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3 circles, 6 constraints
Plus: Ritual vs. mindful movement
Geoff Girvitz
March 13, 2025
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Today on Dad Strength
Ritual vs. mindful movement
3 circles, 6 constraints
Kids and politics
An article, a quote, a dad joke
Ritual vs. mindful movement
Last week, I shared some tips on how to better connect to the bird-dog—a back health exercise popularized by spine mechanics expert Dr. Stuart McGill. I used it as an example of how to level-up something that, on first pass, looks or feels easy. It got me thinking…
A lot of exercises—particularly from the rehab sphere—are done as rituals. By that, I mean that people literally go through the motions and hope for the best. If you’ve ever just cranked out rep after rep of shoulder external rotations, or terminal knee extensions, you know the experience. This is often better than nothing but that’s not exactly a high bar. We can do better.
So, how do you take a rehab exercise and make it more effective?
Three parameters to experiment with during rehab exercises:
Posture
Think about the way you’d like to carry your body. It doesn’t have to a rigid military style—but you probably don’t want your shoulders caved forward or your back at a weird angle. Stand like you mean it and practice the movement from this position—noting where attention or fatigue pulls you out of position.
Setup
What muscles do you want to engage before you even begin moving? For example, if you’re dealing with a shoulder issue, I can just about guarantee that you want your lats to fire before your shoulder moves. If you’re working on your hips or low-back, you’ll have to create stiffness adjacent to whatever you’re trying to move (or in whatever you’re trying not to move). Here, a combination of breathing, position, and focused tension will do the trick.
Load
We tend to think of rehab as being light but there’s a sweet spot where you will do your best work—and a bit of loading here can sometimes amplify the feedback loop and lead to better movement. There’s a Goldilocks zone.
Bonus tip
Your strength through a range of motion will vary—typically with you being weakest at end-range. So, if the loading at end-range is perfect but the easiest half of the movement is doing nothing for you, try cutting your range of motion in half.
If you want me to personally walk you through things, you can book with me here.
3 circles, 6 constraints
There are two models that I refer to a lot. One is the Circles of Control model, which is a simple visualization of the things you have complete control over, the things you can influence, and the things you can merely worry about. The other is BJ Fogg’s Ability Chain model, which breaks individual ability down into six elements. Most are self-explanatory but I’ll expand on the social link, which isn’t actually included in Tiny Habits. but is a common element in public health discussions. Here, we are referring to the cost of violating social norms.
Here’s the first model:
And here’s what both models look like overlaid on top of each other:
The idea here is to show how your ability to influence the world around you is constrained. So, if you’re trying to build community, create change, or otherwise be a force for good, the odds are that you’re butting up against one ore more of these things.
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Kids and politics
There’s a level of nuance in politics that I’m simply not going to get into with my eight-year-old. If I tell him that somebody is evil, he’ll take my word for it However, he’s not going to go in for a detailed analysis; he’ll just skip to jeering at them like they’re a heel in pro-wrestling. I’m more interested in him developing his own values and then navigating accordingly.
Hannah Arendt said that “Education is the point at which we decide whether we love the world enough to assume responsibility for it.” In other words, we have to ask what beliefs lead kids to action.
The whole purpose of the current onslaught of information—the facts, lies, and half-truths—is to get people to question everything and take action on nothing. Or, better yet, convince themselves that casting blame and/or yelling at people on the internet is the same thing as taking action.
At the end of the day, we—as parents—have to decide whether we’re raising kids to inhabit the current system or to change things for the better.
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What I’m reading/watching:
Attachments: Essays on Fatherhood and Other Performances by Lucas Mann
A quote
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
A dad joke
Which gaming system came out of an accidental discovery?
The Unintendo
Take care of yourself, man!
Geoff Girvitz
Father, founder, physical culturist
dadstrength.com