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.

Movement codes: the art of hiding

Movement codes: the art of hiding

Sep 12, 2021 | Blog

Have you ever seen a person, that looked like nothing but was a phenomenal performer when it came to facts? 

Think back and gather a memory of that.

Maybe this happened during a dance class, a bike ride, while climbing, during a run, in the gym, in a park… That person that looked like nothing “special” on the surface, completely obliterated everyone else that looked much stronger, more athletic, and fitter.

This is because what you can see from the outside of a shape, rarely reflects what is inside of it.

Just to make an example: Courtney Dauwalter. Could you have a look at her physical features and attire, and guess what she is capable of? Most likely not. She looks like a normal person going to play basketball at the nearest playground, instead she’s most likely going to jog for hundreds of kilometers without stop, outrunning all creatures on earth.

Personally, I love these surprises.

It’s not the shell, that makes the turtle

The reason why we can’t guess the overall abilities of a person by the looks is that they lay in substance [1] and not in form [2].

From this, a simple line of logic can be derived: your practice should aim at improving all the qualities that pertain movement, not in achieving a certain shape: as the outside shape should only be an indirect result of your work.

[1] Substance
The invisible components of the human organism: from the energy systems to the deep intention and mind, to the internal composition of the structures.

[2] Form
The outer material and visible part of the shape. The width of a muscle, the length of a limb, the overall outline of a body.

One layer below: hiding the form

Form is the hammer of the blacksmith. It is fundamental to generate, yet inadequate in knowing how good of a craftsman his owner is.

Showing off a tool to describe proficiency is senseless. The same goes with trying to create the best tool to achieve knowhow.

It is wise to hide form in many contexts as it reflects this understanding.

 

Two layers below: hiding substance

Once skills, a series of patterns, or special states are achieved there will be a tendency for them to come to an actualization in any context, setting and time. This is immature and can be harmful.

There is a moment for everything: a moment for them to express and a moment for them to stay behind the curtains.

For example, suddenly in a fighting class you feel the urge to do a handstand: Is it yourself that wants to do a handstand or is it the handstand that it is using you to come out? That is not the moment for it, hide it.

 

Three layers below: hide your qualities

Gain power, strength, ranges and …keep them in the bank. Use them when you need them, don’t put them in display all the time.

A barking dog doesn’t bite, and the opposite stands true. 

All the real and best practitioners that I have met in my life, didn’t need to show off. They knew what they were worth, what they were after and what was needed to get there.

Take a Tibetan lama for example. He won’t come to meditate close to you to show you how good he is in those matters, won’t he? Then why shouldn’t you do the same?

Four layers below: hiding the unnecessary

Hide all that can be hidden and strive for efficiencies.

Preludes to an action, stylized accessory coordination, longings once an action is finished, parasite tensions, corollaries to a movement strategy, coupling motions, useless synergies, inefficient movement trajectories…

From the outside, no one should be able to read you, and all should look flawless and instantaneously crafted and cancelled. Like a feline sleeping under a tree and few moments later with a prey in his mouth already.

To conclude – hide all that you have but show all that you are:

  1. Hide your tools
  2. Hide your skills and states
  3. Hide your qualities
  4. Hide the unnecessary

    Until next time,

    Marcello.

How to face an endurance based challenge

How to face an endurance based challenge

May 23, 2021 | Practical protocols

I have been asked many times about a protocol to apply during an endurance-based movement challenge. So here is one of my favorites that can be used in a wide range of situations: from a long swim to a run, to a max isometric position hold to a hang, from a climb to a long balancing bout, from height to cold exposure and …well you get it.

Let’s get into it:

 

Preparatory stage

 

First step, rehearse

Don’t visualize far lands, but study what you are about to face. 

Make sure you rehearse in your mind’s eye what will be needed from you. Understand exactly what the hard bits of the challenge are going to be, what crux you are going to have to face, which weak links are going to come knocking at your door. What will be under your control and what not. Which strategies you are going to have to apply, how to optimize hand / feet placement, which coordination to use. Understand what will most likely work and try it out in smaller chunks where and if possible. You want to leave the least amount of unknowns hanging around in your near future. To conclude, give yourself positive reinforcement. Bring your mind to those past experiences that built your skills, have full trust in your preparatory training, check in and self-talk to your inner core to reassure yourself about success. There should be no doubts left at the end of this process, your mind should feel steady like the fire of a candle without wind blowing on it.

Once this is done (and trust me, take all the time you need with this) move on and put this all aside.

Second, achieve relaxation

In the moments before the storm, you want to create stability.

You need to have a replicable set up, a home base. A situation where everything is under control and can be achievable every single time. Start from generating a pattern of breathing that will set a carbon dioxide baseline, gather nitric oxide, lower your heart rate and balance your nervous system. I recommend going for a continuous 1:2 / inhale:exhale without any pause in between. It has to create very little air hunger, but no discomfort. Slow down the breath to 6 breaths a minute or less. You want it to be diaphragmatic alone and take the air in through the nose. Make it non-forced, light, with a slow cadence, and deep (80% of max). At the end of this process, you want your body to be in a deep hybrid state, alert and ready, but at the same time but with a slow pounding heart. Your mind should feel calm, empty, steady, sharp, and determined. As per Zen saying you should feel like you stopped stirring the “mud in the cup”, and that the water in it clears up.

Action

Third, focused attention

Get the engine going, don’t allow your stress levels to rise.

The best way to do this is to direct your attention to all the microscopic actions you are sequencing and their response over the body. Be a perfectionist, moment after moment. 
I.e. Did you just enter cold water? Feel the effect over your body. How did it respond to it? what is happening to your breath? which sensations are raising or falling inside your system? Just be with whatever comes, without acting on them.
Or another example: did you just start a climb? How do your holds feel? Is your body tensing up excessively? Can you place your next step softly? Can you feel your connection run through your system?
Take all the information in, then decide how to act, from a clean place.

Never allow yourself to wonder on the ifs, on what will come next, or on what could go wrong.
That pertained to a previous stage. Stay grounded in the present.

Fourth, cold blood

Start cruising steady, focus, and get ready for the emergencies. 

Breathing shall remain soft, slow, and with a slightly longer exhalation than the in.halation. I.e. 2 in 3 out. In case you encounter a harder situation to manage I recommend switching to a 1:1 in:out ratio, with the inhalation coming in through the nose and the exhalation coming out of your pursed lips. Make it strong and sharp. This regular rhythm helps setting the pace of your actions and gives a firm clarity of intention.

Once the hard moment is concluded, go back to your “cruising mode” to calm yourself down once again.

Fifth, conclude with style

Maintain elegance in the end, regardless of how tired or shocked you are.

Don’t drop down like a sack of meat. Come out of it with grace. Make every step soft and attentive. If you feel you can’t control yourself anymore because you reached your limit, remember you most likely still can. Even fainting can be done with style (I saw it happen). Acknowledge how fatigue stirs your actions towards sloppiness and how it pull the hand break over your system. This is a protection mechanism but you don’t have to follow it; it’s just some laziness coming to visit.

Ask yourself, can I still walk upright? Can I still maintain touch? Can I still keep my back straight? If so why wouldn’t I?

The aftermath

Sixth, Recovery and download

This is your time to absorb the experience and upgrade.

Take three recovery breaths with a small hook at the top: inhale deeply from the diaphragm then wide to the side into the intercostals, then the chest, once full pause a couple of seconds, exhale deeply and empty completely. Then take a few moments to observe your state, what went on and download all that just happened.
Only then address the people around you, the situation, and the rest of the reality around of you. Give time and respect where it is due.

Good luck on all the findings, challenges and experimentations. May your hearts be calm, your minds be focused and your lungs be steady.

Until next time,
Marcello.