Training Movement Pathways

When we talk about training all of the movement pathways of the body, what we're really saying is train the fascial slings. Now I am not an expert in fascia. But I know a lot about the musculature, and that's what the fascial slings are doing. They are bringing together muscle groups in the front body, back body, and lateral body so that we can harness our strength have pelvic stability be able to accelerate and decelerate our body, and we use these movement pathways in everything we do from walking in our day to day to anything you wanna do athletically throwing a ball, swinging a bat, and everyone's favorite pickle ball. So we're really gonna focus on the anterior oblique sling and the posterior of the oblique sling.

These are more superficial, and what they do is in the front from our external obliques on the right side, they come across to merge with the internal obliques of the left side and into the adductors of the inner thigh. Therefore, creating this diagonal across the front of the body that stabilizes and secures us. In opposition to that, we have the posterior oblique sling, and we're just gonna turn Fred around here. That's his name. And the posterior oblique sling runs from the latissimus Dorsey through the thoracolumbar fascia and connects with the opposite glute max on the other side.

And of course, you would have one coming through the other side of the rib cage just like you would in the front. And this crossing structure, particularly in the back, is what really works to lock and stabilize your s I joints. So if you have s I dysfunction, or any kind of issue in the lumbar, you wanna work to stabilize the muscularity of your posterior oblique system. Now the deeper System is a posterior longitudinal line that runs from the muscles of the back of the shoulder and all of the deep erector spinae on the left side coming across that thoracolumbar fascia into the deep glutes and around the outer hip through the a b doctors all the way down through to the foot. In opposition to that, there is also a deep anterior longitudinal line, and we'll turn Fred back around. And I'm not putting the bands on to show you those, but I do cover them in the downloadable PDF, but the deep longitudinal anterior line brings the muscles of the front of the shoulder and the pectorals through the obliques into the adductors, and again spirals down the leg all the way through the calf to the foot.

The last set of slings is our lateral slings, which would bring in, again, all of the muscles of the lats serratus, all the way down through the obliques, the muscles of the a b doctors, outer hips, and down into the calf. All of these systems or slings work together so that they pull our torso together and hold us uniformly in space. What's important for us to know as teachers is when we see muscular imbalance in the body that's creating a structural imbalance, we have to think about what part of the sling is getting more constriction or compression or is tighter so that we can work the opposite sling to shift the balance, and that's what you need to realize. If you see that you've got compression, pulling this whole rib cage down. You're gonna then see a grabbing of the adductors that pulls the alignment of the pelvis off. So if we wanna correct that, we'd have to come to the opposite side to strengthen and therefore create the reciprocal inhibition or the opposite reaction.

That's what that really means. So that if we were to tighten this side, it would bring us back up out of that tightness. That's important to also think about that if you have tightness in the front anterior line, it's gonna cause an over stretch of the back line because everything works as a team. I have a saying where there is a zig, there is a zag, and usually another zig, and another zag. Nothing in the body happens in isolation. No one muscle can do it all.

Now we're gonna return back to this idea of sacral stability in that the posterior oblique sling really comes across your s I joints and creates a term in architecture, which is called force coupling, where it literally says stay. That's really the easiest definition. Okay? And it's two forces that come together to make stability. The reason I bring this up is because I cannot tell you how many times I've heard from dancers, gymnasts, divers that they have thrown out their SI joint. That's not a thing.

It is impossible to dislocate your SI joint without a major physical trauma, like a terrible car accident. The amount of movement that there is in the top portion of the SI joint where the synovial fluid is located is so minimal that we actually can't measure it with any device. And we don't want it moving. We do not want the feeling that your pelvis could detach from your sacrum. And this sling is what muscularly comes together from all of that fascia to say to the sacrum.

We've got you. We're supporting you. So what really is SI dysfunction? It's not that the SI joints themselves have dislocated. It's that imbalance in the musculature is creating uneven compression, lateral flexion, or rotation that then is impinging upon your spinal nerves causing that raging sciatic pain that can run down the front of the hips, the outer hips, burn through your glutes, and put fire all the way down into your toes when it's really, really, really bad. So in order to correct SI dysfunction. It's the same logic I was showing in your anterior sling.

You have to assess what is compressing and giving in to gravity, what that's causing in your structural alignment, and then target the opposite muscles so that you can slowly pull the body back into a place of more even uniformity. Now I am a 100% believer that the idea of symmetry is a lie. Nothing in your body is 100% symmetrical. So the goal is not make the right side like the left side. The goal is to make the right side work with the left side for optimal uniformity.

To try and strive for symmetry in this idea of being square, doesn't actually relate to how we functionally move through space day to day. Simply for us to walk. We have to rely on all of the slings to integrate movement so that we have a natural spiral in our gait that unlocks the movement through our hips, knees, and feet. And I'm gonna show you what I mean. We're just gonna push Fred a little bit over to the side. Thanks Fred.

You've been great. Okay. Right? Don't go anywhere. Not if I take a step and say, I'm gonna stay square. I'm gonna stay symmetrical. Then my arms don't move.

My torso doesn't move. Yes. I can heal Ballo yes, I can move through my feet and ankles, but do you see how rigid I look? Even taking a step backwards or two, nobody actually walks like this unless they're performing on stage. That is a very stylized, controlled thing. What we wanna see in a natural gait is a natural spiral where the posterior and anterior slings work together. To allow us a natural opposition of arm and leg, therefore contracting through the front of one of the slings, extending through the back in the opposite sling.

Because again, your front sling and your back sling work reciprocally against each other or with each other. So when I take a step, there should be a natural rotation and a natural swing of the arms. I'm slightly exaggerating because I just want to prove the point, even if I were to step backwards. That's normal. We want that easy glide through the shoulders, through the spiral of the spine, the hips, the knees, and the ankles.

When that natural pathway is inhibited, you're going to see joint dysfunction throughout the body and it's unique to everyone. You cannot say Oh, if this happens, then this is gonna happen for every single body you see. That's not the case. We naturally rely on our brain's ability to keep us upright and moving through space. And our body is going to use our brain to find what is strongest and therefore what is most accessible to keep us from giving into gravity and staying mobile. So in the workout that you're about to do, pay attention to when I am loading the anterior or loading the posterior, and how that allows me to actually find the strength to work into the springs or find the movement through the transverse plane.

The transverse plane always has an element of rotation. When we work, sagittally, we're really working flexion and extension of the spine as well as the joints of our legs. When we move through the frontal plane or side to side, we're really going to be going into the lateral swings. Now, again, in the PDF, I really to break down the musculature for the deep longitudinal and lateral slings. But in the workout, really try to see and visualize what the muscles are doing through the oblique slings and what that reciprocal reaction is front to back and side to side.

This will help you for those clients who come in and say, I've thrown out my SI joint, or I've got pelvic instability, or my hips are really, really, really tight, which is everyone. We need to be able to find that natural ease of rotation to bring back what our brain and our body are actually striving to do. So to put this to work, check out the class, training movement pathways.