Introduction

The Christopher Hole Training Method is conceptual framework of coaching movement and exercise. It’s a body of research that has been organised into a curriculum to give me greater clarity and application as coach.

Like the national curriculum we use in schools it “provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge” of movement and then exercise. It also “provides an outline of core knowledge” necessary to understand injury, movement & fitness.

It’s broken into 3 stages

• Movement Training; where the trainee develops fundamental movement skills
• Fundamental Fitness; where the trainee takes on physically demanding exercises using these movement skills
• Advanced Fitness; where the trainee trains for competes in their chosen event

Each stage has a set of components that are worked on individually and together before moving onto the next stage. These components are assessed at regular intervals to monitor progress and determine when to move onto the next stage.

Why learn to move?

After all we can all do it. There are 2 types of movement, good movement & not so good movement.

• Good movement – Decreases risk of injury – Increase fitness in the long-term – Leads to better quality of life
• Not so good movement – Increases risk of injury – Decreases fitness in the long term – Leads to a poorer quality of life

Movement for decreasing risk of injury

“Most commonly, injury during occupational and athletic endeavours involves cumulative trauma from repetitive sub-failure magnitude loads” Dr Stuart McGill

This means, it’s not the one bad movement we do, it’s the little not so good movements we do that add up over time and eventually our body gives up (the straw that broke the camels back).

Movement for increasing fitness

“A straight or slightly arched back during the snatch and the clean is needed to create and preserve a “rigid” connection between the support and the barbell. Should the back “round” during the lift from the floor, some of the force produced by the legs will be dissipated by the sagging of the trunk. Therefore, some of the lifting force will not be effectively communicated to the barbell.”                 Andrew Charinga

This means, if we move not so well the force our muscles produce to lift is leaked and we can’t lift, carry, push, pull etc etc as well as is possible.

 Movement development

As a baby we learn the basics

1. “Control of the head and then upper body”
2. “Patterns including crawling, creeping, cruising & walking”
3. “Bending, stretching, swinging, swaying, pushing, pulling, turning & twisting”
4. “Walking & running” and also includes jumping, hoping, galloping and skipping”
5. “Throwing, catching, rolling, striking, heading, kicking, punting, catching and trapping”

Then, for one reason or another these get diminished. E.g. If you ask a teenager to squat, bend or lift it looks very different to a baby and surprisingly it’s the baby that squats better.

Learning movement

It takes time and there certain things to do, Dan Coyle in his book The Talent Code calls it Deep Practice. There are 3 rules;

1. Chunk it up
2. Repeat it
3. Learn to feel it

Chunk it up

Although we can lift an object from the floor most of the time it’s done in a not so effective way. From this perspective we are learning a new skill. To learn a new skill it’s best to break it into bitesize chunks and learn them individually and overtime piece them together. As we do this new habits form and we use stage 2 to install this movement skill.

Repeat it

All of our movements are in programmes like songs on an album, when we want a song we pick it and it plays. Before we can play it, we create it (by chunking it up) and then we can install it. Repetition is how we begin to install this new skill. This helps us understand that it isn’t “practice make perfect” but “correct movement practice makes correct movement”.

Learn to feel it

To complete the installation of the new movement skills, during the repetition I use a variety of senses to help you feel the position you are meant to be in. This helps your brain connect to the different parts of the body that are working and it becomes second nature.

To close

Every person I work with goes through this process, at first it may seem unnecessary but as I say to everyone “trust the process”. The people that follow it can give it time get the results, not always immediately but the more the follow the process the more they feel the difference in their pain if they had any or in their fitness.

References

• The Department of Education (July 2013). The National Curriculum England. London: The Department of Education. p5.
• Pamela S Haibach, Greg Reid, Douglas H Collier (2011). Motor Learning and Development. USA: Human Kinetics. p94-96.
• Dr Stuart McGill (2007). Low Back Disorders: Evidence-based Prevention and Rehabilitation. 2nd ed. USA: Human Kinetics. p12.
• Andrew Charniga, Jr.. 2003. Essential Components of Weightlifting Technique – part 1. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dynamic-eleiko.com/sportivny/library/farticles010.html. [Accessed 29 September 14].
• Dan Coyle (2009). The Talent Code. New York: Random House. 79-94.