Daily Maestroism
DM #121
Wednesday, September 21st, 2016
DM #121: Don't believe me? Just watch a little kid. How do you think they got into that standing position from the ground?
The fact of the matter is that when we are working with adults and trying to get them to squat better, we're doing it wrong. Asking someone to go from standing, a position with high stability demands, into a squat, a position with high mobility demands but fewer stability demands (if you have the mobility to get into it!), is a recipe for failure. You're nervous system is already saying “oh hell no” before you even initiate that squat.
Train it from the other way around, and watch the success roll in. What do I mean? This is honestly one of my favorite things to demo at my courses, and I refer to it as bottom up squatting, or bottom-up training. Instead of giving your patient 15,000 cues on how to squat down via pushing their butt back, driving their knees out, keeping their torso up, or whatever else you say, try starting them off in the bottom of the squat, and cuing them on how to stand up.
Allow the patient to use their hands and whatever other external props needed so that they can get into the bottom of the squat. From here, have them find their balance point, let go of whatever they're holding onto, and then stand up. Now, if you do not have the mobility to get into a deep squat, this really isn't going to do as much for you. But for the person who has the mobility, but lacks the motor control, this drill is pure magic.
Sequencing things neurologically from the top down can be very difficult. Your nervous system doesn't feel safe and does it doesn't grant you the movement. Work it from the other way around, make the nervous system feel safe, and voilà, full movement. I have literally “fixed” squats in less than 30 seconds using this. Think that you can't go ass to grass? Perhaps it's just that you need to start with your ass on the grass.
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