True Technique

Ever wonder how a muscle may become weak and cause joint pain or discomfort?

One way a muscle or joint position may become inhibited is through the brains incredible feature neuroplasticity, a phenomenon called ‘neural smudging’ may occur. Through the information the brain receives from the body it creates an avatar of what your body looks like, and its name is the Homunculus man. Now because this avatar is created through information gathered from the body while exploring movement, you build your Homunculus man by moving and smudging him out if you stop moving or have pain.

To paint a clearer picture of this neural smudging in a protective sense remember back to a point in time you’ve had an injury like a broken finger that had to be pinned to the partnering finger to heal, or maybe a broken arm that had the elbow plasted for 6-8 months, can even be a time you’ve sprained an ankle and started limping. As the body is healing from something, say a broken finger, and you have your two fingers pinned together, your homunculus man molds two fingers to one, making a four-fingered hand. After you heal and your fingers are free from the pins it takes a few weeks to get used to using the five finger hand like you once did.

This is neuroplasticity's neural smudging feature.
It is True Techniques job to create a safe learning environment for you to expore movement and build your Humonculus man.

If the brains plasticity is the problem, the brains plasticity is also the solution.

The Bench Press is notorious for killing shoulders.

If the scapulas aren't set correctly, or the bench is too wide the shoulder joint will be forced into an anterior shear (pushed forward) creating inappropriate stress and a muscle imbalance within the rotator cuff.

To save this from happening supplement your press work with Kettlebell presses.
The weight of the bell on the outside of the arm creates an external rotation force that the Sub-Scap rotator cuff muscle has to resist. This Sub-Scap activation will help pull the rotator cuff back into centration safely and ready for maximal force to be produced.

A lot of people's mobility issues come from a lack of time in the position.
So learn these 3 easy rest postures to practice at any time you are sitting and accumulate time in that position.

1. 90/90 sit.
A great way to improve the hips internal and external rotation.

2. Cowboy sit.
Helps ankle mobility (both dorsi & planta flexion) in a deep hip flexion position.

3. Toe sit.
A seemingly pointless joint to focus on, but big toe mobility has a plethora of benefits. One being improved hip extension during a walk or run (extra butt action), and another is the ease of mobility on the backside of the hip.