Inside Quickstep

Overview: A detailed explanation of the various components of Wisercise and how they work together to provide a life-long urban health fitness training system.

Mindfulness: Harness the Power of The Mind-Body Connection with the practice of Mindfulness. Free yourself from mechanical, conditioned ways of thinking and living which may be harmful to yourself or others.

Breathing: Ageing and the pressures of modern daily life will cause you to change the way you breathe. This article introduces a technique of deep breathing called the Complete Breath and highlights its role in maintaining good health and quality of life.

Posture: Many of the muscles used for breathing are also used for postural alignment. Good posture will improve your breathing and balance in addition to preventing falls and injuries. Learn how to fine-tune your posture for best results.

Stretching: Stretching is an extremely versatile and accomodating form of movement used by physiotherapists, athletes, ballet dancers, pugilists and the military. It is not only a bookend to vigorous exercise but a beneficial exercise in itself!

Aerobic Exercise: Add Years to Life & Life to Years with a traditional, easy-to-do exercise form that positively affects the years of life after age 40, lengthening life while postponing and compacting end-of-life disability.

Inside Aerobics: Find out what happens to you when you exercise aerobically and the benefits to your heart, brain and vital organs.

Best Aerobic Exercise: Researchers have found Walking to be the best aerobic exercise for daily health and wellness maintenance due to its accessibility, lowest injury rate of any exercise form and ability to reduce risk of premature death, dementia and other diseases.

Quickstep Overview: An overview of the Quickstep aerobic briskwalking technique. What is it? How can it benefit you?

Inside Quickstep: An inside look at Quickstep. Find out about Walking Mechanics, Tensegrity, Core Muscles and Balance and how to make these work together to make Quickstep go.

Walking Mechanics

We have the notion that only our legs do the walking so we move ourselves forward with our legs and leave the rest of us to "catch up."

Your legs are not meant to pull you forward. They are designed to:

support your body

absorb shock

store and recycle energy

as you shift your weight from one leg to the other.

Your legs are, in fact, part of a unique structure that is designed to function as a whole.

Tensegrity

The traditional belief was that the human skeleton is simply a series of bones stacked one upon the other.

If this were true, however, the simple act of bending forward from the hips would cause the entire structure to collapse.

Body parts don’t simply fall apart as we stand, walk, swim and even do gymnastics.

All our components seem to function quite efficiently under many and varied conditions.

So, what holds us together?

An explanation that makes the most sense is anchored in the theory of “biotensegrity.”

Your body is a tensegrity system. It supports movement under high loads and is able to change shape to accomodate different types and forms of movement in the blink of an eye — provided its tensional integrity is maintained.

Tensegrity, a portmanteau of "tensional integrity", was coined by Buckminster Fuller in the 1960s. It describes the combined effect of a continuous tension network and individual compression struts creating functional integrity for an entire system.

Traditional methods of construction use compressional elements. Pieces are kept in contact with each other using force to press them together. This way, the entire structure remains intact.

In a tensegrity structure, tensional elements (cables, wires, and other types of connectors) work interactively with compressional elements (beams and spars) to sustain the proper amount of tension throughout the structure as a whole.

Tension integrity is what keeps everything together.

“Research conducted during the past 25 years has demonstrated that the architectural principles of tensegrity can be applied to biological organisms (termed biotensegrity) and that these principles can demonstrate the mechanical structure-function relationship at all size scales in the human body."

Randel Swanson,
DO, PhD.
Perelman School of Medicine,
University of Pennsylvania.

The Human Tensegrity Model

The human body is a tensegrity structure.1

In osteopathic medicine, the concept of tensegrity refers to the balanced forces of tension in the musculoskeletal system, provided by muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia, pulling on bones and joints, that keep the body stable in mass and movement.

Myofascia

The tensegrity structure of the human body is covered and protected by a dense, tough tissue called Myofascia or Fascia for short. It is best described as a complete body suit which runs from the top of the head down to the bottom of the toes.

The Myofascial Network

Fascia has the ability to store and release elastic potential energy while providing a supportive and movable wrapping for nerves and blood vessels as they weave through and between muscles and connective tissue.

To maintain tensional integrity when you walk, the dynamic design of your body requires forward motion to be powered by strong, underlying muscles known as
core muscles.

The Core Muscles

Joseph Pilates referred to these muscles as the powerhouse.

The deep Core Muscles wrap around like a corset, attaching the lower ribs, diaphragm and lumbar spine to the hips. These muscles also tie the rib cage and upper body to the pelvis and lower body, keeping you "connected".

In addition to driving forward motion, core muscles stabilize the body, protect the spinal column and provide firm support for all the various physical activities we perform.

Core Muscles Engaged
To Power The Hip
On The Transverse Plane

Consciously engaged core muscles may be used to power the hips in a level and circular motion, on a transverse plane.

The leg, being attached to the hip, follows.

In this way, the leg may be consciously placed into the best position to receive the forward motion of the body's center mass.

Arm swing is a product of lower limb action. It is a major factor in maintaining balance and takes its timing cues from the motion of the legs.

No Core Muscle Engagement

This is how most people walk.

When core muscles are NOT engaged, the pelvis has NO support and will tilt and roll from side to side.

Lack of core muscle support significantly increases the workload on the lower back and spine which will ultimately lead to chronic conditions over time.

Without core muscles to power the hips, you walk using only your legs. This weakens the tensional integrity of your body.

Leading with the legs translates to misalignment of the spine and overuse of leg muscles which in turn, causes fatigue.

Overworked legs push and pull the body foward while the neck and lower back are forced out of alignment to accomodate ungainly movement.

"Common" ailments such as back pain, knee pain, foot problems, shin splints, sciatica and a host of other complaints may be directly attributed to incorrect walking technique.2.3

“The changes that occur in walking with age are likely the result of multiple small changes in several different systems more so than the result of one catastrophic event such as a stroke or hip fracture.

The walking disability develops gradually, and although many older adults are referred (or self-refer) to a geriatric specialist because of the mobility problem, the reason for the walking difficulties often cannot be identified."

Jennifer S Brach,
PhD, PT.
Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs and Development, SHRS and Professor,
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences,
University of Pittsburgh.

Jessie M VanSwearingen,
PhD, PT, FAPTA.
Associate Professor.
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences,
University of Pittsburgh.

When you walk incorrectly, your center of mass will consistently be on the limits of your base of support making you unstable and susceptible to falling

More about this in the following section on Balance.

Balance

Two-thirds of our body mass, located two-thirds of body height above the ground, makes us inherently unstable and susceptible to the effects of gravity.4.5

Gravity is a downward pull, or force, that is exerted by the earth on your body. It is measured at 9.81m/sec squared.

A number of body systems act continuously to prevent you from falling over.

Your:

Eyes — visual system

Inner ear — vestibular system

Sense of where your are in space — proprioception

all work together to give you a sense of balance.

Balance must have a Center

Your Core Muscles are your Center around which balanced movement flows.

This is your Centre Of Gravity (COG) also called your Center Of Mass (COM).

Since your body is not a rigid body but a tensegrity structure, the location of your COG is influenced by the position of your limbs and the distribution of your body mass.

Your body proportions will also affect the location of your COG.

Stability

The act of walking involves changes of position in space.

With each new position comes a new location for your COG.

The direction of the force of gravity through your body is downward, towards the centre of the earth and through your COG.

When your Line Of Gravity is within your Base Of Support (BOS), you are said to be stable.

When your Line Of Gravity falls on the limits of your BOS or is outside your BOS, you are said to be unstable.

Creating balance in your movement

This an ongoing process which revolves around Mindfulness of your Center and how you move it — and therefore, yourself — through space.

When you mindfully engage your Core Muscles to shift your weight from one leg to the other while walking, you are:

Balanced

Stable

Efficient in movement

Protected against falling

Support of your body requires less work as you go through the activities of your daily life.

Moving from place-to-place is easy, relaxed and has the potential to become a pleasurable experience.

This is especially important for the elderly — which includes all of us at some point.

Gait

Walking is, in effect, a series of small sophisticated and synchronized tasks which occur in quick succession. These tasks are collectively called Gait.

Walking is a manner of gait that occurs as a result of a deliberate and quick series of loss-and-recovery of balance.6.7

Walking is accomplished with a strategy called the double pendulum.8.9

During forward motion, the leg that leaves the ground swings forward from the hip. This sweep is the first pendulum.

Then the leg strikes the ground with the heel of the foot and rolls through to the toe in a motion described as an inverted pendulum.

The motion of the two legs is coordinated so that one foot or the other is always in contact with the ground.

This is, of course, an over-simplified explanation.

As you know, legs are not rigid. They have articulations or joints at the knee, ankle and foot.

The spine and upper body are also made up of jointed segments connected by the Core Muscles and "firmed-up" by the engagement of those muscles and the tightening of the encasing Myofascia.

Also note that:

Dorsiflexion of the foot at the point of heel contact causes the Myofascia to systemically tighten, increasing in tension and strengthening the entire body as the gait stresses reach their maximum.

During the stance phase of the gait cycle, approximately three times the body weight is transmitted to the hip joint.

One leg stance accounts for about 60% of the gait cycle.

The gluteus medius is very important during the stance phase of the gait cycle to maintain both hips at the same level.

Plantarflexion at the point of toe lift-off initiates some amount of relaxation while maintaining some tension which is always required by the body’s tensegrity structure as a whole.

Your nervous system provides the pathways that enable you to carry out such precise motions automatically and without conscious thought.

Being mindful of all the processes that occur when you walk gives you control over them thus adding to your exercise experience.

Check-list for efficient walking

Align your spine.

Engage your core muscles to drive you forward.

Breathe deeply and rhythmically to provide ample oxygen for your body's metabolic processes.

Relax as you shift your weight mindfully from one leg to the other.

Benefits of efficient walking

When you consciously align your posture you ensure that your weight is evenly distributed over the sound tensegrity structure made up of your myofascial network, muscles, connective tissue and bones. This will immediately improve your balance, enhance your stability, relieve tension and stiffness throughout your body and protect you against falls.

Leg muscles that are free to move in the way they are meant to can relax, stretch and extend through their full range of motion to move you forward.

You will breathe more easily and deeply when your posture allows for greater expansion of the chest. A greater supply of oxygen becomes available to your vital organs and metabolic processes. This is of special importance to your brain which utilizes 25 percent of your body's total oxygen consumption.

A good supply of oxygen promotes mindfulness and mental clarity while further enhancing your movement experience.

Efficient walking will enable you to pick up the pace and in doing so, gain many benefits from aerobic exercise.10.11.12

Summary

Walking is a gift. We should never take it for granted lest we lose it.

Quickstep Aerobic Brisk Walking presents an opportunity for you to learn more about yourself while giving you the means to take back control of your health and fitness.

Mindful movement along with the free flow of energy throughout your body will keep you healthy and vibrant for a lifetime and turn your walking into a complete mind-body fitness program.

Even if you're already an avid walker, you can develop a new relationship with walking that will allow you to appreciate it more than you ever imagined.

You'll teach yourself to walk in balance and with grace and symmetry. From this place, you will feel the power and strength in your body.

When you move in balance, tension is minimized and the flow of your natural energy is maximized.

Eventually, moving with ease, grace and symmetry will become more than a way of walking.

It will become away of life.