Acrobatics – Intro Protocol 1

Acrobatics – Intro Protocol 1

Jan 21, 2022 | Practical protocols

Acrobatics – protocol 1

 

A. Sensory upgrade – eyes locking drill x 60” x 3 sets 

Lock your eyes on the fingers of your partner. Without visually losing your target draw different trajectories in space with your head as a brush. Use different inclination of the torso, plane tilts and challenge yourself.  

Goal. Improving eyes tracking, locking, softening or condensing the awareness in terms of velocity, processing and overall sharpness. 

B. Spinwheels x 10 reps each  

Perform a cartwheel spinning internally on the first hand that touches the ground. Do so while entering and exiting in four possible permutations:

B1. Same arm entry to same leg exit
B2. Same arm entry to opposite leg exit
B3. Opposite arm entry to same leg exit
B4. Opposite arm entry to opposite leg exit

Goal. Display a clear understanding of all the variations, well defined spins on the first hand and controlled landings.  

C. Goalkeeper game – stationary variation x 90-120” x 5 sets / alternating with the partner

In the game, the keeper must prevent the ball from entering the goal. If the ball is rolled it needs to be caught by hands, if the ball is thrown it needs to be deflected using the feet. Simultaneously with the release of the ball the thrower should also command the keeper to use the right or the left limb to perform the defensive action.

Note for the thrower. Use wits and ingenuity to beat the partner, don’t use power. 

Goal. Show adroitness and competence in sliding while catching the ball with your hands and high, quick, and precise swings of the legs when deflecting the ball with your feet.

D. Inverted walks x 2-5 cluster steps x 6 reps x 3 sets 

From a standing position, take a step forward. Place the same hand of the stepping foot on the ground. Kick with the back leg towards a handstand. Take 2-5 steps (depending on your level) then come back down with a scissoring action. Do this forward, sideways and backwards in lines first and then progress to doing all the directions consecutively.

Goal. Working with 5 cluster steps x 6 reps in all sets use unbroken repetitions with a correct coordination. 

Here’s the visual references to the exercises:

In hope this will serve bring awareness in what appears to be a difficult and distracting moment for most,

Until next time,

Marcello.

Lightness Skills – Intro Protocol 1

Lightness Skills – Intro Protocol 1

Jan 15, 2022 | Practical protocols

Lightness skills – protocol 1

 

A. Light touch x 10 reps each / rest as needed

Perform a jump. While in the air, lightly tap the tennis ball, making it roll out of its position. Land silently and accurately.

A1. Sideway Jump – sideway touch
A2. Split Jump – Inside touch
A3. Forward Jump – Forward touch
A4. Forward Jump – Backward touch

Goal. Reach the full 40 jumps without mistakes. 

B. Four staircase jumps x 6-12 reps each / 120” rest after each permutation

Jump up the staircase using four different permutations in the jumps and in the landings. 

B1. Two legs to two legs
B2. Two legs to one leg
B3. One leg to the same leg
B4. One leg to two legs

Goal. Build up capacity to max rep range. Working 90% success rate on the landings, good jumping mechanics, and soft accurate landings. Increase by 1 step your initial max jump. 

C. Acceleration drill – ball hunt x 4-6 cluster reps / 180” rest after each

Lie in a prone position facing your partner. When she throws a tennis ball behind you turn to the right or to the left splitting your starting stance on the right or on the left. Catch the ball before it bounces twice. 

C1. Right turn, left stance
C2. Right turn, right stance
C3. Left turn, left stance
C4. Left turn, right stance 

Goal. Working with sharpness, athletic coordination, and a clear understanding of all the given permutations. 

D. Cloud walking x 10 minutes of work

Silently walk on four tennis balls, without touching the ground with any part of your feet, and without moving them out of their spot. Draw circles around them to stay accountable – keep high standards of execution.

Goal. Performing the drill 5 lines in a row without making mistakes. Keep the balls 2 of your feet in distance from each other.

 

Here’s the visual references to the exercises:

In hope this will serve bring lightness in what appears to be a heavy moment for most, good people.

Until next time,

Marcello.

Evolving a movement practice

Evolving a movement practice

Jan 7, 2022 | Blog

Knowing that it is in the nature of all things to transform and grow, how can one innovate without making grave mistakes or ending up practicing something worthless?

One of the fundamental topical issues of alive fields, lays in understanding where to go next. 

Let’s address this matter.

Just as we are learning from evolutionary biology, a practice cannot change in the blink of an eye. It needs time to mature, diversify, and develop. It requires strong roots and daily work to branch out into a strong tree.

I am choosing the paragon of plants not by chance, as they well reflect the need for a long-term strategy and the need for galactic patience. They don’t patch outside things to themselves, rather they unfold constantly in an expansive stream.

This means that pieces cannot be added at random but need to follow a certain logic (unless you wish to have an unstable and abominable Frankenstein at your disposal). It won’t serve you well and it will be rapidly forgotten.

A movement practice to be growing well needs continuity (in terms of practical progression, honest pruning, direct branching), comparison (with history, with other researchers, and with practitioners), integration (in terms of skills, attributes, and qualities).

Continuity

One should first learn how to stand, then how to take a step, then how to run, then how to display adroitness in a game and so on. Complex abilities build one on top of the next from exact yet infinite origins. Capabilities should continue to evolve in the direction of increasing complexity and into the development dexterity: making sure that the skills learned are linkable, accessible, and real. If a field doesn’t require skill acquisition, it won’t induce real change and it won’t be transformative.

If parts of one’s practice does not respond to these rules, it should be pruned away from the main direction, and transferred to corollary junctions.

On the other hand, when there is a potential part of the system that can evolve it should be expanded and nurtured.

Comparison

A constant observation in relationships between present and past should happen at any stage. Only once a tradition is absorbed completely then it can be evolved. Thinking of doing innovation when one is just repeating pieces that had already been discovered is often happening. This leads to three problems: wasting valuable time, a stall in innovation, and retroactive plagiarism. Nobody will believe you if you try to convince the world you were the first one to discover the theory of relativity in your room in 2022, and overall, it will not be in line with where research is edging right now, a complete waste of resources.

Aside from the past, this means that you also have to make sure you know where a field is being led, from thinkers and theoretical explorers but also in the undergrounds and in the web. Some phenomenal practitioners are shooting new ideas from the shadows, through direct experimentation. You should know about them.

 

Integration

When new material is created it should be amalgamated and cross tested in a variety of platforms for examination, in scenarios for growth, and at times even back to the original roots. This is one of the strongest controls one can install to make sure not to go off track. So, here’s a few questions to keep in mind.

– Is the skill you trained reappearing in your continual practice?
(i.e. of skills: jumping, sliding, swinging…)

– What are the attributes that comprise the field you are studying?
(i.e. of attributes: lightness, control, repeatability…)

– Which qualities are at the base of what you are training?
(i.e. of qualities: memory, strength, sensitivity…)

If these questions are not asked, it is likely that one will end up training without a coherent sense.

Logical innovation

Here’s a diagram that exemplifies the approach I have when creating new material in the movement practice of my school (and takes into consideration the three laws I talked about up here): I explore and absorb a practice well rooted in history, I break it down in vast scenarios, in them I identify platforms for study, and inside them I develop attributes, skills, qualities, and movement principles which communicate with one another. Not the other way round. In this way I can make sure things are evolving without detrimental sophistications.

In hope this will serve innovators to continue develop this field and practitioners to discern a good direction from a confusing or damaging one.

Bring it on 2022!

Until next time,
Marcello.