Sunday. I usually dread Sundays. Not today. Today is a day of rest from the gym. Today, the steel sleeps.
I’m giving my hands a rest from the brutality of the hook grip, and the devious gymnastics rings. My legs do not have to squat large loads or run long distances. I don’t have to fall to my knees, wasted from a recent bout with “The Darkness.”
But with rest comes reflection. Yesterday, I attended a fantastic seminar with Naka Athletics‘ very own Carl Paoli, one of the luminaries in the CrossFit universe. I learned how to do a better pushup, pistol, and muscle-up, among other things. Carl demonstrated how various gymnastics movements relate to each other. For instance, how a burpee’s movement patterns translate into a snatch and how a pushup mimics a squat. And it is here where we come to the two biggest takeaways from the seminar. First, the movement patterns of human beings reflect the natural beauty and harmony of the world. Two, I absolutely love coaching.
Coach Carl Paoli shows some love for The Movement Program. Thanks, Carl!
Examine a person squatting. What do you see? ”I just see a person squatting, Terpak…” Look deeper. I see a person expressing what it is that nature intended us to do. It’s a peek behind the veil that shrouds the essence of our reality. As the world has become more and more complex and we have become flooded by gadgets and gimmicks, we forget that the simple is truly complex and that it is the complex that is truly simple. A perfect squat, or any well executed human movement for that matter, pushes all of the BS off to the side, and there sits reality, naked, proud, and glorious. Tendons tighten, bones brace, and muscles move, all in perfect harmony and order. Why can’t our lives be like a beautiful squat? It’s simple, really. Much like those who don’t know how to squat properly, many of us do not know how to live properly. Take a couple of minutes each day to slow down, look around, breathe, and view others simply as they are, neither good nor bad. Just as a squat is both simple and yet very complex, so too can your life be simplistically extravagant.
Coach Carl understood this and built his whole seminar upon this concept. It is this simple extravagance that I hope to impart on the athletes whom I coach each week. I have always been a teacher and I always will be, in one form or another. Seeing people grow in the classroom or in the gym has always given me great satisfaction. Since the inception of The Movement Program, I have witnessed many of my athletes finally grasp this concept of simple extravagance. It has been a fulfilling experience. For the next couple of weeks, I hope to share the stories and journeys of The Movement Program’s participants. Below you will find the stories of two athletes who epitomize what the Program is all about.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend…don’t forget to squat!
Terpak
