Today’s podcast features Chris Chamberlin and DJ Murakami. Chris Chamberlin is the Head Coach and Director of Education at Weckmethod and has over 15 years of coaching experience. He is a leader in innovative thought in the fitness industry, focusing on movement efficiency, and works with athletes and individuals of all levels. DJ Murakami is a coach with over 15 years of experience in various movement practices like bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, strongman, movement culture, rock climbing, and more. He has created training courses like Chi Torque and the Predator Protocol, and mentors coaches and fitness enthusiasts through his organization, Human Strong.
Various methods exist to understand human body function, including respiration, joint position, and movement assessment. Julien Pineau’s “Torque Chains” simplifies this process, focusing on muscle layout and sensation of movement. Chris and DJ, incorporating ideas from Julien and David Weck (coiling), created a course called “Torque Chains.” This course explores movement using internal and external torques (“fire” and “ice”), variations of these torques, and transitions between modes during complex movements.
In today’s episode, Chris and DJ delve into “fire” (ET) and “ice” (IT) torque chains. They discuss their applications for different populations, exercise implications, strengths vs. weaknesses, muscle chains’ relation to psychology, running applications, and more. These concepts offer a profound understanding of body function, presenting an effective approach to movement analysis.
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Main Points
3:59– Enhancing Athletic Performance Through Torque Analysis 10:58– Enhancing Training Outcomes Through Torque Strategies 19:40– Optimizing Training Through Torque Chain Alignment 30:53– Transformation through Physical Activities: Athlete Perspectives 37:34– Stimulating Exercises for Enhanced Athletic Performance 44:36– Optimizing Movement with Internal Torque Cues 51:48– External Torque and Connective Tissue Dynamics in Athletes 55:56– Torque-Driven Running Styles and Mindsets 1:02:59– Maintaining Balance: Constraints in Training Programs 1:06:55– Exploring Movement Patterns for Athletic Performance 1:10:36– Optimizing Athletic Performance Through Torque Training 1:12:52– Improving Movement Efficiency Through Torque Exploration 1:20:59– Effective Muscle Targeting with Alternating Torque Patterns 1:27:30– Emoji-Based RMT Training CertificationsQuotes
(4:13) “We were primarily looking at the chains of muscles bilaterally, creating torque, internal and external. External. And then what I saw, Chris and David were really going, like, deep, like a PhD process into spiraling this torque as deep as they could through their body. And I’m like, oh, well, if you could. Well, you could mix and split the torque so you could do it the other way” DJ Murakami
(00:10:28) “I tend to listen to what the body’s already doing or what I’m seeing from somebody, and I’ll amplify it if all feels good, or I’ll try the opposition of it if it’s not.” – Chris Chamberlin
(12:03) An easy one to visualize is like, for hinging, like a sumo powerlifting, sumo deadlift would be more toward the ET. So that’s the fire. And then for ice, we could think like a hinge, or the first part of picking up a stone or sandbag. DJ Murakami
(22:00) “The fire and ice, how I think about it is so with the internal torque to ice, I’m thinking, like, ice is condensing, right? Like, even when you shiver, you kind of come inside, right? And then fire, you’re like, oh, you touch something hot, you react, and you open up and get away” DJ Murakami
(33:45) “The personality type, you see with, like, short distance sprinters, it. We know they’re, you know, they have these pecs, VMOs. Like, we see the muscular difference, but you see these similarities in personality as well” DJ Murakami
(52:30): “We’ve always used the term, like, just a bag of bones and just connective tissue. And like, if I just, like, completely soften myself and just give into my bones and that connective tissue, I feel like I can light up ET itself without having to draw myself there. Just wielding. Wielding that gravity on my fucking structure, which is designed to fight gravity in a sense. And I feel like I can sort of, like, capture that a little bit.” Chris Chamberlin
56:00: “..running for me, like, when I. When I’m making transitions between the two styles. So I will purposely do, like, fartlek style running where I’d like a change of pace, change of distance, like, just random s@%t. And I’ll. I’ll do a concept where I’ll. I’ll feel like I’m driving the movement from (external torque) and then I’ll drive the movement to (internal torque)” Chris Chamberlin
1:02:40 “When you see people who go the functional route, and then it’s like, oh, this bad, this good, they usually become detrained in some sense while, you know, they think they’re becoming more functional or they’re hitting the. They’re doing better on their assessment and whatever system they’re in. But overall, it’s almost like they’re. Yeah, they’re becoming deconditioned and detrained, and they’re not better off, but it’s intellectually, they’re more correct” DJ Murakami
1:09:50 “That’s every exercise. I’m kind of power circling, in a sense, to to set up and lift the weight”
Show Notes:
Torque Chains Visual (Yellow: Internal Torque Chain, Red External Torque Chain)
Split Power Circles: Splitting Internal and External Torques (Example from Chi-Torque)
About Chris Chamberlin
Chris Chamberlin is the Head Coach and Director of Education for the Weckmethod. Chris has over 15 years of coaching experience and a lifetime of personal practice in movement efficiency that has earned him recognition as a leader in innovative thought in the fitness industry. Chris’s passion is to deliver practical yet profound education through his life experience, expertise in movement, and his meet you where you’re at approach that has lead him to work with top tier athletes and individuals of all levels to achieve their fitness goals and live healthier, happier lives.
About DJ Murakami
DJ Murakami has over 15 years of experience in the coaching realm. He has a wide history of movement practice, including training in bodybuilding, Olympic weightlifting, strongman (rock lifting), movement culture (such as Ido Portal), rock climbing, and more. DJ has created training courses such as Chi Torque, the Predator Protocol, and others, and mentors coaches and fitness enthusiasts through his Human Strong training organization.
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