Heyyyy there,
Today I am SO excited to be attending the second-EVER Internal Strength Method seminar being run at Cal Berkeley by the Functional Range System team of instructors.
This is the same group that generated Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) and Kinstretch, and effectively flipped my personal-trainer-brain upside down when I took my first course in 2017.
An emoji doesn't quite cover it but wtf … FRS makes me 🤯 in the best way.
I was trying to articulate recently to a new chiropractor friend what it is about this approach—Functional Range Systems (FRS)—that is so compelling for me, and why it peaks my curiosity so strongly even after years of working and learning FRS.
Beyond just the breadth and depth of their grounding in actual, published research (which is prodigious), this team of thinkers is committed to understanding the challenges of movement as clearly as they can.
This is such a different, and refreshing, focus compared to so many educators in the fitness/movement space (believe me, I've taken a LOT of certifications, and the quality ranges WIDELY 😬).
Because rather than impatiently jumping straight to 'solutions' to the problems facing humans as they move, these FRS folx stay intent on comprehending reality in the body as clearly as they can, from a macro AND micro perspective.
They consciously work to see the forest for the trees, but also the trees, and make decisions about their work with people using this information (This is sometimes referred to as System 2 thinking, as coined by Daniel Kahnemann and Amos Tversky).
This is in contrast with much of the dominant approach to training and teaching movement, which is consumed with simplifying the human body into manageable—but incomplete—components. It effectively prioritizes ease of decision-making over perception of reality (aka System 1 thinking).
Now, working with humans and bodies this second way (System 1) might seem easier, but not when you consider the long-term effects of obscuring reality in favor of palatability. That future is a disorienting and frustrating place (full of "But I thought…?!")
The FRS approach instead is not fragile in the face of nuance, or complexity, and allows that shrewder lens to inform the action steps that they take with their movers/clients/patients, etc.
In turn, this indicates a certain optimism, and belief, in the work of people (like me!) who learn the FRS system, and subsequently the people who I (and other learners) work with.
As in, FRS puts power—in the form of knowledge about reality—into the very hands of people teaching and moving. They empower us to know ourselves better.
This is basically the opposite of the tired expert-worship that pervades fitness, for movers and coaches alike, and it feels so expansive. And this idea absolutely fires me up, whether I'm working with a brand-new elderly client or one of my rough-and-tumble 20-something yahoo clients.
Because in either case, I'm helping that person know themselves better, directly, and the potential of that upgrade is limitless…
🤩 In strength, Coach Will