The Aware Athlete: How the Wild Origins of Our Human Nature and the New Science of Neuroplasticity Are Redefining Fitness by Scott Forrester

Author:Scott Forrester [Forrester, Scott]
Language: rus
Format: epub
Goodreads: 38109783
Publisher: earth lodge publising
Published: 2018-01-18T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12 Lesson:

Improve Your Walking, Hiking, or Running on Uneven Surfaces

In this chapter, I talked about exploration in a literal and metaphorical sense: mankind’s great migration and the self-exploration we can do as individuals. The purpose of this lesson is to help you better explore on foot. Its deeper purpose is to explore the process of self-exploration that leads to self-improvement.

When we walk, we usually walk on smooth, level surfaces. Most of us work inside on floors designed to be level. Streets and walkways are not always level. Sometimes they have some slope, but they are usually designed to be hard and smooth. We live for the most part in an artificial world.

Nature is not like this. Nature gives us a constantly varied surface: soft, hard, steep, cambered, and uneven with obstacles and inclines. The realities of our environment demand constant adaptation. Our most natural movements—running and walking—involve the skilled use and movement of the pelvis. Smooth, level surfaces dull our awareness of some of the useful movements we could make. They teach us to walk the same way step after step in a way that is suitable only to the artificial world in which we mainly live.

There are three planes commonly used to describe human anatomy and human movement: the sagittal plane, which bisects us front to back (movement of swinging the arm straight forward and back occurs in this plane); the frontal plane, which bisects us left to right through our vertical centerline (movement in this plane occurs when the arms are raised to the side); and the transverse plane (movement in this plane occurs when an individual who is standing rotates their hips or shoulders forward or backward on a plane that is horizontal). The transverse plane is the only plane in which movement occurs in a horizontal plane.

It is normal for us to rotate our pelvis when walking or running and, if well-coordinated, the rotation helps lengthen our stride and decrease stress on our knees by keeping them pointed in the direction of travel. When we lengthen our stride, our pelvis moves in the sagittal and transverse planes.

In an artificially smooth environment, movement of our pelvis in the frontal plane is greatly reduced because it’s not as necessary. Movement of the pelvis in all planes is essential to good locomotion. This lesson focuses on the frontal plane because it might be the most neglected during life and work where we are confined to smooth, level surfaces.

Let’s do a movement lesson to clarify the value of moving the pelvis in the frontal plane. The parts of this lesson flow together, and it was designed to be done in one session.

. . .

Take your time: Allow 30–45 minutes to complete this lesson.

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