Preamble
The Art du Déplacement is a complete discipline based mainly on motor actions such as running, jumping and climbing, in order to overcome obstacles or interact with them. In addition, within these actions, seemingly opposing channels of efforts that complement each other are solicited, in truth.
The technique of SAUT DE BRAS where qualities of explosivity, resistance, robustness and lightness are required, would be a significant illustration of this complementarity.
In this plurality written in the DNA of Art du Déplacement, where the risk of specialization is less, I see one of the secrets, perhaps the first, that explains the longevity we can have in the movement.
It results in a technical wealth accessible to all and where everyone can find something for himself.
Direct consequence: The Art du Déplacement as we practice and transmit it is an inclusive discipline.
Indirect consequence: Passive but effective teaching of tolerance.
I go back to how, for years, I have limited myself to define the Art du Déplacement: Start from a point A and get to a point B, jumping, running or climbing using the surrounding environment. If I did not express more concepts than that it was not out of laziness or inability to formulate my ideas. I was living the practice and let others live it. Then the thickness and consistency beyond the appearance was so evident to me. It was also clear for anyone looking for something unexpressed within themselves and not reachable on the surface.
After a certain time spent in the transmission, representation and diffusion of l’Art du Déplacement I had to put subtitles. Cos yeah, I was tired of hearing part time practitioners and so-called thinkers telling and analyzing what we were doing… Based on magical phrases taken here and there. For example, the ADD consists primarily in making the best use of our physical, mental and creative resources that we have at different stages of our lives. Deepen them if we feel like it. This is how I see and promote the Art du Déplacement. Simple, readable and accessible. An honest confrontation with ourselves, alone or in a group, improving the perception of own one’s abilities, and therefore their full awareness.
Definitely the absence of competition helps to preserve the physical integrity of a practitioner and to have a long-term vision. In Art du Déplacement the practitioner is called Yamak, in the reference to the Yamakasi’s story which laid the foundations of the philosophy preying on the Art du Déplacement then the others currents generated. I am interested in the topic of longevity because my experience can help someone to move beyond the potential of youth. In addition, around the duration I can address other intimately related topics.
I chose to start with the injury because that’s the first contrast that comes to mind when you think about longevity. How many people declare:
-I wish I could do the same but my knees are fucked-up!
Anyway, if we were smart enough not to multiply too many accidents of circumstances, we would still have to deal with the wear and tear injury. Well, yeah! Time puts a strain on our system. I do not think it is possible to escape the injury and there is no method that can prevent its appearance, even if it belongs to the people of flowers and feathers. The best we can do is to limit its appearance, frequency and impact.
I have understood over the years that each of us will have to create their own set of awakening movement and pre-workout gymnastics. The awakening movement can consist of simple and easy moves in the morning, before starting a day of work for example. It’s like putting some oil on squeaky doors. Regarding pre-workout gymnastics, during almost all of my workshops, I leave at least 6 minutes to the participants to enter the mental state of training. Usually those who have been moving for a long time send a series of very specific signals to signify to themselves that the time of training has come. It’s like switching on the light in the dark. I called it a ritual. Each has his own, for some it can be just drinking a coffee, for others exchanging few words with a friend. By doing so you get more attention and responsiveness to the various technical or physical equation to solve, so the risk of injury is lowered.
ALSO I PREFER TO EMPOWER AND ENHANCE THE STORIES OF EACH.
I mentioned the injury of circumstances, the one resulting from a jump, a technique or an exercise. In order to limit its appearance, and therefore to compromise as little as possible the longevity plans, it is advisable to undergo a good general physical preparation. Not dictated only by movements to be executed, or preferences for aesthetic standards, but by the general needs of the body. The repeated actions of jumps are very demanding for the body, as when you pass from pushing to landing, where the action of extension/compression in a very short time is pretty violent. In addition, for most of the time and for most of the people who live in the city, the soil is made of asphalt, concrete. Anyone who has some common sense and projects himself or herself far in the movement can’t ignore how hard and aggressive the concrete is to the body. Yes! Even when you’re the international soft landing champion. We must necessarily think about the preservation of physical integrity, try to build a natural armor. A difficult task when at the same time we aim at the development of potential, especially in the childhood, the ideal time to better develop the force in progress, where there are more means to conquer the world in eighty seconds. At first glance one might think that they are two opposing work axes but again they complement each other. (Protection/potential)
When we get older, the principle is very different. After a workout that has consumed so much energy, physical and mental, it is essential to do a repair training. For example, after a plyometric session or a jumping festival doing an agility training on the bars can help to reconnect to each other all the unmatched parts of the body. We still have moments of strength and grace of course, but the further we move away from youth, the more rarely they appear, and the shorter they are. Like a train making an increasingly long journey before stopping at the Super Power stop. And waits less. But we have a better awareness of what we do and how. It does not mean intellectualizing and complicating every single movement, exercise or technique. Not at the moment of action in any case.
Then, talking about super consciousness because you move one finger after another… you have to stop joking.
I believe in simplicity, as a practitioner or as a coach. Training with a minimum of seriousness, I can listen to my body and if I dare exaggerate, I understand it. I can trust my instincts because there is a real connection between head and body, thanks to constant practice.
I live and breathe what I do, even when I’m not training, I think we should talk about un art de vivre. Small parenthesis: With this way of thinking I have developed an acute observation ability that allows me to quickly analyse people during a training, so I put them in front of a suitable challenge, with the right degree of resistance.
Overcoming these challenges is directly involved in the determination of our CERTAINTIES, their acquisition. It is a vital step because it increases self-confidence, therefore self-esteem. Anyone involved in transmission, in any specialty, can easily imagine the benefits of such a pedagogy. No need to draw a picture… I have noticed how important it is to be able to capitalize on our progress, so we must limit the breaks in the stages of ASSIMILATION. Take the time to confirm and validate each step so you don’t always have to go back on your own steps. When the technique or movement becomes easy then you move on the next stage. Usually, for me or when I train others, I go from one stage to another when a serene mind rules the head.
Quite lot of people obsessed by the immediacy solicit athletic strength without having a body ready to endure all these efforts continuously. Either they’re gone, or they can’t go back the way they used to. Because they burned the potential without curing it. Without protecting themselves.
I make a small detour: Lately I see how much pure strength training with weights is in vogue. Why not? I tried without losing the protection training and above all it represented a minimal percentage of my research in training, since the beauty of l’Art du Déplacement is in the use and optimization of what already exists. With Yann, Chau and Williams we were ahead of the curve on understanding the environment by using and recycling the present resources, and without knowing it, we initiated a small cultural revolution by bringing physical activity outside, so let’s not put it back in the zoo. Okay, I got lost.
At the time of the injury it is very important to stay in the comfort zone if you do not want to stop moving forever. When I’m doing it, I always stay below the threshold of pain. Training has succeeded if I have not worsened the situation, so I limit the impact. I considered the injury because in addition to slowing the progression it leaves one or more signs in the body, on the moment and in the future. We can forget it, but the injury will almost certainly be heard one day. So it becomes a point of permanent and dormant weakness, not just for the damaged part but for the whole area. Let’s take a sprain to the ankle, not only the joint itself is compromised, but the whole leg up to the back. It can also undermine our convictions, and therefore our certainties. For me, and I believe for all those who have a long-term vision in motion, the body is like a puzzle. There’s a piece missing and there’s no balance.
When I train or train others I don’t look for aesthetics but HARMONY, for reasons that I explain in my philosophy of transmission. The difference is abysmal.
As varied as the A.D.D may be, we have affinities in movements, instinctive or conditioned by our natural motor identity. A general physical preparation will harmonize the technical and physical vacuum resulting from our preferences. I was fortunate not to have received any help from genetics and so I had to work hard. This has taught me the value of determination, work and commitment. My second fortune was to quickly understand that our practice is very demanding physically and that jumps consume but do not prepare the body, especially the joints, like all sports made of running, changing direction, landing, pushing. I know there are those who call to choose between quantity and quality. They aim at different things and they are both important. On the duration for example we train will and discipline. Learning to finish is not obvious, not even not to give up when the difficulties multiply.
Within the general physical preparation I distinguish the specific exercise from the general one. The problem with specific exercise is that very often it is dictated by social media or Youtube, from an impulse or from fashion, not from a personal search, from the awareness of a deficiency. General exercises aim at protecting the body, so building the natural armor. That’s why I created my 101 training, I called it body armor. It was vital in this routine not to need anything, to be able to do it anywhere and to be on the move. Lately, body armor has become my appointment with the physical therapist to reassemble all of the body parts after days and days of training. I have to make one small detour, another, and say that I was coached by Yann, then inspired by Chau and Williams. None of us followed a fashion, a mood, we prepared for life to come.
It happens a little bit like a hair on the soup, but by exercise, when I speak of it, I mean in the first place INFORMATION. I inform the body that the range of motion it has is wider than you think.
Faced with new exercises or technical challenges, many declare:
-I don’t have the muscles!
-I can’t! I will kill myself!
Without information the body and the head have a reduced margin of manoeuvre, generating a state devoid of objective consciousness. After creating stimuli and a bit of practice we will be able to talk about capacity or incapacity. It’s a reasoning I adopt in my daily practice, not just when I train others. I do a constant work on the rediscovery and diversification of body functions through the learning of new movements, in my discipline or in other sports. In my personal approach as a practitioner or transmitter, I have a tolerance for error. For example, we know that on landing we must not go forward with our knees and lose the muscular tension that protects them, yes it is a classic of classics among the beginners. In fact if it happens it’s not a drama, a weakness can become a strength. In this case I inform the legs that it is possible to miss so they learn to defend themselves, to react.
THE EXCEPTION MUST NOT BECOME THE RULE, THAT’S ALL.
During one or more series of skipped squats I find myself again in the concept of information: when I touch the ground I prepare the body to react at the impact and develop defensive reflexes. Mamouth thighs that respond badly to shocks, or respond late, only serve to fill too wide pants. (For me, there are two types of defensive reflexes, the inhibitory one and the protective one.)
In my opinion a coach should be able to identify the areas of comfort, work and stress of each person who trains, regardless of the discipline. When you train alone the dilemma is the same, you must find the right level of commitment and resistance, it calls us to be present in the moment and in the action. Being in the wrong area for too much difficulty or ease will weaken the motivation and the interest to act, leading to a nasty restitution. In that way there is a dangerous risk of stagnation which could lead to a certain weariness, if not repugnance for movement. Being in the work area is the situation where we meet resistance, difficulties, requiring a strong, but not maximum mobilization of body and mind. This has the advantage of developing a culture of combat and confrontation towards adversity, so don’t give up too easily. An attitude possibly applicable in everyday life.
Those who have some experience must question their certainties, let enter the doubt. My advice would be to have scattered challenges that break the monotony of training. Draw the attention of the head when the mechanical action becomes hypnotic. Learning new movements and techniques will help maintain a good level of motivation. Have your mind always fresh. I said I consider exercise first and foremost as information, the more we deliver to the body and the mind, the more we will have instruments to express ourselves. It makes sense, doesn’t it? In addition an adaptability will be developed and the capacity to respond to new demands will be increased. May be a new sport for those who don’t want to stop exploring. A beginner must capitalize on his certainties before questioning them, which will allow him to increase his self-confidence and achieve in the time, with practice, an objective state of consciousness. This state will become an inner force, independent of contexts that parasitize the actions to be carried out.
During the transmission I identified the FAMILIARIZATION period, where I leave time to experiment and explore. It makes the process of discovering and understanding one’s own abilities more fluid by strengthening the feeling of personal victory. In the sense that it belongs to him or her. It is not a matter of making people believe but of letting them conquer. Accompany. If we are too academic and invasive we will put the practitioner in the position to execute only, so we will hinder the acquisition of his certainties. It is a long and laborious background work, but it is the cost of education, a little expensive but at the same time it has no price for the one who benefits from it. When I learn new techniques or regain forgotten movements, I remain well-versed in the familiarization stage, no immediate obligation. By obligation I do not mean necessarily a result but a mental commitment, a real intention to act. This way of thinking brought me quite naturally to the concept of PERSONAL PERFORMANCE, and it implies taking into consideration the starting point when looking at the finish point. Only in this way I can give value to the travelled path. All without losing sight of the frustration element. Et oui! Frustration is an inevitable step when you learn something new. We must remember this in order not to self-destruct or let others destroy themselves with our extreme severity and rushed expectations. I do not forget that there are more serious issues in life than not to make a leap even if at the moment it seems to be the only thing that counts. Of course we cannot constantly dismiss the duty to act in such a way that we do not acquire our certainties.
ON MISTAKES AND DEFEATS ONE LEARNS, ON VICTORIES AND CONQUERS ONE BUILDS.
Back to motivation, it is more stable and sustainable to have goals that arise from deep personal aspirations. We can be inspired by other people oeuf corse, but they can’t be our reason to move.
Elementary, right?
I often speak and promote the notion of group, YAMAKASI is a group and the slogan of l’Art du Déplacement, (ADD) is WE START TOGETHER, WE FINISH TOGETHER… But it doesn’t mean to deny individuality, on the contrary it generates a virtuous circle: the stronger the individual is, the stronger the group becomes to nourish the individuals again. For years I had in mind: BE STRONG ALONE TO BE STRONGER TOGETHER.
I must point out that this alchemy naturally puts us at the service of each other, it is so obvious for me and I hope it is like that for many others. Having said that, I believe that in longevity, one of the fundamental secrets is to be able to train alone, without waiting for the friend that one day or the other will have something else to do, because life goes like this. And there is no reason to be sorry, so goes life, for a thousand reasons.
Without the creative space inseparable from the ADD, the individual performance would obviously have less reason to be. Encouraging exploration and discovery stimulates initiative and the search of solutions. Besides adaptation that has more to do with reaction, it is indeed the creative spirit that we cultivate. Spontaneously and simply in a concrete manner.
A perpetual upgrade in neuro-muscular connections and cognitive functions are some of the benefits to be credited with such an approach. For these reasons among others I consider the philosophy of ADD as that of LE CORPS PENSANT, in opposition to THE CORPS EXECUTANT: Body and mind recite without looking for possible solutions. It is usually mass sport postures that aim at competition and have UNIVERSAL PERFORMANCE as a reference. These systems destroy the identity of the individual, denying him the right to diversity. It results in a rather elitist approach where few can relate themselves, and rightly so, the window of the super power is not eternal. I think gymnastic as we know it is the antithesis of l’Art du Déplacement, as is the exclusive and frantic search for the questionable utility.
The presence of the creative part inherent in the ADD allows the individual to maintain a high level of motivation, therefore of commitment. It naturally emanates a recognition of the individual performance without denying the universal one.
The constant, true and concrete work of l’Art du Déplacement between the visible and the invisible, between body and mind, leads to a real harmony. It is rather tiring and requires a constant attention but at the same time it is an inexhaustible source of stimuli. Each day offers the possibility of a challenge on several levels, mental, physical and technical. And each level is rich of in nuances and variations.
One life is not enough to tame them.
There is no time to lose.
