On Movement: The Unit of Practice
Fragments from imaginary dialogues
“What is the fundamental unit of the Movement practice?”
“I think not in terms of exercises, but movement-patterns.
Movement-patterns are modular-elements [<link; medium length] which form the basic building-blocks of Movement.
Take the burpee for instance.
The burpee, in essence, is a compound movement-pattern combining two basic movement-patterns: a push-up, and a vertical jump. By identifying the structural components, you can turn it into a template [<link; medium]:
Burpee Pattern = Push-Up + x
You can combine the push-up pattern with any other movement-pattern. This opens up creative possibilities.
And we can take this further:
2-Move Pattern = x + y
You can combine any movement-pattern with any other movement-pattern. This opens up a universe of possibilities.
The essence of the 2-move pattern is not in the movement-patterns themselves, but in the transition between them. We might even call the 2-move pattern, the transition-pattern.
2-Move Pattern = Transition-Pattern
As you start learning a movement-pattern, the unit of practice is the exercise-pattern.
Exercise-Pattern = x + x
The focus is on doing quality repetitions (reps) of the same movement-pattern until you internalize it.
Once you’ve built a vocabulary of movement-patterns, the unit of practice becomes the transition-pattern.
Transition-Pattern = x + y
The focus is on doing quality transitional-reps. The essential quality of transitional-reps is fluidity.”
“What movement-patterns do you focus on.”
“I use Variety [<link; medium], Utility and Fun as my guides.”
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