The infamous “I’d rather have someone who moves well then someone who is strong” comment on Facebook. Argument started.
I see this cycle around every so often, and I’m always tempted to jump in, but instead i just sit back and watch the “passionate” responses. People are convicted. And, both sides are wrong. Jeff did the Leo Training Podcast last fall and was asked a question. As soon as I heard the question, I knew how Jeff would answer. And his answer is the answer to this. The question was “if you had to pick one exercise to do forever, what would it be?” It is a good question to see how people prioritize. Jeff’s answer: “Why do I have to pick? Why do I have to pick moving well or strength? I ask this question several times to my grad class – where is the strengthening phase of the neurodevelopmental continuum? Where do kids stop focusing on moving and start focusing on getting strong (before the age of 2)? There isn’t one. Strength and movement quality grow together.
Can people move well and be weak? Yes. Can people be strong and move well? Yes. But here is the big reason why picking one is a premature answer: What are we doing? If I’m picking someone to push my car out of the ditch or help me move I’m picking the stronger person. If I’m picking someone to be in my next book that has to get into some unique postures or I’m leaning towards move well. If we are talking 4 other guys to play on my pick up basketball team, I’m picking neither. Im going with the 4 best players I can get. Neither strength nor moving well will predict that (or get me the win).
You have to have both. Neither ensure or guarantee anything; neither prevent injuries; neither guarantee success in sport. Both are buffers. Strength is like roads, movement compensations (what you get when you move poorly) are like cars on the road. When you are weak you are a back country, 2 lane road with no shoulder; the kind with just enough room for the white lines on each side. You can drive as fast as you want for as long as you want, but when something goes wrong you have very little room for error before you end up in the ditch. If you are weak AND move poorly you are driving on that same road with other cars – even less room for error. Mess up and it is a fiery crash. The stronger you get, the more lanes you get; you might have a 4 lane interstate with wide margins on each side. You can still go as fast as you want for as long as you want. The wider road doesn’t guarantee bad things won’t happen and it doesn’t guarantee if something happens you won’t end up in the ditch; it just means you have more room for error. Add poor movement and you are driving fast through traffic; the more movement compositions you have the closer you are to rush hour.
I want the person that is a little of both, moves well and is strong. Each end of the spectrum sucks, but for different reasons. And here is the BIG KICKER: we haven’t even discussed what qualifies as moving well or being strong……(next discussion).
