98: Gary Ward: Integrating the Foot into Holistic Human Performance | Sponsored by SimpliFaster

Today’s episode features biomechanist Gary Ward, author of “What the Foot” and founder of “Anatomy in Motion”.   Starting his interest in the foot as a ski-boot fitter, Gary is now known for solving unsolvable pain in minutes, not months.  His passion for the foot hugely influenced his interpretation of human movement. He is increasingly sought after by all types of practitioners in the fitness and therapy industry, teaching an evolution that starts with the foot and results in whole body integrated movement solutions.    One of the things that has drawn me to Gary’s work is his holistic assessment of human biomechanics.  When it comes to becoming the best athlete one can be, it is important to have core rules of human movement by which we can define our programs and practices.  I haven’t read a work where those rules are as clearly defined as “What the Foot”, and after learning from other great resources in the field such as the Postural Restoration Institute, and then the dynamic field work on Adarian Barr, Gary’s work makes good sense.   Examples of such rules are things ilke “Joints act and muscles react”, and “Everything orbits around centre”. On today’s episode, Gary will go into his background, and how he began interest in the foot.  He’ll talk about the big rules of movement, particularly how human position dictates muscle firing, and not the other way around.  We’ll also talk about finding an athletes centre and what that means for training, as well as the importance of pronation in explosive human movement. Today’s episode is brought to you by SimpliFaster.com, supplier of high-end athletic development tools, such as the Freelap timing system, kBox, Sprint 1080, and more.  View more show notes at Just-fly-sports.com/podcast-98-gary-ward/