Learn about the latest functional
training exercises and programs for all ages and levels. Stability balls, balance
training, bands, suspension training, kettlebells and lots more.
Imagine for a moment that there are no individual muscles. No simple
groups to target. What if all we had to work with were our various
joints and the movements that they are capable of? Letting go of our
traditional muscle-based approach to strength training and
understanding how the body actually moves are the first steps to
integrating a planar training approach to program design.
The
central nervous system (CNS) coordinates the muscles in concert to
produce specific movements. It does this by using something called
motor engrams. These are movement programs that we have developed for
all general actions. Familiar movements build detail onto these
programs, creating highly developed and refined motor engrams. These
well-practiced programs run smoothly at many different speeds and can
be executed successfully in changing environments (i.e. off balance,
rushed, or form an unusual position).
Unfamiliar
movements have incomplete or rough engrams. These programs are a work
in progress and can often go awry. We have to slow down and be very
cognitive about the action in order to control it properly and we tend
to be much less successful. These unpracticed actions often feel
"uncoordinated" and in the event that a situation demands that we run
an unfamiliar program at higher speed, the chances of failure of injury
increase dramatically.
Training
using a movement or planar approach results in a complete workout that
not only will involve every muscle group around the major joints (the
goal of those looking for aesthetics), but will also work though every
motor plane, giving balanced training that will help to improve many of
our traditionally rough movement patterns, increase overall function
and reduce the chance of injury. Integrating more complex and
coordinative multi-planar movements into the program will build further
on this new foundation to stimulate the CNS to create and refine motor
engrams that will then be applied to sport and life.