This may have been my most impactful book I’ve read this year. Just so much good stuff on how to move.

#Things to consider

  • Fluency in movement might be the most useful fluency of all.
  • Just as you’re more likely to adhere to a diet if the food’s delicious, you’re more likely to keep moving if the movement’s delightful.
  • The greatest thing we can aspire to is the bounce and wiggle of real mobility.
  • Rotating is a kind of athleticism barely considered by traditional strength training.
  • “People don’t like to admit somebody does something better, in life in general, if it’s in your same profession, right?”
  • The most direct, brute-force exercise to strengthen the gluteus medius is the side plank.
  • Plans change quickly in the mountains.
  • When the hips don’t shift the force of landing to the glutes, impact forces travel up into the lower back, where they produce a terrifying sounding effect called anterior shear.
  • “Especially in squatting,” says Jon, “curing what the foot is doing will generally fix everything else.”
  • There’s a chicken-and-egg question about whether we need soft shoes because we are bad at managing big forces, or we are bad at managing big forces because we wear cushioned shoes.
  • I would say Marcus is one of the inspirations for carbon-plated shoes. He wanted shoes to be not mushy and soft, but spring-loaded.
  • We are only just beginning to comprehend that problems in the ankle, knee, or back often derive from hips.
  • A groin might need myofascial release; perhaps a glute med would benefit from weighted side planks; hip flexors often beg for pigeon pose.
  • “If you can just understand if you need more mobility, or you need more stability, in your hips, at least you’re starting to get in the game.”
  • Poor hip mobility is associated with an array of knee issues and back pain. Good hips can set you free.
  • I have repeated those eight minutes of hip myofascial release a hundred times since—it can change your day.