All Posts in Category

Neurological / Psychological

Dynamic Systems Theory and Post-Rehabilitation

Post-rehabilitation (PR) clients require diligent and scrupulous program design. Extensive weakness and deconditioning are common traits among the aforementioned populace. PR clients are often seeing a medical professional, or have been recently discharged. Their injuries are usually resolved, but they are often not ready for the rigors of daily activity or work related tasks. Thus,…

Measuring Body Composition

Body composition (BC) can be defined as the proportions of various tissues (i.e., fat, muscle, and bone) making up the body, which is generally expressed as percent body fat and percent lean body mass (Lee & Nieman, 2013). As such, knowing BC can help one track changes during weight loss or weight gain programs, in…

Observational Learning

There are many ways in which people acquire skills. Some prefer to have auditory descriptions, others enjoy performing (i.e., kinesthetics) the skill, and yet others prefer seeing (i.e., visual) the skill executed. These methods are not mutually exclusive, and can occur in many combinations with varying levels of contribution. For the purposes of this discussion,…

Practice, Instruction, and Skill Acquisition

Complex movement patterns are often taught by an observational means through demonstration. I would like to discuss when, where, and how observational instruction is efficacious, and how it might be fused with other teaching strategies to yield optimal outcomes. Williams and Hodges (2005) told us that demonstration is best suited for outcome goals with movement…

Train Muscles, or Movement Patterns?

It is intriguing that skill acquisition emanates from constraints imposed upon us (i.e., environment) from within us (i.e., the organism) as well as the task itself (Clark, 1995). These concepts find their home within the dynamic pattern theory, accompanied by self-organization, patterns and stability. I’d like to explore the utility of these perspectives in reducing…

Barefoot Training

In the last year approximately, I have been experimenting with having clients perform some exercises (i.e., standing) without shoes. I have read about the benefits, but never truly was “sold” on why. I believe I did not appreciate the concept of proprioception, and its relationship to the sensorimotor system. The sensorimotor system contains two fundamental…