The year is 3014 by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

I can’t STAND for this anymore by Tony Riddle



I have had a few comments on how extreme I can be, specially after sawing my sofa in two at home and throwing it away. I always have to explain that it is my choice and just because I am different, this doesn't make me extreme. 

You too might have a different opinion If you actually did your own research into the affects of seated posture and how detrimental it is to your movement system.



Imagine this scene:



The year is 3014 and you are at a seminar about mother natures amazing ability to heal and how Man potentially threatened their own existence.



You are in a completely clear glass room, yet can still take in the surrounding trees and beautifully natural scenery. You are able to absorb Vitamin D and smell nature, but yet protected from the harsher elements. There isn’t one chair in the room and all of the participants at the seminar are either kneeling, squatting, or striking thinking poses, it’s ground transition central.



The lecturer is presenting you with facts that Man became so obsessed by technological advances that they neglected their own complex design and threatened civilisation as we knew it..



He explains:


“There was once a time when humans were controlled and propaganda was rife. An uprising had occurred for returning us back to nature, but those involved were cast out for being too extreme. The organisation had threatened their world and the fear of loosing their comfort and their highly addictive food groups had created a huge emotional reaction. The organism had become weak and easily manipulated. They were addicted to a lifestyle that was creating sick victims and they were given false hope of magic cures.”


“Cancer was a very different disease back in 2014 and people didn’t understand that there was no cure as such. They piled money into charities, huge amounts of money, when all along those organisations knew that the only cure was prevention. They knew you had to return back to a natural lifestyle, start moving naturally, eating natural organic produce, sleeping correctly and have proper spiritual connection with our Mother.”

“Instead they carried on, compromising their organism, disrespecting themselves in a form of self hatred. Their most common form of surgery was the gastric band. The band was fitted so that they could keep eating their industrialised food groups. Some were so over weight that they had to use a form of transport to move 100m”.



The lecturer shoots a huge image of a chair into the sky with his 3d projector and the room gasps!


“ Yes this is a chair, along with the industrialised food groups these were the main culprits for of our demise”

“Today you can squat anywher and there are no chairs, but back then you didn’t even have an option, you had to sit. Even when studies showed how detrimental seated posture was to the health of the organism, you still didn’t get a choice. There wasn’t even an area to squat in! Before they took smoking out of restaurants you had an option to be on the smoking side or the non smoking side, but when sitting was compared to be the new smoking in terms of health issues. They still had no option, but to sit and frowned upon If you were to squat.”


“We had taken away all of what we are capable of today, the chair was creating a stagnant race. Our ankles, knees, lower backs and our posture were all affected by this beast. We had literally become sitting targets and it was of little wonder why we had become so threatened as a species. We had done to ourselves what no other species would have dreamed of doing. We had fed ourselves fake indigestible food groups that were unrecognisable by natures design and then taken away our amazing and unique ability to mimic movements of mother natures animals. Loosing site that no other animal can impersonate another the way we can.”

“We can become the Duck, the cheater, the lizard, the fish. A fish can only be a fish, a cat a cat, a lizard a lizard. Instead they would sit in a chair that had no overlapping advantages into any of our natural movement patterns.”

“Yes this is hard to believe my children, but it is true. We now take for granted our great movement equality, but believe me; most couldn’t even walk or run correctly and had to be coached in how to move and eat”

“When they finally invaded we didn’t stand much chance, with the inability to move or defend ourselves and the lack of basic survival skills we were sitting ducks.”


“Our only saviour was that small minority that hadn’t fallen for the Bull Shit and had chosen to move and eat how nature had intended. The very people that our anscestors had cast out for being extremist would come to our rescue. They were once looked at as if they were crazy for playing out in nature, whilst the other kids were locked in their cage like bedrooms, disconnected from one another. These uncompromised 'WARRIORS" were preparing themselves for an event such as this. You see they knew, if you take away mans ability to defend himself, or move then they are weak and vulnerable, this is how you bread a nation of worriers."

"It had taken us a long time for us to make the change, but once the big ego's finally put their hands up admitted they were wrong it was a inevitable that the change had to occur. We soon realised that we had become both the slave and the slave master. The New Nature Order hadn't wanted us to revert right back to hunter gatherer roots and forget all about the things we had been successful with, they just wanted to drop all the things that were draining our planet, both spiritually and weakening our our defences. They had given us the true meaning of a "SELF DEFENCE" and that is when it dawned on us, that the "Creating Warriors not Worrier" approach wasn't about creating an attacking army".


"If anything, we have learnt that it is O.K to make technological advances, but we must maintain our connection with nature. Nature really does have the answers. We are smart, but only when we are nature smart"!

Tony Riddle  A.K.A @theprepdoctor

Ten Preparations To Have A Good Day by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

By Gloves Club Founder Tony Riddle

What is it with this fear of time - why are you in such a rush?

I see it "time and time again" on my commute into London from my home in Windsor. People speed walking to the station with no time to spare. Queuing for the ticket machine and pacing up and down like they are just about to butcher a kindergarten! When arriving at Paddington station, the panic is heightened as the Chronophobes have lost all self control and their perception of another being has been demonised.

Pushing and shoving to get down the escalator in order to join the wave of zoo-mmuters for the next zoo-mmuters still fight tooth and nail to cram onto the first tube that arrives.

tube,  knowing full well it will arrive somewhere in the next 2 to 4 minutes. Look up at the information screen and the next tube will arrive in 2 mins, the one after that 4 mins and so on. But yet, the Zoommuters still fight tooth and nail to cram onto the first tube that arrives.

In theory they could be on the next tube, and would have a more pleasant environment to exist in. But no, they'd much prefer the armpit or breath of their new inmate all over them. Then again, if they didn't have that armpit or that breath on them, what else would they have to complain about to their fellow inmates when first arriving at the office?

The whole ordeal is enough to give anyone adrenal fatigue. What a ridiculous way to start your day. What do you think the effects of this are having on you? What is it you are trying to achieve? A huge over stimulation of that sympathetic nervous system, that's what. You can forget about your digestive system, your hormonal system and immune system for a while. They will be on lock down to support your plight! Prep yourself before you wreck yourself.

Here's ten preps you should consider to take the lion's roar out of your commute:

1) Prepare for the next day Have everything you need ready to go. Not enough time for breakfast in the morning? Then boil some eggs and pack some fruits and nuts the night before. The better the night prep, the better the sleep. You won't be preparing for your day whilst trying to clock up the zzz'ds. Giving you some good old fashioned dream time!

2) Switch the lights down low and turn off the artificial suns (TV's, laptops, iPads) in the house by 10pm. This will aid rest and digest, switch them off and you'll switch off too!

3) Get to sleep on the best side of 11pm Use a rest and digest breathing technique if you feel that this is too early for you. Rather than counting sheep, count breath: 4 seconds in, 2 seconds hold and 6 seconds out. Before you know it, you'll feel the wave of what has been artificiality stimulated pass and the wave of relaxation will be upon you.

4) Wake 20 minutes earlier than your previous ridiculous commute. Choose an alarm clock that wakes you up gradually with increasing light. The light cues your body to set a healthy sleep cycle, get up and to feel alert, refreshed with more energy.

5) When showering consider hydrotherapy and gradually adjust hot to cold showers. For many, a drastic change in temperature would be too much of a stressor. I would recommend turning the water to cold for the last 30 seconds to a minute of your shower. If it's good enough for Vincenz Priessnitz it's good enough for me. Benefits included: strengthened immunity, improved blood circulation, regulated temperature, promotes weight loss/increases metabolism, alleviates depression, improves lymphatic movement, deepens breathing, keeps skin and hair healthy, increases energy, well being and increases hormone production.

6) Take a parasympathetic walk to the station (stroll) You now have 20 minutes more, relax and take in your surroundings. Say good morning to your fellow commuters and enjoy!

7) Avoid sitting down Sitting is so last year and is considered as unhealthy as smoking. The majority of us are obsessed by weight loss, but can't wait to sit down at the closest opportunity.  Instead, choose to stand mindfully with your bodyweight evenly planted on the planter surface of your foot. There really are so many other options than sitting. Don't be lazy, get off your butt and use the whole commute as a part of your gym routine.

8) Avoid the paper Fear, doom, gloom and decay! You have a choice; read something positive, motivational, educational, learn a new language...All of the above, minus the paper of fear, doom, gloom and decay, will have a positive affect on your journey, not just your commute but your whole journey through time!

9) Use your tube experience as a training programme If you're capable, choose the stairs not the escalator. When on the platform stand and calmly breath whilst waiting for the tube. If the tube is rammed like a can of sardines, avoid looking it and wait for the next one. 2 minutes wont kill you but the sardines might!

When on the tube, smile, smile, smile and smile more. Smiling is contagious and will have a positive ripple. Stand on the tube, focusing on your bodyweight weight on your base of support and try to avoid holding on; forget the nonsense power plate. You can't beat a bit of tube surfing.

If you have space, try a bit of hanging: grip the bar above you, like you want to break it in your hands, lift your feet off the ground and hang on it. If you succeed in this, try and hang on whilst the train is moving and once it halts place your feet back on the ground. You can then mix this up - stand and surf in motion and hang in rest. Please don't worry what people think. Go with the mentality that they are the crazy ones, not you. "I'm not crazy, I'm just not you "

10) Share, share and share alike Tell as many of your fellow inmates about the positive effect that this is having on you and they too will "have a good day"!


Please don't worry what people think. Go with the mentality, that they are the crazy ones, not you.

Bring back Public Hanging In 2014! by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

Get a grip!

By Gloves Club Founder Tony Riddle.

I look to my children as my educators in movement. They never seize to amaze me, they teach me every day and I get to pass this knowledge on to others. That's right, It isn't just us, that educates them, our kids are our educators too!
They crawl, squat, jump, lift, carry, throw, balance, walk, run, hang and climb all with ease and great skill, fearlessly I would like to add.

In return, I have to encourage, not discourage their movement practice.  I have to show great examples of this too.

If I don't, who will?

Some compromised, frustrated PE teacher who has been entrusted to look after the physical health of my child, that's who!

Well not on my watch!

The irony is;   I go off and study with the best and re-learn the very things that my kids have inherited from me and are already naturally skilled at.  This is what I class as my duty as a parent and a tribal elder, if it is something I have lost. I need to go out and gain the skill to coach them.

In a world obsessed with the intellectual mind.

We of course want them to do well academically, but to take these beautiful movement systems away with "Sit down, Don't move, Absorb this, Get down from there, Come away from the edge and Be careful of that, along with the usual chorus of of fear based crap" is a bloody outrage!

If like my daughters, you were carried around in a sling you would have learnt the pushing, pulling, grabbing and extension reflexes early. If you were kept in a baby carrier, a buggy and a car seat you have had these systems taken away. Bam! that's the attachment theory right there!
We could even be so bold as to call it "the movement connection theory" or "the movement disconnection theory". depending on where your base camp is.

Movement that should come naturally to us all

A baby/toddler will learn to grab and grip earlier than anything else. They will climb earlier than many of their other locomotive skills.  Brachiation is fundamental to us; hanging, pulling, climbing are all just as fundamental to us as running. We were in fact tree dwellers and climbers before we became runners.  (if you believe in evolution like I do ) Yet most can't hang on a bar and hold their own bodyweight in their hands due to their lack of grip strength  for more than 20 seconds, and this is where reductionism has its place. You need to know the code to break the fear and build the layers and strip the movement right back. Look at the end result and be able to trace all the way back to where the individual is compromised, have the unique set of Liam Nielsen skills to select the 20% input towards the 80% of output, and not get caught up in selecting BS movements like the Lat Pull down that have no over lapping theory to that end result.

If you put your fingers out to a baby they will grab and grab on surprisingly tight and won't let go.  If you lift them up, they still won't let go, their vice like grip will remain. You can literally walk around the room with them "ATTACHED/CONNECTED" to you.  I am talking about a baby here. I am not talking about an athletic type, who can lat pull, morning, noon and night, but can't hang for shit and marvels at James bond hanging from an elevator for all of 12 floors!

In fact for a large proportion of the zoo it's like an emotional bomb going off in their head to even think they could carry out what should be natural to them. Don't forget a lot of people have been containerised for so long it would be irresponsible to coach them without the correct prep work. They have lost the "HOW TO" but it doesn't mean they don't have the desire to, or the hardwiring (inherent knowledge). It is more the case that the only perception they have had of exercise is to sit in another container pushing levers like a chimp in an experimental lab. "Push this handle 15x and you will receive 1 muscle group and a protein bar."

Shoulder injuries are just as rife as knee and lower back problems. It's time we all got a grip and started hanging around a different kind of bar! We can blame the compromising chair and footwear for a multitude of sins, but the lack of hanging and climbing is just as detrimental to our innate movement system. That's "innate" not "inept"movement system!

Time to Take The Gloves Off and Toughen UP.

Climbing specifics:

Prep the hand with specific hand and wrist  prep drills as this is where you need to recognise bodyweight. Re-educate the grip and grip strength. Prep the shoulder and the scapula from its zoo cage so that the individual who can't lift his hand higher than his shoulder to change a light bulb can then hang, can then pull with a straight arm, then pull with a bent arm, can then muscle up, can then gymnastic ring pull up and finally can learn how to climb. Yeah, who would have guessed it,  hanging on a bar is actually a micro skill of the macro skill of climbing.

Yes squat, yes go barefoot, but please don't neglect a good hang out with your mates!

Gatekeepers, Code Breakers and Deconstruction. by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

by Tony Riddle A.K.A, The Prep Doctor

Coach Ben Medder and I were out doing our usual walk to hunt for food today and were discussing what it is that we do. I'd said that I had hit a bit of a cross roads of late as my coaching method is forever evolving and new techniques are developing, but I always revert back to my filter. Pick up a new training method, learn it, have an affair with it, some sordid, some not so sordid and then return back to my wife for a strong maintenance level,  incorporating my prep and mobility system to make it more refined.

That's enough about me, but how about the client? My conclusion is that I am having to break the code to each individual I see. To be able to coach them out of the containerised zoo and unlock the gates to give them freedom of movement and freedom of mind before they become a specialist or generalist.

The average Joe has spent most of their lives being told, "Don't do that, be careful of this, oh that's too dangerous," and for their first years of their lives carried around in a car seat like they are the latest fashion accessory. Locked in a cage when underneath it all,  they have a very sophisticated movement system crying to get out. We are designed in our earliest years to shuffle, roll, crawl, grab, kick, reach and extend. This is then carried into later years with sitting for prolonged periods of time, locked in another posture in yet another container preventing them from carrying out what they are designed to do: squat, crawl, balance, stand, walk, jump, climb, swing, run, carry, throw, fight. It is of little wonder why people have such difficulty moving. To do something you have been prevented from doing for so long is bound to stimulate the internal lion. Weight loss is no different on the emotional spectrum. "Oh you fell over, poor you, boo hooh, have a chocolate bar, "and bam, your cuddle that you needed at an early age became a chocolate bar and for the rest of your life the moment you need a hug you reach for the Snickers!

So what is it that I actually do?

It's great to be able to perform handstands, ring muscle ups, Olympic lift, fight,  barefoot run, crawl around mimicking various animals and turn paleo, this has been the easiest part and without blowing my own trumpet, it comes 'naturally' to me. The hardest thing in the world can be taking the most compromised and containerised clients and converting them into the great movers and eaters that Mother Nature had first designed them to be.

Yep, you have to walk your talk, whether you are a generalist or a specialist, but what's the point if you are a coach and can't find the right code to release the human from the cage to convert 'them' into the generalist or specialist? Aren't you simply adding to the problem, don't we want to actually heal people and get them out of the zoo? It comes with a huge responsibility to get it right, to use the right filter and select the right cues, this shouldn't just be guess work, you're playing with someone's life you selfish fuck!

Most that come to see me fit into one or more of these categories: Injured, have niggles, are over weight or are generally fearful of movement. Well, no shit Sherlock, what a surprise. A life of being told "not to" and then we come along and say "do". Without the right information it would be virtually impossible to get them to bust moves like a couple of my own movement influences Erwan Le corre and Ido Portal without emotional turmoil.

 Broken

This applies to all, not just those that are already broken:

Cross fitters

Barefoot runners

Boxers

Fighters

Climbers

Dancers

The list is endless, but with each of the above you have to consider how long you will get away with what you are doing before someone comes a knocking at the injury door. I have coached lifters, barefoot runners, cross fitters, and all with terrible mechanics but sadly they only come to me when they are broken. Wouldn't it be better to serve your apprenticeship and get the tools to prep correctly and teach yourself and then others before you and the discipline you teach gets a bad rep? Or are you too impatient to get it right?
Unless of course you were lucky enough to grow up in a barefoot climbing colony and have the fundamentals already!

It's all in the "HOW TO"

In fact for a large proportion of the zoo it's like an emotional bomb going off in their head to even think they could carry out what should be natural to them. Don't forget a lot of people have been containerised for so long it would be irresponsible to coach them without the correct prep work. They have lost the "HOW TO" but it doesn't mean they don't have the desire to, or the hardwiring (inherent knowledge). It is more the case that the only perception they have had of exercise is to sit in another container pushing levers like a chimp in an experimental lab. "Push this handle 15x and you will receive 1 muscle group and a protein bar."

Movement that should come naturally to us all

Climbing has been equally important in evolutionary terms as running and yet most can't hang off a bar for more than 20 seconds, and this is where reductionism has its place. You need to know the code to break the fear and build the layers and strip the movement right back. Look at the end result and be able to trace all the way back to where the individual is compromised, have the unique set of Liam Nielsen skills to select the 20% input towards the 80% of output, and not get caught up in selecting BS movements like the Lat Pull down that have no over lapping theory to that end result.

Climbing specifics:

Release the hand with specific prep drills as this is where you need to recognise bodyweight, educate the grip. Prep the shoulder and the scapula from its zoo cage so that the individual who can't lift his hand higher than his shoulder to change a light bulb can then hang, can then pull with a straight arm, then pull with a bent arm, can then muscle up, can then gymnastic ring pull up and finally can learn how to climb. Yeah, who would have guessed it,  hanging on a bar is actually a micro skill of the macro skill of climbing.

Flogging dead horses in search of the unicorn when all along the most prized Pegasus had been hiding underneath the invisibility cloak!

I agree as coaches we should all learn the macro skill to be able to demonstrate, but please ensure that you prioritise gaining the knowledge in learning the skill of how to break the code and deconstruct using the appropriate micro skill network; the gateway to real results and one that will keep clients moving for the long game, not the short quick response.

I will end with the words of  Liam Nielsen: "What I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you."

Have you created a victim? by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

by Gloves founder Tony Riddle

Are you being victimised by your soft surroundings?

You wake up at 6.30, in your Super King size bed, put on your Ugg slippers to walk across the shag pile carpet, down the stairs and sit and eat breakfast - yes, you are a victim.

In a desperate attempt to have what you think everyone should have, you have created a softer, weaker self, enslaved in comfort and poor choices.

Yeah the bed, the slippers and the shag pile are great, but then there's the sofa, the washing machine, tumble drier, dishwasher, car that goes to the car wash... And yet we are obsessed by physical exercise and weight loss. Take all of this away and what have you learnt?

When was the last time you gave the car a good wash and a Mr Miyagi "wax on wax off"? I'm guessing a while ago, and I bet you worked up a sweat and earned your lunch.

Soft seating and cushioned footwear are no different to the softening of our environment, and with that we have become victims. The more compliant the surface, the stiffer you become. Make your floor cushioned and rubberised and you will lose the ability to move around on hard surfaces with stealth like accuracy. Sit or slouch on a compliant sofa/couch and you will stiffen and create stagnation in all the areas that you are designed to move from.  Unfortunately with this, you will start to load areas of the body that are not designed for load and become fearful and start chasing pain, going from one practitioner to another. Trying to find a cure for the list of aches and pains you have developed, when really, you are the one at blame and prevention is better than cure.

PracticingYoga, guess what! Take the marketed mat away and they are f$%ked. Let's not forget the spiritual aspect of the yogi. Really spiritual: coffee morning at Starbucks, driving your 4x4 to your poorly lit, air conditioned practice in your Lululemon clothing - now that's spiritual!

You marvel at the way toddlers move around on the floor with ease and not a grimace in sight, but you too could once move this way. Yes, it is a skill, one that you had, and lost, but one that can be programmed back in. It can be done. It will involve you moving around on the ground and using ground transitions and avoiding the soft sofa.

The problem is, it will involve you getting out of your comfort zone. A tough pill for the subconscious to swallow. The thought of taking away your comfort will induce an emotional response called anxiety, and to take away this feeling of anxiety the subconscious will sabotage you and fill what little conscious thought you have with complete an utter nonsense.

"What no Sofa, what will the neighbours think"!

If you really want to get your physical, social and spiritual needs met then start looking and mimic a child's movement and play, instead of letting them mimic our compromised lifestyle. Monkey see, monkey do. Get out the house and climb, jump, crawl, run and wrestle in nature. Move the way they do and don't fall for the crazy notion that a pervert is going to pick them up the moment your back is turned whilst in the woods.  Remember there are more perverts on the Internet than there are in your local woodland and you don't seem to have a problem with letting them sit in their cage of a room scrolling the internet,  when they should be out there at one with tumbling and rolling.

Domesticated Hunters, Zoo Humans and the Lab Brat! by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

By Tony Riddle, Gloves Club founder

200,000 years ago, Hunter Gatherers and our Natural Habitat.
10,000 years ago, Farming and the Domesticated Hunter.
250 Years ago, the Industrial Revolution and the Zoo Human.
113 years ago, the Pharmaceutical Century and development of the Lab Brat.
1900-2000 The Pharmaceutical Century.

The advances that were made in the 1900's when Karl Landsteiner discovered the first human blood groups O, A and B, and when nutrition and metabolism were experimented with, have turned us into Lab Brats.

Hunter Gatherer to what??!!

At present there's lots of talk out there about the Zoo Human. I too have used this phrase in my own practice, but on reflection we are far, far removed even from the Desmond Morris'  Human Zoo of 1969. At least zoo keepers (to varying degrees) try their best to replicate the habitat and food groups of the Zoo Animal. Animals that are kept in captivity, but used for scientific experiments such as food testing, skin testing and psychological experiment do not have the same luxury as a Zoo Animal.

The experiment starts for us from the moment we enter the birth canal. Childbirth that is meant to have a short transit time has turned into a pharmaceutical and surgical experiment. Women can be drugged up to the eyeballs, lying on their backs pushing up hill (thanks to Louis XIV) with green gowns surrounding them and for most of you this would have been your entry into the "lab" too. This isn't natural. Natural is a woman falling back from the tribe, squatting and returning back to the tribe all within a couple of hours, both mother and baby bonding with the tribe. Needs met on a spiritual, mental, social, physical and psycho-emotional level.

What has come from Lab experiments is that we can use this research and make comparisons between what is natural and what is not, but do we learn from it?

Let's take William F. Windle's primates that were  put through the same surgical and pharmaceutical experience as the St. John's wood house wife. He noted that the mother never connected with her young, she had missed the window to attach, the infant showed little recognition, had to be resuscitated and showed little movement for 2-3 weeks. The complete opposite can be said for the infant monkeys that were studied in nature. They showed huge capabilities and within a few hours could cling onto the mother.

What would be the best foundation for life? Surely these experiments are in place for a reason, but why aren't they common knowledge? Why instead are you programmed to think it is perfectly acceptable to induce both the mother and the unborn baby, and be at the hands of the fear based regime? Well it's all in the memes. If you are told from the moment you open your eyes that childbirth is a two hour spiritual experience, then it will be. If you are told and programmed to think that you are going to be screaming for an epidural the moment you get in the car park and it will be like giving birth to a watermelon, then the chances are it will be.

Attachment and needs

The emotional brain is already evolving in the last three months in the womb. To think of it all starting in the womb, that environment has to be then free from chronic stress, toxic food choices and negativity too.  The mothers heart rhythms have to be calm, food groups selected natural, and sleep wake cycles adhered too. It's tough to achieve this in the Lab, but not impossible. You just need to remember the Lab Brat experiments and that you have a voice, common sense and the ability to sift through the BS and not get uploaded with the wrong programme like so many have before you.

Move Like Joe by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

 by Tony Riddle, Gloves Club founder

To understand one religion you must go away and study them all.

Understanding the system of body weight is one of the biggest pearls I have been given (thank you Dr Nicholas Romanov). It is an amazing coaching cue and depending on how deeply you want to look into it, will change the way you move and approach any exercise. If you understand and are mindful of your own weight and where it is in connection to the earth, be it through your hands, feet, backside etc., you can carry out the correct balance between muscles on or off and understand how our system is stacked much more efficiently. It's a system of support and action. This is my support and now my mind can now carry out the right action. Without the understanding of the support the action will be flawed. Education into body weight has been and still is being taught by modern great minds of movement: Dr Romanov, Lee Saxby, Kenny Weldon, Ido Portal, and Erwan le Corre to name but a few.

Support-Action-Equilibrium

I was first introduced into the concept of body weight by Dr Romanov and from then my perception of coaching has changed forever. Working side by side for many years with the world's best barefoot coach Lee Saxby has meant I have had access to some great knowledge. He has been another great inspiration to me and many pearls of wisdom gained - for me this one was huge: Dudley Morton



New York City 1936, the same time Joseph Pilates was kicking around the Big Apple, Dudley Morton broke the code to the human foot. He broke the foot down into units of body weight. For those who are not familiar with the importance of body weight, body weight recognition is at the top of the hierarchy. If you don't understand where your weight is, sadly your movement will be grossly compromised.


This is where practitioners go wrong and end up obsessing over making tiny adjustments. "Contract this, pull in that, tense this and tuck in this" and not a hint of this in the classical content of Return to Life Through Contrology. If you really want to "ape the animals" you should have an understanding of your body weight in both hands and feet. I can't imagine cats and dogs running around pulling their belly button in and tensing their glutes. These should really occur naturally and not to be forced.



There's text in Return to Life Through Contrology that refers to correct standing posture and where your body weight should be poised (the ball of the foot). This is exactly where Dudley suggests body weight to be in standing posture, yet broken down through looking at the evolution of the human foot. The big toe and ball of the foot should be the loaded point in stance and has huge leverage capability.



Every practitioner who teaches movement that involves the conversion into becoming an upright being should have an understanding of where the body weight should be in the human foot. It is no coincidence that Joseph Pilates had invented toe-correction equipment and exercises, he had a great mind and like Morton understood the importance of good foot mechanics. I wouldn't be surprised if the two great minds had met.



It is through Dudley Morton that we know the human foot to be one of the most complex and neglected parts of the human body. It has points of leverage, points of balance, three rocking actions each with specific changes in speed. 70% of the information from our proprioceptive system comes from the base of our support when upright, enabling us to make the correct subconscious judgement between muscle action and tendon action. And yet most have no understanding of the sensation of where their weight is when standing let alone carrying out basic fundamental movements, walking and running.

If you don’t understand the mechanics of the foot and have no understanding of where your weight is, then the ankle joint can’t function correctly, from the ankle joint, to the knee joint, to the hip, to the pelvis, to the lumbar to the thoracic spine. With a combination of seated posture and all these mechanical movements out of kilter you will be recruiting from all kinds of systems that are not designed for the actions you desire, resulting in the same annoying procedure of "tense this, pull in that, tighten this and tuck in that". Muscle tension is then created and this is where practitioners generally get it wrong. Instead of looking at the mechanical movement, they look at strengthening and stretching for the areas they perceive as weak or tight. If you don't sort out the structures from the base of support you will keep having to offer the same strength and stretch model and this is what I would call symptom relief, nothing more. This still doesn't equip you with the tools to move like Joe - you only become strong at the exercise you are being offered. As soon as you stand up and walk across to the car park from your class of "Classic Pilates" the system reverts back to the same position you walked in the door to your session with.

Neck endurance

It is my personal mission to go in search of what inspired the Joseph Pilates movement system, the one that can be read about in his bible Return to Life Through Contrology. Surely we owe him that much. Remember, to understand one religion you must go away and study them all. Well to move-like-Joe, you have to go away and study them all. The move-like-Joe-movement system: head wrestling, boxing, hand balancing, gymnastics, running, quadrupedal, circus performance. From a purely selfish standpoint as a man, these are far more attractive disciplines from Joseph Pilates past.

Re-Mastery: It wasn't just meant for dance. by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

 by Tony Riddle, Gloves Club founder

Recently I ran a campaign through Facebook for pilatesrunning.tv All in all this was a great success, apart from the odd strange comment every now and then, but hey that’s social media right? As Gloves coach Ben informed me, "Tony its rather like promoting your business in a bar."



What really captured my attention was what seemed to be an invitation to a Pilates conference. The particular conference is being held near my home town Windsor, so as you can imagine I was delighted! Now this might have been a touch of arrogance on my behalf, but all the same it led me to post back asking if it was an invitation to present. To which they replied "This is a classic Pilates event that. We aim to keep that way."

From boxer to gymnast Joe was so much more than portrayed today 

Well! I didn't realise that you had decided what is classical. Really, this is only your interpretation of what is classical. They are advertising Pilates for men - yeah that's classical. Hopefully you're referring to Joseph’s head wrestling, acrobatic hand balancing and boxing systems then if you really want to get men interested? You have to look at what the great man trained in himself, right? 

It still amazes me how pretentious practitioners can be with the labeling of "classical Pilates". Do they know what classical means? It would be impossible to find a classic Pilates method taught in the way the great man had in his own thoughts, as it was his whole philosophy.

The same could be said for Georges Hébert’s méthode naturelle. We now have descendants of his model: Parkour, Free Running and the closest to it by far, Erwan Le Corre’s MovNat. The difference is that these systems are not called the Hébert’s method and therefore aren't claiming to be classical ambassadors.

If you take Joseph Pilates original model of Contrology, before his practice had switched to the rehabilitation of ballet dancers from the New York City ballet it looked, and I'm 100% sure would have, felt very different. The classical work as far as I am concerned can be seen from rare footage of Joseph outside in the natural environment showing great awareness of body weight with not a leotard in sight.



From head wrestling to boxing,  Joseph Pilates was the great movement master coach who had many systems of movement which today have either been forgotten or misinterpreted. You only have to read Return to Life or Return to Health through Contrology to know the system meant so much more than is being taught in Pilates studios around the world.

Unfortunately bodybuilding isolation exercise has entered the world of Pilates, the same as it has with the strength and conditioning minds of modern movement coaches today. This is a general practice of developing muscle for muscle's sake which looks great in the mirror, but sadly doesn't equip you with the ability to move like Joe!



Not a movement you would see in your average Pilates studio!

Thankfully there are many other systems from his era and from the same school of thought that are now seeing a huge revival: body weight exercises, old school lifting techniques, old school running techniques, animal movements, gymnastics, Strong Man exercises and hand balancing are all becoming mainstream, and I think the granddaddies of these great disciplines would be pleased. There are some really fantastic systems coming through, systems that are being taught by coaches and teachers with a great understanding of the fundamentals.

Systems like these are inherent. We really do have them in there, somewhere, just waiting to be unleashed. In fact, we all have a far better natural understanding of movement until that sad day comes, when we're introduced to a chair or take our first class at school and sit down for long periods of time and become non movers!



Classical?

Movement is a skill, whether that's running, walking, climbing, balancing, throwing, jumping, lifting, carrying, swimming, defending or crawling (quadrupedal movement). In fact we shouldn't really stop there. Sex, child birth, breathing, digestion, even bowel movements require skill, skills that seem to be slowly taken away until we are no longer capable of our own survival. But not only are they skills, they are also fundamental needs, needs that are nearly all neglected. No wonder there are so many pissed off people out there. Perhaps if we started to put as much focus on the fundamental needs of movement as we do on all of our other needs, we would be much healthier and happier.



As much as they try we can re-learn. We can eat naturally, move naturally and as a result digest and poop naturally. We can squat correctly which in turn can help us stand, walk and run naturally, but again as these are skills they have to be coached back in to our system, and this requires a coach. We should look at coaches as tribal leaders, ones that can educate us in our fundamental needs to become more skillful at being Human again.

What does it mean to become a movement coach? - by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

Most days of the week, I find myself presenting on the subject of injury free movement, motor skill milestones, and the 10 natural movements of man to coaches, clients and the members within our club (Gloves Boxing Club).  Personally, I see this as an education that is valuable to all humans - not just the people who practice - as these subjects are of course all entwined. In fact all movement is, it just depends on how it is performed.

Without the understanding of the fundamentals of human movement you are simply teaching movement for movement’s sake - great for the T-shirt muscles and mirror performers, but completely useless for strong, fit and healthy athletic individuals.

For some reason the health and fitness industry went off on a bit of a tangent towards the use of seated equipment to train leverage into the system. To me this has always seemed absurd: sit down all day and then go to the gym and make yourself even stronger at being seated! But luckily we are starting to see a shift in that paradigm. I would say, and this is only my opinion, that the current education in the health industry, is more midstream than downstream.  Rightly so as only the dead fish go down stream!

No "workout of the day" here, with
Ben Medder

Movement has changed of late and we are now bombarded with terms like core stability, functional movement, kettle bells, Cross Fit, barefoot running and TRX, to name just a few. TRX for instance shows a real likeness to gymnastics, and even the Pilates tower. TRX has become a bridge or even a transition to understanding some of the natural movement we can offer, and helps you understand bodyweight, but still applies the unnecessary muscular action that we have been so indoctrinated with. Cross Fit workouts have high repetition/volume and “work out of the day” - great if your coach hasn’t his own mind and can’t configure a routine that is specific to your own requirements and needs. But don't get me wrong, if the TRX or the Cross Fit coach understands how to teach correct technique, these methods are certainly better than static seated machines and a "repetition counting" Personal Trainer.

Climbing - an essential movement,
with Ben Medder

 The problem is that these systems of movement are just part of an even larger system, the same as we are a system within an even larger system. The system I’m referring to is the 10 natural movements of man and the evolution of man and where that sits in our social system, ecosystem, solar system etc etc. We have a tendency as a species to apply reductionism to everything we can lay our intellectual minds on, but only nature has the answers and the knowledge of the Natural Laws in movement is essential for the modern day coach to learn to become an upstream thinker.

Barefoot running, a favourite of mine, has now been accepted by the performance market. But without coaching the individual back into becoming a barefoot runner and how nature had intended with the correct posture, rhythm and technical ability, the participant usually gains an injury along the way. This can be said for all movement. If you look at the discipline you are looking to coach and have the knowledge of the natural laws as your filter to analyze and prescribe, you will create a skilled being. 

The hierarchy in all movement is posture and the understanding of this is fundamental for the coach. You will understand how to make movement efficient and injury free for your client. Most clients will come to you with the desire to lose weight and get fit/fitter, but without the fundamentals in place, you heighten the risk of your client picking up an injury and with the injury comes the inability to train or the fear of movement. Not quite the desired effect the client was looking for!

If your client doesn’t look good, you won’t look good, and believe me this isn’t the best way to build a business within a very competitive market.

It can a sneeze to create an avalanche by Tony Riddle A.K.A @theprepdoctor

It Can Take a Sneeze to Create an Avalanche

by Tony Riddle, Gloves Club Founder, with contributions by Ben Medder

Tony Riddle, Gloves Club Coach

Having been a movement specialist for 15 years, I have seen some great and sometimes bizarre developments within the industry, but nothing can compare to the huge shift in paradigms that barefoot running created. 

Barefoot running, once seen as a weird cult of long haired tree huggers has been flipped and has stamped it’s presence on the industry. It’s the new trend, bizarrely a new trend that has of course been around since the days of persistence hunting, but a trend all the same. I’d like to thank Chris McDougal for this shift.  His book ‘Born to Run’ has put the running back into jogging.

Lydiard would be proud, although he is, of course, the father of jogging, which for those that are not “in the know” originally meant slow running. This means the same running technique and cadence, but at a slower speed, un-recognisable from today’s hybrid movement known as jogging, which we can thank Mr Bowerman (ed: Bill Bowerman, founder of Nike) and the first conventional running shoe for. To be honest he is not entirely to blame, foot wear is just a small piece of the puzzle, unlike what Chris McDougal’s picture has lead us to believe.

It is actually a romantic idea to think you can kick off your shoes and run barefoot. The running posture that old-school legendary coaches such as Lydiard and Percy Cerutty had the experience of coaching, can only been seen in the Kenyan runners today and yes, that is what I would put their great success down to.  The Kenyans are not being subjected to 80% of their day confined to a desk or slumped on the sofa yet even conditioned athletes in the West are compromised by the devil’s work. But yet barefoot running is just just a small portion of  of man’s movement birthright. We are ‘Born to Run’, but we are born to do so much more. There are in fact 13 natural movements, that man/woman should be able to carry out and when I say carry out, I mean how nature had intended you to, with the correct posture, allowing you to apply the laws of nature and remain injury free.  I would now like to introduce you to what is known as ‘natural movement’ and for some, this is where you might experience the same emotional response that others before you experienced with the barefoot running brigade, but please take the time to read on.

What is natural movement?

It has been well discussed by many, particularly in evolutionary medicine, that our genetic makeup is still that of the hunter-gatherer. Our current “software” or way of thinking that has led to many modern inventions is still housed in our Paleolithic “hardware”. To cut a long story short – in prehistory, most humans knew how to move well through their environments naturally. Only the most agile and strong humans could catch their prey, or escape from predators – it was essential to have certain human movement capacities to survive. Our ancestors were strong, agile, coordinated and had good spatial awareness, flexibility etc. These attributes can still be seen in surviving indigenous tribes today with not a yoga/Pilates studio in sight. Many practitioners from the past and present recognised the physical prowess of the hunter gatherer, but some, can and should be recognised as the grandfathers of natural movement; Georges Hébert is one of those grandfathers

Georges Hébert creater of "the natural method"

Georges Hébert was an officer in the French navy, who served all over the world prior to World War I and later became a teacher of physical education. Travelling the world, he became particularly inspired by the natural athleticism of indigenous peoples in Africa and elsewhere – “Their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skilful, enduring, and resistant and yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in Nature.” Whilst stationed on a Caribbean island in 1902, Hébert coordinated the rescue of island natives from a devastating volcanic eruption. Despite saving hundreds, many still perished due to being unable to save themselves. He came to the conclusion that the average human of the time, was ill equipped to survive such catastrophes. They had become detached from their roots as hunter-gatherers, from a time when humans were strong, capable and able to help themselves, and most importantly others, if the need arose.

He realised the weight training regime used by the military was building muscle for muscles sake, (similar to body building movements of the present day) without promoting dexterity and speed and essentially had little ‘real world’ usefulness. In its place he developed ‘Le Méthode Naturelle, or “the Natural Method.”

The 10 fundamental movements of man

The essence of Herbet’s Method Naturelle is to teach 10 fundamental movements that humans should posses and was essential to a hunter-gatherer’s survival.  They are: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement (crawling), climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, defending and swimming.
To return man to his birthright, as Georges had intended, requires a skill, and each one of the 10 movements is a skill in itself. Just as we have now discovered with running, these need to be coached back in to make the necessary change: we have the hardware to execute the 10 movements; we just need to change the software. If you like, we can refer to all 10 movements as “the macro skill” and each one component as “the micro skill”. If we could perform all 10 movements, we would be connected on a physiological and psychological level, true mind and body. We can see Georges Hebert’s work in modern day Parkour, Freerunning, MovNat.

Erwan le Corre, founder of MovNat

Erwan le Corre founder of MovNat has seen a huge explosion in interest for his method which has extensive likeness to Le Méthode Naturelle. The best way to describe Erwin’s method would be “wild uninhibited movement” and for some, it again stimulates the “tree-hugger response”.  I will always remember the time whilst on Primrose Hill with Erwan Le Corre.  There were about 10 of us carrying out some of the quadrupedal movements that Erwan had demonstrated to us.

The same sense of connection to the earth started to set in that I had first experienced with running truly barefoot, but unlike running, there’s is a real connection with the people with you as you start to work as a team/tribe.  It’s like a proprioceptive feedback mecca and for at least 10 minutes I had forgotten the restrictions of society until one voice shouted across the park: “look at those idiots!” The most amazing thing about this incident was that all the children wanted to join in, but the parents were too fearful to let them.  Those same parents probably participate in large classes of hot yoga, housed in poorly lit and confined rooms, but hey the animal in captivity has to be exercised some way or another.

“Old school” boxing and natural movement

I own a gym, Gloves Boxing Club, and some find it unusual that we coach natural movement at the club, but even the old school boxing coaches had a great understanding of the natural laws.
Movement coach Ben Medder has been at the helm of the introduction of natural movement to our bodyweight principle classes and it has now become the most popular class and it is easy to see why. The class starts to perform like a tribe, their inhibitions start to leave the room after a 2 minute warm-up and the gym takes on a whole new role, from boxing club to play ground.

Bernard Hopkins, a modern day natural mover,
so efficient he'll do push-ups between rounds!

Many old school (and some modern) boxers became world champions without ever using weights and certainly not isolated bodybuilding-type exercises. The use of bodybuilding was highly discouraged as old school coaches believed it made their fighters “slow”.  After all bodybuilding creates false tempos, long levers and develops injury prone athletes.

From boxers such as the great Sugar Ray Robinson to Mike Tyson, a modern boxer by “old school standards”, when he was in his prime, you see a trend that their training was simple, yet highly effective bodyweight exercises (or calisthenics as they were often referred to back then). There were no fancy gadgets or the promise of shortcuts, that’s so common throughout today’s health and fitness industry. The heavy influence of bodybuilding culture and doctrine – such as emphasis on isolation exercises and nutrition for extreme “mirror muscles” – had not yet taken effect. Functional strength, specific strength endurance, mobility and speed were the priority. The old school boxer could easily output multiple, high rep sets of bodyweight exercises, such as push-ups, pull-ups, deep knee bends (squats) and roll-ups.

An old school boxer was, and indeed needed to be, as naturally strong for his bodyweight as possible. Runners will recognise this ideal from the term “power to weight ratio”. Their muscles could be described as “whipcord” strong – flexible, fast and powerful. They could easily go 15 or more rounds, with a much higher punch volume and output than today’s bouts. Conversely big muscles are heavy, slow and require more oxygen and energy – both of which a boxer needs to preserve to remain effective in the ring, just as a long distance runner needs to maximise their oxygen efficiency and fuel stores.

How to apply natural movement to performance sports

So is boxing a natural movement? No, it is not, but the natural laws can be applied to it to make it efficient and reduce the risk of injury. In fact one of the 13 natural movements is defense so we could consider boxing natural, but it’s the movement patterns that were taught to the boxers of old that I would consider closest to natural movement principles. This generation of boxers used movement to develop the macro skill of boxing: running, throwing and the quadrupedal movement for the understanding of bodyweight in ones hands.

This is the same rule that in my opinion can and should be applied to most performance sports. Look at the result you want to achieve and look at how the 13 natural movements overlap into the one discipline you focus on. Mountain running for instance would require: running, jumping and quadrupedal movement for vaults and moments when descents and ascents are too hardy for the biped.

So the natural movements can really be considered as foundational for each individual discipline within running or within other sports and the skill is the application of each movement to the specific demands of the sport or discipline.