Blog – Page 4 – Nil Teisner

20. August 2017 In Learning & Practicing

The Language of Movement

Languages and movement learning

Today I would like to formulate a few thoughts that often come to mind when I think about movement learning.
Those who have been following me for a while certainly know a bit of my philosophy on the subject of training/movement. The focus is not on learning/perfecting a particular “sport” but is very general.
What I notice when I look at a new discipline is that I always find it easier to learn the movements of the discipline. There are many reasons for this. One of them – a very important one – is that certain movements are performed exactly the same or slightly different in many different sports. For example: a forward roll in gymnastics, dance, martial arts, parcour, etc.. The basic movement pattern is the same, only the way it is performed is adapted to the requirements of the sport – in the example, the roll is sometimes more over the shoulder or changes when standing up after the roll. Once the pattern is learned, it can be applied in other areas. It also becomes interesting when you look at movements that are performed in sport in the same way as in everyday life. A classic example: a squat. Now a standard strength exercise, but also a movement pattern to get up from a sitting position. I could list many more examples.
However, what I am getting at is that there are basic movement patterns that are performed similarly in many sports/everyday life. The wider you stand up, the more you will learn and above all recognise such patterns.

This is where the analogy to language comes into play:
I don’t know very much about languages, but what I do know is that there are many languages that have common roots. If you learned Latin at school, you might have an easier time learning languages like Italian or Spanish. In addition, there are different accents or dialects – in the field of movement, for example, different styles of a sport (dance or martial arts are very obvious here).
If you learn more and more languages, you will eventually notice similarities. It is the same in movement.

We all speak the same language (or at least a very similar one!). Try watching a new sport like this and see similarities with your own – put out feelers!

Nil

20. August 2017 In Awareness & Perception, Learning & Practicing

Awareness over ones own Body

Anyone who knows me well or has followed my site for a while knows that I place a very high value on body awareness/mastery/control. What do I mean by this?

I understand the terms as follows: It’s mainly about being aware of your own body and feeling, noticing what your body needs at the moment and how it shows it to you. For example, it is about signs of fatigue, i.e. when you should better recover from certain activities, or pain, i.e. signs that something is not right/as usual.

It also includes being able to feel and associate movements correctly, such as noticing whether your back is round or straight during certain movements (squats, handstands, etc.) or what certain movements look like. Many people have absolutely no idea what their movements look like – until you show them photos or videos. The difference between feeling and actual execution is often enormous.

Too often people train mindlessly according to training plans that are designed for a broad mass – individual differences are not taken into account. Too often people compare themselves with each other – especially with some best times or PRs. And too often these “personal records” are seen as criteria for how good one is or how one is progressing in training.
Criteria like having fun or feeling/control during the execution are not taken into account. Small but subtle changes, for example when you really FEEL what you are doing for the first time, like a targeted control of long “paralysed” muscles, etc. are neglected.

In the video a small demonstration of what I mean by this.
Task: supine position – a book on each limb – blindfolded – turn once 360° in both directions WITHOUT the books falling off hands/feet.
By being blindfolded, the sense of sight is taken away, you have to be even more aware of how your body moves. Small changes can cause the books to fall.
Alternatively: eyes open and at first only one book on one foot or in the hands.

As always, this is only ONE example out of many. Also, you don’t have to be able to do this, it’s just a fun way to train your body awareness….

I would like to end this text with a quote from Moshe Feldenkrais: “If you can feel what you do, you can do what you want.

In this sense: learn to listen to your body, it is much smarter than you are….

Stay Loose and Keep Moving,

Nil

20. August 2017 In Conditioning

Basics Basics Basics – Creating a Solid Foundation

Today it’s all about the basics. Basics. Basics.

I hope you can find a few minutes to read this text. The following is the BASICS of my philosophy – the base of the pyramid – the foundation on which everything stands!

I start with this: Every day thousands of videos are posted on social networks like Facebook, Instagram and co. (I mean videos specifically about movement), which often show the limits of human abilities and skills (acrobatic artists, CrossFit elite, martial arts legends, etc.). You watch these videos and let yourself be carried away and inspired. I’m not excluding myself here, by the way. I also post videos that show special skills or similar – often at a very advanced level. Such videos bring reach. Sometimes – and this is what I like to hear the most – they also inspire other people to move more themselves or to become more body-conscious in general. Great at first.
HERE is where it starts to get exciting. I very often see that these people then go to sports courses, undergo boot camps, jog daily etc. and are surprised that their joints hurt, for example. “Probably sore muscles” or “It has to be like that, you have to feel sport!” – until it doesn’t go away or serious problems arise. WHAT IS MISSING?

The basics.

Your body can do so much. Or: your body could do so much. Because what it can do well is adapt. Being inactive for hours every day, not moving or stressing the joints, posture (or rather poor posture) – THAT leaves its mark. Your body adapts to this – it becomes resistant to stress. If you go to demanding courses, etc. in this way, your body will also show you this (see above) …
On a side note, we live in a time where performance is paramount (maximum weight, time, being the best, etc.), which exacerbates this phenomenon. I know too many my age who are at the END of their sporting careers – usually due to injury!

WHAT TO DO? Preferably no sport? No more exercise at all?
Not like that either.
But if you want to stay functional in the long term, you should take care of the basic functions of your body. This is not as exciting as lifting weights, acrobatics or gymnastics – but it is necessary.

That’s why I created the BULLETPROOF BODY series. Wrist, ankle, hip, spine and now shoulders. Simple exercises to prepare your joints for movement, applicable daily.
Your body will thank you!

Reawaken Your Feet

In our modern world, shoes with thick soles, insoles and the like have become almost standard. Often sleep is the only time when shoes are not worn.
What is problematic about this?
Among other things:

– Passive support structures (e.g. the reinforced heel part of the shoe) cause atrophy of the muscles that should actually do the supporting work.
– resulting postural weaknesses or even damage, such as a collapsed arch (which, by the way, can affect the entire statics/posture and lead to pain)
– Insufficient ventilation of the feet (bacteria love that…)
– Saponified ankle joints/ lack of mobility/ instability/ loss of coordination/ …..

It’s actually quite simple: take off your shoes more often and walk barefoot (you don’t have to go to work barefoot, it’s enough to say take off your shoes and socks at home).

The exercises in the video are meant to help you wake up your feet, build up the muscles that support your feet and ankles, improve the coordination of your feet and relieve stiffness/”shortening”.

While you can do these exercises daily, two to three times a week is usually enough.

Wrist Routine

This article is in addition to my video to give a little more insight into my wrist routine. I use this sequence to either warm up before a wrist and finger workout or as an extra session to specifically work on my strength and flexibility.

The routine is really suitable for anyone who puts stress on their wrist – in sport or everyday life – and is therefore looking for exercises that specifically address this issue.
So if you are a gymnast, weight lifter, acrobat, crossfit athlete, dancer, climber, hand balancer, etc. – try it out and see what benefits you feel when you incorporate this routine into your training.

Try this routine and see how strong, mobile and stable your wrist becomes! If you really have problems, you can use this routine to warm up before each of your workouts. For serious problems, please consult your doctor beforehand!

Free your Hips

More specifically, the exercises aim to increase the ACTIVE range of motion.

In general, a distinction is made between an anatomical (through passive movement = “stretching”) and a physiological (through active movement = muscle work) movement limit of a joint, whereby the anatomical movement limit is greater. However, increasing the physiological movement limit (through active movement) is necessary for very many movements (e.g.: kick in martial arts, many elements in gymnastics).
More about this in my articles on flexibility.

As these exercises are indeed somewhat strenuous and very tiring for the working muscles I would recommend for a start:
2-4 rounds with about 20 seconds of working time while warmed up. If an exercise is too difficult, try holding on to something or supporting yourself on the floor.

Free Your Hips Level 1:

Free Your Hips Level 2:

Free Your Hips Level 3:

Incorporate these exercises into your training more often and you will notice how quickly active mobility will improve!

Bulletproof Shoulders

The shoulder joint is a joint that is mainly muscularly secured – it has to be, because the glenoid cavity is much smaller than the condyle of the humerus.
This fact allows a very large freedom of movement of the joint – but also an increased risk of injury.

Many people can relate to this: Restricted movement, a little twinge here and there, a slight pull there. Then it’s often “impingement”, “frozen shoulder” and often: sports break.

To prevent this from happening in the first place, I recommend preventive exercises to strengthen/mobilise the shoulder joint (especially for sports/everyday/work movements with a high shoulder load).

!!! DISCLAIMER: If you have problems with your shoulder, the exercises CAN help, but they can also make the problems WORSE. Common sense is needed here: start very slowly and carefully and clarify beforehand which movements you should better leave for the time being. !!!

Keypoints:

– Work in the higher repetition range
– Mechanics and execution before weight
– before training session to activate / after training session to strengthen
– if in doubt, get help from trainer

Another four of my favorite exercises.

You are as Old as your Spine

In this part of the series I show you very simple movements that you can do anytime and anywhere to loosen up your spine and the muscles around it.

Often the muscles of the spine are loaded on one side, namely in a stabilising position. Keep your back straight UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES! Although this is important under high loads/in many situations to protect our intervertebral discs/spinal cord/nerves/vertebral bodies, the spine should also be moved!

The spinal column consists of 24 free vertebrae, between each vertebra sits an intervertebral disc, which, among other things, distributes the pressure acting on the vertebral bodies. Each vertebra is equipped with joint surfaces and thus allows movement between the individual segments. Optimally, each vertebral joint participates, for example, in a flexion of the spine, which distributes the pressure evenly over the vertebrae, or the intervertebral discs.

If your spine has become stiff in some places due to non-movement or one-sided loading, i.e. if several vertebrae move as a unit instead of individually as intended, the forces are no longer distributed proportionally, but are higher on some vertebrae and their intervertebral discs than on others.
Back problems caused by this are not uncommon.

You can do the exercises all at once or put together a selection for yourself to do before your workout, as a warm-up, as a cool-down, after getting up, etc.

Some freeform spinal movements.

Susan Harper of Continuum Movement with a demonstration showing how fluid and smooth spinal movement can be …

On that note: Stay Loose!!

Nil

20. August 2017 In Exploration & Play

Play

“What is this exercise for?”, “Why are you doing these things?”, “WHAT are you training with?”. – ever heard that before?

I have – all the time. And rightly so!

Because there are so many different training concepts and methods and plans and exercise variations etc. that are meant to fulfill specific goals or results.
That makes sense most of the time: special exercises to compensate for bad postures, specific movements to help individual muscle groups achieve super growth, preliminary exercises for a difficult gymnastics element, breathing techniques for relaxation, and so on – the list is endless!
The main focus is usually on the “WHAT”. WHAT does this exercise do for me? WHAT do I train with it. (By the way, the same applies to nutrition: WHAT do I have to eat in order to be able to consume vitamin X45 in rough quantities – REGARDLESS of how it tastes?)
And for many people it may be important to train exactly one exercise that, for example, counteracts a hollow back (or to eat exactly this mega-food because of a deficiency) – understandable!
But where does it lead to if we only move to fulfill goal XY (or eat superfood Z just to get Vit X45 and so on…)?

Try to see the whole thing from the other side:
Children certainly don’t exercise to keep their cardiovascular system in good shape or climb on the climbing frame to train their coordination. Mostly, fun is a big factor – WITH the side effect of training coordination and strengthening the HK system.
Every movement brings benefits. If you get versatile movement, you get versatile benefits.
I was romping with a very good friend the other day and we came up with this phrase: move for movement’s sake – with all its benefits. Don’t make it more complicated than it is!

This is really not a “rant” against targeted exercise etc. – in special cases it is definitely necessary to ask WHY.
But try to “play” more often. Just move without thinking and without much structure – play!

20. August 2017 In Artikel

Welche Übung ist die Beste?

Als Trainer bekommt man diese Frage häufig gestellt. “Was muss ich machen um beweglicher zu werden?” “Was muss ich machen um einen Handstand zu können?” So ungenau wie diese Frage ist, so ungenau könnte man antworten: “An deiner Beweglichkeit/ Handstand arbeiten.” Das hilft aber beiden Seiten nicht.
Man geht ja auch nicht zum Arzt und fragt welche Medizin man nehmen soll. Man muss sich schon genauer ansehen wo die Probleme sind. Auf diese speziellen Probleme gibt es dann vielleicht Mittel, die vielleicht helfen. Oder auch nicht..

Genauso verhält es sich auch mit Fragen zu Training/Haltung/Verspannungen usw..
Es gibt nunmal nicht DIE eine Übung (Nein, nichtmal der Liebling “Squat” ist für jeden in jeder Lebenslage sinnvoll..). Auch kann eine Übung mir helfen, Dir vielleicht sogar Schaden zufügen. Viele Fitnessprogramme/ selbst genannte Personal Trainer berücksichtigen solche Faktoren nicht. Folge: Kaum bis keine Fortschritte, Schmerzen, Fehlhaltungen, und so weiter..

Jeder von uns hat einen einzigartigen Körper mit vielen Besonderheiten: unterschiedliche Knochenlängen und Verhältnisse (lange Beine – kurzer Oberkörper, ..), unterschiedliche Körperwahrnehmung, Vorschäden usw.. Dazu kommen natürlich individuelle Ziele..
Genauso individuell sollte das Training aussehen.

Das Video zeigt eine Mobilisationsübung für das Hüftgelenk, welche tatsächlich für sehr viele Menschen Vorteile hat!
Zum aufwärmen, täglich als kleine Übung für zwischendurch oder speziell zur Verbesserung der Beweglichkeit und als Vorbereitung für Posen wie Spagate, Schweizer Handstände, Kniebeugen, etc..

• Rücken möglichst neutral halten
• voller Bewegungsumfang (ganz vor und ganz hinter)
• Füße nur soweit auseinander, dass Punkt 1&2 realisiert werden können

20. August 2017 In Learning & Practicing

Sensing Movements

The first time I did a somersault, everything went really fast. ZACK and done. You didn’t really notice anything. I felt the same way when I jumped under the bar for the first time in the snatch (weightlifting). ZACK and done. You have the same feeling at the beginning with most movements, especially if they are quite complex and are performed quickly.

Only with time and many hours of practice does time seem to slow down during the movement. You suddenly feel something where previously there was “nothing”. The smallest nuances gradually become indispensable parameters. The palm of the hand gradually becomes a field with countless pressure points, which first consciously, then subconsciously serves as the basis for regulating the balance. These new parameters are now manipulated to change the movement: One screw more, a little more forward pressure, more tension – exactly…. NOW, head on the neck, etc..

This is the basis for progress and perfection (if there is any) in a movement. But this process takes time and an individual approach adapted to learning type and skill level. Some people learn better this way, others that way.

In my work I try to make the small nuances perceptible and manipulable for everyone – so that the learning process is effective and enjoyable. No unnecessary torture when perhaps path B is the better one for you.