THE BETTER

MOVEMENT
BLUEPRINT
Your roadmap to more function & more freedom

We all have things that we’d love to improve in our bodies. Things that hold
us back and make us feel stuck. !

What’s yours? Is it…!

• Nagging low back pain?!

• An old injury that just wont fully heal?!
• Muscle tension that you can’t stretch out?!
• A lack of strength or balance?!
• An out-of-touch feeling with your body?!

Maybe all of the above! !

Here’s a big secret I want to let you in on:!

The conventional approach to fitness & therapy only makes those problems
worse.!

I made the same mistakes myself. I thought No Pain, No Gain was the only
way to go. I hopped from one machine to another in the gym, and went to
yoga 3 times each week. But my joints ached, I had zero energy, and I was
depressed. !

Then I found a new way to look at the body, and everything changed.!
You’re about to discover how to start working with your
body, instead of against it. !
You’ll find out just why things like stretching & foam rolling aren’t giving you
meaningful results & how to tap into a forgotten reserve of flexibility,
strength, and ease that will blow you away.!

Here’s the best part:!

You’ll learn that the power doesn’t belong to some doctor, trainer, or coach.
It’s in your own body, just waiting for you to unlock it. No longer will you be
a bystander to your own body. It’s time to put you behind the wheel. !

Let’s get to it! !

THE BIG RULE
You’re behind the wheels of the most powerful machine on
the planet.

But has anyone ever taught you how to really use it?!

The human body is just amazing. It can leap, lift, & balance. It lets me type
these words, and it lets you read them. Everything you do, & everything you
sense & perceive relies on the body. !

We don’t have bodies. We are bodies.!

And thanks to these bodies we’ve climbed to the top of the food chain. We’ve
mastered tools & technology, and we’ve shaped our environment like no other
species can. !

We’ve got a lot going on here!!

But behind all of this complexity, and all of this power, there’s one simple rule
that governs our health & function. One rule determines your flexibility &
strength, your weight & any aches & pains.!

If you learn to tap into this rule, there’s no stopping how well your body can
function, and how good your body feels.!

So what is this big rule?!

Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand

This is the SAID Principle. Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. !

You can think of it generally as “use it, or lose it”. !

Essentially your body is constantly changing, based on the demands you

place on it. It is constantly taking cues and making subtle modifications
based on those factors. !

So what are these demands? In a nutshell: everything. The demands can

range from the way you sit at work, to the food you eat for lunch. The walk
you take on the weekend, to the couch you lounge on after dinner.!

Every action (or inaction), & every facet of the environment influences the way
your body looks & feels. Think of it this way: right now, your body is a
reflection of all of your past decisions in life. !

Now that’s a huge burden of responsibility! But it’s also such a gift.!

It means that you (yes, you) can literally reshape your body by altering the
demands that you impose on it. Want to get stronger? Pick up heavy objects.
Want to loosen those hip flexors? Get out of your chair. !

You have so much control over the way your body works. All it takes is a bit of
active investment in yourself. If you’re ready to take ownership, let’s begin!!
THE LIVING
MACHINE
So what is this living machine?.

Hang tight. We’re about to drop some knowledge bombs.!

See, the traditional view of the body focuses on one thing: the muscles.!

Think back to the last time you were in the gym, or even the therapist’s office.
Odds are good you focused on the glutes, the biceps, and so on. This piece &
that piece. !

But this living machine of ours is built of so much more. There are tendons &
ligaments, bones, and a whole widespread nervous system. We focus on the
softer bits, but we need to take a step back to look at the big picture.!

This body of yours is a complex neuro-musculo-skeletal system. It is living

architecture built from brain, brawn, and bone. And if we want it to function
better, we need to work with it in this lens. !

I often simplify it for my students by saying that we have a software (the nervous
system) that works within our hardware (the musculoskeletal system). !

There’s simply no way to separate these components. The cool thing is:
improving one element often improves all of the others. We can tinker with our
software, or we can tinker with our hardware. This guide will show you how to
improve both. Let’s begin with the hardware.!
THE HARDWARE
Give the hardware a tune up.

Like most complicated bits of machinery (think: cars & musical instruments), the
body needs a tune up from time to time. !

However, the body is a bit different. It can actually tune itself! But we need to
give it the right conditions. Remember the SAID Principle. We need to impose
the right demands if we want to see specific adaptations.!

We often get caught up in corrective exercise, functional movement training, and

high intensity workouts, forgetting that movement is only one half of the
equation. Rest is the flip side of the coin. In fact, the way you rest directly
influences the way you move. !

Changing up the way you rest is just the tune up your hardware craves, and it
couldn’t be simpler.!

I often call this a “mobility cheat code” because it takes no additional time or
equipment. It seems too simple to be effective. But the truth is: the best tune up
for your hardware is simply sitting on the floor!!

It’s only very recently in our evolutionary history that we’ve spent so much time
sitting in chairs. The bulk of our existence as a species required us to get up and
down from the ground many times over the course of the day. Reclaiming this
bit of our evolutionary heritage is our best bet for restoring the hardware.!
Seriously? Sitting on the floor?

Yeah, seriously.!

I know, I know. It seems crazy. We’re so accustomed to overcomplicated

solutions that we scoff at the simplest & most effective. !

Again, floor sitting takes no extra time or equipment. You can do the things
you’d do anyway (read, eat, watch Netflix), just in a slightly different context.
You’ll find that you naturally shift positions more frequently, and this is the
simplest way to tap into the SAID Principle.!

Now you don’t need to throw away all of your furniture—unless you want to!!

But here’s a challenge for you:!

Spend an extra hour each day sitting on the floor.!

There may be a bit of an adjustment period, but you’ll very quickly find that your
joints feel a whole lot better. You’ll save a huge amount of time stretching &
foam rolling and begin to cultivate some true musculoskeletal fitness. !

Now floor sitting is a pretty foreign concept for most of us. In the next pages
we’ll explore just how to go about implementing it effectively, highlighting some
of the more common positions.!
Cross-Legged

This is often what comes to mind when we think about sitting on the floor, and
for many of us it is our most accessible floor sitting position. What we may not
consider is our overwhelming preference for one side. Go ahead…sit cross-
legged. And then switch your legs around. Probably feels strange, huh? !

This whole floor sitting process is about shaking up our habitual patterns to tap
into that SAID Principle. !

Now you may feel slightly uncomfortable

as you start out. Our goal here is to sit
comfortably without collapsing. So you
may find some extra padding helpful at
the beginning. !

You could put a folded blanket beneath

the tailbone to help you find more
neutrality in the pelvis. You may also want
to prop the knees up slightly. !

Our goal here is to find a relaxed ease. !

Give it a try!!
Tailor’s Position

From a cross-legged position you might begin to explore the tailor’s position,
with the soles of the feet together. If you’ve spent a lot of time in a chair, you’ll
find that the hips are very tight in this position. They simply don’t know how to
relax here!!

This brings up an important point

about tension. !

The body uses it as a protective

suit of armor. This has everything
to do with your software (which
we’ll cover shortly). !

For now just keep in mind that

you can prop yourself up as much
as is necessary to be comfortable
here. !

Remember: sit tall!!

Side Sitting

If we’re introducing the hips to funky, new alignments, we have to talk over the
side sitting position. !

The side sit will have both of your feet pointing one way, with both knees
pointing the other. This introduces the hips to a gentle bit of internal rotation.
You’ll likely find that one side feels much more comfortable than the other.
Explore both! We’re here to shake up our habits of holding. !

You’ll probably need the support of

an arm out to the side if this is new
to you, and that’s ok. !

Remember: we’re easing into these

new positions. !

As you spend time in the side sit,

make sure to explore the position
from each side. You may be
surprised at the differences side to
side!!
Kneeling

Kneeling is another common resting position, but it may take some easing into if
you have sensitive knees & ankles. !

You could kneel with feet pointed away from, or with the toes tucked under.
Each variation has its own merits. Many of us have stiff, inflexible feet, and
kneeling with toes tucked under is a powerful behavioral modification to loosen
them up. If you carry tension in the hamstrings or the plantar fascia, this can be
a great place of transition.!

Again, be mindful to give yourself support when necessary. Any time we want to
sink into a position, we need a container of support to sink into!!
Long Sitting

If you have tension along the back of your body, you’ll definitely see it here.!

Most folks have a tendency to round the low back in this position. If you find this
is the case, be sure to give the pelvis a boost with some padding. You’ll want to
position it beneath the sit bones so that you aren’t rounding onto the tailbone.!

In long sitting we have a lot of

options to play with. !

You may have both legs

extended, or one leg tucked in.
Legs could be wide—like a
gymnastic straddle--or narrow.!

Explore each of these options!!

Squatting

This is perhaps THE archetypal resting position. And you may not have done it
much since you were a kid. !

Resting in the full squat requires quite a bit of mobility in the hips, ankles, and
knees. However, thanks to our SAID Principle, you may not have this full range
of motion available to you. Remember: the body is essentially a use it or lose it
system. If it has been awhile since you found yourself in a squat, you may not be
able to rest comfortably in it just yet.!

If this is the case, it’s important to give

yourself enough support to be secure in
this position. !

You may hold on to an outside object, or

you could add some padding beneath the
heels or pelvis. !

As you spend more time in this position,

the stiff tissues will gradually begin to
unravel, giving you more and more ease.!
THE SOFTWARE
The big kahuna

I mentioned at the beginning of this guide that your living architecture is

essentially software working within the constraints of your hardware.

If we want to move better, we can’t ignore the importance of the nervous system.!

See, the nervous system controls everything in the body. No movement—

voluntary or involuntary—can happen without a signal from the nervous system.
It directs the whole operation. It’s the nervous system that governs our strength,
flexibility, coordination, and more. Without it we’d be totally inert.!

But we tax it even more with our high-stress lives. Too many of us operate with a
racing mind & an idle body, and that’s a dangerous combination. The early mind-
body educator Mabel Ellsworth Todd said it best,!

“Relaxation is the crying need of our age, but what it is and how to attain it are
still unanswered questions.”!

When we operate in this high-stress mode, we essentially live in a constant, low

level “fight or flight”. Our animal wiring is equipped for the occasional big-time
stressors, like tigers jumping out at us. Luckily we don’t deal with that much
these days. But the continuous, insidious mini-stressors (nagging boss, traffic
jams, and so on) can be just as harmful in the long run. !

So how do we hit “reset”? How do we turn down our stress for optimal function?!
Speak the language

We need to learn how to play nicely with the nervous system. !

Think of it as a conversation. In a foreign language. That you haven’t used since

high school. It may be faltering at first, but you’ll gradually become!
more fluent in this language of the nervous system: sensory-motor cues. !

The nervous system gives us signals like tension & compression, pain & fatigue. !

Too often we tend to ignore these signals. We toss back another coffee or pop a
painkiller. We push into pain in our training. And when we do, we’re essentially
tuning out the cues the nervous system is giving us. We’re ignoring the
conversation. !

If we want to get it working optimally we need to begin listening to it, tuning in to

those cues & cultivating body awareness.!

There’s a simple way to start this process, one that will only take 10 minutes
each day. I want to introduce you to what I think of as the master process for our
software tune up. !

It’s called Constructive Rest, and I’ll tell you all about it on the next page.!
Constructive Rest

This process is deceptively simple. From the outside it doesn’t look like much is
going on, but the internal effect is powerful. !

Before we dig in, let’s cover a few key points:!

• The common temptation is to do more. Try to resist voluntary movements

as you go through this process. We’re here to hit “reset”!!

• Being present, patient, and curious will help tremendously.!

• Some people find this position uncomfortable for more than a few
minutes. Comfort comes first. Do what you can, and it will gradually
become easier.!

Ok, let’s begin! There’s a video on the next page, but in the meantime…!

You’ll want to make your way onto your back, with knees comfortably bent & feet
flat on the floor. Some people find that they need an inch or so of padding
beneath the back of the head to be comfortable. You may be one of those
people. I also recommend tying a strap or belt around the legs, just above the
knees. This keeps the legs from falling out to the sides. Let’s check it out.!
Ready to hit “reset”?!

Head over to http://www.chandlerstevens.com/crp for an exclusive video that

walks you through this powerful process step-by-step.!

I recommend spending 10 minutes each day in this Constructive Rest. You’ll find
that it actually increases in effectiveness the more you do it! The nervous
system gets a powerful signal each time we tap into this process, and we
develop unparalleled ease.!
PUTTING IT
TOGETHER
So what is this blueprint?

These steps are the perfect way to hit “reset” on both your software & your
hardware. And they seem deceptively simple. All you need to do is:!

•  Spend an extra hour each day sitting on the floor, &!

•  Find 10 minutes each day to unwind in Constructive Rest!

We’re so used to doing MORE when it comes to our bodies. We spend hours
and hours foam rolling, running on treadmills, and stretching. !

But remember: your body is a complex system governed by one big rule,
Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demand. When you harness this principle, good
things happen.!

Of course the flip side is true as well. If you allow yourself to be a bystander to
your body, then it starts to show signs of neglect. Tight muscles, achy joints,
pain & fatigue…they’re all preventable. But we need to take active ownership.!

We need a simple blueprint for better movement, and now you have it.!

These are your first steps to a body with more function & more freedom. A life of
more strength, better movement, and an end to nagging aches & pains. I can’t
wait to see where you take it.!
WHAT COMES
NEXT?
This is just the beginning : )

Stay in touch! If you’re the social sort, let’s connect on Facebook or Instagram:!

www.facebook.com/CoachChandlerStevens!

@ChandlerTheMover!

One quick note: if you feel like you’ve already learned enough about movement,
please UNSUBSCRIBE from this group. Most people think I’m crazy for saying
this, but I know that this approach isn’t for everyone.!

And if you’re still here, send me an email with the BIGGEST thing you learned
from this blueprint. Go ahead and email me at [email protected]!

Thanks so much for allowing me to start this journey with you.!

Here’s to your continued success!!