Level 3

Vertical Quadraped (Level 3)

By the time you reach Level 3 of the Vertical Quadraped, you’ve now become a master of the basic skills of single leg proprioception, stability and integration at a fundamental level.

You’ve been challenging your trunk and hips to stabilize under increasing dynamic load! Well done.

Remember, in Level 1, your first goal was to learn the VQ without a weight in your hand. You should have practiced it as though you had load in your hand – thinking of it as an imaginary load in order to “groove” the sequence of steps in the exercise.

In Level 2, you worked on improving your ability to challenge yourself with increasing load.

Level 3? You’re dancing on the edge of your ability!

If you don’t feel you’re ready for the heavier weight or feel that you’d benefit from more practice time at Level 2, that’s fine. In fact, it might be the smartest choice you could make – to spend a bit more time on Level 2 in order to ensure you’ve gotten a good handle on the exercise and are mastering it before moving on.

Here are your Level 3 Weight Targets:

Recall what I said earlier about “dancing on the edge of your ability”?

Relate it to the times in your life when you learned how to ice skate or perhaps, to ride a skateboard. Do you remember?

Learning new skills can be tricky, you know? There are times when we need to focus on the most basic and fundamental skill level with the goal of mastery of those basics, and yet at the same time, there are also instances where we need to push the envelope a little bit. Get closer to the edge and challenge ourselves, even if we don’t necessarily feel comfortable doing it.

I call it dancing on the edge of our ability.

That dancing is probably what you did a lot of when you were younger, learning a new skill like ice skating, skateboarding, or any other similar kind of fun activity.

You jumped on, or perhaps coerced yourself into getting on. You probably felt wobbly, awkward, and even scared. Fear can sometimes be the overwhelming emotion we feel whenever we’re completely and totally OUT of our comfort zone, right?

Fear and an unwillingness to feel awkward or like you don’t know what you’re doing can hold you back. It can keep you from making progress. And that would kind of suck. Because progress is what you want most.

You must go get it. You must be willing to push and challenge yourself in a smart way. You must be willing, when the time is right, to dance on the edge of your ability.

Yes, mastery of the basics is essential for success. But too much analysis leads to paralysis. At some point, when the time is right, you hit the dance floor ready to challenge yourself and make some progress.

Think of the times you fell on the skates. Or the times you fell off of the skateboard. If you wanted it though and were persistent, chances are you’re looking back thinking, “I did it!” That’s what we’re looking for here!

Check out this short TIP I did for Instagram a while back, where I talk about”dancing” using the Vertical Quadraped as an example. I hope it’s helpful. Keep it fun!