I have to look down because my neighborhood sidewalks are uneven. One friend fell and broke her kneecap, another fractured a bone below knee after falling. Because of uneven sidewalks, raised .
Do you still look down if you are walking indoors, or in a mall, or in other locations without uneven sidewalks? Depending on the situation, there are times we have to look down temporarily,but those should be the exception and being done for a specific reason. If that is your default way to walk, then that is a problem.
Years ago, I learned how to walk for modeling. The stride is simply crossing over each foot. It forces the step to be slightly shorter and the hips to swing wider to accomodate the crossed step. Can you please tell me what this does to overall strength and alignment?
@@dorisparker811 If you are doing that walk for short periods while modeling, I don't think there is any harm. I imagine you would be wearing heels also. Heels alone are bad for the body if used frequently. Doing the model walk with accentuated hip motion is not going to be good spine alignment, but not an issue in short doses. I would not recommend that for a normal walking style.
I agree with everything said here already. Learning that I am an overstrider, I lean forward, I push with glutes - NO MORE! A godsend to stumble on this pot of gold at 72 coping with mobility issues from too much sitting and years of walking incorrectly. Thank you Doctor Martin!
Perfectly logical, anyone with knowledge of training horses will know working correctly in circles enables them to use both sides of their bodies,loosening their neck and backs improving rythem and of course muscles , essential for their wellbeing as well as their ability to function as working animals
I value the clarity of this presentation. I was able to immediately try walking in a circle. I have arthritis and hearing loss. This therapy is accessible and helpful.
As a physical therapist, I wholeheartedly endorse this technique! This technique is especially helpful with the earlier stages of Parkinson's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia. But, truly, is great for everyone. Posture and balance are key!
bravo, doctor for teaching people improved walking techniques. I have nothing negative to comment on here. however, I'd like to add that one doesn't need to walk in a circle to gain the benefits from improved walking techniques. I took a weekend course in ba gua and was very impressed with its circle-walking "mud-walking" technique, and so devoted 3 months of practice at it to develop my own skills because that 1st wkend DID something for my energy. After getting really good at mudwalking I adapted it for regular hiking and now find that with this new technique I feel more spinal energy flow with walking anywhere and anytime, without looking like a "MontyPythonesque" silly walker---- because mudwalking in public looks weird, but adjusting it slightly gets approx 70% of the same benefits of bagua circle mudwalking and it looks perfecting normal in public. but I personally wouldn't want to teach it. there are plenty of yt mudwalking videos to get you started. in essence it forces you to pay attention to your body structure as you walk that results in more spinal energy flow, and once you get good at it you can learn by yourself how to adjust your "center of gravity" as you walk, breathing from your lower abdomen, until you can FEEL the mud walking and adjust it slightly so that you look like you're walking normally.
@joeedley3936 Thanks. I agree. The most important thing is simply to be more conscious of your movement and generating it from your center. This is just one tool to bring some awareness.
This is brilliant, I teach people functional movement based on what I've learned from years of practicing martial arts and qigong. I'm going to adapt this, Thanks.
Baguazhang practitioners walk The Circle and do The Palm Changes. I don’t know any personally but a martial arts school near my home advertises that it is taught there.
@@sevenstarsofthedipper1047 I am familiar with it. Bagua is like a cousin to Tai Chi. They are both based on the 8 Trigrams. The Walking Code which I developed is also based on the 8 Trigrams.
I love when something like this just pops up out of the blue. I lean, over stride and push with the glutes and would have never questioned that. I'm definitely going to practice these techniques because I do have pain in my hip flexors, piriform and psoas groups. Also, the sound quality in this video is incredible! No idea how you achieved that in the outdoors but 👍👍
I'm struck by how this technique will actually give the core a workout, especially for people who have a relatively sedentary life. Thanks for sharing your expertise, and with precise directions.
Excellent video! Wow, I tried it and it immediately felt better. I will practice this every day. I have scoliosis and, as I age, my posture is getting worse and I fatigue faster. This is a keeper. I come from Kinesiology and I get it. Thank you. These videos are so helpful.
I too have scoliosis. Hearing "de-rotation", I immediately thought/wondered whether this could help de-rotate the rotation associated with my scoliosis. Sure enough! Walking clockwise or counterclockwise are two very different experiences for me. I have a curve to the right in my back. When I walk counter-clockwise, consistent with the curve, my arms swing, very coherent. But when I walk clockwise, my arms tend to swing together & it feels very awkward. Great! That suggests to me that doing this walk consistently may gently help to strengthen and straighten my spine.
This is a very informative video, I am an over strider and have a tendency to lean forward. As a senior I am going to start practising your circle walking techniques Thank you
Wow! You just explained so many things that happened to me when I had a bad right hip joint getting worse over time. By the end of 11 years I had a torn medius, wasn’t swinging my left arm, leaning forward, damaged or dis functional psoas. This one video explained so much of how I ended up after (and before) surgery. Thank you!😊
Simply brilliant !! .a life saver ...god bless you for sharing this amazing yet simple technique with total strangers ...in normal parlance we call people like you angels ...god bless you again ...thankyou
So glad I stumbled into your channel. I was born with hip dysplasia which was not diagnosed by the doctor. By the time it was discovered (because they ignored my mom telling them that there was something wrong- it was the ‘60s) I needed multiple surgeries, a body cast, etc. so I never “mastered” walking. I dislike it, I feel self conscious, and I avoid it. Well, now I am sixty! I live in a great neighborhood with a high walkability score and you are going to help me finally master this basic skill!
Thanks so much for this. I have recognized that I lean forward when I walk. Realize that because I naturally walk fast I lean forward. I have been trying to correct but having challenges figuring out what is correct. I like the idea that your exercises make it hard for me to do the wrong thing and also makes me more aware of body movement.
Great stuff Todd! I just spent the weekend teaching a two day CEU workshop to a large group of massage therapists on the foot and ankle including myofascial release to improve biomechanics of the ankle hinge,subtalar joint, and ball of the big toe. Would totally have given them this exercise if I had seen this earlier today 😊 I’m going to check out more of your vids for sure!
This video was very insightful. First time on your channel. Early 50's. I've noticed I have lost a lot of strength within the last 5 years. This happened quickly.
I watched myself walk on a video and was shocked-- I walk like an old lady! I mentioned this to a friend who said “You have always walked that way.” I stumbled on this video and after 5 minutes, I subscribed. It seems to be just what I need!
Thank you for this terrific tutorial. . I appreciate the number of hours you spent thinking it through. I immediately understand how it can help me get back to gracefulness.
Thank you so much! I appreciate this video so much. I am very visual. I learned how to swim when I was a kid, but then I took swimming lessons as adult. I noticed that I can copy whatever people show me. I was swimming incorrectly at first, but as the class continued The teacher used me as an example of how to swim correctly. Kind of funny because you actually get a better workout if you don't know how to swim well. If you swim well you just kind of glide through the water at fast speeds. Sometimes it's difficult to get to a good pool, so I have been doing a lot of walking lately. I very much appreciate this breakdown of how to walk correctly and the visual examples!
Absolutely. These are some of the fundamentals in transferring to empty stance. If you find this interesting as a Tai Chi practitioner, you may want to check out some of my other Tai Chi focused videos. I don’t do too many because most people on the channel are not into that, but I think there is very good information there.
If you have a revolving chair then you can rest one hand gently on the edge of the chair so if you are walking in a clockwise direction this would be your right hand and when you walk anticlockwise it would be your left hand, you can also walk backwards in either direction so when your right hands on the chair you are moving in an anticlockwise direction and when your left hands on the chair it's going to be clockwise. Practicing slowly following the rotation of chair will keep you moving in a perfect circle just make sure to count how many steps your taking in each direction so if it was thirty you would take thirty steps in each direction, this is helpful especially if you have had an injury the more you practice this your walking mobility will become more fine tuned and the movement of your entire body will improve, after a week or two of doing this two or three times a day just for five minutes you should notice a marked improvement. P.S Hope this is of some help to all you double jointed Rambo's out there.
Omg this was sooo good. I've struggled w walking for years. I can run but walking always hurt my hip. I tried this and it works! I'm sending this to my trainers.
'Walking the circle' in Bagua was something I came upon early in my studies of Chinese systems of exercise and I found it to be a great workout, meditation, and exercise in self refinement. I highly recommend trying to step without the heel hitting first, using flat contact with the ground and see how it changes your state of consciousness, we don't even realize we send shockwaves up into our brain with our western style of charge-ahead walking. I also found that shifting the direction my eyes are looking also enhances the effect of walking in a circle - when you begin, you might habitualize looking at your feet, but if you look at the horizon, your brain adjusts and you begin to trust your skeleton.
Heel lift and cushion in shoes encourage that heel first landing. It should become less severe without instruction when barefoot. Toe first walking is very important in reducing how much I keep re-injuring my bad hip.
@@DeniseSkidmore Heel first landing is normal walking, long before the invention of shoes. Heel lift and cushion in shoes does encourage people to heel strike too hard and in the wrong way. That is a part of the problem.
This just popped up as a recommendation, and I’m so glad. As I’ve gotten a little older, I’ve noticed that I’m walking more and more like my mom. We both have large chests and shorter legs, and I think that contributed to the kind of awkward stuttering walk we’ve adopted. I just tried this out, and I haven’t felt so graceful in a long time! Thank you!
I suffer INCREDIBLY, from piriformis syndrome. It's absolutely excruciating, sometimes with only a few steps, sometimes many, sometimes I never develop pain. It's confusing. I'm a CABGX3 patient and getting enough steps in, is sometimes difficult. I believe this may be the answer to my issue. Thank you.
Thank you, this was so helpful, I subscribed and I’m going to follow your walking properly series. I did the circle walk for about 20 minutes, and varied it towards the end by doing a figure 8 walk around my furniture, combining both clockwise, counterclockwise and exiting in one repeat of that pattern. I noticed a few things including that going counterclockwise was harder and that maintaining spatial awareness to avoid bumping into things while keeping a vertical posture required focus and mindfulness.
Who knew at 62 I needed to relearn how to walk! Thank you. I am definitely a leaner and over strider. I use trekking poles sometimes to remind myself to stand up straight.
I didn’t even realize this is a thing, but it immediately reminds me of basic training and learning to march, but for a far better purpose. I often notice my military training when I walk, 20 years later. But I’m intrigued by this and now believe I can probably improve upon it. Thank you, sir 🙏 May the universe bless you.
Great exercise and not much room, or any equipment needed to practice. One thing though, I’ve got some inner ear problem and just watching you walk in circles made me feel a bit dizzy..but that’s just me. Thanks for the great video.
One thing I have found useful to maintain vertical posture when walking is to carry a pair of light dumbbells. Pull the shoulders back and swing the hands forward and backward.
@@DeniseSkidmore Yes, but dumbbells have a much greater range of available weights allowing one to scale up. In addition they can help strengthen the grip and we know that grip strength is strongly correlated with longevity.
Thank god you included 'how to exit the circle', otherwise i'd still be in there! Very interesting to see this without any reference to bagua (but great you've done this and stripped away the martial/religious bit in order to open it up for all).
My hips get tired and sore when walking in a straight line on hard surfaces. Walking wooded trails is much more comfortable and I have better endurance. This video backs up my personal observations and gives me another way to try to keep my mobility through my 60s. Pretty cool!
Been forefoot walking for about four years…pardon the pun. It’s helping my back legs etc. I’ll try this too!😊 Had two and a half toes chopped off by a lawn mower at age 7. After three surgeries and a year of crutches and some weight loss I became and stayed one of the two fastest and longest runner past high school. Now, I stay light and fit. This will help especially inside times.
Very interesting video. Happy to say I think my walking style is healthier than I thought after watching this 😂 I used to teach at a pretty rough high school and taught myself to walk without slouching forward to force my shoulders back and make myself more of a physical presence. I tried leaning forward and pushing with the glutes and can immediately see how uncomfortable that was. Never would have thought a video about walking in a circle could be insightful, thanks Dr. Martin!
I never knew any of this! I always thought I had terrible walking form as I didn't lean forward, I pulled with my hips rather than pushed with my glutes, and I have a small stride. I've even recently tried to correct what I thought were my inefficiencies. So happy to discover that my walking form is actually correct. Cheers Doc!
Yes, Bagua circle walking is a major part of their practice. This is a lot simpler and without the palm movements. My system of core movement understanding is based on my analysis of the 8 trigram energies that Tai Chi and Bagua are also based on.
My pleasure. There is not a natural core movement to switch from one circle to the other in the space of one step, and my goal it to keep the core movements very clear. You could straighten into a line for a step and then switch directions. Anyway, focusing on the circle itself and getting the movement clean is much more important than trying to transition from one circle to the other.
Got the first two steps. Not pushing with the glutes kind of loses me. Ii wiiill work on the first two and then see if I can figure out the other and the swinging of the arms thing. You have excellent posture, and I hope to improve mine. I definitely am used to leaning forward as I walk.
Wow. This is fantastic! I lived in NYC for 30 years and walked everywhere daily. Even with studying the Alexander Technique for 20 of years, I see how I was walking totally wrong. Inefficiently. No wonder everything hurts now at 60. I never felt the internal rotation while walking like I did with this exercise. It's so simple but so accurate! And that pivot tip for overstriding is perfect. Thank you. I just subscribed. Gimme more help!!! :D
lol...I'm an introvert and don't do well in public places. I've been walking in circles in my basement, in my house and I used to go out and do it on my driveway. Plus I always reversed direction. I would count to 100 then switch. Glad to know it is good for me!
When I was in boot camp, I watched this guy walking in squares. When he came to a corner, he’d stop and pivot in the direction he wanted to go. I was fascinated because he was having some much fun doing it.
