Good morning. Happy Monday. I have neural coffee in hand and it is perfect. Coming off a stellar weekend. We just wrapped up the Intensive 19 yesterday. Great group. We went hard. I think we went like two hours longer on Saturday than I think we've ever gone. So it was great. We were rolling in the gym there. So it was great. Speaking of the Intensive 20, I'm probably going to lock in those dates this week. It looks like November 17th through the 20th, so you might want to check those dates on your calendar and then be ready because if we open up the applications, it fills up very, very quickly. We only take so many applications at any one time because there's only eight people that are going to be in the room. So please keep that in mind, but look at those dates today. Digging into this Q&A, this is with Jack, and I've talked with Jack a few times in the past. His initial question is about working with clients with anti-orientation, but this led us into some foundational concepts such as training in the available space. So we want to try to avoid pushing people into spaces that they don't have access to with their movements so we can avoid some compensatory strategies that actually might be interference or potentially lead to consequences that are undesired. Moving people into a different orientation, for instance, if we take somebody from a flat foot contact to a heel's elevated contact, we'll also alter that space. So again, we touch base on that. Giving your client an opportunity to learn. Many times what we intend for the client is not what the client understands and so they might not be great at something at first. So giving them an opportunity to change over time is also very important. Let them problem solve and figure some things out. So this is actually a great question for a lot of younger coaches or people that are just being exposed to my model. So thank you Jack for your question. Everybody have an outstanding Monday and I will see you tomorrow.

I have a question about anterior orientations. I was watching one of your videos on YouTube, and one of your suggestions for them was putting them in positions that move them closer towards the end of the propulsion spectrum, like early ERN. Or late on one side, early on one side, maybe like a mountain climber or a step up. The only issue I could see with that is if they don't have the hip flexion to get into the position on one side. So what would you do in that scenario? What would be an alternative position?

In standing or does it matter?

Kind of either or because if they don't have the hip flexion, I mean like on your feet. So like yeah like on your feet like I was thinking like a TRX mountain climber or like a step up like both are on your feet so I mean or even in the cross-connect like some may struggle, right? Like to get there, one hip, like.

Correct. So you just have to drop them out of that space. Honestly, something as simple as a heels elevated goblet squat. Okay. I'm talking about the whole foot elevated. So it's not just when we say heels elevated, the whole foot's on the platform. Like a ramp. Yeah, because what you're doing, the orientation relative to the foot contact is that the center of gravity would be behind, right? And so then you're gonna create the early representation by biasing the foot. You're gonna make it easier to capture early. So you're gonna be able to move the center of gravity back. So you're gonna slow them down because they're usually getting pushed forward, right? So they're usually getting pushed in towards a later representation. You use the foot contact to move the center of gravity back where you can get the early ER representation easier.

Like a ramp.

Because what you're doing, the orientation relative to the foot contact is that the center of gravity would be behind, and so then you're going to create the early representation by biasing the foot. You're going to make it easier to capture early. So you're going to be able to move the center of gravity back. So you're going to slow them down because they're usually getting pushed forward, right? So they're usually getting pushed in towards a later representation. You use the foot contact to move the center of gravity back where you can get the early ER representation easier.

Okay, and like the medial heel, like foot contacts as in medial heel and first met head, right?

Yeah, absolutely, because again, we're talking about an early representation here. You have to have both because if you throw somebody up on the platform and they can't capture first met head, then obviously wrong exercise for sure. But if they're in a situation where there's no way that they're going to capture the internal rotation that you need to superimpose in an early representation, then you're going to have to select another activity. So maybe you've got to move them into more of an ER space so they can actually capture that medial foot contact.

Okay.

And so for some people you probably have to reduce the demands of gravity right to get them ER space.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great. And people move through space all the time that they're not the world's greatest at doing it. They don't know it, but they're not. And so, yeah, you got to make it a little bit easier for them. So, like, you can drop somebody into a, like, some hook lying, you can put them in a reclined. So if you did like a TRX squat where they're leaning away from the TRX, like that, that reduces the demand, right? And that puts it in an early representation. So, so you can use that.

Okay. Um, I was wondering, would you, in the heels elevated position that you recommended, how deep would you have them go? Like, for comfort, however they feel comfortable naturally? Or, because I couldn't imagine if they don't have the available range, you would drop them all the way down, right?

Well, okay, but hang on a second. You change the rules when you, as soon as you put them up on the platform, you have changed the rules. Like I put their foot in a totally different representation than it would normally be on the ground. Systemically, they're going to respond. So the question is, is that enough for me to make the change to use that activity?

Yeah, and you would have to

So you do it and then you go, 'I like it. I don't like it.' Because you understand the principle of what you're trying to accomplish. And you say, 'Well, what's the most dynamic thing that I could do under the circumstance?' Controlling the situation from the ground up. So this is again, you're going after an early representation. If I put the foot there, if I truly capture that early representation of the foot, you've immediately changed the systemic access to relative motions. You don't know how much hip motion they have now when you put them on the platform until you execute. And so you execute and then say, 'Am I seeing a bunch of compensatory strategies that I still don't want?' And then you go, 'Okay, wrong exercise or I coached it poorly or they didn't understand what I meant.' Try it again. Still sucks? Move on. Do something else. Or it gets better as you coach them up. Like give them an opportunity to try to make a change with a certain reasonable time frame. But again, it's like you're changing the conditions immediately. Their access to space changes immediately.

Yeah. So the lack of head flexion basically is a lack of ER space, right?

So it's the fact that they don't have the ER space in front of them, where you would typically measure that. So their ER space is out here. So again, so an alternative is it's like, hey, just stick them out there in the ER space, like where they are.

No, I don't.

Oh, okay. Why am I thinking that? I don't know. All right. But have you ever taken just widened somebody's squat?

Yeah, I have done that.

Yeah. But you do that sort of instinctively because the squat doesn't look good, right? And you go, just move your feet out, toe out a little bit. And then it starts to look a whole lot better because you just moved them into a space that they have access to. So you could do that. If you don't have a suspension trainer hanging around or you don't have access to certain equipment, it's like, what do you got to work with? You got a box? Awesome. So what if we have the same person and we want them to squat, we'll just use the box, but I'm going to widen your stance out so I know that you can capture the medial foot cues. So at least I'm starting to superimpose the IR on top of it.

Okay.

So my only worry there is like, aren't you sticking them in like a middle representation too early and they're still going to use that anti-orientation strategy? Like on a box squat, I know you were just giving out a suggestion, but like another scenario, if that's the case.

But how, then how can I manipulate that?

A box squat?

Yeah.

So I would think like stagger the feet or I do that. I do that all the time or have them fully like sit down on it and like yield into it.

Okay. So don't confuse the yield with the muscle activity. That would be something you don't want to do. No, but it's like, when you're playing with staggers, what you're actually doing is you're playing with their available space. You're creating slight turns that puts them out there in a lateral representation on one side and an earlier representation on the other. So you're progressively coaxing them, if you will, into those available spaces. There's nothing wrong with that. Because as they're descending in the squat, they are accessing more of an early representation. That's what has to happen when you descend into a squat, right? Without compensation, without compensation. So that, when people toe out, as they say, or their hips ER, they're trying to access a space so they can access an early ER. It's just way out from midline to start because that's where they can capture the internal rotation. It's just not a very big space. That's all.

Yeah. Okay. So the reason they're anteriorly orienting most likely is because they can't access that superimposed IR.