I love books, so when someone offers me an advanced copy of their new book (and I believe it’s going to be a book I want on my bookshelf) I jump at the chance!
I recently received a copy of Mad Skills by Ben Musholt. Ben is a physical therapist and APEX Movement certified Parkour and Freerunning coach in Portland, Oregon. He is a co-founder of Beyond the Clinic rehabilitation practice, and also runs BPM Rx, Inc. Ben and I met through Twitter. As a MovNat and Animal Flow enthusiast, I have been looking forward to seeing Ben’s book. He does some really cool stuff as part of his daily training.
As Ben explains in the introduction, the book’s aim is to “open your eyes to hundreds of different ways to move, strengthen, and enhance your body’s ability to function in both daily life and on the playing field.” He further explains that “by rotating through a plentiful set of complex and varied exercise skills, you sharpen your nervous system, strengthen your joints, and build muscle memory for a large movement repertoire.”
The first chapter, Fire It Up!, contains 56 warm up exercises, including multiple variations of crawling (an excellent and challenging warm up activity that I do before every training session):
Subsequent chapters cover movement exercises for legs (Pillars of Steel):
Arms (Gorilla Arms):
Barbell training:
An entire chapter on Push Ups:
80 gymnastics conditioning movements (Monkey Style):
And a chapter on yoga stretches:
With over 700 illustrations, Mad Skills is truly an exercise encyclopedia. The illustrations and explanations are well done, and clear enough to copy or photograph for a patient to do as part of their home exercise program.
If you love teaching patients how to move better, this book should should be on your bookshelf! Well done, Ben!
