Fitness Part 1: Skill

Previously we outlined our core principles of Health (Sleep, Nutrition, and Non-Exercise Activity) & Fitness (Skill, Strength, and Stamina), and over the next few weeks we'll be going deeper into each of them.

The first in our series of core Fitness principles is Skill, as it forms the foundation of every other physical capacity.

Skill is defined as motor control of any kind. If you are performing any movement you are expressing a degree of skill within that movement.

Motor control incorporates our available range of motion, what positions we can achieve, and how quickly, easily, and gracefully we can transition between them.

Our proficiency in each of these components determines our movement quality.

We are huge fans of Kelly Starrett’s work on this topic. Much of what follows is rooted in the principles from Becoming a Supple Leopard, so do seek that book out if you want to go deeper.

Movements fall into one of three categories:

1. Controlled

These movements have two positions, starting and ending in the same position. Tension and control can be maintained throughout, therefore any movement that can be slowed down is a Controlled movement. Examples of this are the bench press, strict pull-up, and squat.

Each of these movements start in a set-up position, move to end range, before returning to the set-up.

2. Complex

Complex movements have two positions, differing from Controlled movements in two ways; the start and finish positions may be different e.g. a box jump sees us start on the ground and finish on top of a box, contrasted with the squat where the start and finish positions are the same. Additionally these movements are characterised by the power and speed with which the transition is performed. To use the same movement examples, the back squat can be slowed down but there is no way to perform a box jump without speed and explosivity, there is no such thing as a tempo or slow motion box jump.

Other examples of category two movements are the push press, wall ball, kipping pull-up, and rowing.

3. Chaotic

Chaotic movements have multiple positions chained together, with the transitions between them requiring a change of direction at speed. Compare the drive out of the dip in a push press (A Complex movement, and the first photo below), all upward force until lockout, to a push jerk (A Chaotic movement, the second photo below) with its powerful upward drive transitioning through a change of direction downwards under the bar to lock out the arms, finishing with the knees and hips extended.

Other examples of Chaotic movements include the burpee, snatch and clean (And their variations), muscle up, and the Turkish get-up.

It may surprise you to see that the burpee is in the advanced category of Skill; at face value it’s one of the most accessible movements available to us, with worldwide mass participation on a scale far beyond that of the muscle up.

However, within the criteria defined it most certainly is Chaotic, requiring a transition from standing, through a hip hinge to prone on the ground, back through a hip hinge into a jump and land, back to standing. Multiple positions, multiple transitions.

So ask yourself this: How GOOD are your burpees? And be honest. How close do you consistently bring your feet to your hands? How high do you pull your hips? How smooth are your transitions between each pose?

Now imagine an Olympic level gymnast performing a burpee. Imagine how fluid the transitions, how objectively beautiful the positions. These same qualities are available to you, but you have to choose them. The difference between us and the gymnast is that we often settle for movement that is good enough, while the gymnast insists on movement that is as good as possible.

Think about these categories in training, taking yourself through the following inventory:

Position: Always strive for better poses through your movements, and for as much range of motion as possible. A well developed push-up can be further reinforced with the addition of parallettes, then to ring dips, eventually to a muscle up. If we don’t expose ourselves to these ranges we don’t strengthen them, and until we strengthen them we can’t move on to more complex categories of movement.

Speed: The introduction of speed can expose faults in our positions. Learn from these exposures and take the lessons back to your positional work e.g. if you can get to good depth when front squatting but not when that same position is attempted in a squat clean, use your next front squat session to slow down the movement, prioritising depth over load, then take the reinforced position back to the clean to test it.

Load: Increased weight in barbell movements can amplify the faults exposed by speed. The more Complex or Chaotic movements should be biased toward refining movement quality over load on the bar. Skill is a diagnostic limiter, as soon as you start to shake, slow down significantly, or experience reduced range of motion, drop the weight and refine your Skill, you’ll make more progress in the long run.