What makes elite footballers different from the rest?
To be built different is athletic functionality strolling under the skin hiding in plain sight.
You can have two footballers:
- Same height
- Same weight
- Same muscle mass
- Same fat percentage
But yet different sprint speeds, different coordination levels, and different movement sensations.
Mainstream sports science ignores this phenomena.
They treat everyone the same.
Scientific studies don’t look under the skin.
Scientific studies ignore the Entangled nature of athleticism because they simply don’t know any better.
Here is the truth:
We are all humans, yes.
But we are not the same under the skin.
And no, this is not about race or genetics.
It’s about fascia.
The thin spongy tissue that connects the whole entire body from head to toe.
And this tissue is hyper-sensitive to one’s environment, activity, emotions, and more.
And this tissue is what separates those two seemingly equal footballers I mentioned above.
Athleticism is a multi-dimensional story, and yet most trainers treat the body with myopic single layer thinking.
Nature loves to hide great complexity within simplicity.
Welcome to the Matrix of Athleticism.
What is the human body?
In its most obvious terms, there is a head, two arms, two legs, and a torso. A level deeper, you could talk about skin, bones, nails, hair, fascia, tendons, ligaments. Even further you can list off organs, spinal junctures, parts of the brain, nerves, etc. You can go even farther delving into the fields of biochemistry, biophysics, and quantum biology.
The human body is both simple and infinitely complex. Your perspective dictates what you see. This is how Nature operates. She hides her jewels in plain sight, hidden under the guise of simplicity.
From this, you should take away that what you see on the outside is not always what is going on on the inside. What common explanations you hear about how the body works, you should not always believe.
Consider the fact that modern science is founded upon the study of corpses not living human bodies, because how do you study the inner workings of a living human without altering the internal process itself?
How do you dissect a live human body without harming it and therefore altering the outcome of your study?
A dead body will not operate like that of a living one.
Anatomy is one of the oldest branches in medicine. It is a branch of science that deals with the study of human or animal form, by observing or examining living beings, dissecting of dead specimens, and examining them microscopically. The term anatomy comes from the Greek word anatome which means ‘dissection’, and logos which stands for ‘study of’, hence the “study of dissection” (Source)
Conundrums like this is why you must take what you hear from mainstream science with a large grain of salt and keep an open mind to alternative possibilities.
In science, the term observer effect refers to changes that the act of observation will make on a phenomenon being observed. This is often the result of instruments that, by necessity, alter the state of what they measure in some manner.
A question that modern medicine has a yet to proficiently answer, why can two people do the same exercise and feel two totally different sensations?
This question fueled my research for many years. It created the impetus for the concept I now call Fascial Integration Training.
Some interpret this as something spiritual or mental, and while Natural Athleticism certainly has relevant implications to the mind, we are discussing something physical. We are looking into the connective tissue of the body.
We are developing world class bones, tendons, fascia, ligaments. We are delving into the pyroelectric materials of the body. Fascial Integration Training dives into topological phases of matter.
Fascia is the rope of your web-like tensegrity model. It requires proper organization and stimulation to be fully functional.
There is so much more than just muscle. There is so much more than fast-twitch or slow-twitch. There is more than aerobic or anaerobic. There is a lot more than just concentric, isometric, and eccentric.
Why World Class footballers are literally built different.
Natural Athleticism gives validity to the idea that top players are cut from a different cloth.
Conventional Experts might just refer to this as good genetics or god-given talent.
When you understand the Entangled Nature of sport, you will know that this is only one piece of the puzzle. You will know that you are not a slave to what you are born with. You will know the truth that the default state of the human body is that of buoyant health and effortless athleticism.
It is in your hands to foster, build, and mold your body.
The foundation (of athleticism) is built in the first two years of life.
– Christian Thibaudeau
From birth, the signs of the Natural Athleticism are there.
The fascial tensioning of the retracted toes in babies. The natural mobility of young kids as they run and jump on the playground. The almost tireless spring you see in young children. Many of these things are lost as one ages in modern society. An unimpeded environment allows what I call the Natural to prosper and become a top athlete while others falter.
The muscle-bone concept presented in standard anatomical description gives a purely mechanical model of movement. It separates movement into discrete functions, failing to give a picture of the seamless integration seen in a living body. When one part moves, the body as a whole responds. Functionally, the only tissue that can mediate such responsiveness is the connective tissue.
— Schultz, Feitis & The Endless Web
The building blocks of Natural Athleticism reside in all of us.
In some it is alive and well; while in others, it is dormant and asleep. The human body is all-powerful on it’s own. It is only in modern society, we are made to believe it is weak and in need of constant external help. Building Natural Athleticism is a process of true transformation like no other. This is permanent change that optimizes every system of the body. A rising tide lifts all boats.
