Interview with Frank Forencich

Following my last post on human movement, I've been looking deeper into this issue and I think much of what I've found will inform my exploits in 2010 (more on that another time).  I've just finished reading Frank Forencich's book "Exuberant Animal" and wanted to hear more from Frank and also offer readers of this blog some of his insights, so Frank kindly agreed to a short interview.  Here it is - enjoy.

Al: Tell me a bit about your background, in particular your Martial Arts training.

Frank: I trained intensively in kenpo karate and then aikido for a total of about 14 years. The transition between the arts was very difficult for me, but extremely educational. I had to completely re-wire my body and my movements. I was also fascinated that so many teachers would lay claim to knowing the single "right way" to move. What was correct in one dojo was ridiculed in another, just down the street. This led me to a deeper inquiry and a search for common principles. In turn, I became intrigued with the study of human origins and was inspired to travel to Africa. I wanted to know about the universals of human movement, not just particular styles. I still do some martial art movement, mostly in the context of Exuberant Animal, play-based classes. 

Al: In relation to your “Exuberant Animal” philosophy, how do you perceive the martial arts should be approached/trained?

Frank: Like many, I'm a fan of Bruce Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do, or "the style of no-style." Obviously, when you're in combat, there' s no way to predict how an opponent will move or behave. Therefore, it's just crazy to train in a single method. I've seen people develop extremely deep neurological ruts that would be a tremendous liability in a dynamic situation. The key, as athletic coaches are starting to realize, is to be "adaptable, not adapted." This calls for a diversity of training, a diversity of challenges and movements, always looking for general qualities of power, speed, flow, agility and grace. And in this sense, martial can share a lot with the world of dance.  

Al: You’ve spent time with some hunter/gatherer tribes – did you see any martial traditions there?

Frank: I did not. Primal peoples were extremely dependent on tribal cohesion for survival. Cooperation in the hunt was essential; this was the social priority. Population density was low, so battle between tribes was probably infrequent. Consequently, there wasn't a great need for martial training. We see some evidence of combat weapons (spears and shields), but compared with the modern era, these were probably used more for bluff than for actual killing. This, by the way, is what we see in chimpanzee behavior: males frequently engage in threat and dominance displays, but actual violence is not as common. Jane Goodall observed "warfare" between chimp tribes at Gombe, but we can't forget the bonobo, the highly-sexualized, peace-making hippie primates of Central Africa. We have both of these tendencies in our lineage.

Al: Are you familiar with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu- what are your impressions?

I've only trained a little bit in this art. I found it to be enjoyable and incredibly effective. It strikes me as high-quality physical education, although I also see a fair bit of macho chest thumping in the competitive ranks. 

Al: I’ve just read your book “Exuberant Animal” and what I loved about it was the warning that we risk losing what makes us human – our interactions with each other, the environment, our own bodies, but also that you offer thoughts and solutions on a way back. 

Frank: We're at a really interesting and exciting time in the history of the body. Our physical relationship with the modern world just isn't working  and it's time for trainers, coaches and physical educators to step up and lead the way to a new physical culture. We have to do more than just be good athletes who study high performance. We need to be speaking out and changing the culture, the schools and the workplace. In addition to training individuals and classes, we need to be writing and speaking, taking our insights to a wider audience. The forces of physical apathy are immensely powerful and well-funded. We need to offer a compelling counter-argument to the status quo. 

Al: I’ve got five year old twins and I love to watch how they play, move, even play-fight (parentally controlled of course!).  It’s so fluid and natural!  I mourn the loss of that.  What can I do to ensure my kids retain at least some of that and try to recover some of it for myself, even in the face of the onslaught of the “Human Zoo”? 

Frank: Rough and tumble play is essential to child and human development and we need to keep it alive. Above all, we need to get outdoors as much as possible and avoid the lure of computers, TV and video games. The real leader in this regard is The Barefoot Sensei. See the website for his story and his inspirational lifestyle. Take off your shoes and feel the earth as much as possible. Keep sensation alive in natural settings: walk more, touch the land. Also, devote more time to authentic communication with other people. Avoid email. Real-time, face-to-face communication is the core of tribal cohesion and in turn, social health.  

Al: I’ve noticed a trend recently for lots of “back to basics” exercise regimes – Kettle bells, hitting things with sledgehammers, clubs, but they all still seem to me to have the gloss of a “brand” – a trend.  What are your thoughts on this?

Frank: Yes, well, everyone has to make a living and this is a bit of a conundrum. When you get right down to it, all you really need for basic conditioning is terrain, gravity, momentum and human bodies. Add in some rocks and sticks and you've got a pretty complete outdoor gym. If people want to promote this as a "style," I'm not too concerned. Just don't try to lure me into a big-box gym packed with machines!  

Al: I feel that you and people like Erwan Le Corre have a lot to offer to society at large at a time when the human race seems hell-bent on doing everything that is counter-intuitive to the species, but it feels like a “quiet revolution”.  Is this how you see it? 

Frank: Yes. But perhaps it's time to stop being so quiet about it! I keep looking around for more passionate voices in defense of health and the human body, but I'm not hearing much. Where are the militant PE teachers? Where are the militant coaches and trainers? The militant doctors, nurses and therapists? We need to speak out and speak up. 

Al: What are your plans for Exuberant Animal?

Frank: 2010 will be a big year for us as we refine our identity as a "Health leadership organization." We have some extremely talented people on our team. They have diverse physical training backgrounds, but all are inspirational health leaders in their own right. We will soon have a certification process in place and a lot of events coming up. And of course, I'll be speaking up and speaking out whenever I get the chance. My new book "Change Your Body, Change the World" is due out later this year. 

Al: Frank, thanks for taking the time to chat.  I hope to catch you at a UK seminar sometime and wish you all the best for 2010!

Frank: Yes, hope to meet you in the flesh.

Many thanks to Frank!

Frank is holding a seminar in London in April, hosted by Wild Fitness in April

Check out Frank's Website at www.exuberantanimal.com

Check out some examples of Frank's training here on You Tube  

A happy and healthy 2010 to you all,

Al

I like to move it move it!

Over the almost five years of my children’s lives so far, I’ve sat through many kids’ films. Some of them are tedious beyond belief (bloody Barney the Dinosaur!) but many of the Pixar/Dreamworks etc films are excellent fun. One of them, “Madagascar”, details the adventures of a bunch of animals from New York Zoo as they make a bid for freedom and somehow end up in Madagascar. From their pampered lives in New York they find themselves ill equipped for survival in the wild and comedy ensues as they slowly discover what it is like to be wild animals back in their natural habitats.

Through a series of magazine articles, I’ve recently picked up on the notion of “the Human Zoo”, a term first coined in his book of the same name by Zoologist/Sociobiologist Desmond Morris back in the late 1960s. He drew remarkable similarities in humans with captive zoo animals and looked closely at the aggressive, sexual and parental behaviour of the human species under the stresses and pressures of urban living. The theme of the Human Zoo is also picked up by Frank Forencich – a human movement and health expert who heads up his own movement known as the “Exuberant Animal”. Take a look at this article. It’s clearly a fictional, sociological and political commentary, but it highlights the absurdity and dangers of what we’ve largely become – urbanised animals, detached from our natural environments, conditioned and unable to move the way nature intended and eating processed foods that are far removed from what we evolved to exist on. Forencich promotes exercise through play and drills such as this (taken from Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood) are perfect.

Once you start digging into this philosophy that we have unwittingly become captives in this “Human Zoo”, you start to uncover a wealth of complimentary viewpoints and movements that subscribe to this outlook.

First up is the “Paleo Diet”, created by Professor Loren Cordain, based on his own, and others’ scientific research into the diets of our hunter/gatherer ancestors. Cordain hypothesises that our modern western diet which contains high proportions of processed foods and cereal grains has only been with us since the advent of agriculture, which, in human evolutionary terms, is the blink of an eye. Simply, we have not evolved to cope with the modern diet and should, in the interests of health, return to a diet closer to that of our ancestors. This diet, not touted as a weight loss programme, but a healthy way of eating, follows simple rules such as, if you can pull it off a tree, out of the ground or kill it, then you can eat it, or lean protein and as much fresh fruit and non-starchy vegetables as you want. In his book, Cordain sets out the scientifically proven advantages of this way of eating, dispels some myths (such as those surrounding eating fats and red meats) and makes a compelling case for how and why we should make this diet part of our way of life once more. I’ve been following a self adapted version of this diet for about a month now and have found that I always feel full, have plenty of energy and, considering I’m eating almost all day (mainly snacking on fruit and nuts), my waist line is dropping! I’m eating tasty lean meats and fruit in probably greater quantities than at any time in my life. It just makes sense…to me at least.

Sharing some ground with Forencich and linked to the “back to basics” approach of Cordain is Erwan LeCorre and his MovNat concept. Central to the MovNat philosophy is the need to be “fit to be free”. LeCorre’s training methods involve natural, functional movement, lifting, running, jumping, fighting, swimming, bounding - anything that intertwines your movement to the world around you.

It’s a philosophy that, once again, makes perfect sense. Our ancestors, who created the evolutionary need for our bodies to become what they are today didn’t stand in front of mirrors, in rows of treadmills, weights machines and MTV in order to become physically fit, they simply got on with the things they needed to, using their bodies as they were designed. Sure, the world has moved on and we do not hunt for our food or fight off wild predators, but there’s no reason that we should not get outside, connect with nature and get our bodies working in the myriad ways that nature intended. Gyms have constrained our fitness by limiting the body to a collection of named exercises, range of movement limited by pulleys and pivots, done under fluorescent lights in sweat-tainted air conditioned rooms, headphones on and no social interaction. (recent research has shown that exercising in groups is more effective and boosts happiness). The futility of the gym is borne out of in own experience. BMF puts my body through tougher workouts, more ranges of movement and is infinitely more enjoyable than the gym ever was. And how about Jiu Jitsu? A raw physical workout that’s often more like play, with friends and some crazy body movements that challenge even the most accomplished. It’s no coincidence that LeCorre has studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Forencich is an accomplished Martial artist including studying Aikido.

Even what we wear holds us back. There’s growing evidence that training shoes have changed the way we run and actually cause more damage than they prevent. How many hunter-gatherer tribes do you see wearing trainers? Those that do have footwear have little more than rudimentary foot coverings. Trainers change our natural running motion, decrease sensitivity and feedback to our bodies. Even Nike are in on the act with their Nike “free” – an attempt to reduce a trainer to the minimum and allow the foot to move as it was designed. I’m not in any place to ditch my trainers, but I find the evidence presented by people such as John Woodward, Mick Dodge and Ken Bob Saxton among many others, compelling. Do we wear trainers in Jiu Jitsu? No! We need the use and sensitivity of our feet to both attack, defend and give us feedback on our base and balance.

In Jiu Jitsu, a form of conditioning has evolved and is taught at The Jiu Jitsu University under Alvaro Romano, known as Ginastica Natural (I’ve mentioned it before, here); a blend of gymnastics, yoga and Jiu Jitsu movements, using the body as a tool and minimal equipment. Once again, it’s a back to basics system of exercising the body and rejoicing in the possibilities of human movement.

I’ve recently been reading “The Last Wrestlers” by Marcus Trower and, as I sat at my desk, vegetating and ruining my posture as an exhibit in the Human Zoo, the following words resonated like a clanging bell:

"I couldn't really believe that people really took office world seriously, that this was where they really wanted to be and what they fundamentally wanted to do..."

"I thought everyone knew that the real route to happiness was through the body..."

As a society, we marvel and celebrate the physical courage and achievements of the select few “professionals” as if full and effective use of our body is reserved for an elite minority. I’d argue that it’s a shared inheritance and one that we all need to get back in touch with before it’s too late. We’ve become conditioned by the confines of the human zoo, obsessed with rules and what is deemed to be “safe”, sleepwalked into a shockingly unnatural way of moving, eating and living.

Jiu Jitsu shares a lot of ground with the philosophy of those trying to find ways to escape the zoo, but we need to keep an eye on what Jiu Jitsu is really about. For me, it’s simply the joy of human movement and possibility – an effective method of self defence is an added bonus. The rest is frippery.

Let's get back to basics and just move.