So Simple A 6 Year Old Can Lead It

Categories: Blog, Guest Post Mar 31, 2019

And now, a guest article by Australian OS Lead Instructor, Piers Kwan. Feel free to read in an Australian accent...

Let me tell you about my daughter.

I have a wonderful six-year-old daughter named Abigail.  Abigail comes to the gym with me most mornings while I run classes and my wife, Abigail's mother Rachel, trains.  There are times when, in the changeover between classes or just after I've arrived, where I am talking to someone, where Rachel is making coffee, or when Abigail simply volunteers, where our six-year-old assumes the responsibility of running our classes warm up.

Not only is this extremely cute, but it's also very safe, and my clients, even new ones are able to effectively prepare their body for the session and hit the outcomes that we are looking for from their warm up.

There are many reasons that Original Strength is considered by many to be the simplest, most effective movement system on the planet, but the fact that a six-year-old can easily facilitate it with a group of fifteen people has got to be right up there!

How is this even possible?

So the question that people might ask here, is how does she do that? Isn't it dangerous to let a six-year-old supervise your class? Normally, the answer is definitely, yes, don't do that, she's six! So why is this any different?

Original Strength is simple, the application pretty well breaks down to three simple ideas...which we call pillars:

1. Breathe Diaphragmatically

2. Activate the Vestibular System

3. Engage in contra-lateral, cross-lateral and midline crossing movements

Because the movement lexicon of OS starts at such a basic level, and automatically facilitates the second and third of these principles (it doesn't take much prompting or teaching for people to become familiar with the first using either the crocodile breathing or in the super tucked supine baby breathing position (the first one - we need a picture), it means that people can work from where they are, copying Abbie or the people around them, and provided they know to listen to their body and work safely, they are good to go.

We know that following the guiding principles above that people are going to be more connected to their brain and that their bodies will move and feel better, we don't need to over-complicate it!

Abbie already has resets that she loves (when Abbie lines up, people pretty much know that alongside whatever else they are going to do, they are probably going to be doing bird-dogs, cross crawls, and skipping), and that's ok! We all gravitate to certain resets, and I think that's there's a level of intuitive intelligence here.  You see, Abigail has cerebral palsy, and so you'll notice that the resets she loves are all contra-lateral or cross lateral movements.  These are the movements that she finds to bring her joy and make her feel good.  If you follow the same sort of thing, don't overcomplicate it, and do the things that feel good, I reckon you're going to end up feeling good - and any resets done regularly will improve your movement!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKnH4cgyq1M

Original Strength is simple.  The Original Strength Institute in Fuquay-Varina has a quote from Arthur Ashe on the wall, and I think that it's a fantastic quote.

"To achieve greatness, start where you are, use what you've got, do what you can."

It doesn't have to be complex, if my six-year-old daughter can help a bunch of adults to do it safely and effectively, then you can too.

So keep it simple, and follow Arthur Ashe's advice to achieve greatness!

To learn more about Piers, click here!

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