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BALANCE
A recent conversation relating to "first level" performance enhance meant both Ande Roberts and myself arrived at the conclusion that in the forty-odd years coaching experience that we had between us, we neither had ever seen the perfectly balanced Athlete.
Does such a thing exist? Probably not.
When you consider that even in the "Dog Show" world of Bodybuilding, faults and imbalances are drawn upon, this observation becomes more apparent.
So then, how does the fighting dog compare to its show dog cousin, or even to the gymnast or acrobat?
Both Dog and Human enable one to draw the same analysis of form. And is it not form that we are intrigued with and endeavour to master, whether it be combat, figure skating or high board diving?
The point is that in Art or Sport, perfection to the parameters of criteria does not exist. However, let us not forget that these are man-made criteria, and that perfection actually flourishes all around us wherever we look. It's called Nature. Some people even call it God. We like to call it "The Is".
Now, that is one long-winded introduction to an article about how to develop balance - and let's not forget, if it doesn't exist, how are we going to tell you how to achieve it?
So, let's ge to the important talk, and it goes like this:
Everywhere we look, on the street, in the gym, in the ring or whatever your gig is, we may come to the conclusion that imbalance is the inevitable future of our own body. We may also agree that if physical activity is the cause of imbalance, then physical activity may play the important role of regressing the "forward drag", for it is that which is occuring to all of us.
There we have it. It could have been put like this: "Train opposite muscle groups to the best of your ability, or you'll fuck up!"
What we encourage with our people at the moment, is to adopt the antagonistic approach rather than sectioning body parts to supposedly achieve the best results. The division or splitting up of bodyparts so that the trainee can put more intensity on a certain area usually (but not always) is the first step to imbalance apart from this: the fact that antagonistic training is also far more beneficial to mobile athletes i.e. fighters, as in order to sustain muscular mobility, the body's cardio system needs to work harder to supply blood oxygen to two (or more) antagonistic body groups. Hence, we have adopted the "Combat Chaos Technique" with all of our people.
It was "CCT" that was employed with our first year of work with Braulio Estima, who was convinced on arrival that resistance work was not necessarily the best method of improving his game. Well, Braulio came to us as a just-promoted Brown Belt - not for long he wasn't!
This is not a boast, by the way, but a statement of observation and a testimony of our work. Y'see, some people sell insurance for a living, some people build houses, and some prosecute criminals in the courts of the land. This is what we do: help people to be the best they can be. It's all we have done for years. We're not here to argue a case, we're here to help, and if we get the opportunity to learn on the journey you can bet your bollocks we'll be grateful for that opportunity. It is with this sentiment that we will make one of the very few "rigid belief" statements - and that is: "There is no such thing as an expert".
As in life, with all types of gym activities, whatever the discipline, the only certainty we have is transience. When we reflect on this, the thought of an expert or even a master becomes somewhat remote.
So, an insight into a workout? Well, if you're "up for it", we'll start with a mobile athlete's special - mainly because we feel that mobility and dynamism in sport is the future (or the possible direction of transience).
So enough philosphy and clever talk..... try this!!
Set of dumbells, possibly 40, 50, 60lb - maybe heavier, maybe lighter, depends on the individual.
This is the first exercise
Now there is a reason for all of these exercises to be performed in the fashion aforementioned, without a break inbetwen the sets, and using a "necessary" posture. If you want to know how and why, phone and ask for the cleaner.
We'll only be too happy to explain ourselves!
Lots of love,
The Cleaner
