Lately, I’ve been researching ways to improve health, longevity, and healing that don’t demand more energy on top of what I’m doing in the gym.
At this age Im focused on recovery, and elongating my BJJ career and life for as long as possible. The idea of finding activities that are naturally therapeutic, but aren’t a bore like yoga or stretching is appealing.
In other words, what are things you can do to naturally promote a therapeutic effect, and bring balance to your body without a huge energy demand?
Your body, energy, and nervous system all take a hit from weightlifting, jiu jitsu, and conditioning.
Im looking for activities that can restore these things naturally, without being repetitive corrective exercises, or require more time in the gym.
Here’s what I’ve found to be useful so far.
Archetypal Postures
I learned the term archetypal posture from Phillip Beech, who theorizes that the human body can self-correct by assuming different natural resting positions on the ground. Long before chairs, humans rested, socialized, and recovered while on the ground.
Beech believes that these positions can rebalance, or “tune” the body for optimal movement and pain-free living.
When these positions are taken, the muscles, joints, and fascia recalibrate and build better connections so the body can move and function like it’s built to.
The adoption of chairs and the modern tech lifestyle has robbed us of this much needed tuning process, and as a result, we experience more pain, worse performance, and ultimately, decreased longevity.
The Shin Box, which Beech calls Side Sitting (and I’ve hammered the benefits of for BJJ for some time), is one position that will provide this tuning effect. You should be able to rest in the Shin Box comfortably on both sides, indefinitely.
However, if you can’t, try to accumulate 5 minutes a day here, and work your way up.
Other useful archetypal postures include long sitting, deep squatting, cross-legged, and kneeling.
In fact, Seiza has been used by martial artists for thousands of years for multiple reasons. Check out this awesome video from my buddy Ryan Hurst for more.
Ultimately, just try getting more time on the ground each day, and shift through positions naturally as the body demands it.
Getting Up
Beech also emphasizes the importance of getting up from the ground, which he calls the erector-sizes.
The process of getting up strengthens and tunes the muscles and fascia, including those of the pelvic floor, core, and legs. It also mimics the development we took as growing humans, from embryo to adult.
Essentially, the ability to get up is what keeps you strong. From an evolutionary standpoint, this allowed us to get away from danger, search for food, and move our bodies for health and survival.
Today, getting up is what gets us to the gym, to the dojo, to work, and out living life.
And I argue, the Get Up is one of the greatest exercises you can do as grappler, and ultimately, as a human.
For combined benefits, try doing get ups from some of the archetypal positions referred to earlier – shin box get ups, half kneeling get ups, cross-legged get ups, etc.
Vestibular Reset Protocols
Along the same lines of the ideas above are Steve Maxwell’s Vestibular Reset exercises.
Steve researched what the ancient Hindu wrestlers used to heal and restore their bodies from rigorous training and combat. He also looked at Sifu monks, who spent hour in one position meditating or hunched over scripture, and what they did to restore their posture.
He came up with the Vestibular Reset protocols, which are essentially developmental movements you would see a baby doing like rolling, rocking, and crawling.
He found that by doing a series of these movements for just 5 minutes a day, it’s able to remove excess tension in the body, improve posture, and reset his body’s relation to the ground.
The vestibular system functions to detect the position and movement of our head in space. By rocking, rolling, and crawling on the ground we can recalibrate this system for more optimal movement. Well, that’s the theory at least.
I’ve been adding these a few times a week, and they seem to help my body feel better with very low effort.
Just start with some simple rolling, like a baby would. Try to get from your back to your stomach without using your hands.
Then, add some rockers, followed by some basic crawling patterns, forward, back, and laterally.
Check the video above for an example workout.
Final Thoughts
If there are ways to promote healing, recovery, and balance to the body without the monotony of correctives, stretches, or paying a therapist for body work, Im interested.
Especially if these things can be done without visiting a gym, or better yet, can be done outdoors, and without demanding much more from your nervous system.
Other ideas I’m playing with that offer similar benefits are Tai Chi, Indian Club swinging, practicing positions like the Horse Stance, barefoot walking, and rope flow.
If you have ideas, please reply and share, I’d love to hear.
WHENEVER YOU’RE READY, THERE ARE 4 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU:
1. Start improving your BJJ durability and performance with the new Foundations of Rotational Strength.
2. Fortify your body for BJJ with this free course on the Grappler’s Get Up.
3. Apply for 1-on-1 coaching here.
4. Join the free weekly newsletter here.
