I leave you with a quote from one of my inspiring Online Students - David Wilson, 59 years old, from Toronto, Canada:

​​"What Farid does looks so gymnastically complex. I wasn’t at all sure that I could coax enough flexibility out of my body to make any of it happen, especially since I have a pretty stiff spine and zero gymnastic background. 

Farid has tailored a program that started where I was. It is neither too easy nor too hard. It works to help me to develop skills and confidence because it is specific to me.
​
Farid’s observations and suggestions when he watches my videos are encouraging and precise. They make it possible for me to understand how to progress.”

PS. It's his birthday this Friday! He turns 60 - If you'd like to show him some love: @oldscoolmoves 

Think of the nucleus of an atom as the movement you are trying to learn, let's say a Macaco for example. Now picture the swirling electrons around the nucleus as all of the required prerequisites to perform that movement. Usual suspects here are things like jumping power & shoulder / spine mobility among others. Focusing on those specific prerequisites - "the electrons" will reap huge rewards down the line because you will have spent valuable time increasing those attributes. Not only will they help you achieve the original movement, but also any other movements that also require that particular strength and mobility. This approach, if applied correctly will set your body up favorably overtime.
​
General Rule of thumb: The more complicated the pattern, the more you want to avoid repeating it incorrectly over and over again with no success. Ingraining terrible habits will take time to break down and re-pattern later. Instead, use this method to "Atomize" the movement as much as possible, then come back to it once you've done the appropriate work. 

​OK, so we've discussed 6 great ways of using time and saving your body in order to avoid having to do extra work down the line. The best thing is, you can start applying these immediately. The more of them you apply, the more their benefits will compound. 

​
I will leave you with this quote: 

“Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardour and attended to with diligence.” - Abigail Adams
​

So let me break this down using our movement example to help you on your this journey.

Here is the Atomized list of some the common physical attributes that are critical to the Macaco.  
​

• Glute strength/power (Bum muscles) - They are largely responsible for your ability to extend the hips and also jump
• Shoulder stability & overhead range - This will help you stabilize and reach for the floor on the way over 
• Good hip extension - This will help prevent folding at the hip too early 
• Thoracic spine mobility - This will help with the correct half bridge shape as you go over

​
This list is not exhaustive, but these are among the main 4 suspects. 


So what do I do about all this? 

Well let's take one common example from that list that can hinder the ability to perform the Macaco: lack of strength and power in the glutes/legs. This attribute is a top priority for the Macaco so if we are lacking here, the next logical step in the process is to address that particular piece of the puzzle. 

I will recommend 3 glute strength exercises below that directly benefit the Macaco:

• Weighted Hip Thrusts
• Single Leg Hip Thurst (Can also be weighted) 
• Jumping Split Squat (Can also be weighted) 

*There are many other options for lower body power, but these are a good start because they directly correlate to the Macaco.*

If you look at the pattern for a Hip-Thrust for example, it's exactly the same as the start of a Macaco. Quite simply, if you can manage to lift a good load in that pattern powerfully, imagine what it would be like without the weight for you. These provide huge "bang for your buck" because they tackle two of the four "Electron" Attributes simultaneously - hip extension and glute/leg power. 

I'm including an article by the world renowned Strength & Conditioning coach Bret Contreras on the Hip Thrust below as well:

bretcontreras.com/hip-thrust-and-glute-science

In case you don't want to read through all of it, I've cherry picked a conclusive paragraph for our cause: 

"When measuring the hip extension torque angle curves of squats, deadlifts, and hip thrusts, you’ll notice two things. First, that those with experience in all three lifts can achieve much higher hip extension torque levels with hip thrusting." - Bret Contreras

​


By now, you might be thinking: "Farid, this is a bit more than I bargained for, I just want to do a Macaco."

Don't worry, I've written a great actionable program for you at the end of the post that you can immediately implement into your training. 

You also now have a good framework for tackling not just the Macaco, but any of your favourite movements systematically. It might take a bit of practice, but if you think about this system, you'll very soon start relating to your movement training more productively. ​

Breaking things down using this process will avoid you banging your head against the wall for years because you still can't perform a particular movement. 

With all that said, here's the short program that you can start immediately incorporating into your training. It will compound and benefit your movement training in other areas also. Here we go.

In this post i'm going to summarize the 20 minute section of the interview where he talks about training. It doesn't matter whether you are a layman or enthusiast with fitness and movement, there is some wisdom to be soaked up from the talk. 

​​I won't go through the interview chronologically, because i'll be dissecting the conversation from the Movement Training perspective. So i'm going to talk about the points relating to that first. ​

The problem is that no one likes to suck at anything. So, we tend to gravitate towards things that aren't going to make us look too bad or dent our egos. Generally speaking, you don't need to worry about whether you are flexing and extending your arms the wrong way during a bicep curl. Specially if you are sat at the machine that doesn't even let you go out of pattern. So even if the weight is extremely low, when a Gym Bro asks you why you're not going heavier, you can tell him your training for hypertrophy. Your ego remains intact from the outside, and you can just get on with the lifting.

You do get great hormonal effects from lifting weights. But just imagine being able to simultaneously compound those hormonal tonic effects with something that makes the laws of time stop before you. How much more do you think you're going to want to get yourself to move, train, explore and express your physicality in the long run? 

A Movement Practice is initially more likely to humble you, expose you and make you realize where your weaknesses are in many different ways. There's no way around that. But once you start increasing in competence inside a movement context, the level of gratification you feel will multiply in magnitude. Likely to the point where you won't be able to wait for the next time you can practice. 

Why? Because unlike with linear lifting patterns, the more movement you learn and perform, the more options you are giving your body to express itself. It opens up outlets for creativity outside of the restrictions of a barbell, cable machine or treadmill.

The point being, If you haven't experienced that, you have no idea what you are missing. So find a practice, get over that initial hurdle and you will never look back. ​

Consistency Over Intensity:  ​​

Next up, Firas touches on some concepts found in Pavel Tsatsouines books about different approaches to training. He talks of cleverly structuring your training sessions in order to compound the volume overtime as opposed to reap immediate gains. 

He compares American wrestlers to Russian wrestlers and how their different training styles affect the practice. You might be thinking - Well Farid, i'm not a professional wrestler let alone athlete. But bear with me, because these concepts apply to the regular gym goer and movement enthusiast too.

Firas says the American style is to go into the gym hard and fast 3x per week. You come out of there feeling exhausted and sore for the next 3 days. This means that you will have put your body in a state of anxiety and will need full rest days in between to recover. Your capacity for movement will be limited during this period. 

Russians, Cubans and Thais on the other hand have a different approach. A more playful approach. They tend to go in everyday, but leave a little something in the tank for later so that they still feel good and refreshed over the long run. Their training is slightly less brutal and leaves a little room to want more. 

This is important because by doing this, you are avoiding a state of anxiety and you're more likely to create a positive feedback loop between you and your training. If you constantly go to your max all the time and burn out, you will have to work harder at convincing yourself to get to the gym next time. So think about doing a little bit less today but compound more total hours of training over the long run.

Constantly doing fatigue seeking activities and putting your body in a state of anxiety will eventually have a huge cost, despite how good it might feel now to have worked hard. ​

In Conclusion: 

Firas makes some really interesting points throughout the training section of the interview which is at the start of the Podcast. If you consider yourself to be open minded, have a listen and digest what this man talks about. He's certainly not a novice in his field and his track record speaks for itself. 

I leave you with all of his thoughts. 

For any Online Movement Training inquiries, click here. 

First things first, when you start on any journey, you need to figure out where you want to go. Another thing you want to know is, where you are now - but more on this later.

Without this crucial information, you are comparable to a millennial tourist lost in the Serengeti desert with a flat smartphone battery. Not ideal.

I advocate a top down approach to begin with, so that you have something in your head to look forward to and aim towards. Once we have that, we will work from there to get you to your goals and aspirations. Because if you start with no vision, you won't have much incentive to do what it takes to keep moving forward.

I've created a simple Worksheet with sections so you can write down all of the notes from the exercises in this article. It will help create the bigger picture for your movement practice. You can download it here: ​

Once you have your 4 benchmarks written down, double check with yourself to make sure it's something that you are genuinely relating to and that you truly desire. It's important that any goals and benchmarks you find out as a result of this, are actually meaningful to you. Otherwise, your unlikely to be consistent with it. Think about the why. 
​
This will help you develop a strong personal sense of what you intend to do and achieve.

Some good traits to be aware of and address at the very beginning include: 
​

• Do you have a physical background at all, sports, martial arts, anything?
• If so what did you enjoy about them?
• How many hours a day do you spend sitting down?
• How many hours a day do you spend doing physical activity?
• Can you touch your toes in a forward bend with your legs straight?
• Are you injured?
• If so what is the injury and how did it come about? 

Take some time to figure out and answer all of these questions. Again use the worksheet I've provided to write them down because in the next section, when you decide how to go about starting your journey it will be useful to have what you wrote handy.

Also if you're going to ask for help, you'll very likely have to revisit your notes and share them with whoever you recruit to help you.

*Important* I would heavily recommend addressing any current injuries with adequate professional advice before embarking on your Movement Training Journey. Developing a vision of where you want to go should serve as a good incentive to get back to good health.
​

Let's put everything together to create the final part of your process and figure out where a good place for you to start would be.

When it comes to your practice, an important factor to think about is also other people. When you were thinking about movement, did you visualize or see other people around. Are you comfortable with touch? This will also help categorize a good starting point. 


Classes:

There are classes for pretty much anything out there, so this is generally a good place to start and get a feel for what you might enjoy. Using all of the information you've collected from the article, you can start thinking of a suitable one to start with:

• If you tend to enjoy training for yourself, and you like continuous movements, you could start looking at the different styles of contemporary dance, and get yourself over to a class. There will be other students there of course but in essence, you will be moving for yourself. 
• If you like to interact with people and pictured yourself inverting or continuously moving, you could try out a Capoeira class, or contact improvisation.

• If you're quite self focused but you enjoy structured and linear progress, gymnastics or a handstand class could be a good start for you.

• If you're less of a fan of structure, but still like to practice on your own you could also try a parkour class, Calisthenics or get yourself to a climbing center.

The options are broad. There is a plethora of different martial arts to chose from also. Tai-chi, Bagua, Wushu, all offering different flavors of movement, individuality and interaction. 

Going to classes will allow you to experience a lot of what that discipline has to offer. Once you've spent a bit of time with it, you might find that you enjoy certain elements of particular classes more than others. You might like the warm up from a yoga class, but then move onto some gymnastics skill training and finish with a form from your Tai-chi class. The more experience you gather, the more you will be able to add to your portfolio of movement training. Overtime you will have create your own practice and preferences. 


1:1 Movement Training / Online Coaching:

If classes still seem like too broad of a landscape, you can also go down the slightly more personalized route here with 1:1 Training or Online Coaching. You can directly communicate all of the information you've gathered here, or any thoughts and ideas you had about Movement Training to your trainer. He or she should be able to program sessions and train you according to your particular goals and needs. 

If you've read all of that and thought to yourself "I can already see how I want to move and I just want to get on with it but I don't have the time to train myself." Then this is also the route to go down. There are loads of trainers out there, so you'll have to be picky and look around for one that you connect with and inspires you.

A good place to look is social media, particularly Instagram because It provides an overview of what trainers offers. You can have a quick look at their page and message them to see if they are right for you.  

1:1 Training and Online Movement Coaching nowadays are great ways of starting out on your movement/strength/flexibility journey.

• You will have all the attention, and the programming will be tailored specifically to your goals and needs.
  
  
• You will have a direct relationship to your trainer and can simply talk about all of the things you want to achieve and work on. No wasting time, you can apply the knowledge, direction, cues, exercises, skills and concepts effective immediately. 
  
  

• Narrative format. You will start from the beginning of your personal process, not halfway through course/class themes.
  
  
• You will be taken through the whole range of the concepts and methods from start to finish, regardless of where you are on your journey.
  
  
• You will have a working plan of how to get from A to Z. 
  
  
• It's the most direct way to exchange and pass on information.

Generally speaking, you won't have to spend time and resources sieving through information trying to figure out the best way to do things, that's the trainers job. If they've done their homework properly, they should come equipped with multiple tools and ways of skinning the cat.   


Workshops:

Workshops are great to delve into wider concepts. If you are quite autonomous and self motivated, they can also be a great supplement to your own training. You will generally get exposed to certain concepts and wider methodologies which you can then dissect and implement into your practice.

They are lengthier and more substantial than one off classes. Another good thing with workshops is that you will also start from the beginning like everyone else, and usually be taken through the particular concept from start to finish. Albeit, it will be a condensed account. But you will avoid starting in the middle of a specific training period depending on the class or discipline. Classes can sometimes be fragmented. 


Self Training: 

Self training is also a very viable option if you have the time and self reliance. There is lots of free material out there on the internet for you to look through and learn from. You'll just have to tune your bullshit detector up to the max, and you might find that things can take a little longer this way. But it's a worthwhile effort. 

​
Final Notes:

It might all seem a little overwhelming, but it's a process. You didn't turn 10 years old and suddenly know exactly what you wanted to do for the rest of your life. It is a process.

When all is said and done, I recommend trying a bit of everything at the start regardless of what you're preferences are. Even if you train with a coach. There are a lot of benefits and a lot to be learnt from going out of your comfort zone and experiencing various different movement patterns, skills and concepts. 

As with anything else, you will likely have to work hard and go through challenging processes in your practice in order to progress and get the most out of it. Don't think you're gonna come along to a couple of classes or 1:1's and come out the other side moving like Cyril Raffaelli. It just doesn't work like that. 

Finally if you've got any injuries on your list, you've got to address those before anything by seeking appropriate medical help. If you feel you are lacking strength or flexibility, it's also worth working on those attributes from the beginning. 

You can also have a look at my blog post on lower limb strength/flexibility here, and if you haven't already, download my Free Handstand E-Book Here. It's a good start.

And that's it good people. All the best on your movement training quest, if you have any more questions, you can drop me an e-mail using the contact form at the bottom of the page. 

You probably all know of someone that has said something along the lines of "There's no way I can touch my toes with straight legs" or "I can't even sit upright with my legs out in front of me." Perhaps you are that person. 

The truth is, I was that person. 

Let me explain how bad it was to you so you can picture the situation. You might relate, you might even laugh. Maybe both.

Here I go. Turn, look down at the target leg, start bending forward and no. Just no, was the result. My forward bend was so utterly pathetic, that I couldn't even reach my hand down to the bottom of my own shin, let alone around his thigh. 

Just just to give you some context, this situation was akin to a normal forward bend, except lying down on the floor. I didn't even make it to my ankle. 

Back to the class, as I lay there in disbelief my partner proceeded to move himself into a better position and won the contest. I couldn't quite fathom how that had just happened to me. I went home that night and in my perpetual state of disbelief I walked into my room, stood up with straight legs, hinged at the hips to see how far down I could reach. Again, I didn't even make it to my ankles.

​The results were in. I was incredibly immobile and I needed to do something about it. 

If you can relate to the feeling I had when I found out how immobile I was, I'm going to help you out a little later. 

​Generally speaking, there is no one size fits all approach to the body. But i'm going to lay out some actionable steps in this post for you, in the form of a program to help with your leg flexibility. 

Before the Flexibility Program, I just want to make a few important distinctions.
​

Active vs Passive Flexibility:
​
Firstly, we will look at the difference between Active & Passive Flexibility. 

• Active Flexibility: The ability to assume and maintain an extended position using only muscle tension​
• Passive Flexibility: The overall ability to achieve a range of motion using any means including external force

I'm going to explain this using a very simple example below. 

Just imagine standing up straight and trying to lift one leg straight out in front of you as high as you can (Picture 1).

Now picture the same situation, except you are grabbing your leg and lifting it up as far as it will go for you (Picture 2).

​There will very likely be a big discrepancy between your capacity to achieve range of motion in those two scenarios. That is the distinction between  Active and Passive Flexibility. 

Active Flexibility is the range you can actively achieve and use by yourself. Passive Flexibility is your overall capacity to achieve a range via any means including external forces. 

Let's take our picture above once again, as an example. If Lauren has all the passive flexibility to lift her leg up that high (meaning the lengthening aspect of the stretch is adequate) she is also going to need to have strong enough Hip Flexors and quads to actually lift the weight of the leg up into that position without her hands.

So In order to balance this out for ourselves, we will have to work the muscles that are responsible for compressing the closing side of a particular stretch or position, as well as "loosening" the lengthening side. Working both of those attributes will help us effectively use that position inside of a movement context. 

Why is this important? 

Because even if you have the passive ability to reach an end range, it doesn't always mean that you can use it on command. Flexibility without strength can decrease your ability to control motion. This can compromise the position of your joints and cause injury. 

So what can we do about all this? 

Well, I'm going to lay out a simple and actionable program for you down below that you can start immediately implementing it into your weekly practice. 

Seeing as our context is Movement training, we want to create as much usability in our end ranges. One way to achieve this, is by adding a bit of weight to our Flexibility training. 

*Note* there's a lot more to this field than a single blog post can cover. But this is a start. Here we go.
​

Leg Flexibility Program: Click on the names of the exercises for video examples.

• Warm yourself up - increase body temperature, focus on moving the legs 5/10 minutes, skipping, bouncing, unweighted squats.
  
  
• Seated Pancake stretch - 10 reps with 4 to 12kgs for 3 sets. Hold the last rep at the bottom for 10 secs: Sit in a straddle on top of some stacked yoga blocks/stack of books or on the floor depending on your current level of mobility. While maintaining a neutral spine, bend at the hip to lower forward into a pancake stretch. When you feel you're losing the natural curve in the back, continue to lower with a dished lower back. Hover above the floor or touch elbows/forehead/nose/chin/chest, whatever you can get to floor. Finally, reverse the motion, pushing yourself back up from the heels/back of the legs. Repeat this for reps. on the last rep, pause in the lowest possible position and hold for 10 seconds. (Raised version if you're really stuck, click here to watch)
  
  
• Jefferson Curl - 10 reps with 4 to 12kgs for 3 sets. Hold the last rep at the bottom for 10 secs: Stand on a raised platform/box. Toes close to the edge but not completely over. Start bending at the chin, and lower from the top of the spine all the way down vertebra by vertebra, then start hinging from the hips into a pike as deep as you can. Try to imagine your belly button being drawn in towards the floor, then reverse the motion. Initiate it from the glutes/hamstrings, don't lift up from the back. On the last repetition of the set, hold the bottom position for 10 seconds.
  
  
• Seated leg raises in Pike or Straddle - 10 reps for 3 sets: Sit on the floor with your legs extended out in front of you and your torso upright. If you struggle to keep your torso upright, lean back a little bit. Place your hands on the floor next to you, and use your abdominal muscles, quads and hip flexors to lift your legs off the floor and back down. Repeat this for reps. Check out the straddle version here.

Start with a lower weight that you are comfortable with. Get used to the pattern and technique. As you get stronger you can gradually increase the weight. You want to be doing this 3 times per week. ​

What to expect:

Training and preparation can quickly become complicated when we try to do too much too fast. Keep it simple, and stick to this program for a minimum of 4 weeks. You will feel an increase in your range of motion inside of the first 2 weeks already if you stick to the prescription. It will change the way you move and also the way you relate to your body. 

Because there is a strength element to the stretches, you should feel some muscle soreness in the areas that are being targeted. Namely the hamstrings and inner thighs. Scan your body after a session and check in with where you are feeling worked.  If you are not feeling any muscle soreness in the key areas, you could be doing something wrong, or the weight is simply too light. 

During the seated straddle leg raises, it's very common to endure cramping at glutes as they work hard to keep your legs out. This is OK and to be expected. Pause, take a small break, adjust your body and carry on. Do as much as you can. When you get used to the exercise, cramps will decrease. 

Don't be tempted to up any of the weight too fast, or start too heavy. If you have any injuries, get yourself checked out and cleared for training prior to any of this. 

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Farid?” a lady with a heavy French accent replies

“Yes, speaking.”

The lady swiftly begins to explain that she works for the media company that has been commissioned to produce the latest advertising campaign for Clark’s new shoe. She just as rapidly mentions a male model, a female model, a choreographer and an audition. Before I can even get a word in, she finishes with:

“We had a look at your website and we want you on board, are you interested?”

Of course I’m interested, but at this point I’m not entirely sure what I’m getting myself into. There were 2 out of the 3 positions that she mentioned that I could fit the role of, Male Model and Choreographer. Now I know all too well from previous experience that when it comes to work of this magnitude, you don’t just go in with a blindfold on.

I ask her to repeat exactly what she needs and what she’s looking for to get a feeling for what the expectations are. She fires another few things at me at machine gun rate in her glorious French accent, and closes with an invite to come for a meeting on Friday. There’s only so many times you can ask someone to repeat or explain exactly what they want, especially on a business call. I figure a meeting sounds exactly like what we need anyway. So I clear my Friday, pencil it in and finish with:

“Great Melissa, I will see you then.”


Friday Morning - The Meeting:

Call Time: 10:00am

Friday morning arrives. As I load my stuff onto the bike to make my way to the meeting, I’m still wondering if they want me to audition for the part of the model. Perhaps they want to audition a few different choreographers, or maybe something entirely different.

I get to the building, and realise I don’t have a floor number. I call Melissa, nothing. It’s early. I know I’m in the right place, so I swiftly follow in behind a couple that enters the building. Completely empty lobby, some stairs on one side and a lift on the other. Those are the only two options. I get in the lift with the couple and hit 1st floor. Doors open and I see some signs with "Audition" on them. I’m definitely in the right place.

I walk through some a hallways and am immediately greeted by a chap who seems to know exactly who I am and what he’s doing. He shows me into a room with a camera setup, a desk, and some open floor space.

“I’m going to be filming everything today, Alan and Melissa will be here shortly.” He tells me.

“Perfect” I say, hiding how oblivious I am to what's actually about to unfold. 

Sure enough, moments later a lady walks into the room and greets me.

“Farid?”

“Yes, hi” I reply.

“Melissa, welcome! Here’s a list of the models. Alan the director will be here shortly, he will explain everything.”

And she darts out. I have a look at the list. It’s got a ton of names and categories on them. One of the categories is “Movement” I quickly scan it and funnily enough, immediately recognise a few names. I’m still just about as confused as when we spoke on the phone, but I’m getting the feeling that I’m not going to be auditioning for anything anymore.

Moments later Melissa walks back in with another chap, blonde, short, dapper looking. He greets me and introduces himself as Alan, the director.

“So come over Farid, I need to show you what we’ve got.”

We walk over to the desk and he opens up a black box to reveal 3 small, well crafted paper shapes, a wedge, a cube, and a rectangle.

“What do you think?” He asks.

At this point I’m doing my best to piece together all of the limited information I’ve been given and create a coherent account of the situation and the expectations around it all. But I can’t be sure unless I just ask.

“Looks great Alan. So tell me, what exactly is it that you guys want me to do for you just so I’m clear?”

He starts explaining everything. The shapes are going to be made into life size structures for the models that are auditioning today. They want me to advise and choreograph the chosen models movements and interactions with the shapes based on the setup we chose to go with. If necessary, also prepare the models to be able to adequately perform all of the movements safely and correctly on the day. Because as he explained, some of the people auditioning won’t have any movement background at all. The shoot will happen in a weeks’ time at a great big studio in London, and we need to be prepared.

“Got it.” I say.

Turns out they did all their due diligence and they had in fact picked the right person for the job. I knew exactly where I stood and what the expectations were.

She goes through the motions, leaps off the cube, takes her first step on the slant and it slips off. She quickly steps on the wall with the other leg to try to save the movement, pushes off and undershoots the landing. She didn’t quite make the rectangle.

I scan the room real quick as I walk towards her. Everyone except the onsite medic and myself have turned into frozen ice lollies. I’ve seen this kind of stuff happen time and time again, and know from experience that it looked a lot worse than it was. Kirby springs up and before I even ask she says:

“I’m ok!”

I knew she would be, I was slightly more concerned about the fatigue and the confidence after this one. The first aid guy checked her out and confirmed she’s OK.

I have a word with her about focus and suggest I step in to spot on the next couple runs to help with confidence before she goes again on her own. We all agree and off she goes.

Her next couple of goes aren’t as clean as they were this morning, but her confidence is definitely building back up. It seems as though she has one final surge of energy left for the day, which amounts to a few more tries before things start actually getting risky.

​I’m happy with her confidence so I step out and we try to get the shot before she completely runs out of energy. She ended up doing another 10 wall runs give or take, and the shot came out awesome.

Day 1 is wrap. 

Well done Kirby, you nailed it. 
​
​Here's the video:

“When you’re not required to do anything, make sure you rest and relax till you’re called back on again” I tell him.

He takes it on board.

I know he is an experienced model and has been on countless shoots, however nothing quite with this level of movement novelty. It’s easy to get distracted and swept away on shoots like this and end up burning a lot more energy than you need.

We move into the big studio and start by figuring out the optimal distances for the blocks according to Oli’s potential and the run we want him to do. We start having a play. The two set builders manually hold the blocks for us as we tweak the distances. After about 45 minutes, we finalise them, and they start bolting the set down. Time to rock and roll.

Oli’s geared up in the clothes, ready to go for the first shot. We build back up again focusing on his upwards momentum for the wall run. Alan mentioned he really wanted the height and body language to maximise the impact of the shot. There’s a lot to focus on to make that happen.

​Oli has to correctly run up to the wall, hit it at the right distance with enough height with the correct foot. He then has to continue driving upwards whilst reaching for the top of the wall with his hands. Next he has to engage in a pull up to further lift himself as high up the wall as he can, and finally, has to start turning himself around whilst kicking with the correct foot (the right one in our case) to land on top of the cube. Once again, no easy feat.

Here's a demo run I did for him: ​

Day 3, Friday - Boy:

There was a whole 3rd day of shooting with 2 super cool little boys for the kids range too. One did stills and the other did video.
​
They were both complete champs but in the interest of their privacy, i'll just keep this one short. 

Needless to say, they both nailed it.

Nassib wanted to learn a few different things ranging from Handstands to various QDR holds and transitions. Among these skills was also the infamous bridge kick over. Reason being, he is passionate about movement and has a grading coming up with his local Capoeira club which requires him to be able to perform this particular move. He had done online coaching before with a few different trainers but not quite managed to get where he wanted to be. He was still unable to perform an Elevated Bridge Kick over. 

So together, we assessed his current level along with his goals and I came up with a plan, structure and program for him to follow. The past 4 weeks, we decided to fully prioritize his bridge and adjusted the number of workouts as well as the amount of focus on that particular skill. It doesn't always have to be complicated. In fact, it was quite simple, we figured out what worked for him specifically, and doubled down. 

Nassib, I dedicate this blog post to you because you are an example of the importance of commitment and consistency when trying to achieve something. You are focused, you work hard and in this short amount of time, you've made some measurable progress.

Online movement training provides the freedom and flexibility to train at your leisure, on your terms, whenever you want and wherever you want. It will never surpass face to face interaction, but it sure is a good use of the tools in this digital age.

I look forward to the next phases in your training, and the rest of your journey. 

​Keep it up my friend. 

Ps. Watch the video below till the end. ​