Bodyweight Exercise – Fitness by degrees

Part of what really turns me on to bodyweight exercise is the ability to run the body through it’s entire spectrum of movement potential. This is most eloquently expressed through the 6 Degrees of Freedom principle introduced by the Circular Strength Training® system.

The idea of 6 Degrees of Freedom is obviously not new. It’s a way of explaining movement of a body in space that comes to us from the field of aeronautics. But its application to human movement and exercise was pioneered by Scott Sonnon, founder of CST.

CST 6 Degrees of Freedom

We’ve covered the bones of CST’s 6 Degrees of Freedom before, but there’s often a bit of confusion about how exactly to apply it to a body in motion. As the body changes it’s orientation to the earth, how do you apply the various six degrees? The answer is actually quite simple, which is one of the reasons the 6DoF is such a powerful perceptual tool.

Conventional Planes

Unlike the use of fixed planes, which are inflexibly pegged to the orientation of the earth, the 6 Degrees of Freedom are tied to your body and each of it’s moving parts. As you shift your orientation, the degrees of freedom shift with you. So you can surge forward, or you can surge toward the ground. Consider the Quad Squat bodyweight exercise. Relative to the earth, it moves up and down a vertical axis. But relative to your own body it is a forward surge.

So, the entire concept is relative to your body rather than to arbitrary planes of movement. But why is this such an important tool? Because it allows you to assess and balance your training more effectively. Consider the following video:

Since this routine was designed systematically with the 6DoF in mind, it turns out to be a very complete exercise flow that addresses the vast majority of the body’s movement potential. But sometimes training is less general and more intensely focused on a performance goal.

That means that one or two of the degrees of freedom may be more heavily accented than the others. But the 6DoF model allows us to identify where we’re falling short and either use CST Compensatory Exercise or subsequent training cycles to ensure that we remain balanced and avoid injury.

We cover the 6 Degrees of Freedom concept with great detail in our Bodyweight FUN-damentals eBook. If you don’t have it yet, you can use the form at the top right of this page to grab yours now. It also contains a thorough bodyweight workout that takes you through all six degrees.

You may also enjoy:

1. Bodyweight Workout — Get Stronger For Longer
2. Hop Your Fitness Up A Notch With This CST Bodyweight Exercise
3. Improve Your Coordination and Agility with Bodyweight Exercise