Questions for Tim

Categories: Blog, blog Sep 30, 2019

Recently, I had someone write to me with a few questions about Original Strength. They were pretty good questions so I thought I would share them with everyone who cares to know how I see through the lens of OS. And, if you've ever had the same questions, here you go!

“For contralateral movement in crawling the ideal pattern should be simultaneously touching of opposite hand and feet on the ground at the same time. Correct?”

 

Not necessarily. The ideal pattern is the natural, fluid one. Some will have their hands move just prior to their feet, or land just prior to their feet. Different limb lengths and different bodies may exhibit different timing. The thing to seek is fluid, rhythmical, non-mechanical movement. 

 

“I am having an issue with backward leopard crawl due to my knee impingement but I can perform backward baby crawl with no pain. Do you have any suggestions as to how to regress to progress for the backward leopard crawl?”

 

The first thing I have to do is defer to your medical professional here. If he says you’re good to move and crawl, then only move where you can without moving into pain. You could try making shorter strides with your legs and arms. You could try extremely slow motion. You could stay with crawling on your hands and knees - nothing wrong with that at all! Or, you could also crawl on your hands and knees while dragging a sled or chain. Super brutal and beneficial even though you’re on your knees. But, explore the range of motion and speed and learn where you can move without impingement. You may find that it eventually disappears. 

 

“For cross-crawl when you perform it standing how much spine flexion without looking like the hunchback of Notre Dome are we allow? I suppose we should perform it with an upright posture as we can. Correct?”

 

Again, not necessarily. Move where your body allows you to move, but strive for controlled, relaxed movement. If your back rounds but you can absolutely control the speed, you have tremendous balance, and your not creating extra or excessive tension and holding your breath, great. If your back doesn’t round, great. The movements aren’t about rules as much as they are about you. Where can you move, explore, control, learn and grow? 

 

“I have a mini-trampoline at home and would like to hear your thoughts on rebounding on mini-trampoline to simulate the vestibular system?”

 

I am all for rebounding. I think it is great. Not just for vestibular stimulation, but also for gentile bounding that nourishes the joints, the muscles, and tendons.  The bounding is also great for the lymphatic system. And it teaches timing and rhythm - how to absorb the force and when to release with it. I think rebounding could be part of the fountain of youth. 

 

"Diaphragmatic breathing is important in the OS system as far as I know when we hyperventilate (unless its purposeful practice of Wim Hof breathing) we are in sympathetic state vs the parasympathetic that Diaphragmatic breathing induced.

So when it comes to breathing during movement pattern cross-crawl, marching and crawling do we still emphasize on diaphragmatic breathing throughout or breath accordingly to physical exertion which could be shallow breathing, etc"

 

The breath should remain in and out of the nose and it should match the intensity and flow of the movement. Basically, it should still function by design. The diaphragm should still fill the lungs from the bottom to the top. 

 

"There are schools of thought out there that say doing weighted version movement patterns i.e. walking/running alter mechanic of gait so when one goes un-weighted is the not the same. What is your view on it applied to cross-crawl, crawling patterns? "

 

We teach loading the gait pattern but we also teach loading it in a way that does not degrade the pattern. Contra-lateral movement should remain fluid and rhythmic. Also, load need not be applied to any pattern for the sole purpose of adding load. Load can enhance a pattern and strengthen it - that is a wonderful reason to apply it. 

 

"I  have also explored other crawling modifications like baby crawling with a softball between the cramp between the upper legs - provide a more tactile sensory stimulation of my cross-lateral movement of the lower limbs. Another crawling pattern I have used is to leopard crawl in the baby section of the swimming pool might try marching or cross crawl on the spot in the swimming pool. Any comments on the above?"  

 

I have no opinion on movement exploration other than I think it's fantastic and it's a wonderful way to learn. If you enjoy it, carry on!

 

I hope you found this presentation of "Q&A with Tim" helpful. As I get more good conversations, I may share them here as part of a Q&A Series. Thanks for reading! 

 

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