I have had a long-term interest in trying to understand how hundreds of muscles and joints cooperate to create the movement patterns we employ in life. Even the simplest of human movements, such as lifting a baby up from the floor, involves hundreds of muscles acting in tightly-timed cascades. It is the interaction of all these named muscles, bones, joints, fascia, and the neurological software that organizes it, that we use for all movement.
The standard understanding of functional anatomy is derived from the respectful dissection of cadavers that have been gifted to science. Each revealed muscle is traced to an origin and then tracked down to an insertion point. That act of revealing necessarily means the removal of many other tissues that are important. We then imagine the dissected muscle as it contracts, operating in isolation. From this extremely reductionist approach we then extrapolate that contraction movement to expensive machines that try to isolate the ‘pecs’, the ‘lats’, or the ‘quads’ etc.
Over many years of clinical observation as an osteopath, acupuncturist and athlete I have become convinced that there are functional norms that are deeply embedded in our physiques. These norms involve patterns of movement that can be traced back to our history as an ape that stood up, and also our own childhood development. We are a bipedal (two-legged) species, related to Homo erectus. Before we had fire or language or tools, we defined our species by standing up. As children we mastered the roll from lying on one’s back to one’s front. We have all used that rolling/twisting movement with limbs that were rapidly strengthening to sit in various ways, and then to erect into our unique upright posture. I call the floor sitting postures the ‘Archetypal postures’ and the erection from floor sitting to standing the ‘Erectorcises’.
Until recently, all humans in all parts of the world, regardless of age group, would sit on the floor to rest and recover. If the terrain were wet and muddy (as it frequently is), one would often squat to avoid the mess. In a hot, dry environment the cross-legged postures would be preferred. I believe that both the full squat and cross-legged sitting postures are key shapes that re-tune your physique after exercise. As one posture on the floor becomes uncomfortable, there is a natural shift to another. Relationships established over millions of years between the biggest muscle groups and joints are retuned.
In contrast, the modern world places no value on the floor. Our beds are lifted up, as are our toilets, car seats and work stations, sofas etc. Few people rest on the floor. To add insult to injury, after sitting all day at work, we go to the gym for exercise to sit again on many machines to stress specific muscles. How crazy is that!
The flip-side of passive floor sitting is the active erection from the floor. These movement patterns are absolutely central to our biomechanical heritage. There are many ways of standing up, so I can prescribe simple patterns to the mobile elderly or ramp them up so that the elite athlete knows they have had a workout.
The Ironedge Power Bags are a terrific piece of kit for these exercises. From sitting on the floor, pick up the Power Bag as though it was a child and stand up as gracefully as you can. Keep your knees over your feet and learn to use the back leg for much of the drive by extending the toes. Likewise, descend to the floor as gracefully as you can with the Power Bag. I tell my clients to land like a helicopter, i.e. lightly.
In summary: after exercise, do yourself a favor and cool down whilst sitting on the floor in a variety of postures. Stone-age men and women did not stand near a tree to stretch their quads; rather, they sat on the terrain. Use pillows and cushions to make yourself comfortable as these are resting postures. Stand up from the floor with good form and for a greater challenge, add a Power Bag. This simple advice will help you tune your physique so that you stay agile and strong over the long term.
Phillip Beach is an osteopath based in Wellington, New Zealand. This article is based on his book ‘Muscles and Meridians – the manipulation of shape’ (Elsevier 2010).