Unloaded Linear Training
Loaded Linear Training
Unloaded Movement Training
Loaded Movement Training
As individual coaches Steve, Brett and Louise have developed their own training philosophies over many years of experience in team sport, martial arts, triathlon, athletics, gym, strength and conditioning and basic fitness training. All three realised that they wanted to apply this knowledge, ideology and technique to real world functional strength and movement training and make it accessible to anyone, regardless of initial levels of fitness. They joined forces to form Davey Black Fitness.
Studies in Biology and Histology tell us that the human body will adapt to external stressors, and that is why most training programs target activities such as swimming, riding, or running and lifting weights in gyms and fitness classes to get stronger, fitter and faster. These studies also tell us that recovery and flexibility activities, such as Yoga, are just as important for reducing damage and improving results. You might be unfit, used to be fit, pregnant, postnatal, a fitness enthusiast, an amateur athlete, or high level sports person but the chances are that you have been training or simply moving through life in this way for a long time.
Have you ever noticed, though, that regardless of how fit someone is, most people at some stage will sustain an injury. Sometimes these injuries are repetitive or just never go away.
Often, these injuries occur because they have spent so long training in a linear way and stretching or doing yoga to increase flexibility. What they have neglected to do is to add stress (weight) to build strength and flexibility in any other dimension. These scenarios are a constant reminder that Loaded Movement Training is a very underrated, and often overlooked aspect to a fully holistic approach to health and fitness.
By adding external load to the body’s natural movement patterns, Loaded Movement Training strengthens and conditions our bodies along various “lines of stress” which, over time and combined with other traditional training methods, allows the body to adapt into a stronger and more flexible unit, providing greater strength and stability in a multitude of positions that reflect our natural movements in day to day life. Research shows that Loaded Movement Training can improve balance, agility and dynamic strength, improving functionality in daily life and enhancing performance in sport. For this reason, it provides trainers with the ability to truly add ‘health’ back into a Health and Fitness Program.
The Four Quadrants (4Q) training methodology is drawn from the Institute of Motion and divides physical movement into Four Quadrants through Loaded and Unloaded Stressors and Linear and Variable Movement (See the below diagram).
Unloaded Linear Training
Loaded Linear Training
Unloaded Movement Training
Loaded Movement Training
The lower left quadrant, which is linear movement that is unloaded, is often used to re-educate the neuro-muscular activation patterns, to mobilize joints, to facilitate motor efficiency, etc., and has numerous benefits, which include (but not limited to):
- Re-education of neuro-muscular system
- Stability / Mobility training
- Weak Link Activation
- Targeted tissue improvement (i.e., muscle)
- Improved intra-muscular coordination
The upper left quadrant, which is linear movement with external resistance or load, has been scrutinized for years and involves our classic resistance training. Some of the benefits and adaptations include the following:
- Greater muscle hypertrophy
- Time under tension
- Increased hormonal release
- Improvement in Stability / Strength / Power
- Improved intra-muscular coordination
The lower right quadrant is transitional or 3-D movement which is unloaded. These bodyweight drills may or may not include equipment (e.g., speed ladders, cones, etc.) and produce three-dimensional body motions. Some of the benefits and adaptation include the following:
- Rapid Nervous System activation
- Dynamic stability training
- Improved motor learning
- Speed, agility, quickness improvements
- Increased functional reaction capabilities
The upper right quadrant, often conspicuously absent from training, involves transitional or 3-D movement with external load. This is where we find Loaded Movement Training. While we seldom see individuals transitioning their bodies with mass in the gym setting, this is an important part of the training spectrum. Loaded Movement Training offers the following benefits, among many others:
- Greater adaptations in muscle, nerve, skin, fascia (because of the pre-load qualities which transitional movements provide).
- Less compressive forces (due to tension loads rather than compressive ones).
- Increase hormonal release (due to the intensity and metabolic demand of loading transitional movements).
- Improvement in multi-directional stability / strength / power (due in part to pre-position loading).
- Improved inter-muscular coordination (as a result of summating forces which require synergistic muscular actions).
To get the best out of your body both in sport and in everyday life, it is essential to spend some time training in each quadrant.
Davey Black Fitness provides complete health and fitness programs, for any level of fitness that allows anyone to simply get fit.
It’s Fitness Simplified.