Introduction
What is Counterspiral?
The human body is born in need of winding. As the bones and muscles develop to maturity, the lower and upper body must each be wound separately to complete development and achieve the body’s full biomechanical potential. The winding mechanism is quite simple, engaging the rotational symmetry of the hands and the feet to drive development.
When fully wound, the hands and feet form dynamic spiral structures that rotate in three dimensions. But instead of developing them to plan, we flatten them into arched levers, and we use our wrists and ankles like simple hinges. As a result, we lose most of the mobility in our hands and feet, much of the alignment in our posture, and nearly all the efficiency in our gait.
The Counterspiral program aims to rehabilitate the hands and feet and complete their development. Over time, using a set of simple, targeted exercises, the program realigns the bones of the hands and feet into their intended spiral structures. Along the way, it produces consistent general improvements in physical performance and reduces the risk of chronic pain and injury.
The Results
As you advance through Counterspiral training, it will restore mobility to every joint in your hands and feet and correct the alignment of your legs and spine, delivering continuous improvements in stability, flexibility, coordination, and balance across physical activities. In addition, you should experience steady gains in control, precision, and endurance, and reductions in general wear and tear, chronic pain, and injury.
The Training
Counterspiral training was designed to help you switch from the Standard to the Spiral model. It consists of a simple set of movements that can be practiced in several variations. Over time, these same movements realign the bones of your hands and feet into 3D spiral structures, and then wind the body using rotational symmetry to complete its biomechanical development.
The Theory
The prevailing – or Standard – model of biomechanics, where the hands and feet are used as flattened levers, is contrasted with the Spiral Model, where the hands and feet form spiral structures that rotate in three dimensions. The differences and similarities are explored looking in turn at the feet, then gait, and finally the hands.