I would caution you against thinking that there's only a way or there's only two ways. Good morning. Happy Monday. I have no coffee in hand and it is perfect. All right. This is very exciting. This is the Intensive 13 Week. Always look forward to these. Looking forward to joining a great group of people in the purple room and evolving the model another level. For those of you on IFAS University, we're going to have a content update today. So be looking for that. If you're not on IFAS University, go to ifasuniversity.com. You can get signed up there. Today's Q&A comes from Larry, who is an IFAS University member and he had some questions in regards to how we're coaching the some breathing activities depending on the wide versus narrow archetypes. So remember that when we have a narrow ISA archetype we have an axial skeleton that is biased towards inhalation with a compensatory exhalation strategy superimposed and then for the wide ISAs we have an exhaled axial skeleton with the superimposition of the inhaled strategy. So we have to consider the initial conditions whenever we're going to be coaching somebody through an activity, especially when we're talking about superimposing the breathing.

You have the eccentric orientation of the diaphragm creating a positive pressure and then you exhale. So there's a slight little tweak of abdominal activity at the end of an exhalation that's almost non-existent. In fact, for a long time they said that there wasn't any, and then there's a little bit of research that says that there is. But the point is that most of our resting breathing should be relaxed and comfortable and not require any thought. Now, when I started talking about the two archetypes, when I started talking about wide ISAs and narrow ISAs and classifying them in regards to their tendencies, we started to talk about using different ways of breathing to reinforce a change just to get someone to the opposite end of this. It appears to be this dichotomy of inhalation and exhalation. They're actually occurring at the same time. So it's not really a true dichotomy. But because the diaphragm does not descend uniformly in the two archetypes, it requires that there are two different types of breathing when we're trying to restore movement capability. So with the narrow ISAs, because of the way that they trap air in the thorax, if we use a high pressure strategy, all we do is reinforce the compensatory strategy. We continue to trap air and we don't make the changes that we've been attempting to change. And so we would use a more relaxed mouth, sort of, we always describe it as like fogging up a window or fogging up a mirror type of breathing, because if we can slow down the exhalation, we actually provide time to clear the air that would normally get trapped during the compensatory strategy that a narrow ISA would use. With a wide ISA, we tend to use a little bit more forceful exhalation because what we have to do is we have to close the wide ISA. And the way we do that is using superficial musculature like external oblique, which would then narrow that angle. So that actually does require a little more of an effortful exhalation. But here's the problem that people are running into, especially with the wide ISA archetypes: they're using high levels of muscle activity during the breathing activities and they're using a more forceful exhalation. The problem that you've been running into with that is that I've already got somebody that's utilizing a very, very strong exhalation, concentric orientation type of strategy, and then all you're doing is reinforcing that during the activities that you're attempting to use to restore movement capabilities. So what you end up doing is, you just reinforce the strategy because by driving the exhalation too aggressively, they recruit their superficial strategy just like they're doing under most circumstances, and then you don't get the changes that you want. And so we have to take the superficial strategies into consideration whenever we're trying to coach somebody through some form of breathing activity, especially when we're trying to restore movement.

So, under those circumstances, we actually use a very relaxed, casual type of breathing with very slow, methodical movements. Very, very low tension, very, very low effort. Because again, if we have this really, really strong, wide ISA, superficial, concentric orientation, you're never gonna get your way out of that by trying to use more effort. Because again, you just reinforce the strategy. So again, I would caution you against thinking that there's only a way or there's only two ways. What we have to do is we have to consider what this person that we're working with is bringing to us. And then we have to reason our way through the strategies to alleviate whatever we're trying to change or reinforce what we're trying to reinforce. So from a performance standpoint, if I do have somebody that has to drive a lot of high force, then I do want to use a concentric strategy. I do want to use this aggressive exhalation. So always taking the individual into consideration is where we go. It's always N equals one. It's always in a gray. Everybody wants a black and white answer when it comes to all of these concerns. But the reality is that we have to adapt our treatment strategy or training strategy to the individual. So it's not as black and white as everybody makes it seem to be.

So gut movement is actually a pretty major influencer as far as how we move so we can actually take advantage of these forces. It's one of those things that allows us to do cool things like walking on two legs that no other animal really does as well as we do. And then it's also can be detrimental in regards to some of the things we see during really high force, high speed movement. So again, this is a little bit of intro to that. The discussion is much larger on the podcast. So please go there and watch the whole thing. Have an outstanding Tuesday and I'll see you tomorrow.

Going back to your statement about anatomy and its limitations, what is your current understanding of internal dynamics when it comes to movement? Well, beyond the fact that it's been underappreciated, what is it, for people who have never maybe heard about the concept of internal dynamics, what it actually is?

Okay, so you're a big bag of water. Let's just make it really, really simple. You're a big bag of water. If you've ever used one of those big water bags in the gym, all you have to do is swing one around. That's happening inside of you all the time. The force that is produced has to be accounted for because number one, it allows us to do amazing things, like walk on two legs, throw a baseball at 95 miles an hour, jump really, really high. Those internal dynamics contribute to our ability to perform. They are also detrimental to performance. If we can understand a little more about how those internal forces interact with our ability to manage them in an environment based on gravity, space, and the external forces we have to manage, if we can understand that we have stuff going on the inside and stuff going on the outside, it provides us a better representation of reality. Again, we can't see it, but we can get close to it, right? It allows us to make better decisions in regard to our interaction. So it'll get us away from things that appear to be entirely superficial. When you see somebody like a volleyball player doing a box jump, they jump off a box and land in a certain way. Some people go, oh, she has weak something. When we see something happen, when you see somebody's knees moving down and inward as they land a jump, they say, oh, she has a weak something. It's like, well, actually, when you hit the ground like that, your guts come second. Your body falls first, your guts follow, right? Because they float, right? So when you hit, there's another hit that's coming. If you don't manage that, you have to be able to capture that force as well. So it's where people use these strong versus weak representations. If we can understand that we have management of internal forces that are beneficial or detrimental depending on our perspective and what we're observing in context, if we can learn how to manage those more effectively, again, our decision-making process is much more accurate and then much more useful.

And so when talking about those internal dynamics and forces that we have to manage, what are the primary strategies that we as coaches and maybe therapists for you and others have access to in order to try and influence what's going on at that level?

Well, it doesn't change the tools that we use. It doesn't change the activities that we use. What it changes is the perspective that allows you to make a better decision under the circumstance. So the things that we have always seen, for instance, if I have a young athlete that's working on some form of agility, like an outside foot cut or something to that effect. And I see them plant and instead of moving into and out of the cut on essentially the same angle, I see them move into the cut and then I see their center of gravity go up. Okay. So if you ever watch a wave crash against the rocks on a rocky shore, you see the water hit the rock and it goes up. Okay. Well, guess what? If you're a big bag of water, you got water inside of you that moves just like that wave slams into the side of your body and it hits the constraint and it goes up. So instead of being able to take that force and reorganize it and turn it in the other direction to our advantage, now we have a situation where we have somebody that's not managing the force the way we would want to. And so now we have to make a decision as to how that happens. So rather than picking on someone saying, Oh, you just have a weak something, we have to say, okay, why is he unable to manage this big wave that's crashing into the rocks and why is it going up? Instead of him learning how to capture it, use it in his turn and to reorganize and make the change in the other direction. So again, it just helps us select the best intervention under the circumstance by understanding that why do we have this observation in the first place?

I talk about rate a great deal because rate tends to be a very predominant factor. And we actually talked about how location plays into this a little bit more than we typically would. So again, I think this is going to be useful for a lot of people. So thank you, Zach, for your question. If you would like to participate in a 15-minute consultation, please go to askbillhartmanedgymail.com, put 15-minute consultation in the subject line so I don't delete it, and then we will arrange that at our mutual convenience. Everybody have an outstanding Wednesday. I will see you tomorrow 6 a.m. on the Coffee and Coaches Conference call. Have a great day.

My question is in regards to training different connective tissue behaviors. When we're using whatever variation, if you're trying to train a more yielding bias in the connective tissues, is there some sort of local training effect where whatever variation you're doing is actually improving the local ability of the connective tissue by itself to yield or to be stiffer on the other side of the equation? Or is it more that the connective tissue itself is dumb, for lack of a better way of saying it, and it's just going to respond to whatever load you're using, the activity, or the orientations that are placing load through it while you're doing the activity? The question is coming from the standpoint that for those of us in team strength conditioning settings or higher volume PT settings, where you can't monitor changes in relative motions and range of motion after every activity, if we're trying to prescribe these activities, is it not doing what we think it's doing if they're not able to maintain certain positions throughout the session? Or would you get some benefit just by virtue of the activity itself?

When you say maintain positions, what are you specifically referring to? Give me an example, so I understand.

So let's say you did something to recapture relative motions, but then you give an activity that's too advanced for that person, and then they start to lock up again and they're just not able to maintain with that answer for now.

We were cutting out on that last little part.

Yeah. So it's like they come in and they're lacking relative motions. You do something that you feel recaptures it, but then the activity that you prescribe after that is too advanced for them. And then they start to lose that motion again.

Okay. Are they supposed to maintain relative motions at high force? No. Okay. Did you give somebody something high force that would take away relative motion?

So, if prescribing a high force activity, that would make sense. But what if it's more on like the lower load side of things?

So at least you've established a threshold. So you know where you can take somebody if you're trying to maintain something, you probably have an idea of the types of activities that you're gonna have to select. When you're trying to address yielding, we have to think about sort of like a localization type of a concept. It's like, where are you trying to produce the yield? And then you have to start thinking about the time exposure, right? And there's a lot of variability when we talk about the exposure of time from a prolonged static hold to literally some variations of explosive work have a longer time exposure than others. So give me a specific activity that you're trying to utilize or a specific goal that you're trying to achieve with someone. So we can talk about this a little bit more in context because let me give you a reason. Static hold would produce a yielding action. So like if I do like a static stretch, a traditional static stretch will produce a yielding action if I hold it long enough, right? Okay. If I do a max effort squat and I compare that to jumping off of a 24 inch box, the duration of exposure to the connector tissues is actually longer in the box jump than it is in the max effort squat, which means that I would get more yield relative to the heavy squat. So now we have to start thinking about context. It's like, where are you trying to express this yielding activity? Is it in normal walking? Is it in some other form of exercise? Is it during a specific sporting activity? Because we have to be very, very specific because we have time constraints in certain situations and we don't have time constraints in certain situations. We have magnitude that we have to address. And in other times, it's just body weight based movement. So narrow the context for me just a little bit.

So, as far as, let's say it's someone who's just slouched way forward. So like everything's like kind of in the lower extremities behaving more stiffly. Yeah. And then from an exercise standpoint, standing on a box, dropping med ball, having catch, drop and absorb that.

Okay.

Because they're shoved way forward. And let's say I didn't do anything to address that.

Okay.

You did that exercise. Would I get some sort of benefit out of that from a yielding capability?

Yeah.

Would I get some sort of benefit out of that from a yielding capability?

They'll yield. The question is: where? Okay, do you want them to yield at the first metatarsal phalangeal joint?

Probably not what I was going for.

So here's what you have: some people, when you ask them to jump or land, land in a late foot position where they're just on the ball of their foot with their heels up. The yield occurs at the first metatarsophalangeal joint. If that's what you want, then you've got it. If you want the yield distributed elsewhere—like in a middle propulsive representation—you may want to capture that middle propulsive representation first and then apply an activity that produces yielding in that position. This is because muscle activity can restrict your ability to access a position. That might be where you need to start versus trying to produce a randomly applied yielding action. For example, if you drop a medicine ball and say 'catch it and absorb it,' they'll yield. But the question is how and where? Do you want the yield in the medial knee? We've all seen people who jump off a box and their knees slam together when landing. Again, that's a yield—but is it where you want it? So acquiring the position may be the first step to ensure yielding actions occur where you want them to be.

No, no.

Just watch. It's awesome. You watch Crotty Kid for the philosophy.

How many different representations are there?