Exploring the possibilities of being a lifelong learner.

Climbing Injuries and Coaching

When I moved from Edmonton to Calgary in 2011, I became head coach of the Calgary Climbing Centre’s adult climbing team. At that point, I began to notice injuries cropping up in both my athletes and myself.

Compared to gymnastics and traditional Olympic sports, climbing is a young sport, and sport-specific scientific training methodologies hadven’t been developed like they hadhave in mainstream sports. I began researching better ways to train because I knew there had to be a better way. 

Ido Portal

In my exploration, I found Ido Portal, a movement specialist who moved like no one I’d ever seen before. I thought to myself, “‘Holy Smokes!’ this guy has great strength, even better flexibility and a wealth of movement capability.” 

I didn’t grasp the depth of his philosophy and teaching methodology until I began an online coaching course with Portal. At three to five hours a day, six days a week, Portal’s training required an extremely high level of commitment. 

In developing a framework for a generalist practice, Portal sought out leaders in major movement disciplines around the world, including Russian and American gymnastics coaches, Martial Arts leaders including boxing teachers, Brazilian Capoeira teachers, Martial Arts leaders including boxing teachers, Chinese and Wushu masters, and Yoga Practitioners to gain deeper knowledge of the major movement disciplines around the world. Through his guidance — I’ve developed a high-level knowledge about movement and training. It was a massive paradigm shift for me. 

I’ve spent over four years training online with him, attended three of his Movement Camps in Thailand, I’ve attended a number of weekend workshops and have also completed an internship. Incorporating Portal’s methods into MTM and my climbing training has been a game changer.

Frameworks for Learning

Ido Portal taught me the value of being a lifelong learner. He develops structural frameworks for processes involving learning and training. 

There has to be that innate curious quality or desire for growth to be possible. The back and forth between information and practical application is where the greatest “aha!” moments happen. 

Through in-depth learning, I’ve found a balance between what I’ve studied and how it appears in my practice. I’m so happy to have the opportunity to teach: I get to take complex knowledge, organize it into a digestible framework that makes a difference in my students’ life.

In the beginning, I used to teach all of my classes strictly with Portal’s methodology. Over time, I’ve adapted his concepts to fit the needs of our population, drawing from other sources such as Boulder Movement Collective, Functional Range Conditioning, and others. Every year my philosophy changes slightly, and I finetune it for our MTM clients.

My love for learning also feeds into my passion for teaching. Now that COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted, we can get back together with our students and continue to explore our bodies.

I can’t wait to see you at our physiotherapy clinic Move to Move.