This post is all about the Rules of Execution. Now I didn’t invent these, the Author of these Rules is Professor DeRose… and he did not invent them either. In the same way that Newton did not invent gravity and instead just explained it, DeRose did not invent these rules, he observed a pattern and noted it.
The objective of these rules is to allow anyone who is attempting to execute a physical position to be safe, injury free and to extract maximum rewards. Simple right?
So what are they?
- Breathing
- Permanence
- Repetition
- Location your awareness
- Mentalization
- Didactic angle
- Equalization
- Safety
In this way it seems really simple, but within each of these is a quite complex element. I will try to do my best to expand on them as much as possible, but because of the limits in the scope of this blog I will only be able to cover 5 of the eight… If you would like to know more, please feel free to contact me! 😃
I am going to start from the end!
SAFETY
It is your safety! This rule says: give your best effort, but respect your limits. In anything physical that you do there can be some impact… so, while it may look easy, the difficulty can quickly ramp up. You should always push yourself, train your mental resilience, train your strength, stamina and power. But, going beyond your limits can result in undesired outcomes…. so keep this always in mind! Respect your limits.
EQUALIZATION
This is fundamental! This is the concept that a healthy being is the one which has symmetry… Whose body is developed equally on both sides. In other words, if you do a physical position which works on your left leg, do the exact same two the right leg…
The importance of this rule is missed to people who only have a short term view… In the very short term the effects are not going to be too significant, but in the medium and long terms they can finish you! No seriously, I am not being dramatic… Let me use my favorite example, Tennis star, prodigy and mega champion Rafael Nadal.
Now Tennis is a tough sport and its physical demands tend to overdevelop one side of the body… Here is my evidence 1… take a look at the difference in sizes in Nadal’s arms in the picture above this post.
Did you notice anything? Now Nadal has a team of trainers and they really should have known better, but, unfortunately they did not. In the very short term this caused no issues, he was getting stronger and playing better but… His most serious injuries started at just 19 years of age! (admittedly he has been playing for a while, at age 8 he won his first tournament!) As of the time I am writing this post Nadal’s personal website has 21 pages of posts with the tag injury in it!
Amazing…. I found online a graphic a newspaper did on this injuries…
Nadal is today 30 and for YEARS he has been unable to compete properly because of injury…. Can you imagine what the quality of life for this world class athlete will be when he is 40? 50? Equalization…. it is SO important….
BREATHING
This rule is related to an effective way to manage the expansion and contraction of your lungs in order to increase comfort and efficiency of movement. In broad terms, it states that when you are moving your body into any position, if your torso is moving towards the ground, you should exhale. When your torso is moving away from the ground you should inhale. One of the many elements impacted by the expansion or contraction of the lungs is to make it easier to accommodate the internal organs.
Another element states that when you twist your shoulders (and by collateral your spine) you should exhale and when you return from this twist, inhale. The principle is the same as the one above. Clearly there is a lot more detail to this, but this should be enough to get us going!
PERMANENCE & REPETITION
If you whittle it down enough, there are really two ways to work your body. You can flex the muscles and maintain that level or you can flex and release, flex and release. There is no right way, however, your muscles are just like a rubber band. If you stretch it and contract it repeatedly some of the fibers will break. Body building uses this to tear many muscles fibers consistently, teaching your muscles that they need more mass so that they can cope with the tears… the results? Inflation and bulking up.
Another approach is to flex it once and hold. And then, after a while, release and move on, not repeating exactly the same technique. The result of this is very different from the body building approach… instead of tearing fibers this approach strains the existing muscle fibers and over time your muscles learn that they need to have greater efficiency per cell versus having many more. In other words, muscle shape and definition versus bulking up.
While I did say that there is no right way, there may be a more desirable way… In our Method we recommend longer permanence and zero repetition. This will completely avoid injuries (muscles will not have their fibers torn) as well as normal wear and tear and by this definition is more desirable!
So how long should the permanence be?Well, one of the easiest measure to ensure safety you have with you at all times, your breathing. So coupled with the above rule of breathing the ideal permanence time is as long as you can hold your your breath in that position. When you need to breathe, conclude the permanence. If you follow this rule of thumb you are always working hard and safely!
OK! this ended up being a little longer than I imagined… for now this is it… I look forward to catching up on the next article!
If you did not read, here is part 1 of this series: Intelligently develop your body