Walk yourself to health - part 3 - The anatomical dance of gait and accessing power

Whether during sport or movement in daily life, humans get a power boost when we add a twist to the body (the dimension of rotation). But this is not just for throwing, golf or boxing… on a subtle level, this occurs naturally in gait.

Many of our joints are destined to rotate

These include the hips, shoulders, ribs, pelvis and spine (and to a lessor degree the ankle/foot). 

Here are a few sporting examples that use twisting motions for efficiency and power:

• A drive in golf (imagine keeping your pelvis and torso still… it’s not going to work out well)
• Almost all shots in racket sports
• In climbing, all joints rotate in a spiral as the climber reaches for the next rock hold
• For martial artists, rotational moves are among the most effective to defeat your opponent… think hip/shoulder throws in judo, evasion in aikido, hooks in boxing and spinning kicks/turning back-fists from karate
• Team sports such as football, rugby and hockey
• Any sport that involves throwing (why not try a throwing motion now and compare the feeling of keeping your torso still verses letting it rotate)? Ok darts don’t follow this, but at least the players have a staggered stance and start rotated!
• And of course… dancing!

A note on anatomical rotation in gait

In gait, there is a subtle external rotation at the hip joint of the forward leg and the opposite happens with the leg that is behind… a subtle internal rotation. Further up, the thoracic spine and ribs rotate to the lead leg and the lumber spine rotates to the rear leg. The neck bones match the lumbar (so also rotate to the rear leg) but this is very subtle as more of a counter to the thorax to help maintain head position and vision.

And, let’s not forgot humans are of course bipedal

We don’t crawl much as adults and unless we’re in ‘a sack race’ we certainly don’t have the gait of kangaroos! To help our gait, we have movable sacro-illiac joints. This is where the two halves of your pelvis meet the keystone of the sacrum. 

With each step you take, these rotate counter to each other and articulate with the hips beneath. There’s not a lot of movement there but enough to help with flow, force absorption and part of our ‘drive’ in gait.

Put all these gait mechanics together and there is way too much information to embody. What you can do though is choose one aspect of natural gait mechanics to focus on. This is hard to explain in words, but these concepts filter into Dojiva classes. You could focus on (image):

• The thoracic spine rotates to the lead leg… like a flash light on your chest bone scanning the horizon with each step (approx 11am and 1pm). Or, the same but opposite image would be a fin coming out of your upper spine that swims to the rear leg.
• Your lumber spine (five lowest bones) rotating counter to thoracic. I discovered this while watching my heavily pregnant wife while out walking the dogs one day. The baby belly clearly swung to the back leg!
• The ilium (pelvic half) of the rear leg rotates back and the ilium of the lead leg rotates forward. You can image these as alternating wheels during gait.
• The internal/external rotation of the hip joints mentioned above. 

This weeks video series goes through all of these (Mindfulness 61, 62, 63 and 64)!

Either way, it’s fun to know that your body is always doing a little dance deep within! And, if you relax with gait and take your time, then natural movement will eventually find its way. Plus, to help match anatomical function, release tension and activate core structures, Dojiva class and within the classes every exercise/stretch is based on these functions.

E.g. With a bicep curl, shoulder press, for sit ups, split squats, quad/calf stretching, shoulder mechanics, etc we adopt a diagonal approach that includes rotation.

What takes us away from these riches

Unfortunately many daily practices take us away from natural rotation and this can affect the grace/flow of gait and how much power you can produce. Problems include:

• Being sedentary - (too much time in a chair… at school, the office, home computer, dining room table, TV, etc)
• Driving
• Use of screens (if standing to read this, you could place one foot in front of the other)
• Many exercise disciplines
• Parameters/rules of certain sports
• A rigid mind that can filter into the body
• Trying/forcing the body to be symmetrical
• A square on gait
• And of course pain, injury, surgery

To help restore rotation and efficiency of movement, try to minimise, or at least manage the above bullet points.

More support

Part of my private sessions involves gait analysis and aside from the front leg kicking out, another thing I often notice is a tendency for the torso to be too square on. So, lacking the dimension of rotation.

A good plan is to video yourself walking and check if you look too rigid. Then, aim to embody the above gait tips for a few days and then take a new video. (For extra help, you could of course book me in for a 121 on Zoom).

Summary

I believe that a body that can twist and turn will be not only be more capable physically, but you might find you are better adapted to embrace and flow with the moment.

So, for this week, in and out of the classes, I want you to be extra conscious of rotation. If you can embody this, you might find that you are more efficient in life and more effective at sport/exercise.

That’s it for this week, thanks for reading.

Take care

Danny

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Here are this weeks recommended cluster of Dojiva classes

Sunday 14th Sept 2025 - Mindfulness 61, 62, 63 and 64 - Please join in with this series of gait videos that should help to embody the anatomical knowledge.

Monday 15th - Mini fitness 97 - Rather than short fast intervals that have longer rests, today, we have longer intervals (nine if you max out) where you move at a steady pace. However the rests are quite short, so if needed, be sure to use the pause button at any time.

Tuesday 16th - Mobility 10 - I have selected this class near the start of the week to remind you about a key part of gait… to rotate your body through space! It’s a nice gentle class with mat work and functional exercises for your spine.

Wednesday 17th -  Meditation 51 - Why not start at the end! Create a quiet space, sit well but comfortably and listen to this guided meditation with soothing background music. Remember, the meditative state does not come and go… it just gets forgotten sometimes. Even at the beginning of a meditation when the mind might be most noisy, you can imagine what it would be like to be enlightened and say thank you to any thoughts.

Thursday 18th - Workout - Equipment based - Using a stretch band 4 - Rotational power at its best. I’m using the original Franklin method blue band but a pair of the more modern ‘looped bands’ will work just fine. And for some of the exercises, you just need a single looped band. 

Friday 19th - Mobility 71 - Functional and mat work exercises including weight bearing stretches for the whole body plus a nice dose of dynamic rotation.

Saturday 20th - Mini fitness 99 - This class is mostly focused on the legs! We warm up, train and then enjoy great cool down stretches.