The Secrets of Z-Health’s R-Phase (Part I)
Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by Guy in Fitness & Exercise
‘The goal of Z Health is not to make you a statistical average-our goal is to unlock the secrets of what natural athletes do and apply those skills on a safe and reasonable timeline for real long term success.’ – Z. Salazar – Master Trainer
Following on to my introduction article on Z Health, I’ll begin to explain the ‘Phases’ in more depth. So this may be of interest to any individual wanting to understand Z Health how they work and how to get started using the process to improve your body & your training or if you are thinking about starting professional certification, R-Phase Certification is most certainly something that I recommend as it will give you real insight of how to make anyone’s nervous system move faster, stronger and without pain. I recommend this, as I would with anything, purely because I live, sleep and walk the principles, and after all my time in the industry I can recognize a good health system when I see and practice it. So to make it easy for you to understand, I’ll break it down so that you know what it’s all about. There are four levels before Master Trainer, the first of which is :
R-Phase – Level I – This level of training is based on the concepts of Injury Rehabilitation, Nervous System Re-education using Mobility Restoration. What does that actually mean? Well it is based on the principle that the Nervous System governs the body, as it is the fastest system to respond to any issue within the body, it tells us to tense up, flinch, drop, blink & recoil without conscious thought. It bases this information on the sensory input that it gains from the millions of receptors placed around the body. So if we wish to elicit the fastest change in our pain, athleticism, posture we should aim to work as many of these receptors as possible.
Areas of the sensory motor system that hold the most receptors are the joints, ligaments, skin, muscles and tendons, with ligaments being the most densely packed with all four of the mechano receptor types, Golgi organs, Pacinian corpuscles, Ruffini endings and free nerve endings. Thus if we influence them and encourage them to move with precision we create the fastest change possible!
The change that we make within the Nervous System is actually stored in our proprioceptive map within the brain and remembers the precise position of each joint, both specifically with the joint and systemically through the entire body. This explains why you may be able to dumbell press the same weight in either hand, but you are not able to hit a golf ball, kick a soccer ball or throw with equal power from either hand or foot. The movements we perform are specific to the exact task we wish to replicate. This is summed up in the S.A.I.D. principle, Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand, or said differently as Dr Cobb likes to say, “the body ALWAYS adapts to EXACTLY what it does!”
So How Does R-Phase help me?
Simply put, R-Phase systematically clears out the junk information stored in your joints. We all have movement flaws, from the elite performers and olympic athletes and these flaws either slow us down and take us away from our genetic potential with respect to our fastest speed, our quickest reactions, or hardest strike etc. These movement flaws predispose us to or precipitate injury. As poorly functioning joints usually transfer wear and tear or load to other more mobile areas of the skeleton. By removing these flaws via the dynamic joint mobility introduced in the R-Phase DVD we are able to allow the governers and inhibitors from within the central nervous system to operate at a much higher level in terms of speed, power, agility and reaction speed. I have seen clients lift more, drop deeper into a squat, run faster with just 60 seconds of the right joint mobility work, it’s that fast. Finding an actively immobile joint and then teaching the individual how to free it up themselves is way more powerful than working on the joint passively, like I learned to do in manual therapy school.
At the same time the controlled use of the joints allows the body to co-ordinate movement and help increase efficiency and reduce pain. Which on a mechanical level obviously reduces stresses and strain on the system, but also from a neuromatrix perspective can lower the confused signaling that the brain interprets as pain(Butler&Mosley2003). There is much more depth on this at the certification, but essentially the controlled movement engaged by the participants own brain actually helps to reset the interpretation that the brain recognises as pain. This may sound confusing but it is in essence quite simple and practical to apply.
‘After just 10 mins of Z Health mobility my terrible desk posture is gone, I feel like I can stand up tall with ease, I’m like a new man. It would have taken me more than 30 mins of stretching to get the same result’ – L.Kelly – Accountant
What Do I Do Now?
Click on to one of the R-Phase links and just get started on your own joint mobility, no matter what you have done before you will not have done work that is as specific, beneficial and as worthwhile as this. Again once you have practiced this on yourself, you will see what a powerful tool this is to use with your clients, athletes, patients. When you take action on this you will feel the amazing results for yourself. Click Here
Click Here For Part II In the Secrets of Z-Health – R-Phase Series (Coming Soon)
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