After reading that so many people were enthusiastic about Z-Health, I decided to stop by their website.
The website http://www.zhealth.net/what-is-zhealth explains what it is about better than I can.
“Z-Health® is a cutting-edge exercise system that helps people improve their health, alleviate their pain, and maximize their athletic performance.
Most training systems focus on muscles via resistance training and flexibility exercises or on the heart and lungs through aerobic-work. Z-Health is much more evolved. Z-Health focuses on the nervous system: the ultra-high speed network that controls muscles, heart, AND lungs.
Created by Dr. Eric Cobb, Z-Health’s nervous system-based exercise program explains how to:
Eliminate your pain (often instantaneously). Even if you’ve been told you’ll have to “live with it” for the rest of your life.
Perform at your best as an athlete. Learn the key pieces of the training puzzle that have been holding you back.
Enhance your health, energy, and vitality. Discover how to move and live with maximum energy on a daily basis.
Prevent injuries. Life is a full-contact sport. An injury-resistant body is essential for living life to its fullest.”
Given that I have some reccuring problems due to old injuries, and that have been practicing joint mobility on a daily basis for the last 9 years, I had to check it out a bit deeper.
While at this stage I do not know enough to form an opinion, some of the stuff that they wrote about performance caught my attention straight away. These are the same priciples we use in GS.
This extract is taken from the sign up intro letter.
“Max Strength Strategy #2 – You must train while emphasizing the elements of efficiency.
Every Perfect Rep has 4 different components in the beginning stages of training.
We call these four components the 4 Elements of Efficiency. Here they are:
Perfect Form –
Dynamic Postural Alignment –
Synchronized Breathing – If you had the chance to take a quick look at the human lung would see that it resembles a large sponge and works like one as well. The movement of your body either squeezes air out, or reduces the pressure on the lungs, letting air flow back in. As simple as this sounds, and as instinctive as breathing should be, many people breathe ‘out of sync’ during movement. The basic Z-Health® training rule is to RELAX and allow air to be squeezed out of the lungs when they are compressed, and let air flow back in when movement causes the chest to expand. You’ll be amazed at what this can do to your strength and performance. In fact, embracing this simple rule will dramatically improve your joint mobility, coordination, and bodycontrol.
Balanced Tension and Relaxation – Experience teaches us that carrying excessive tension in the body is tiring and counter-productive for maintaining high levels of energy and efficiency.
Despite this common knowledge, few people develop the skill of maintaining relaxation while in motion. Movement precision, which is the cornerstone of efficiency depends upon your ability to maintain the perfect balance of tension and relaxation. As you train, tension is necessary to create muscular activity and growth. However, excessive, inappropriate tension breeds injury and a hyper-responsive arthrokinetic reflex. To reset your strength governor learn to use just the necessary tension in your training and no more! The more you practice this skill, the more precise your movement will become, and your energy levels will soar.”
Here’s my take on breathing and on efficiency and progress for those not familiar with GS.
