Here at the Akademy we believe in the principle that, as human beings, our physical needs to move well vary by degree and not by kind. We are all unique but the nature of our body and the laws of physics that apply to us are the same.

To prevent having back pain, we need to know how to breathe and brace correctly, we need to understand how to create stability and learn when to use it. We need to have enough mobility and control in our joints and throughout the fascia system. It’s necessary to practice how we move so our brain will automatically use the safe and strong movement patterns instead of figuring out a way to compensate for the deficiencies – that is what eventually leads to problems and pain. Lastly, we need to be strong enough. Surprisingly, the best athletes in the world need to have all of the above, just to a higher degree.

Of course, our knowledge, experience and interest levels vary. The sole purpose behind the Akademy is to offer a platform that systematically introduces all aspects that one should be aware of when it comes to any physical activity, in the order of importance. We need to have a common language in place that we all understand and we need to learn to integrate the different domains into every movement. Not everybody has to be able to walk on their hands, but in order to be able to walk on the hands, one needs to have enough stability, strength and control. Now, if the goal is only to avoid having shoulder pain, one needs to be aware of the same. This is the approach that this program offers.

The Move Series breaks down the complex movements into simple elements and teaches them one by one to build up a foundational level. In the later parts of the series, the practitioner will continue to learn more in-depth details and integrate the various elements together to develop a faster, better, more robust and well-rounded body that is ready for higher demands. The program does not only evolve to a specific movement but prepares the body and teaches the practitioner how to handle any complex movements.

Although the core of the page is designed to teach the individual how to move in general, Paths are available for those who want to work on a specific goal. As part of this complex movement hierarchy, Programs and Protocols are available to help everyone to achieve their goals, whether that is to recover from an injury, to prevent getting one, to learn to move well and develop a functional body that promotes living a pain-free life or is to achieve peak condition.

At the Akademy we believe we need to learn to move with intention. We say that training programs are usually good, but we are also a hundred percent sure that the results are in the details – yet, often those details are missing from the program and even more often than that, we have little idea they exist at all. Here we also share the idea that we don’t follow a program because someone told us to or we saw it somewhere, but we know the reason behind most part of it.

Let me show you this by a simple example. Let’s take a generalized program that says:
Day 1 / Third exercise: 3sets of 10reputations – sit up

And let’s see a list of some concerns:
1) why 10 reps?
2) what if I can’t do a sit-up?
3) what if I easily can do 20 reps too?
4) what if my neck hurts while I’m doing a sit-up?
5) what is the difference between sitting up with a straight or round back?
6) what are the real benefits of doing sit-ups in the first place?

Don’t get it wrong, the problem is not the sit-up as an exercise, we could have used any movement as an example and come up with a bunch of questions. The goal here is to show why – nevertheless what a program says or whatever the exercise we do – there should always be a valid, logical reason behind doing it. Now, it can seem like a lot of information to be aware of and maybe we can’t or don’t want to know the answer to everything, but trust us when we say our everyday life and physical wellbeing depends on them.

Often we use a metaphor so it’s easier to understand what we really talk about. In this case, imagine your house is cold but you have no idea why. What do you do? Change the windows? Replace the flooring? Get a new heating system? Put an extra layer of isolation on the walls?  They all could work, but wouldn’t it be better to know (and more cost-efficient) why is it cold and how can we fix it? Someone might say change your windows – and that brings up other questions: what size do you need, what kind, how many layers, wood or plastic frame, etc.  But are you sure the window is the problem and not that hole on the wall next to the window? Just to be clear, the sit-up is the window and your body is the house. Following a program is a bit like hey, here is a list of things that normally makes the house better, cherry-pick what you like and let’s hope you get lucky. No, no, no, no. What we need is to either find someone who can tell us where is the problem, or we need to do some research to identify it ourselves.

In the Akademy we follow the idea, that we don’t need to know the answer to every question, but we should know the most important ones and not do other things until we are aware of the foundations. So here is what we do before and instead of giving out a random exercise:

1)  we teach shapes of the spine and the difference between them -> this clarifies whether the spine needs to bend or remain straight

2) we cover the basics of mechanics, meaning we speak about how muscles connect bones together and what should be pulled on -> this answers whether the neck/head should be moving related to the torso, or the ribcage should be moving related to the pelvis

3) we teach the importance of the range of motion -> if the spine is not in the state when it can easily bend or extend, how can we expect anyone to be able to do a sit-up (or any other movement in that sense) correctly?

4) we prioritize stability over movements, at least until the foundations are covered -> sitting up from a lying position is good, but we do it a few times only a day, however maintaining an elongated spine position is something we need all day, year and life long

5) we troubleshoot and implement changes to real-life scenarios -> throughout the move series we speak about how a modern-day posture (sitting down, leaning forward) lock the body in a restricted position, which is surprisingly the same as the sit-up position, so do we really need to do them when we flex the spine all day anyway?

So, to sum it up, training programs are important. But to learn the intention behind everything that we do is absolutely necessary. We could do 10 sit-ups and tick off the exercise from the list, or we can learn that most probably a sit-up (again, we could use many exercises here) is an exercise that is more likely to hurt us than to give us the desired results – at least until we have the foundational knowledge so we can make a rational decision whether we need them in our life or not. The Akademy is the place that teaches those rationals and intensions. 

The Akademy is designed for everyone. Its core program, the Move Series is broken down into 4 sections. The first one is the basic foundational knowledge that all human beings should be aware of. The basic principle behind creating these levels was to identify what certain groups need based on current fitness and physical capabilities and interest. Imagine it like a house. The end result can be a solid building that protects against everything with a good look from the outside, perfect harmony and comfort on the inside and it also provides shelter from any disaster. Having a great roof or quality windows with no walls won’t work well. Building solid walls and roofs with no foundation also won’t serve for too long. The main point here is longevity. We are building here something that serves us for a lifetime.

We certainly agree that the needs of an elderly or a more vulnerable person, someone who has never practiced or learned about exercising before or just wants to prevent having any issues in the future are similar – the basic building blocks are the same. Someone at this level might not want to lift heavy weights or to be super agile but is open to learning the basics of human movements. Imagine it as the foundation of any building. We could build a tent on soil, but when a lot of rain is coming it would sink down in the mud pretty bad.

Once a solid foundational level has been laid down and someone has the desire to improve on them, the second chapter comes into play. Because of its systematic approach, it’s designed for people who are looking to progress in a wider spectrum. For those who want to move better, lift heavier, gain more muscle, enjoy weekend activities without limitations and are motivated to become unstoppable. This level is the creation of the walls of a building on that foundation – they close a shape so the walls support each other.

The third big part of the series is continuing with developing power, strength, self-awareness, control and capacity in all existing principles of fitness. One can’t achieve full potential at this level if any of the previous building elements are missing. Running, locomotion, powerful movements, jumping all belong here. Sticking with the building example, we need to have a door on those walls but maybe it’s good to have windows too. Although we can live a life without being powerful and having full control over our body that is kind of waiting in the dark for what is going to happen to us – and someday something will happen to us for sure.

The last section is the highest level of skills, awareness and control. Often many people experiment with tasks from this level, even with missing blocks from the big picture. The human body has an amazing amount of work capacity, which unfortunately is not endless. When it comes to doing these movements that put the bodily systems under high pressure, it becomes crucial to have solid foundations that support this load. Sometimes we are more stubborn than prepared and that’s just dancing with destiny. To finish off the house metaphor, you can’t put a heavy and solid roof on a bamboo stick that’s poked into the soft soil and hope it will stand forever.

This is why the Akademy is for everyone. For the young. For the elderly. For the newbie. For those with little interest. For the one who wants to know everything. For the weak. For the strong. For the weekend warrior. For the old school gym Joe. For the elite athlete. And for the fitness professional. The systematic approach presents a full package that is available at any level, progressive with the option to scale to any time, introduces the very basic principles but shows a pathway to the highest level of movement complexes.