Quiet As a Protocol

[Cilian McHugh]

Coach Sonnon,

I was fascinated by the idea in Body Flow of 'Quiet as a Protocol' the notion that your body is loading and unloading most efficiently whilst making minimal noise sounds intuitively true to me.

I would be most interested to read more about the underlying science if you could expand for me a little please or point me in the direction of another resource?


BTW
I recently picked up a copy of "Proprioception and Neuromuscular Control in Joint Stability' as referred to in Body Flow, that's a serious chunk of book :shock:

[Scott Sonnon]

Cilian, you're looking for the science underlying the efficiency of quiescence? :P Although it's empirically obvious, and the ultimate goal of martial arts, dance, or any movement discipline valuing efficiency (useful work/total work), I could try and direct you to general sources. However, this is not an idea I borrowed from a text, but rather concluded from my experience as a coach and athlete.

[Cilian McHugh]

Thanks Scott, I guess I was expecting that. It strikes me that while the bulk of my own movement is pretty good on the stealth scale, I can't explain to other people why I consider this a good thing. Many people I discuss training with seem to feel that bodily efficiency is simply the absence of things going wrong.

[Scott Sonnon]

bodily efficiency is simply the absence of things going wrong. In a way, they're right. Please explain why they are here, and you'll discover an effective why to explain what you're seeking to explain.

[Cilian McHugh]

Scott,

I've been thinking of this for a few days now and here are the conclusions I have reached:

While efficiency could be defined at a low level as the absence of pain and injury, I believe that the continued search for deeper efficiency is an integral part of longevity training or as I call it ' Training for Old Age'

I believe that efficiency is of paramount relevance for those of us that are planning for an active old age, but also that the value of efficiency diminishes in direct proportion to the body's degradation with age i.e as the body ages previously sufficient efficiency (wow try saying that ten times fast :? ) is no longer sufficient. Ergo by continuosly training for optimum movement efficiency one is constantly evolving in relation to one's unique situation.

Why I beleive people are at this point in their understanding, as the results are not tangible or immediately obvious they are not deemed worthy of devoted training time (however I believe this is a fallacy as it is something that can be perpetuallly trained in virtually every aspect of life)

I suspect that I've been as clear as mud, I will try and clarify myself another day.

Fraternal

[bob_stra]

O/T -

Here's one from aikido

Aikido folks consider silent ukemi an indication of true skill. Ukemi (rolling) is the ability to recieve "unfriendly" force, control it and ride it without breaking your neck ;-)

Every clunk heard is a part of your body that just slammed into the ground - ie didn't ride the wave of force adequately. So noise is used a feedback. Noise, after all, is energy. More noise = more unabsorbed energy.

"ah - I heard your shoulder slam into the mat. Maybe you should work on xyz"

Don't know if that's any use to you, but your post made me think of it.

PS: This might be kinda related to the crepatus you hear when, for example, you roll your shoulders. Your shoulders, in that range, aren't adequately disperesing the force (via tendons and ligaments), so noise is heard.

I could be waaaaaaaaaaaaay wrong with that one. It happens. A lot ;)