Biomechanics: Changing Your Being
Your biomechanics play a crucial role in your physical shape, functioning, and development. Biomechanics is defined as the study of the mechanical laws relating to the movement or structure of living organisms. Simply put, no two bodies are alike, therefor workout types and exercises must be different for each person if you’re trying to get to the next level in your state of being. On top of that, since we all have a different psychological state, you have to factor in that our bodies will be held differently than our neighbors. Our daily activities vary. and this leads to distorted postural patterns, dormant muscles, and something called tissue binding.
This matters because if we aren’t training our bodies in the most efficient way, bringing attention and precision to understanding how to move, we will create more tension, compression, and inflammation in the joints or muscles. This leads to pain, stuck states, stagnation in process, depression, anxiety, and several other states of mind that will subsequently slow us down and make us feel stressed. In the 21st- century the human body is falling into a pattern of dysfunction. It sits all day, with a foreword head, rounded shoulders, and isn’t utilizing the whole functioning body enough. On top of that, we have two groups of people; exercisers and non exercisers (and then everybody else is in the middle). So we take our short tight bodies and throw them into fitness classes and gyms swearing that they’ll make us feel better- and they do, to some degree. But does that habit of exercising actually translate into intentional training? Is your ‘exercise’ making you better at the things you want to be better at?
Training specific to your biomechanics is going to make you much more stable from the inside out, as well as function better in any sort of athletic or active scenario. Biomechanics involves looking at your body and seeing what is working beautifully and what is asleep. It begins with raising one’s awareness to where they are in space, and how to make deeper muscle systems work. For example, if your diaphragm isn’t functioning optimally, chances are your quads and glutes aren’t either. Another example; if your neck and shoulder muscles are primarily functioning for your breathing and working, than how can you expect your bigger deeper leg and hip muscles to turn on? Basically if you don’t understand your biomechanics, you may be at risk for stagnation in progress, joint pain, and all sorts of muscular inhibitions and restrictions.
New to Biomechanics? Read and Learn
The way I see it there are a few steps you can take towards understanding your biomechanics.
First off- work with somebody knowledgeable 1-on-1 and tell them whats going on with you. Do you have a pain in your right shoulder or left knee? Is it your neck? Do you fatigue too soon when you workout? Would you like more range of motion in your hips or ankles? Have you been working out for years and still not seeing results in your body? What is the stressor in your life that is bothering you? Second- address muscles that have bonded together and find the dormant tissues that are being lazy or inactive. It really important for you to understand that you must relax the anchoring muscle system first and then strengthen what is weak.
In par with that, you’ve got to start doing more myofascial release work, either with a professional or with a bodyworker. If you’re locked up in certain postures, it won’t be long until those stiff and tight areas trickle somewhere else. You want to take the stress off of your joints and get your muscle fibers to understand how to relax. Is your spine compressed somewhere? Because compression on a nerve will automatically send you into a gripping and grabbing mode.
Finally, build and create elasticity in your body. You have got to understand that tension and compression are both necessary to maximize force generation and output. But if a muscle system or fascial continuum is short or long it’s going to throw off the recoiling of that tissue. I personally think we have come to look at “working out” as an escape from the reality of the present. We don’t take the time to understand where the root of the issue is because we much prefer to symptomize it and look the other way. Figuring out a joint issue or postural holding pattern takes patience as well as time. So it isn’t a surprise to me that we haven’t figured it out yet as a society how to move, stay healthy, and stay strong. Bottom line- you have got to function from your core, from the inside out, if you’re going to perform and practice in a sustainable fashion.
