The maps included above capture the movements and play of girls and boys in their schoolyard during break times, in research carried out by @honorata.io & @architektoniczki . What's striking is that boys (blue) took up a whole lot more space than girls. Whether there's a football pitch or a large empty space, the results were the same: the vast majority of that central space was taken up by boys.

Our built environments shape our behaviours. To adapt a classic Jan Gehl quote: first we shape our spaces, then our spaces shape us. This aligns with the 2020 Marmot Review on health inequalities, which inspired the name oop movement:

“Avoid talking about choices, lifestyles, physical activity. Instead, talk about options, opportunities, and places.”

Schoolyards are one of a child’s first public outdoor spaces – where they learn to navigate social hierarchies. If we're limiting the options and opportunities – the affordances – for children to move through and interact with, that's simply not good enough.

My thoughts:

1. We must advocate for equitable spatial design: We need spaces designed for diverse forms of movement and unstructured play (while still keeping the football pitch). If an environment primarily affords one type of movement, it filters for only one type of mover.

2. We must build foundational movement skills: Everyone deserves the physical capability to step into central play spaces if they choose to. The schoolyard should be a natural foundation for developing athleticism.

What we do here at @oop_movement , currently supporting 10 young girls, builds on these foundations to further develop movement confidence and competence.

A highly skilled mover walks into a varied built environment and sees a playground of affordances – walls to jump, trees to climb, spaces to run. They're far more likely to act on them, getting stronger and more skilled.

Let's create positive spirals of engagement. Let's create conditions that would lead to very different movement maps than above, by building environments that are invitational, inclusive, and equitable for everyone.

/

Further sources:
"Football Centrism" @citychangersorg

Recommended:
@make_space_for_girls

- environmental factors intersect and drive injury
- early exposure to movement patterns matter
- early age-appropriate resistance training leads to better management of the stresses of sport
- sex differences in athletic performance are well-documented
- performance plateaus can be normal and healthy; progress isn't linear
- it's also likely that girls don't get the same S&C opportunities that boys do, with lasting effects
- without ongoing individualised participation in youth resistance training, young athletes may be ill-prepared for the demands of their sport and competition
- performing the same skills over and over means the same muscles, connective tissue, and joints are continuously hammered; capacity may not meet the demands imposed
- the odds of a traumatic knee injury has been found to be 9.5 times higher in young female athletes with weaker lower extremity muscle compared to stronger peers
- start deliberate prep early, and keep it going

"There's no such thing as an elite 8-year-old, a high-performance 10-year-old, or a professional 11-year-old. ...

This year's basketballer, is next year's footballer, is next year's butterfly swimmer. ...

Don't worship physical talent. Physical talent is a poor indicator of long-term success. Don't be overwhelmed by the 11-year-old thats up against your 11-year-old. ... If that's your 11-year-old [bigger/stronger/currently successful] don't get too excited about it."

"How do you convince the parents of "talented" kids i.e. the 10 year olds who win all the races, the 9 year olds who kick all the goals etc. that "talent" is just not that important in the scheme of things and it's values, character, resilience & loving what you do that matters?"

— Wayne Goldsmith

/

What we do at oop movement

- long-term athletic development
- covering a breadth & depth of movement skills
- fundamental movement skills as the foundation
- evidence-based and data-informed

Our PM slots are now fully booked until winter 2026. We still have limited morning availability.

Thanks to all our parents for your continued support and trust 🙌

The association between motor skill competence and physical activity levels in youth hinges in part on perceived competence (Robinson, 2011b). Children with high motor skill proficiency typically perceive themselves as being "good movers" and are more likely to engage in higher levels of physical activity. In contrast, children with low levels of motor skill competence are likely to perceive themselves as being "poor movers" and are less likely to participate in physical activity. This effect may be relatively mild during early and middle childhood, but as children approach early adolescence, their tendency for peer comparison increases and they become far more critical of their own capabilities.

At this point, children may go in one of two directions, which lead to vastly different outcomes: (1) a positive spiral of engagement, wherein "good movers" are more likely to engage in physical activity and thus have greater opportunities for further motor skill development; or (2) a negative spiral of disengagement, wherein "poor movers" are less likely to participate in physical activity and thus are not exposed to opportunities to improve their motor skills (Crane, Naylor, Cook, & Temple, 2015; Faigenbaum & Myer, 2012; Gallahue, Ozmun, & Goodway, 2012; Malina, Cumming, & Coelho, 2016; Robinson et al. 2015; Stodden, Gao, Goodway, Langendorfer, 2014; Stodden, Langendorfer, & Roberton, 2009). These
divergent scenarios highlight the critical importance of early investment in motor skill development during childhood to foster positive physical activity behaviours. These scenarios also underscore the critical role of youth fitness specialists.'

/

'Coordination and muscular strength should be viewed not as separate entities but as synergistic
components of motor skill performance (Cattuzzo et al., 2016). In combination, coordination and
muscular strength should enable a child to perform a range of motor skills with energy, vigour, and proficiency and thereby facilitate engagement in physical activity as a lifetime choice.'

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📖 Essentials of Youth Fitness. Ch. 8. Motor Skill Training.

- timing of the growth spurt can vary by as much as six years between individuals
- by age two years, children have achieved about half of their adult height
- children "stretch out" before they "fill out"; that is, they grow taller before adding more muscle mass
- children should develop their adult gait pattern by the age of seven years
- attained percentage of predicted adult stature can be used as an indicator of maturity

...

"At a given chronological age, early-maturing boys gain the clear advantage of increased body size and superior physical fitness as compared with their late-maturing peers. However, late-maturing boys eventually catch up, and when fully mature they can expect to have a level of physical fitness that is similar or even superior to that of their early-maturing peers. The effect of maturity on body size and physical fitness makes it difficult to predict adult fitness levels and sporting success based on performance during childhood and adolescence. Selecting early-maturing boys who are physically big, strong, and powerful may enable short-term success in age-specific competitions, but it is unlikely to create a system of long-term success. Instead, youth fitness specialists should focus on meeting long-term goals and working to ensure that all youth have the opportunity to flourish in sport."

/

📖 Essentials of Youth Fitness. Ch. 3. Growth, Maturation, and Physical Fitness. Faigenbaum, Lloyd, Oliver.

It’s all a continuum. Your training doesn’t need to hit a brick wall because you have an injury, nor do you need "fixing" because your movement patterns look a bit different. Move better, be stronger – appropriate, progressive overload.

Some thoughts on getting the most out of your S&C programming:

1. TRAIN WITH INTENT
The first minute is as valuable as the 40th. Movement prep & exploration (i.e. a good warm-up) is important. A sprint is a SPRINT! A med ball slam is a med ball SLAM!

2. SHOW UP
You get better by doing the training. And you do the training by attending the sessions.

3. LEAN INTO MOVEMENT VARIETY
'Be stronger, move better.' You don't want to get better only in the quality of heavy maximal strength. Fill multiple strength and movement buckets – consistently. This relates to point 1, as a well-rounded training session will incorporate different training modalities – all are valuable.

4. ASK FOR GUIDANCE
If you want more individualised support, additional training or are curious about aspects of training then communicate. Your S&C coach is there to help. Athletic testing will have shown up your strengths and weaknesses; maybe you don't need another set of bench press, but maybe you would benefit from another couple of sets of isometric split squats and side planks.

5. RECOVER
To progress and benefit fully from the programming, the stimulus from training needs to be balanced with rest and recovery. Over time, adaptation occurs and improved performance is facilitated between sessions, not within. Are you fuelling enough? Are you sleeping enough? Are you having days off? Allow time for rest, recovery, and growth.

Commitment to long-term development is about consistent effort, standards and persistence regardless of immediate results.

Progress isn't linear.

/

"We often expect progress to be linear. At the very least, we hope it will come quickly. In reality, the results of our efforts are often delayed. It is not until months or years later that we realise the true value of the previous work we have done. This can result in a "valley of disappointment" where people feel discouraged after putting in weeks or months of hard work without experiencing any results. However, this work was not wasted. It was simply being stored. It is not until much later that the full value of previous efforts is revealed."

📖 Atomic Habits, 'The Plateau of Latent Potential'.

"Throughout much of urban history, streets were often highly diverse, multi-functional places. Children were active users of streets: not only for play. But for socialising, running errands, calling on friends or family, going to and from school (or work) or watching the world go by. ...

In a sense, the ultimate goal of child-friendly urban planning is to turn the playground inside-out. Rather than building play reservations, the job of the child-friendly planner/designer is to remove the fences and gates, and invite children into the public realm beyond, so they can enjoy rich, engaging experiences and encounters with the people and places around them."

/

🚶‍♂️🧑‍🦽🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️🤸‍♀️

options opportunities places . movement

This week, I'm submitting my last couple of assignments of the first year of my Master's. A periodisation essay being one of them. What's one of the biggest takeaways from the module and its applied practice? Less is more. It's something I've communicated on for some time, yet I've at times found it challenging to actually get people to 'buy-in' to. Which means that I need to do a better job with how I communicate and how I integrate sports science into decision-making.

There's one of two ways that this relates to people in my experience. A couple of scenarios where this concept is really relevant.

One, a recreational exerciser who, instead of doing a little, often, is drawn towards an almost all or nothing approach. Instead of going for a walk or breaking up sitting time or lifting the nearby weights for just a few reps at a time (microdosing/exercise snacking/greasing the groove/incidental movement), they are drawn to physically and emotionally taxing activities that are unsustainable. Forcing mileage/intensities/exercises that haven't been built on a solid foundation is another example of this.

Two, a high performance athlete or coaching team supporting an athlete who, in the pursuit of success, is consistently trying to squeeze everything out of a training session. In turn, the consistent accumulation of hard sessions back-to-back doesn't give enough time for recovery and adaptation to occur. This can potentially lead to overreaching/overtraining. Performance will actually dip as opposed to improve. Injury risk goes up.

In both cases, a practical step to take would be to ensure you do one easy session a week. Have I earned the right to go hard? Have I done an easy session in the last week? Do the benefits of today's session outweigh the costs? In the high performance setting, what was the point of today's session as a part of the bigger picture?

Less is more.

/

'A number of research studies ... have all reported that approximately one-third of young athletes had experienced non-functional overreaching, overtraining or staleness.'

📖 S&C for young athletes, p.57.

/

📷 screenshot from the Gaelic games athletic development action statement.

Another gem of an episode, @mike_quirke podcast.

Here's one of the passages that really stood out for me –

' This current group, born in the last 20 years, their movement capacity at a childhood level isn't as proficient as it would have been previous to that. Why? They're not moving as much. Even though we all know the cases, "my young fella, he's doing hurling, football, basketball, soccer, tennis ... and shur I'm just a taxi." But it's all organised sport. Where's the exploration time? "Ah, shur, he's wrecked. He's at home, and then he just goes straight on the PlayStation, or he's on the couch." So, there's actually no time where he's a kid, doing kids stuff. Which is falling over, figuring out that branch doesn't hold me, and figuring out that wall is too high ... they're not doing that anymore. When it's overly organised, we're robbing the kids of really important exploration ... ' Dr. Ed Coughlan.

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#PhysicalLiteracy #MovementExploration #MovementVariety #Play

Just my occasional reminder to runners new and old. An ultramarathon isn't better than a marathon, which isn't better than a half marathon, which isn't better than a 10-miler, which isn't better than a 10k, which isn't better than a 5-miler, which isn't better than a 5k, which isn't better than the mile. Which isn't better than the 800, 400, 200, or 100m!

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Yes, you can easily get training programmes online and in-person for runs of any distance, but if you've never run regularly before, why are you now targeting a marathon or half marathon? And should you really be given a training programme for a half marathon straight away without any consideration for your running form, and exercise and training history? Maybe your why (and the positives of running a long-distance event) outweighs any cons, or maybe not. I come from the school of all movement is good movement, so I don't ask these questions lightly.

I do think a lot of people are signing up to longer distance events prematurely. With bigger and longer being put on a pedestal, and mistakenly associated with 'better'. This can be seen in other sports and with fitness industry trends too.

I'm currently reading about athletic development and different models within it. One, the Developmental Model of Sport Participation, has seven 'postulates' associated with it. In 2014, five of the statements (of the model's seven) were considered to have 'strong' evidence to be able to recommend them as best practice to help guide policy. Separately, the last two quotes are from Wayne Goldsmith. His first quote is an excerpt from a video you'll easily find online – no such thing as an elite 8-year-old.

'For strength and conditioning coaches working with young athletes, the goal is clear: to foster a supportive learning environment that provides an appropriate balance between challenge and fun, which helps young athletes develop robust levels of athleticism, reduce injury risk, and enhance health and wellbeing. It is likely that, by achieving this goal, coaches will be able to support young athletes to participate and perform more safely and more effectively in sports. In addition, coaches will be able to help those individuals acquire the knowledge, confidence, skills, and physical attributes that facilitate a lifetime commitment to physical activity.' 

Ch. 5. Coaching young athletes.

These HSE publications are great!

I think a lot of the guidance could be applied to us as adults too.

- practice a range of movement skills
- mix of everyday tasks, unstructured and structured activities, active travel
- we need daily opportunities to move, to play, outdoors and in
- rhythm and actions improve with practice
- check that equipment/load is suitable
- let them discover their own limitations

Anything resonate with you?

Enjoyed this – How We Learn to Move.

Brings me back to those games of basketball and soccer in the school and back yard in Kilcummin. Where we learnt how to move. 2 on 2, 4 v 4. Our variation of movement developed adaptable skills that could be applied to different situations and environments. It wasn't through repetition of the same one 'perfect' technique over and over again but through exploration and play and a pinch of guidance that we developed our athleticism and robustness. Yards, roads, fields, trees – this was our playground.

Soreness on a regular basis isn't an indicator of making progress in our training. Making progress is making progress in our training.

Showing up consistently, focusing on good technique and form, moving fluidly, working with a 'sweet spot' of resistance – not too heavy, not too light – and applying progressive overload is what will serve you well over time.

Push yourself to get the most out of the training, sure. But know that that doesn't equate to soreness, though occasionally it comes with it.

From my perspective, the magic is more so found in being mindful, intentional and explorative with how we move our bodies. Do we feel our muscles in the movement? What kind of alignment do we have? Can we develop our body and spatial awareness as we move through the exercises? Can I re/learn a movement skill?

These are more interesting questions to consider than chasing a feeling of soreness and fatigue on a daily basis – while we get stronger and more mobile in the process.

We have so many strengths in our local place-based communities. Untapped assets right on our doorstep.

Consumer culture would have us believe that to live a good life, a decent life, we need to look beyond our neighbourhood. A subtle devaluing of what's local, handmade and homemade.

But maybe the solution isn't what's out there, it's what's here and now. In what and who are rooted in our communities. Not in a distant marketplace.

There's value in what's local. In and with our neighbours, associations and organisations, built and natural environment, local economy, stories and local heritage.

The connected community is a beautiful thing.

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Adapted from The Connected Community : Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighbourhoods. By Cormac Russell and John McKnight. @wormbooksschull

Building on our last post, here we cover how we currently approach programming. Which is informed by the idea of fundamental movement patterns. To give some background, we learn fundamental movement skills as children. Within the first two years of life, children start many gross motor activities such as pushing, pulling, carrying large objects and climbing. And skills such as kicking, throwing and catching a ball increase too. These skills are developed through play. Play, in its many forms – including walking, running, jumping, dodging, crawling, climbing, bending, rolling, rotating – enables children to do everyday tasks and sets them up to participate in activities in the long-term.

Fast forward to adulthood, we practice these skills incidentally through the day. But often the conditions may be such that we don’t engage in them a whole lot. Walking may be the main activity, but beyond that there may not be much variety in our movements. (Many of us would benefit from just walking more.)

What we use as a guide to our resistance training builds on these fundamental movement skills or patterns that are developed in childhood. Push, pull, hinge, squat, and loaded carry are just some of the ‘fundamental movement patterns’ that we ensure to plan around. Of course, there are many other forms of play - rolling, climbing, crawling - that we can benefit from exploring too. Like in childhood, we train movements, not muscles (generally speaking). This type of training can also be described as ‘functional’.

Hope that helps. Just to say that like with everything I share, I aim to have it underpinned by evidence. All of the above information on childhood development is from the HSE, including from the My Child: 2 to 5 years book which has been developed for parents and is available online free to download. The book is full of valuable advice and interestingly the section on play and learning I feel resonates with what we as adults can do too (page 100). Any questions or comments just drop us a line.

' ... "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure." Measurement is only useful when it guides you and adds context to a larger picture, not when it consumes you. Each number is simply one piece of feedback in the overall system.

In our data-driven world, we tend to overvalue numbers and undervalue anything ephemeral, soft, and difficult to quantify. We mistakenly think the factors we can measure are the only factors that exist. But just because you can measure something doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing. And just because you can’t measure something doesn’t mean it’s not important at all. '

More isn’t better. Better is better.

The focus isn’t to make you tired and sore. The focus is to support you to move well. Quality over quantity.

Can you do the simple things really well? Can you jump or hop or push-up the best jump, hop, push-up you can possibly do today?

oop movement |

Options are the things we could do – the choices before us. Opportunities are the circumstances that make it possible to do something. And places are the spaces we inhabit and their availability for us to move around in. 

Options are good. But it's opportunities that bring them to life. These opportunities are influenced by lots of factors, including the places and spaces we move in; some people have circumstances stacked heavily in their favour, and others less so. I think it's important to acknowledge this. The places where we live, learn, work, and play shape our health in many ways, collectively and uniquely.

I see my training first as an option for our community locally. A quality service available for people to consider. And then when people avail of my training or consult, it's an opportunity. An opportunity to move well. An opportunity to explore your relationship with movement and physical activity.

oop movement

options opportunities places. movement

We benefit from variety of movement. In our gardens, fields, courts, woods, parks, lanes and shared spaces. Different settings, different sports. Different stimuli, different tasks.

There are plenty of outside play options locally. @ballydehob_community_tennis and @ballydehobfrisbee are just two of the great welcoming social options that I've come across recently. Both provide opportunities for developing athleticism – coordination, balance, spacial awareness, speed, agility – while having fun in the process!

We're in this together. We're all connected — a person is a person through other people.

Our training is a partnership. And through this partnership, of mutual caring, there's a space for us to both grow and learn from each other.

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Your relationship with movement is unique to you. It's complex and can change over time. The people we interact with, the communities we're part of, the culture we experience, the places we move in, all influence our relationship with movement.

It's my job to support you to have a positive experience. To meet you where you're at. To support you to move competently and confidently going forward.

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With health and wellbeing as a central tenet, training should be established on a strong foundation of movement skills and structured appropriate to your movement quality and history.

Long-term athletic development doesn't just apply to youth athletes and their development. As adults, we can benefit from thinking long-term and from tailored training with athletic development in mind. It's never too late.

Is it just me or is dawdling not only important for our health but also, maybe counterintuitively, for us to move? Specifically for unplanned and unstructured movement. We're so stimulated all of the time, especially with technology. We're full to the brim with consumption. Maybe we need to leave time to allow for idleness; to invite in creativity and movement. To slow down. To invite in play. Because exercise is now so synonymous with movement, do we tend to box up and overly structure our activities?

Big up to pottering about, idleness, boredom, putting the technology away, taking a stroll with no destination in mind, and not predetermining everything.

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Image of The Idler by @lillyhedleyprint in Our Isles: Poems Celebrating the Art of Rural Trades and Traditions. @liznojan_books

We ran, we climbed, we jumped, we crouched. We used jumpers as goal posts. We got a ball and played against the wall. We explored movement in different forms.

We developed coordination, agility, and all-around athleticism and movement skills. We developed an awareness of our bodies in space.

All through movement and play.

/

I believe it’s important to incorporate play and variation into our movement as adults, benefiting our bodies and minds, and I try to do that in my classes and coaching.

We can take a lot of inspiration from children's movements and unstructured play.

Lane walks, sea dips.

The simple things are a tonic for the soul.

Life, movement. It's OK to rest a while, to feel the ebb and flow.

📖 Wintering, Katherine May. @wormbooksschull

The fitness-industrial complex is the concept wherein individuals and institutions in the industry profit for their own self-interest, not necessarily for the long-term benefit of society. It's the upholding and reproducing of ways of doing things even though these approaches are causing more harm than good. A kind of bastardisation, or consumerist construct, of what it means to be 'healthy.'

The tactics used can include preying on people's insecurities as some bodies – thin, 'able-bodied' – are presented as desirable or worthy, and others not. Diversity of movement is meanwhile reduced to a commercial package.

People are nudged to conform to the idea of a particular ideal body, there's an obsession with weight-loss and change. You're not enough as you are.

Of course, this is a social and commercial construct. A construct that feeds on body shaming and self-loathing. That conflates a particular body type and commodified exercise with somehow being a better person.

Sadly, this is pervasive in the health and fitness industry.

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As I work more and more in the health and fitness space, I'm trying to do so while maintaining an open mind and continuing to view the industry with a critical lens. I suppose it can be easy to consume ways of doing things (including current trends) and marketing, and unintentionally start to mimic what others do. So for me, I have to be intentional with my learning and complement my experiential learning with learning through reading and different sources.

In the image is some of what I've been reading and rereading lately. From Functional Training for Sports' straight talking and proven programming to Up to Speed's spotlight on the legacy of a male-centric model of sports and physical activity. From Quiet's exploration of our culture of personality (over character) to Deconstructing the Fitness-Industrial Complex which helped shape the beginning of this text. They capture messages and points of view that I'm either a fan of or that I need to increase my awareness of, and I try to incorporate them into my coaching.

Movement is diverse. Movement is about so much more than a physical aesthetic.