Tom Morrison

Think Joints Not Muscles

I have been training for almost 6 years now, in that 6 years you can almost write off the first 4 because in your infant training years you don’t really take anything in, but of course, you have abs now, so you must know what you’re doing right?

Only this last year would I say things are actually making sense and the dots are being joined. I have probably learned more in the past 6 months than in my entire life.

I spend my time these days teaching people how to improve and actually control the ranges of motion that they have. Natural, talented athletes are about one in a million, everyone else is fumbling their way through life struggling to put socks on and wondering why their back hurts! I include myself in this still and always will, when you think you have completed “how to move” well just hang your boots up, you’re done.

I was so broken that basically everything I tried to do made me feel like I was grinding pepper with my bones and I was always tight and sore, I assumed this is how you’re supposed to feel when you train hard 6 days a week, no pain no gain of course… so I went on a venture to get flexible, like many others I know….. there is a massive amount of information out there……. what is right? I still don’t know, have I found something that works for me and people I work with? Most definitely yes, is it still just my opinion and could I be wrong? Most definitely yes, and I beg people to keep that in mind with everything they do! You can draw on someone else’s experience until you get your own, but ultimately at the end of the day you HAVE to police yourself, your results and the people you work with.

Tom Morrison

What do I mean by think Joints? When you look at the wealth of information out there you are thrown into a pit of information about how different muscles work together and how to stretch individual ones after exercise to avoid tightness and injury and big words and technical phrases and lateral cross upward southwest chains and rotation pulls of the………. ok, I’m not very smart….. my thesaurus is broken. How about this:

Ball and socket = rotation

Simple, took me 6 years to understand that but it’s simple. Lunges are NOT enough, squats are NOT enough, deadlifts are NOT enough, they are phenomenal exercises and make you crazy strong and jacked but ultimately if you don’t look after your joint function you are going to crash, and crash hard. Research all you like and I do encourage you to, everyone’s perception of how an exercise “feels” is different and two people doing the exact same workout could feel completely different the next day based solely on how they move, not only during the workout but for the rest of the day also, when was the last time you checked how you initiate walking? I’m not saying there is a right way to walk but generally if someone gets some sort of lower body injury and doesn’t address the function of their glutes they seem to start getting calf or hamstring tightness on that leg “for no reason” a limp doesn’t go away when you stop limping.

It is my dream to have everyone thinking more about how they move on a daily basis, not just at the gym, discover what your body can do and your performance will increase, it is as simple as that! Strength programs are for fun, real movement happens with experimentation and education.

Muscles don’t get tight for no reason, your body is talking to you, so listen.

Tom

facebook.com/Movementandmotion/
www.tommorrison.uk

Tom Morrison is a British Weightlifting coach, martial artist and CrossFit trainer. He is known for his simplistic approach to teaching and has worked with all kinds of bodies including professional MMA fighters, football and rugby players, experienced CrossFit athletes and weightlifters, people with no mobility, people with hypermobility, people with chronic back, knee and shoulder injuries and most commonly, people with general tightness or pain that can’t seem to figure out why. His passion is getting people to live a pain free life so they can do the things they enjoy.

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