, including the need to cover long distances efficiently, free up the hands for tool use, and adapt to changing environments. As we began to walk upright, our bodies underwent significant changes to support this new mode of locomotion.

•Key Muscles Developed from Walking

1. **Gluteal Muscles (Glutes)**: The gluteal muscles, particularly the gluteus maximus, are among the most prominent muscles developed through walking. These muscles are responsible for stabilizing the pelvis and powering our stride. Over time, they evolved to become larger and stronger, enabling us to walk and run efficiently.

2. **Leg Muscles**: Walking helped develop the muscles of the legs, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. These muscles work together to propel us forward with each step. The strength and endurance of these muscles were crucial for early humans who needed to travel long distances in search of food and resources.

3. **Core Muscles**: The core muscles, including the abdominals, obliques, and lower back muscles, play a vital role in maintaining balance and stability during walking. As our ancestors began to walk upright, these muscles became more developed to support the spine and prevent injury.

4. **Foot and Ankle Muscles**: Walking also influenced the evolution of the muscles in our feet and ankles. The arches of our feet, supported by various muscles and tendons, act as natural shock absorbers, while the muscles of the ankles provide stability and mobility. This adaptation allowed humans to walk on diverse terrains, from rocky landscapes to soft grasslands.

•The Impact on Human Evolution

The evolution of our muscles from walking not only made us more efficient walkers but also laid the foundation for other forms of movement, such as running and climbing. These adaptations provided a survival advantage, enabling our ancestors to hunt, gather, and migrate across vast areas.

In modern times, walking remains a fundamental exercise that continues to engage and strengthen these evolutionary muscles. Regular walking promotes cardiovascular health, improves posture, and enhances overall mobility—benefits that are deeply rooted in our evolutionary past.

Our muscles evolved to support walking, a movement that has been central to human survival and success. From the powerful glutes to the supportive core, the muscles developed through walking are a testament to our evolutionary journey. By walking regularly, we not only maintain the health of these muscles but also honor the legacy of movement that has shaped who we are today. So, the next time you take a walk, remember that you’re engaging in an activity that’s been essential to human evolution for millions of years.

Your Guide to Squats

Posted on by Michael Devon

It’s time to educate yourself on the relevance of the squat. Prioritizing this movement in your training routine when it makes up a small amount of daily movement, neglects movements that you do majority of the time, like walking. Think about it… outside of the gym how many times a day do you squat compared to how many steps you take?

We aren’t kangaroos, we’re humans. We move around by transferring our weight from one leg to another in a contralateral pattern. Whereas a squat is going to keep your legs confined to a bilateral position. We aren’t saying squats aren’t important, but in the real world when you need to bend over and pick something up it happens a fraction of the time, it usually doesn’t happen repetitively, and you’re doing it for a specific purpose that normally doesn’t make up your entire day (unless your job or sport requires that, but we’re talking about general function).

When you use the squat as an exercise, you’re performing it for numerous reps with the intent to build muscle and get stronger. The problem with using squats (or any bilateral/sagittal based exercise) as the bulk of your leg training is that you’re building arbitrary muscle mass, meaning it doesn’t serve a purpose. The strength you built doesn’t carry over outside of the squat pattern, so the way your body moves most (ie; walking) doesn’t have the support it needs.

Come train with our trainers to learn how to build muscle that aligns with it’s function. Carrying over the strength you build in the gym to a stronger body outside of the gym. You’re human, it’s time you start training like one.

Exercise for Life

Posted on by Michael Devon

We teach our clients to move intentionally to connect the upper body and lower body contralaterally. Bipedal contralateral movement is what developed our muscles, and why they function the way they do.

Modern times have made it difficult to keep our muscles functioning the way they were designed because we use the wrong lifting patterns when we exercise, we’re sedentary… and then we SIT on an exercise bike for “exercise”, we stretch the wrong way resulting in flaccid muscle tissue. All of these variables effect the way your body functions in real life.

In our gym we train your body to move the way your body naturally moves in life outside the gym. Simple looking, but not so easy to perform (correctly) when your body has been out of touch with these foundational movements. It takes time and repetition to reconnect your muscles and get them working optimally.

Force

Posted on by Michael Devon

Your body encounters and responds to multiple forces to propel through space.

Your body rotates, shifts, adducts, abducts, flexes, extends, undulates, spirals, pronates, supinates, and more- all at the same time.

These functions are necessary to move yourself efficiently through multiple planes of motion without pain and dysfunction.

As a human, your natural movement revolves around your gait cycle and the functions that make it successful.

To elaborate further- these functions work in oppositional harmony and set off a domino effect through your kinetic chain with every motion you do. Sometimes more or less depending on the movements.

To simplify- you need to be good at performing these functions. Your muscles contract better and your body moves better when natural functions aren’t compensated for.

Train with our team of Functional Patterns practitioners to address dysfunctional movement and restore your natural performance.

Functionalpatterns.com

Evolutionary Muscles

Posted on by Michael Devon

Throwing is an integral function that shaped human’s innate musculature.

The same way we developed muscles from running to survive, we developed muscles from throwing spears to kill prey and feed ourselves.

For example, the chest muscles developed from throwing and not pushups or bench presses, the same way the glutes developed from running and not squats and leg presses.

Evolutionary characteristics played a defining role in what are muscles look like and how they function. Training is best for the human body when the exercises respect the blueprint of how our muscles work to move us.

This allows exercise to translate outside of the training room into sports, performance, and everyday function.

Learn how you can benefit from exercising in respect to your natural function, with our team of Functional Patterns Biomechanics Specialists.

How To Move Better

Posted on by Michael Devon

Tension built in the muscles takes pressure off the joints, ligaments, and bones and allows the muscles and tendons to work as the support system for the body.

This all sounds ideal, especially if you’re someone suffering from pain and restrictive movement because of pain. However it’s not guaranteed to happen if you do exercises that compress your structure. Squatting with a bar on your back causes compression on you vertebrae, bench pressing limits the range of motion of your shoulder girdle and disconnects the pec muscles from the powerful oblique muscles, deadlifting causes your lower posterior chain to work but neglects the upper and causes your lumbar spine to overwork.

All of these are very common exercises that are prescribed to build strength, but often what you aren’t aware of is it’s at the expense of your joints, spine, bones, and ligaments. The physics behind these movements causes the muscles to load exclusively through one direction of force, whereas in reality, the same muscles are constantly being used through multiple angles of force.

There are a few problems with this way of training. The movements themselves don’t allow the force to be balanced out through other angles, and so while the muscles are being worked, the nearby joints and ligaments are also being strained. The movements also don’t allow other muscle chains to integrate with the targeted muscles, which leads to overuse and fascial disconnection from the rest of the chain. Finally, since the movements only train one force at a time, when you go to use your body in the real world, the muscles aren’t thoroughly prepared to be resilient against the multiple forces acting on it.

These movements do make your muscles stronger, but only within the context of the exercise itself. Once your body is off the bench, or the bar isn’t on top of it, your muscles have not been conditioned to withstand other forces. Additionally your muscles have not been conditioned through integration and all the built in connections are not linked efficiently so muscles are working on their own to help support you. Like you’re in a canoe with a group and you’re the only one doing all the paddling- the group should work together to make the paddling easier and the water more enjoyable. Your muscles should learn to work the same way.

Another point to consider is that the exercises themselves cause strain on the joints, ligaments, and bones from the dysfunctional mechanics during the movement. But the exercises can indirectly affect the joints, ligaments, and bones later down the road, by not offering the right support from your muscles when you move in the real world. In other words, the exercises aren’t preparing your body for reality.

Exercise should be used to build resiliency to life outside of the gym. This concept is one that our trainers always remind our clients of when we teach them exercises that align with this principle. The result is a stronger body, leading to less pain and old injuries being resolved in the process.

Come to our gym and learn what is best for your body and how you should be exercising to promote longevity and sustain your fitness.

Action shots from our hard working clients

Posted on by Michael Devon

All ages and stages of life working with our trainers to learn how to improve their biomechanics, to move better in life outside the gym!
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The only gym in San Antonio certified to teach your body Functional Patterns!
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Our trainers teach exercises that go hand in hand with your body’s natural movement. Allowing your muscles to get strong, mobile, pliable, and supportive simultaneously!
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Most importantly, the gains made in the gym translate to life outside of the gym. Achieve real world strength to help your body everyday. Whether you’re looking to improve your general fitness, prevent injuries, rehab existing ones, or manage chronic pain- our gym is your one stop shop!

Reciprocity

Posted on by Michael Devon

What goes up, must come down, what goes left, goes right. Basic principles that can be used to train functions for the body, specifically with exercises that reinforce basic human movement patterns.

One pattern that accounts for moving your body is referred to as contralateral reciprocation. It’s primarily explained as your arms and legs working in uniform opposition- right arm swings forward as your left leg kicks forward, while your right leg kicks back and your left arm swings back, to rhythmically propel yourself through space; as in walking.

Watch any person walk or run (and even throw) and you’ll see reciprocal functions taking place throughout their body. Ipsilaterally and contralaterally. It’s a trait that the human body has developed as a result of its movement patterns.

Since the human body primarily operates through a series of reciprocal actions, you can use the principle of reciprocity and apply it to exercises in a way that replicates how the body moves in reality.

Realistically, walking is a, taken for granted, movement that your body does the most. If you want to get “strong” in a way that matters for the world you’re living in, get better at strengthening your body to master the mechanics behind walking, and running… (and throwing). That way you built your body to be resilient for what it endures on a daily basis, and to better withstand the damage from gravity and the force it places on your body.

Let’s reign this back in to, the title of this post: Reciprocity, and why it’s a piece of the puzzle to overall better movement.

If you study the patterns of human movement you’ll find that the body is constantly reciprocating, from basic examples like agonist and antagonist muscles- as one muscle contracts, the one opposite of it it, stretches. And the  timing of the inhale and exhale of your breathing mechanics. Then to the mechanics of contralateral reciprocation like walking, sprinting, kicking, punching, a golf swing, even a baseball pitch. And to more advanced reciprocation, like the micro sequences within oppositional motion. Like the Yin and the Yang, without one, you’d have too much of the other, and that would throw out the balance.

Let’s circle that back to exercise and “training” the body. Training doesn’t always need to be referred to as physical. With the right kind of exercise you should be training your brain and body, and using stimuli to condition the desired response you want for your body, or brain. If you understand that mechanisms in the body work in reciprocation then you can use exercise as form of stimuli to condition more harmony within the body. Exercises that revolve around the principles within gait (walking, running, throwing) involve contralateral reciprocation patterns of movement that communicate to the brain, that the body is in harmony with its biology- how humans evolved to move.

Think about it this way- an upright chest press, with a step, is reinforcing movement patterns that align with human movement, and reconditioning the neuromuscular system to achieve a more rewarding response. Versus, squatting with a bar on your neck, and lifting the weight up and down, or using a dumbbell to pump out 20 reps of curls for big arms- with no regard to what’s going on with the rest of your body. Have you consider that because the body works in harmony and integrates muscles to work synergistically at once, that isolating one muscle to work one at a time, creates disconnections in your neuromuscular system. So, which form of exercise do you think would create more symbiosis versus division in the body? No more Yin and Yang together.

While there is still much more to account for in terms of exercising, training, principles, function, and reciprocity, this was written with the intent to create a different way to think about exercise. And the effects it has on your body, function, wellbeing, and longevity. As we learn more about the human body and how it operates, we can finally become more intelligent with the way we exercise. No longer for sport or ego, because those aren’t healthy for your body and more importantly you can’t sustain the behavior.  So you spend a few years looking good, maybe even feeling good without joint pain, but eventually it’ll catch up to you and you won’t be able to move, you’ll hurt, you’ll put on weight, turn to dysfunctional behavior for comfort, and enter the hard to get out cycle of self sabotage. What if you could use exercise to get healthier as you age? Not to look good like when you were younger but to feel youthful, energized, and functional like when you were younger! It’s a red pill to swallow but one that can be rewarding in terms of wellbeing as you age. All the fears and self fulfilling prophecies of hip replacements, back pain, and immobile joints can all be avoided, if you decide to train smarter instead of harder. Set yourself up for the long run. The world needs strong and capable humans!

Yours in Health,

Michael

The Only Gym In San Antonio With…

Posted on by Michael Devon

We’re the only gym in SA to offer a 25 FOOT pulley machine to train the specifics of the human body in motion. This new piece of equipment allows our trainers and their clients to truly test their body’s function!

This pulley machine has a 25 foot cable length and provides resistance for dynamic exercises that mirror walking and running. Plus other aspects of human motion like rotating and throwing. This cutting edge piece of equipment will allow us to continue treating clients with pain, compression, scoliosis, joint restrictions, movement impairments, muscle atrophy, joint replacement rehab, athletic performance, injury prevention, general function, better movement, and more!

Call us today to set up your initial consultation with one of our Human Biomechanics Specialists! 210-947-4597 or safunctionalfitness.com