Have you ever observed a child playing around? They move through dynamic planes of motion with effortless and fluid flow, twisting and turning without ever complaining about pains and aches. This natural freedom of movement isn’t something we’re supposed to lose as we age.
Yet, the Western world has developed a twisted understanding of the human body, making the reality of age-induced movement pain a standard expectation. In contrast, in the East, it’s common for people to eat on the floor or use chairs without back support. This promotes an erect posture that supports organ function, the nervous system, and facilitates proper diaphragmatic function responsible for effortless breathing.
Numerous methods and training forms falsely claim to be the secret sauce with special techniques that often have zero relation to the natural state of the human body. It does not have to be complex!
Our ancestors were simple creatures. They walked vast distances, ran when necessary, and fought and hunted for prey. It is evident that these movement patterns have created the foundation for our bodies.
Yes – crawling, climbing, and moving like an animal can be fun. But it will never fix the issues forced upon us by our dysfunctional way of living. At MT Performance, we don’t look outside the human body for answers. We look inside.
By adopting the mechanical blueprint that shaped our early ancestors, we will become able to return to the childlike state of freedom of movement without pain.
To return to this state, we must follow a certain structure of treating our bodies:
Myofascial Releases (MFR): Understand that your entire body down to the cellular level is enclosed by fascia, which means that the state of your fascia determines the state of the rest of your body’s internal and external functions. Inactivity and poor physical activity are equally detrimental to your fascia. Over time, both cause trauma, affecting your movement and other biological functions, such as your breathing, vision, hormone function, and more. You cannot fix any of these unless you have first addressed the state of your fascia through myofascial releases.
Optimal Breathing: Since breathing plays such a significant role in shaping all bodily functions, this is one of the first things you have to address before you can expect to fix your movement patterns. Breathing is guided by the diaphragm, our main respiratory muscle that bridges your body with your mind. You must learn how to properly engage it with every breath you take. You must learn about nose breathing, how to fully utilize the entirety of your lungs for sufficient blood flow, and how proper gas exchange not only has a tremendous power over your quality of life but also over how long you are going to live.
Proper Posture: Humans evolved through stages of erection for a reason. Our tall, vertically aligned foundation allowed for survival advantages that placed us at the top of the food chain. But during the past 50 years, for the first time in recorded history, we are climbing down that ladder. Spinal compression is a sign of aging. Observe any elderly individual; they often lose body height as they age. This compressed state compromises your breathing by compressing vital organs and muscles like the diaphragm. It puts pressure on nerves and the brain stem. It impairs your ability to fight gravity, which gradually makes movement more effortful and with an increased risk of injury.
Biomechanics: Only at this stage does it make sense to redefine your biomechanics; the way you move. And by biomechanics, I don’t mean lifting weights at the gym, or walking on a treadmill or a cross-trainer. These stiff movement patterns are not very fascia-friendly, and they have zero transferability to the way the human body evolved to move. Human movement originated through multidimensional patterns, such as rotation and dynamic full-body movements. Looking at the fascia, this becomes even more evident. The fascia does not operate through small pathways like those of typical gym exercises. Fascia connects through long distances, engaging multiple muscles at a time.
If we do not respect these principles, our fascia dehydrates from understimulation, which directly affects muscle function and the way you move.
We can therefore say that the MT Performance methods guide you through a four-stage process with the aim of resetting your body to its innate state. When you reach this state, you won’t have to spend another dime on treatments, PT sessions, or therapies.
You will come to experience that just a few weekly sessions of 30 minutes of proper movement will keep you in the best shape you have ever been in.
