I watched this incredible video yesterday titled 'The Death of 'Correct' Biomechanics'. In it Kathy Sierra, a horse trainer and avid biomechanics student since the 90's, discusses a very recent biomechanics paper from Madhur Mangalam out of the Biomechanics and Research Development from the Center for Research in Human Movement Variability at the University of Nebraska. Titled - 'THE MYTH OF OPTIMALITY IN HUMAN MOVEMENT SCIENCE' The basics summary and my understanding of it is that there is NO optimum perfect functional pattern of movement and that it is diversity that brings opportunity for the body to build stability and peak performance comes from that. Not from adhering to some perfect line every rep. Though that is also not to say that Biomechanics does not matter! I would encourage you to watch the video as she goes through the history of biomechanics and all the big players leading up to this moment where one of the lead researches into biomechanics admits there is no optimum biomechanics. A few of the key quotes that stuck with me are... ‘We are not biomechanically correct, we are biomechanically abundant.’ ‘…stability emerges not from rigid control but from flexible exploration... 'Performance should not be measured by proximity to some hypothetical optimum but by the rich, contextual repertoire of functional possibilities available to the system.’ She also mentions that the Edge of Chaos is where functionality is built (paraphrase). Anyway I share all this to maybe express that what we are doing here (and have been doing) has been intuitively wonderfully aligned. The both sides utilised approach of precise movement patterns of rope flow and weck method work alongside the 'random' chaos of swiss balls, juggling and the feather barrier exploration. I have attached a link to the video and to the paper below and do hope you enjoy as this weeks homework viewing. Godspeed! -Tim

Training with an end challenge/goal for the first time in a few years is actually refreshing (see live chat if you're unsure what I'm referring to). Life without a goal for a while is great when you are always striving for something but I didn't know how much I missed one til this one came to me. It's the polarity as always! I am enjoying many of my workout during this 'training camp'. The highlights for me have been mainly the Ninja Warrior sessions but last week I had swimming session that I really enjoyed. It seemingly came out of nowhere, a culmination of many of my previous swims distilling down what I'd learnt about my fatigue levels, lap times, recovery, goals etc. I opted for a Friday swim after a week of lots of upper body training but not much high intensity/cardio. The swim allows me to recover my forearms/grip whilst still training the heart and the full body as one system pumping blood to every crevice AND filling up my skin suit, reaching, stretching every stroke. I mostly swim front crawl in 6 lengths sets (25m pool= 150m) but as these usually take around 2:30-3mins to complete and leave me gassed for a while - I decided to try 4 lengths (100m) sets. After the first one I noticed I needed just over a minute recovery to feel ready to go again and it took me about 1:45 to complete I decided to go again on the 3min mark. It felt right. So I did this again and again 4, 5, 6 times - So I decided I'd do 10 rounds of this. However at the 8th one I felt much more tired and it dropped from a 1:45 to closer to 2mins to do so I called it there. Right up until that one I felt challenged but strong and that was the turning point so I stopped. Swimming 8x100m every 3mins on the 3mins was my fave sessions lately. Anyway a lot I can't quite express and I fear this could be terribly boring so I will pass it off to you. What is the best session you've done lately? It can be an obvious quantifiable structured session or and enjoyable creative free flow, whatever you left feeling fulfilled and buoyant from...

Happy New Year Biomechanistas! 🥳 The holiday season is now behind us which I always find slightly relieving, that said I hope everyone had a fun/eventful time and let off some steam. 😅 I am not one for traditional type goals but I do still think there is value in asking ourselves the simple question - 'What do I want from this year?' So let me ask it - What do you want from this year? 🤔 As we are a movement/fitness/training based school it would be fitting to tailor it towards our physical practice, what we want to achieve, experience, feel, develop etc.. It can be an obvious target like a 5k time, a TGU with a certain weight or something more subjective like 'to enjoy my training' etc. I'll start... Last year I actually thoroughly enjoyed my training and especially in the later 3-4months I found a real joy and nourishment in each gym session that surpasses anything in recent history for me. They were explosive, creative, energetic, not overly intense, sweaty, rhythmical etc... So really I would be very content with more of the same, but I'll write a few down and in brackets what it requires to do. 1) More fun playful sessions I enjoy and look forward to. (kettlebell and treadmill sessions) 2) To feel springier. (plyometric work) 3) Learn to spin properly on my Rollerskates (skate once per week). That's it from me, please share your goals as minimally or as in depth as you like! Lot's of love, Tim p.s. Live Chat next Wednesday to discuss in more details with anyone who want's to join.

https://youtu.be/vSSkDos2hzo?si=HdSOc2C-JsbLGen6 I watched this video and thought it was really interesting. I do sometimes feel exercise is a bit overrated. With this in mind maybe exercise should be more focused on creating efficient movement, suppleness etc instead of moving for the sake of burning calories. Do you have any thoughts / opinions about this matter?

Looking at apply his style of training to both calisthenics and weight lifting.