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Walking with the shoulders

keyboardclass
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12/11/2009 - 4:39am
Walking with the shoulders
Dare I say I disagree with 'The arms and shoulders are relatively still unless you are walking very briskly'?  Walking, in my experience, starts with the opposite shoulder falling forward: [flash=200,200">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek0Kd0UmmDs[/flash] [flash=200,200">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3tvmTo4eA0[/flash] [flash=200,200">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjPdKY3egRs[/flash]
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You've clearly got John Wayne in your camp! And the Int. Learning Center. In the other camp we've got most of Africa, South America and a few other spots - one of these days I'll post some video clips on my website and we'll talk some more.
keyboardclass
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A major fault you [i]do[/i] see with shoulder use is the 'rolling' gait - shoulders rocking side to side.  The 'opposing shoulder forward first' should often appear quite subtle.  Here's Kleen again, pg 154: [quote]A pendulum movement of the arms often takes place, especially in quick walking, forward and backward in the opposite direction to the rotation of the pelvis, i.e., the arm swings backward on the side on which the pelvis rotates forward, and vice versa. This is done to assist the rotation of the trunk in the opposite direction to that of the pelvis, and, in my opinion, is the result of muscular activity… From the above we see that the muscle work of walking and running is not confined to the 56 per cent, of our muscle mass which is concerned with the movements of the lower extremities. The extensors of the spine help as well as the lateral flexors of the trunk situated on its dorsal and ventral aspects, and obviously also the muscles which rotate the trunk on its vertical axis. The flexors and extensors of the arm at the shoulder also act, producing the pendulum movement already described. [/quote]
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I agree that the spinal muscles work, but so do the abdominal obliques to the extent that in a casual walk the trunk doesn't move much but, rather, glides. In a fast walk there is more arm swing, but still I think the torso shoudn't move a lot.
keyboardclass
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I agree, the shoulder/trunk movement can be quite subtle.
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