Primal Footprint in Officer, Victoria, Australia | Coach

Primal Footprint

Locality: Officer, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 400 582 122

Address: Level 1, 439 Princes Hwy 3809 Officer, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.primalfootprint.com

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25.01.2022 Once again in lockdown! So going to introduce zoom sessions as well as continue to work outdoors, weather permitting. Also in the process of preparing online videos of all your favourite exercises and mobilisers for use at home. Will be posting these on both FB and primalfootprint.com webpage. Hope you are all keeping well!

25.01.2022 First in a series of videos designed to help clients utilise their mobilisers at home! I was fortunate enough to have Throws athlete Caity McCormick assist me in the process of filming over 20 videos of the most useful exercises used in my sessions. This particular mobiliser is highly integrative and I have used it for many years to help clients understand that rotation is a body wide movement, shared across a broad range of structures that are designed for effective rotation.... This sharing of forces to achieve fluent and effective motion throughout the kinetic chain is vital if we are to spare vulnerable structures like the lumbar spine and knees from excessive rotational force. Interestingly for Caity, adopting effective rotation was key to preventing her own low back pain four years ago. You can imagine how critical effective rotation is for any athlete, particularly those that throw discus and shot put! I have adopted the JEMS Movement version of Total Body Rotation as Physio Joanne Elphinston teaches it in her courses and describes it in her book, The Power and the Grace. She writes, Total Body Rotation gives us the opportunity to encourage rotation in the lower body in order to relieve spinal stress..the feet, legs, hips and pelvis are reminded to be involved, balancing the movement throughout the kinetic chain. As you can see in the video, Caity has good command of this motion and it appears relaxed, easy and evenly distributed throughout the entire body. This ease of motion may not be everyone’s experience to begin with so it’s important to avoid forcing the body and instead taking a relaxed approach to see where the motion will take you with minimum effort. See more

20.01.2022 Thankful for the beautiful Autumn weather and the willingness of people to train outdoors. I thought I would share this video of Tiffany Kumnick-Diaz having an athletic session at Heatherbrae Reserve in Officer. Sunshine, fresh air and the added proprioception of grass under our bare feet has been a revelation for some! One client said today that it made him remember the freedom and happiness of his youth. It’s been a wonderful opportunity actually. But as the weather becomes less supportive, I hope restrictions ease and we can return to the studio. Fingers crossed. Hope you’re all staying safe and well. Look forward to seeing you all soon

19.01.2022 Despite the cancellation of upcoming athletic events, you’ll find the dedicated still working towards their goals. I thought I would put together a short video of Caitlyn McCormick during our weekly movement sessions. I’ve been working with 16 year old Caity since she was 12, firstly to find ways for her to move without aggravating her low back and then to enhance her performance motion in discuss and shot put. Working on her movement has been the key to injury prevention and... enhanced athletic performance and for those of you who are not so familiar with performance motion, some of these exercises may look as if they are not relevant to throws events. However movement intelligence is what underpins power and performance so much more than strength alone. A very big thanks to her parents Cam and Chris, and her throws coach Brett Hardeman from Altona Throws Squad for allowing me to be a part of Caity’s team. Looking forward to supporting this young woman in her athletic journey. See more

19.01.2022 Following on from the previous post on the low load Wall Press, here’s a higher load challenge with a novel twist on traditional pushups and upper quadrant movement integration. Using a fit ball to support the pelvis while loading the upper torso through the hands is a great way to feel how our trunk musculature responds intelligently to information provided through the hand to ground connection. For this exercise, rather than cuing a strong activation of the core and gluts... to fix the trunk in a neutral position, instead evoke images of creating equal length and tension throughout the front and back of the body while maintaining a firm yet relaxed connection to the ground with both hands. This will help maintain stability throughout the movement without all the unnecessary rigidity. After all, overt stiffening is the enemy of motion because it impedes the intelligent neuromuscular responses that our bodies are designed to make when given a task or impulse to move. See more

16.01.2022 Challenging times but staying creative in my approach to coaching by taking it outdoors. For the athletes I work with, it's an opportunity to work on fitness, agility and speed. The beautiful grass surface of this reserve makes for excellent barefoot exposure and for Caity McCormick, it's the very environment in which she competes. Despite the cancellation of the Nationals, she's determined to work hard towards her next opportunity.

16.01.2022 Here’s a second video, this time addressing thoracic rotation. Joanne Elphinston calls it Thigh Slide. This mobiliser would have to be one of my favourites taught in Joanne’s JEMS ART and EASE courses and I use it consistently to help my clients explore and restore their own thoracic rotation. I find that many low back and neck pain sufferers have limitations in their thoracic range and ease of motion. Why is thoracic rotation such an important aspect of human motion? If we... examine human gait for example, we acknowledge that the the thoracic spine moves in rotation in order to help channel the flow of forces arising from the ground up through the kinetic chain. Limitations in thoracic rotation can prevent this force distribution process from taking place. Forces have to go somewhere and if the thorax can’t deal with them then they can end up being shunted into places like the lumbar and cervical spinal segments. Restoring ease of thoracic rotation helps make activities such as running and walking a more fluent and joyful activity! Once again, Throws athlete Caity McCormick demonstrates the exercise. Things to note are that this is a motion of the thoracic spine and so the head and neck do not move. It’s important to keep looking forward. Also assume a relaxed and buoyant trunk, imagining that you have a helium balloon attached to the back of your head gently floating you skyward. If you experience an aching back or neck from hours of sitting in front of your computer, then give this helpful exercise a go! See more

14.01.2022 Movement coach Inez Musgrove from Free to Move Bodywork and Movement has serious reason to stand back while filming 7 times Australian open Karate Kumite 84+ KG champion Daniel Tielen and it's not just due to the new distancing laws for Covid19! Here Daniel tests out his kicks after our movement session held at Heatherbrae Reserve in Officer last Thursday. Inez and I have partnered to assist Daniel work on his movement performance in preparation for upcoming World Titles and ...the Tokyo Olympics. Daniel, who attended Beaconhills College Pakenham and now studies Education at ACU, is an inspirational and hard working young athlete. He has spent most of last year travelling overseas to compete on the international Karate Federation circuit and is rapidly moving up in his world ranking! It's a pleasure working with him and Inez. Keep up the great work Daniel. See more

11.01.2022 Another gorgeous Autumn morning and out with Diane Lucas, principal at Direct Management, for her weekly movement session. Really enjoying the barefoot feel which offers enhanced feedback and translates to more natural motion. It’s rewarding when novel movement tasks are mastered and when things that used to niggle no longer do! That’s the beauty of moving well. It’s not necessarily about bio mechanical perfection or strength but rather the confidence to lose the tension and just go! Lovely movement Diane. See you next week

09.01.2022 Another of the JEMS Movement exercises, this time examining the low load version of the push up. I often hear clients say that they can’t do push ups because their arms are weak! Push ups are a body wide exercise, the power coming from a very intelligent sequence of muscle timing and activation throughout the entire kinetic chain. It’s not just about the arms!! The Wall Press is a brilliant way to help clients become confident in the movement and aware of trunk tension lev...el changes as they move to and from the wall. It’s surprising just how quickly you can progress to higher load push ups when this body wide connection is understood. Allow yourself to listen to the gradual ramping up of trunk activation as you move towards the wall and then note how this activation slowly diminishes as you return to your upright position. Your hands and feet also become an important source of feedback to your trunk. Note how the pressure changes felt by your hands and feet create changes in your trunk activation. As with all these exercises, the goal is to use as little muscle as possible and allow your very intelligent body to move naturally and with ease. Once this action becomes rhythmic and effortless, you can begin to increase the level of difficulty by gradually changing the gradient, perhaps placing hands at kitchen bench height or seeing if you can maintain the movement using only one leg for support. Once again, thanks Caity McCormick for making this exercise look effortless. Stay tuned for more exercise videos to help you move with greater ease and confidence at home. See more

09.01.2022 Sharing this post on the myth of cognitive glut activation from Jems Movement. Joanne Elphinston very eloquently explains that evoking performance from the gluts is not about squeezing or activating them! These powerful muscles know exactly what it is that they need to become available in the chain of activation and all they need from you is your intention and impulse to move! Get the right part to the right place at the right time and performance magic happens!

02.01.2022 Another outdoor session with Australian Karate champion Daniel Tielen resulted in this video set to one of my favourite pieces of music, Yolanda Be Cool’s A Baru in New York featuring Gurrumul and remixed by Flume. It’s important to understand that when training for high power martial arts like Karate, respect needs to be paid to the subtle power that comes from being connected, physically, spiritually and mentally. Power needs grace before it translates to performance. Our movement sessions respect this ideal.