FUNCTIONAL PATTERNS
HUMAN BIOMECHANICS TRAINING
EXPERIENCE ELITE FUNCTIONAL TRAINING
GET OUT OF PAIN.
IMPROVE ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE.
PREVENT INJURIES.
Welcome to my Durham, North Carolina based private practice employing the Functional Patterns training system.
I am a Functional Patterns Human Biomechanics Specialist (Level 2), U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, Personal Trainer, Rehabilitative Exercise Professional, Exercise Physiologist, Functional Medicine / Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, and a student of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
I work with private clients to help them get out of pain, improve athletic performance, and prevent injuries. I have a fully equipped private facility located conveniently on the outskirts of downtown Durham serving the populations of Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and the Greater Triangle Metropolitan Area.
Training that respects our evolutionary blueprint
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WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL PATTERNS?
Functional Patterns is a methodology that focuses on making bio-mechanical adaptations relevant to human physiology which in turn will create a more sustainable body that has improved capability of responding to stressors in it's environment. It is a very foundational yet radically inventive approach to training the human body.
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Our first level of priority is a highly corrective process in which we address posture to establish it as a stable base for movement. The ideal postural position allows resistance to gravity and optimal mechanics in relation to force and levers. This phase alone merits FP uniquely "therapeutic" as it directly translates to a more stable spine and buffers against low back pain, neck pain, etc. Once accomplished, static positions and basic exercises unique to FP will be introduced to "re-tension" key muscles that are dormant in the population especially during certain contexts such as walking.
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Finally, we move to more dynamic movements that serve to neurologically and physiologically connect long chains/slings of muscles that are designed to function together such as the AOS (anterior oblique sling) and POS (posterior oblique sling). This is critical because these are the same chains and slings that become disconnected through bad movement strategies and postural habits.
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By first prioritizing postural distortions and establishing it as a base for movement, the body then can intrinsically be wired to be resistant to gravity & transfer force in the most leveraged fashion, ensuring a long life of pain free movement.
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MYOFASCIAL MANIPULATION
This simple massage technique is utilized to unbind restricted dysfunctional muscles and connective tissue. We teach a systematic approach to applying myofascial manipulation which helps prime the body to become more pliable. The basic tools used can be found at any sporting goods store or online. These techniques are a starting point to help establish the foundation of a well functioning body.
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POSTURE
The Functional Patterns system implements techniques that are designed to help override the dysfunctional adaptations humans develop from a heavy amount of sitting, a sedentary lifestyle, standing improperly or partaking in activities and training practices that exacerbate dysfunctions. Learning how to reintegrate into the body from the inside out by obtaining an unconscious neutral posture is the first step to establishing a higher quality of movement.
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CORRECTIVE EXERCISE
After a lifetime of poor posture, injuries, repetitive imbalanced movements and/or hardwired patterns from training the body in a certain fashion, the human structure can become tensionally imbalanced. An unconventional approach to corrective exercise is used to facilitate new connections so that proper biomechanics within movement are understood.
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TRANSITIONAL
We live in a three-dimensional physical environment, therefore it’s important for training practices to reflect this fact. Learning to master transitional movements in all planes of motion will push your level of fitness to greater heights. These multi-plane ballistic movements replicate both real life and athletic situations so your body is prepared for any movement demands it will face.
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DYNAMIC MOVEMENT
This involves movement that is constantly changing and progressing. Thousands of variations of exercises are employed within the Functional Patterns system so you will never become bored. You will gain kinestetic competence and the ability to execute powerful and explosive movements. Once the foundations are mastered, be prepared to make continuous progress.
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GAIT
Organisms on the planet locomote in a manner that’s specific to their biology. The gait cycle is the most fundamental type of movement a human does because it’s utilized 99% of the time they are in motion. Mastering an efficient gait is key to reestablishing your biomechanical foundations.
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THROWING
Throwing is a primal and dynamic movement that helps to elasticize the pectoralis major (pecs), which is a key muscle for creating effective posture dynamics that properly link the pec muscle with the rest of the chain. Throwing motions provide the pecs with a whipping action and allow them to be trained in a fashion that translates directly to our human biological design.
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STRENGTH AND PERFORMANCE
The manner in which Functional Patterns approaches strength and performance is entirely different than the mainstream. Traditional training is heavily oriented around vertical force and compression, isolated weight lifting, and one dimensional linear movements. Our strength training is applied in a way that translates directly over to athletics, running and even walking. Efficient and relevant movement is our priority. Advanced movers have bodies that function in a certain way and Functional Patterns training will install the mechanical tools needed get humans moving at a high level.
Learn to recover your genetic inheritance in a way no other system can
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FUNCTIONAL PATTERNS PHILOSOPY
The Functional Patterns Training System is catered specifically to our genetic traits as a human. Our goal is to help you achieve function at your highest capacity as a human being, regardless of what your goals may be. Our training protocol includes building strength that is not only relevant to human biology but in a manner that respects sustainability.
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POSTURE & STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY is our primary focus.
In his book, Power of Posture, Functional Patterns founder Naudi Aguilar stated, "Correcting bad posture through the utilization of Structural Integration is maybe the most important yet underutilized type of training in the realm of functional training. The majority of all training systems used by personal trainers run around a methodology set up with no foundations in place. The Neglect of this cannot be underestimated.
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Picture training your body similar to building a house. If you expect to make a quality house, you cannot assume that you take a bunch of wood slap it together and that a structure is going to arise that will last for 100 years. A quality home is always going to be set up with a foundation first. You level off the ground, set in the footings, build a platform and then you start building the rest of the house. It’s quite a practical way of building a house, yet when it comes to training a human body it has become something trainers and wellness practitioners avoid like the plague. Much like the house, the human body is a structural system that needs a center of gravity built in. If you do not start by building some type of a foundation, the human body will not perform well. That means if you want to execute something like a squat or a lunge without it not being detrimental to the wellness of the body, u have to get to the root of what makes a biomechanically weak squat in the first place. If you train with a dysfunctional support system, it will only build more dysfunction, hence making the exercising destructive and no longer sustainable.
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Structural Integration applies to all training modalities and goals when it comes to training a human body. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to have a strong structural unit. If you want to run faster, you need to have a strong structural unit. If you want to punch harder and faster, you need to have a strong structural unit. If you want to live pain injury free, you need to have a strong structural unit. The list goes on. If a training system does not comprehensively address the structural foundations humans operate from, it will only do damage to the human body and is not worth doing at all.
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At Functional Patterns, every technique implemented is intentionally utilized for the sake of improving human movement dynamics and posture. Whether we are implementing advanced forms of Myofascial Release, Corrective Static Stretching or Integrated Corrective Exercise, you can know that the system is geared to helping you accomplish your fitness goals and implementing what is necessary at the core of it all. We also take an aggressive approach to addressing poor posture, so that every time a mechanical adjustment is set in place, we can expect it to hold in place for good.
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By comprehensively addressing posture at a foundation, we can secure that we will find sustainability in your fitness training regimen so that you may find yourself exercising pain and injury free for decades to come!"
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"Will this training program help me lose body fat?"
Sustaining a healthy body fat is one of these most important aspects of a healthy body. High bodyfat is an all too common occurrence in our culture and it is becoming an epidemic. This epidemic has spawned an entire industry predicated upon attempting to address this issue, but it is quite evident that so many systems in place are coming up short. At Functional Patterns, we get at the root of what is creating the body’s mechanisms towards wanting to hold on to unnecessary bodyfat.
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Most body fat problems are usually hormonal deficiencies manifesting themselves in a way that promotes the increase of fat mass. So many systems out there operate solely within the context of hoping nutrition alone can account for the excessive increases of body fat. Others attempt to utilize hormonal therapies to address this complicated manner. The problem with both of these methods is that they don’t get at the root patterns creating the problem in the first place. Before the body can produce a hormone linked to fat storage (example: Cortisol), it has to receive a signal from the nervous system first. Nutrition and Hormone therapies do not address this phenomenon, although it might not be at the root of the majority of people’s body fat issues.
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At Functional Patterns, we train the brain and body to operate as a system that does not need to store body fat. If we train the body and brain to understand where balance is, it will be much less likely that it will stimulate the hormones linked to body fat gains. By implementing the Functional Patterns body fat reduction system, you can drop the body fat you need to and maintain it for a lifetime!
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"Will this training program help me increase my athletic performance?"
The majority of all strength training and athletic performance systems in the industry have failed to account for several aspects found in sports. In fact, most “strength and conditioning” programs are at the root of making biomechanical technique worse. This is due to their inability to understand what is mechanically efficient from inefficient. If the practitioner themselves does not know what is technically right from wrong, it is likely they will progress an athlete into an exercise too soon, hence ruining the athletes’ ability to achieve efficient performance in their specific sport. For example, current training systems also do not account for the 3 planes of motion found in nearly all athletics. This is a foundational flaw that is found in all training systems available in today’s athletic training and sports performance regimens. If a body is moving in 3 dimensions when playing a sport, training it in 2 dimensions will only hinder the body’s performance in the long term. This and many other reasons is the main reason why most training systems involved with training athletes can only go so far. The Functional Patterns approach is one more concerned with involving the exact dynamics that are intrinsically wired into the nervous systems of world champions.
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The Functional Patterns approach to athletic performance is maybe the most progressive and comprehensive available in the athletic performance industry today. Our perspective is that the training itself must consist of the exact biomechanical phenomenons found in sports if one expects to get positive applications to reality with their training regimen. Elements such as functional dynamic muscle elasticity, inner unit core function, transverse plane movement, multi-plane ballistic movement, horizontal plyometric training are just a few of the elements found in the Functional Patterns training system.
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Whether you are looking to get to the highest levels as a professional athlete or wanting to run a marathon, the Functional Patterns Athletic Performance training system will get you on the fast track to success. Learn more at www.FunctionalPatterns.com
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