So last week I flew out to Denver with a mission. Well… two missions. Mission one was to hang out with my climbing partner who moved out there in August. But mission two, which was really priority one, was to get my MovNat level 2 trainer certification!
The Details
Mission accomplished times 2! But how about the details!? I took my level one certification a couple years ago. It was pretty challenging but I was never really worried about not passing the tests and getting my certification. The level two certification was quite a bit harder though.
Day One
It’s two 8-hour days. The first day was going over the movements and practicing them. We learned how to do them properly, how to teach them, and how to spot inefficiencies. Most of the 8-hours were spent actually doing the movements.
What kicked my butt the most was all the practice jumping. It wasn’t actually the jumping that was exhausting though. It was all the landing. Level 2 practices bigger jumps with more energy, so you have to absorb a lot more impact with every landing.
By the end of the first day, I was already sore. I mean by the time I was walking out of the gym, I was already sore. Not by the time I went to bed. I grossly underestimated how much work my legs were going to get in this class.
The second thing that really beat me up was the rolling. We practiced rolling forward and backward. Granted, this is an incredibly important skill. One that has probably saved me from serious injury or death at least a couple of times. But I’ve mostly practiced it on mats, like at a martial arts studio.
All of our practice this time was on a rubberized gym floor. Not as hard as tile or concrete, but pretty close. While it did beat me up, I picked up good rolling technique. Something I thought I already had. Those soft squishy practice surfaces had really let me get away with a lot!
But, wobbly legs and bruised shoulders aside, the class was a lot of fun. I’m still amazed how much awesome information I picked up. I’m not exactly a newbie when it comes to exercise theory, but the way the movements were explained just set off light bulbs.
I think that the gap between my level one and level two certifications helped a lot too. The information from the level one class had enough time to sink in and marinate as it were. Concepts that were a little fuzzy at my level one cert just made sense this time around.
Day Two
I was admittedly nervous about day 2. Everything was really, really, really sore when I got up the second morning. I knew I could do all the physical test requirements fresh, but I wasn’t sure I could do it that sore.
We did our written test first, which went well, and then got right into the physical test. The physical test took about two hours. We pretty much plowed straight ahead and knocked it out. Despite my nervousness, I did really well and passed!
We finished the second half of the day by going over some extra movements and further refining techniques. And like a ding-dong, I got focused on some more jumping techniques. I spent a lot of time doing more landings. My legs we useless for two days thanks to my stubbornness. But the extra feedback was awesome! We also discussed programming for clients
Wrapping Up
In the twoish years since I started with MovNat, I’ve seen the system become better and more refined. It was already a good program, but now it’s excellent! Our instructor, Danny Clark, was amazing. He was an excellent teacher and a wealth of knowledge.
I enjoyed my level 2 certification so much that now I’m looking forward to getting a level 3! If you’re interested in moving better, definitely check out MovNat. They have options besides a certification if you’re not interested in teaching. I’m really happy I started down this path.
