Part III — Reboot Performance

As you can imagine, targeting the software and making the effort to solve the Real Problem isn’t for everyone.

Quick & Easy symptom-based therapy is the status quo — good enough for The Majority.

In my experience, The Minority Who Need More want to solve the Real Problem for at least one of these reasons…

(1) They want to improve the quality of their “most important activities” for a long time to come.

(2) They want to naturally control how their body feels and functions, and not rely on medications, injections, or surgery.

(3) For those in competitive sports, they want the edge it provides over their competition.

All three of those reasons depends upon restoring patterns of movement.

So how do we begin that?

The Foundation

We’ve discussed how patterns, tasks, and the nervous system’s drive to keep you alive form the foundational base for functional movement…

Whether you want to relieve daily pain or boost your physical performance, your therapy should start by focusing on your foundation of movement.

I wish I could say that foundations, patterns, survival, and all things “software” were obvious to me from the beginning, but it wasn’t.

In fact, it was a physical therapist named Gray Cook — a guy with a knack for making the complex seem simple — who first opened my eyes over 20 years ago.

His concept of the Performance Pyramid was truly simple stuff. In a nutshell, he emphasized that improvements in skill and performance required an adequate foundation of functional movement.

His book, Athletic Body in Balance, was the first place I had seen the Optimum Performance Pyramid described. Of course, that describes the ideal situation…

But you haven’t read this far if your situation is ideal. According to Cook, you’re likely over-powered, under-powered, or under-skilled.

The written word can get boring at times. Let’s use this video instead. I want to explain the variations to the Performance Pyramid so you can see why the foundation of movement is the key to solving your Real Problem.

It’s funny how basic this “foundations” stuff sounds, but in the early 2000s it was revolutionary.

I still remember my boss’s skeptical reaction as I talked about what I was learning from Cook and his cohorts. I had fully bought in to the importance of the foundation of movement. I was convinced it would be best to address movement patterns with our clients…

Then my boss replied, “You’re better off focusing on the exercises the doctors expect.”

That brief exchange revealed an uncomfortable truth. Clients’ needs were NOT the top priority in the “business” of healthcare.

I was floored. I’m sure the dumbfounded expression on my face was comical if you could have witnessed it.

Anyway, that’s a different rabbit hole for another time…

As impactful as Cook’s methods were, it was still a handful of years until I had my “red pill” moment. This came from Ron Hruska, a physical therapist who founded the Postural Restoration Institute® (PRI).

While Cook described the bottom foundational tier as functional patterns of squatting, lunging, and stepping being measured by quality, not quantity or capacity…

The education from PRI made me realize the importance of patterns within squatting, lunging, stepping, and anything else we do as humans…

We discussed this in Part II. The Number One Task and the Other Side of Midline are based on PRI principles.

Interrupt the Pattern

As a human being, there’s quite a bit that can be predicted about your posture and motor control. This is right stance stuff. Or more precisely, the preference (or dependence) to control right stance.

But, at the same time, you’re also an individual. And as an individual, you have unique experiences compared to me or anyone else. This adds layers of compensations to make your needs different from everyone else’s!

So although there’s a lot we have in common, your solution needs to be customized so you can reach your maximum potential.

So how do we reach that potential? How do we correct these asymmetrical forces?

Simple. We interrupt the pattern.

Think of it as a rebooting the operating system. Like hitting Control-Alt-Delete, so to say.

And your tool for this reboot is already within you…

Sensory information.

The nervous system is a beast! Sensory receptors throughout your body are “sending” information to the brain non-stop. Your brain has to filter this information and then decide if a response is needed to each and every bit of information it receives.

You have receptors for vibration, light pressure, deep pressure, and more in your skin…

Receptors to sense the length of muscles, and forces through tendons and ligaments…

Receptors throughout connective tissues, like the myofascia (aka, the spider web of your body)…

Receptors in your teeth to sense your “bite”…

And receptors that you use every day to navigate in this world — your eyes.

(This isn’t even the full list!)

You can use these sensory receptors to your benefit. Allowing your software’s operating system to “drop” the current pattern of control.

Now you’ve got a “blank slate”. You’ve successfully interrupted the pattern.

Pressures from a ball, foam roll, someone’s thumb, your thumb — all capable of interrupting the pattern.

Vibrations from a Theragun, a fancy vibrating ball or foam roll, an expensive vibration plate — all capable of interrupting the pattern.

Joint manipulations and mobilizations from a therapist or chiropractor are extremely useful, too.

As are massage techniques, stretches (applied appropriately), and many other techniques.

But as great as these all are, they only serve to interrupt the current pattern. Something useful has to happen next. Otherwise your software’s operating system is going to jump back into the pattern you’re trying to get out of…

And you’re back to square one. No good.

A Modern Athlete understands a system is needed and follows three simple steps.

And while the system works for everyone, the activities chosen within each step need to reflect your specific needs.

Step One: Interrupt the pattern

Step Two: Activate the desired pattern of control, which is usually the opposite pattern you just interrupted.

For example, when your body shifts to the right of midline (i.e., “right stance”)…

Interrupt the pattern, then use a specific activity to shift to the left of midline (i.e., “left stance”).

Make sure the breath works to support your control to the left of midline.

That’s a simple example. Something the brain will see value in.

Step Three: Reinforce within a functional movement.

This should also be associated with a position of stance with attention to the breath. Remember, your nervous system’s Number One Task? The breath and locomotion are synonymous with survival!

That’s not that hard, is it?

Easy peasy!

Yet traditional therapy misses this time and time again.

Partly because Step Two and Step Three are the opposite of Quick & Easy…

And partly due to the influence a company’s business model may have on how therapists deliver their treatments.

(Yet another discussion for a different time.)

Here’s the kicker, though…

As for “pattern interrupts”, traditional therapy uses them all the time. Unfortunately, they aren’t making use of them toward solving your Real Problem.

There’s too many examples to give, so let’s focus on one that is common in typical therapy.

The therapist works with the client for 15 minutes. It starts with massage to neck and shoulder muscles. Then the therapist “mobilizes” the shoulder joint before stretching it in every possible direction.

A therapy aide then takes the client through 5 strengthening exercises over the next 30 minutes. They target muscles, not patterns. Shoulder raising forward. Shoulder raising outward. Shoulder rotating. Elbow bending. Elbow straightening.

Then electrode pads are placed on the skin to create a relaxing “buzz” for the final 15 minutes.

That’s 60 minutes of Quick & Easy therapy.

The first 15 minutes? All circuit interrupts, which is a great concept but not used effectively. It amounts to a military-grade Shock & Awe campaign when a single sniper shot would have been better.

The next 30 minutes? All hardware upgrades.

The final 15 minutes? Circuit interrupt again with no instructions to follow.

If you’ve got an important problem to solve, this ain’t gonna cut it.

Where are Steps Two and Three!?!

You can sense my frustration, right?

Formal and Informal Reboots

Interrupting the circuit on its own may have a profound affect on symptoms.

That’s why so many physical therapists, chiropractors, and massage therapists can help you feel better…

But how long will that last?

As I’ve said a few times now, the symptom and the Real Problem are not one and the same.

Reduction of the symptom does not mean the Real Problem has been altered.

So, as useful as Step One is to get you out of the problematic pattern of control…

Steps Two and Three are critical for your software’s operating system to create the solution to your Real Problem. Luckily, these two steps are based on a very simple concept…

The Real Problem, if you remember, is over-reliance on one pattern of control, to the point of becoming dependent upon it.

This is expressed most often as dependence on the pattern of right stance. If your operating system is “stuck” in the pattern of right stance for everything you do…

Keeping some muscles “turned on” and others “turned off…

And consistently stressing tissues and joint surfaces in the same way, over and over again…

Then the only way to get relief is to get real good at the pattern of left stance.

Isn’t that simple?

Problem: Too much on one side of midline.

Solution: Get better on the opposite side of midline.

Here’s the beauty of this…

You’ll get really good at control of left stance…

But you won’t “forget” how to control right stance. It will remain an option for control.

Which gives you control in both options…And everything in between!

You’re now efficient in control when your body needs the pattern of right stance or left stance. Plus, your software has a new recognition of “middle”.

This is how you Reboot Performance!

Thanks to a broader foundation of efficient movement.

When you have the option of “right stance” and the option of “left stance”, you’ve provided your movement system with variability.

This shows up in the ability to alternate patterns of control that bring you from one side of midline to the other, then back again.

You have control via disengagement of the pattern of right stance…

To engage a pattern pushing from right stance toward the left…

Across midline…

To engage a pattern of left stance…

And then disengage the pattern of left stance to return to right stance…

Over and over again.

You can zig or you can zag.

This allows you to eliminate constant tensions and stresses. Healing can naturally occur.

Now that you’ve expanded your foundational base of functional movement…

Safe and efficient expansion of your functional performance is possible. So your strength, power, endurance, or speed training show greater gains…

Which allows more growth in your skill and technique training that’s specific to the sport and activities you love.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

So let’s talk Steps Two and Three.

Step Two can be thought of as the “formal” activities. These are specific movements to open your mind to the new pattern of control.

Be warned, though. Even though this is a simple concept, it’s still foreign territory for your movement system.

Make no mistake, this is deep, challenging work when getting started. It’s not Quick & Easy.

You’ll need to slow down and be introspective.

Recognize. Feel. Sense.

Your software needs to process the sensory information provided by the Step Two activity.

These three words — recognize, feel, sense — are game changers. They supply the power for your software to Reboot Performance.

As you move from one side of your midline to the other there will be pressures created. Will you put in the effort to recognize those pressures?

For example, applying pressure into the inside border of your right foot “pushes” you out of “right stance”. Can you recognize that pressure if the Step Two activity calls for it?

And applying pressure into the left heel “pulls” you into “left stance”. Can you recognize that pressure when needed as well?

As you move from one side of your midline to the other there will be bones moving and joints shifting their position. Will you put in the effort to feel those changes in position?

And as you move from one side of your midline to the other there will be muscles activating to create those changes into the new position. Will you put in the effort to sense those muscles activate so you know your work is calling upon the desired pattern of control?

Step Two activities facilitate learning.

Refinement of these patterns of control occurs in Step Three through reinforcement.

Step Three activities are “informal”. They aren’t the specific step-by-step exercises that Step Two utilizes.

Instead, Step Three activities are used anytime, anywhere (within reason).

It’s easiest to employ these within daily life. But they also integrate into performance training quite well.

And Recognize-Feel-Sense is an ABSOLUTE MUST in these activities, too.

Like when you’re standing in line at a store…

Can you recognize pressures shift from one foot to the other…

To sense your bones move you into the desired position at the hips and pelvis…

And feel the appropriate muscles used to create that pattern?

Can you tap into the sensory input of shifting from one side of midline to the other while sitting at the computer?

Or warming up your squats in the gym?

This is what I mean by anywhere, anytime (within reason).

Just keep it brief. Short periods of time.

The goal is to recognize yourself in the problematic pattern…

Make the conscious decision to move from that pattern into the desired pattern, initiate the desired movement, and stay there just long enough to have a few breaths…

Then let it go.

Later in the day, as soon as you recognize yourself in the problematic pattern, feel yourself shift out of it. Get a few breaths in the desired pattern. Then again, let it go.

Recognize what you don’t want. Shift into what you do want. Then control it just long enough to show your nervous system it can survive there…

Eventually, you’ll show your nervous system that you can actually thrive in that new pattern.

This takes you beyond Doing Better and into a whole new stage…

I call it Holy Crap My Body Feels Different In An Awesome Way. But you can call it anything you’d like when you get there!

Continue to Part IV — Living Your Best Life