Movement Capacity Series – Knowledge of Movement

It is a common assumption that someone who can do a movement can also teach a movement. This is not true! And in today’s episode I am going to bust this myth for you and also give you a few tips to help you pick the right movement coach for you. Ready? Let’s jump in.

Hi, I’m Selina, physio from MoveMedics, welcome to my channel. I help people improve their Mobility so they can do the splits, bend their backs, and also for optimal singing. If that sounds good to you please subscribe to my channel and make sure you ding that notification bell so you don’t miss my new videos when they come out.

We have come to the final element of my Movement Capacity Series and today we are talking about Knowledge of Movement.

Knowledge of Movement is important for your Skill development, you need to know what to practice and how to practice them.

Knowledge of Movement informs you what level of Movement Capacity is required to do the movement you want to do. Not having sufficient Movement Capacity is a really common way of acquiring an injury. I have treated so many people who simply weren’t strong enough or didn’t have the Mobility to do what they want to do, they try to will it but end up hurting themselves.

So Knowledge of Movement is important for both movement success and also for injury prevention.

So how do we acquire Knowledge of Movement? You want to find a source that is relevant and reliable. Generally speaking the places where a lot of people do the Skill you want to do, and do them well is a place to look, but you have to remember that just because someone can do a movement doesn’t automatically mean that they can also teach it, because it doesn’t guarantee that this person has the Knowledge of what it takes to do the movement and also how to teach it.

Being able to do a movement simply means that someone has the Kinesthetic Knowledge of that movement, they know what it feels like to do a movement, which is very valuable information and when you can articulate with someone what it should feel like it is certainly useful, but that alone is not enough to teach the movement safely and effectively.

Anyone who wants to teach movement must have not only a basic level, but a sound level of understanding of human movement, specifically the knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics, having the knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics allows you to observe a movement and know what to look for, it allows you to analyse the movement, break it down into the component parts, it lets you troubleshoot any problems and also correct any issues, and these also needs to be developed so you have a good practical application of these knowledge and that comes with experience.

Now as physios these knowledge comes with our degree, it’s literally the first things we learned, we need to have a strong understanding of how the human body works, what is normal before we learn how to do assessment and then do diagnosis and to do treatment.

You don’t have to be a physio to have these knowledge, there are plenty of places you can study formally to learn these things and there are tonnes of excellent texts that you can buy and study up yourself, and for a lot of movement activity the process of learning to be a teacher for that activity is how people acquire these knowledge.

But there are plenty of sports and movement activities that don’t have a specialised pathways for someone to become a teacher of that movement, so if you participate in an activity where your teacher doesn’t need to have any qualification to teach the movement, it is especially important for you to ask what kind of knowledge of human movement do my teachers have? Why should I trust you with my body and my safety?

This is super important because unfortunately there are plenty of people out there teaching movement who simply shouldn’t be teaching movement, this is very common in the mobility training world where people are doing unsafe things and you can tell by what they teach, how they teach, and what they let their students do, an informed teacher would never let their student adopt a compromising position for their shoulders, for their neck, for their hips, or for their back, for anything. When you know the kind of harm that can be done, you just won’t do it.

Apart from making sure your teacher knows their stuff, I also believe a good teacher for anything should always teach in the way that the student learns and adapt their teaching style to each individual student’s learning style, a good teacher should use language that the student understands, and also explain things in ways that the students can relate to and can grasp the concepts.

If my students don’t know what I’m saying it is my job to make sure that I figure out how to help them understand it. It is never your fault if you don’t understand the instructions or are confused, so look out for people who make you feel confused and only really have that one way of explaining things.

Also look out for instructors who give vague instructions, let me give you an example. I’ve had an instructor told me “this is how you do it, you do it like this, watch me, like this, just like this” To this day I still don’t know what “this” meant.

And also an instructor should never make you feel bad for not getting it, for not understanding them, a good instructor should make you feel like that you are going to get it, because when they know their stuff, when they have the Knowledge of Movement they know what it takes for anyone to do that Skill, and they also understand what Movement Element is required and help you build up what you need, so for you, you follow these steps, but for you my friend, you follow these steps to get to where you want to go.

A good instructor should inspire and motivate you to try and to push yourself, but rein you back in should you ever get a little ahead of yourselves.

And lastly a good instructor should never be afraid to say I don’t know. No one can know everything, there is always going to be a limit to what you’re, how much you know, like right now when I’m filming this, this is how much I know today, so if you ask me a question that is outside my knowledge bubble then I don’t know, but coach Mary knows, let’s go ask her and learn together. Right!

So there are reasons why we have sayings like the teacher is the student, the student is also the teacher and all those beautiful sayings, because learning really never ends, and personally I find that very reassuring because I know that I can always improve and be a better version of myself.

And on that note we have come to the end of my Movement Capacity Series, but if you have been wondering Selina, why isn’t stability an element in your Movement Philosophy? Well, there are two reasons why I have specifically not included stability in my Movement Philosophy and I have a bonus video for you all about that next week.

And now I would love to hear from you, do you have an interesting, memorable movement learning experience you can share with us? Put it in the comments so we can learn from each other.

Now I’m currently working on a number of exciting courses and programs so if you want to be the first to know, make sure you’re part of the MoveMedics family and you can join the fam using the link in the description below.

You can also follow me on the Instamagram for bite-size movement and mindset tips.

I want to thank you very much for hanging out with me today. I appreciate your lots and I look forward to seeing you in the next video.

Until then, thank you so much for watching and Be Free In Your Movement™