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The Movement Mindset™

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The Movement Mindset™: What If We Measured Ageing by What We Can Still Do? For more than three decades, I have worked with people as an osteopath, movement specialist, rehabilitation practitioner, lecturer and coach. Throughout that time, I have seen many different reasons why people seek help with their bodies. Sometimes it is pain. Sometimes it is an injury. Sometimes it is a loss of mobility or strength. Sometimes it is simply the feeling that the body is no longer doing what it used to do. But there is another theme that has become increasingly important to me. It is a question that sits behind many of the conversations we have about ageing, health, exercise and physical decline: What does it really mean to stay physically capable as we get older? We spend an enormous amount of time talking about ageing. We talk about weight. We talk about appearance. We talk about wrinkles, disease, pain, stiffness and the things we believe we are gradually losing. But perhaps we are asking the wr...

Muscle Activation in the Dynamic Warm-Up: Is It Really Necessary for Throwers?

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  Muscle Activation in the Dynamic Warm-Up: Is It Really Necessary for Throwers? Why sprinters embraced muscle activation years ago, why throwers have been slower to adopt it, and what the science actually says. Introduction Walk onto almost any elite sprint track and you will see athletes performing mini-band walks, A-skips, ankling drills, hurdle mobility, bounds, and various activation exercises before they ever think about sprinting. Walk into a throwing circle and, historically, you are far more likely to see athletes taking a few easy throws, performing some static stretching, rotating their shoulders, and gradually building intensity. This raises an interesting question: Have throwers been missing out on one of the most important developments in modern sports preparation? The answer is both yes and no. The scientific literature strongly supports the use of dynamic warm-ups and neuromuscular activation protocols for enhancing explosive performance and preparing the body for h...