Joint mobility is initiating and/or re-discovering a specific range of motion that already exists within the joints, muscles and other tissues of the body. Joint mobility is a combination of specific drills including bodyweight calisthenics, tai chi, and dynamic warm-ups all complementary of each other facilitating new-found harmony throughout the entire body. Freedom of movement usually needs to be re-introduced to most people due to the aging process and/or conditioning of the way we think and move.

Flexibility ONLY directly involves muscles. Joint mobility involves muscles by neurologically impacting joints first. Joint mobility provides a life-simulated approach to movement. We live in three-dimensional world; therefore, we should train in a more realistic fashion. Joint mobility provides a synergy unmatched in the health and fitness, strength and conditioning industries.

Z-Edge / Z-Health®, created by Dr. Eric Cobb is a high tech, cutting-edge systematic program designed to re-train the nervous system (nerves and brain) for maximum performance, maximum recovery, and maximum health. In other words, Z is a neural re-training system that helps people get out of pain, improve their health, and maximize their athletic performance.

Dynamic joint mobility (DJM) training can be broken down into two distinct categories:

1. 1 DJM for improved joint function.
2. DJM for nervous system re-education.

Almost all mobility programs currently focus on #1 – mobility for improved joint function. This type of training – as compared to Z-Health – uses larger, less specific ranges of motion for the joints and typically emphasizes speed and a high number of repetitions. If you want to increase circulation and lubrication around a given joint, this works and works well.
The Z approach is stated in #2. Z focuses on a set of training principles with the goal of re-educating the nervous system to maximize efficient movement patterns. Z-Health is very precise, uses a low number of reps throughout the day, and emphasizes the perfection of movement skills. As a result, Z will help improve joint lubrication and function, and also eliminate poor movement patterns that may have developed over time.

Z is really about learning to speak the language of movement with total fluency. Master the principles of Z and see dramatic changes in everything.

The nervous system RULES the body! Regardless if you are looking to make fast changes in pain, range of motion, strength, coordination, speed, agility or any other physical attribute the fastest and most direct path is to change your nervous system.

The nervous system has three vitally important characteristics to remember:

1. 1 Governing system of the entire body = It RULES everything!
2. Most stable system of the entire body = Research has proven the nervous system has the capability to learn and adapt and improve at ANY age and in ANY condition.
3. Fastest system of the entire body = Nerves communicate with each other through the body at the speed of lightning. Therefore, changes take place almost instantly when you impact the nervous system correctly.

Through very precise joint range of motion drills called ‘dynamic joint mobility’ or DJM. When these drills are performed correctly, they are the superior answer to a more efficient nervous system and therefore more fluid movement patterns.

Z drills are able to initiate ‘direct conversations’ with the Central Nervous System because joints have a very high concentration of nerve endings surrounding them therefore providing instant feedback to your CNS.
This feedback tells the body where it is in space, how fast it is moving and what movements are ‘safe.’ By ‘turning on the light switch’ to these nerve endings through specific joint mobility drills, you can help your body get out of pain and perform at your true genetic potential.

Most of the drills are simple and may not look like much. Simple does not mean ‘easy.’ Z drills are a set of skills that you already know on a primitive/instinctual level. You may have ‘forgotten’ them due to injury or inactivity. Z helps you re-learn them.

Honestly, when you target the nervous system correctly it is not only possible…it is expected. The nervous system is an integrated web that runs throughout the body and operates at astonishing speed. This means that when you ask the body the right question through a specific joint mobility drill to encourage the positive change, you will see a result immediately.

After all, it only takes one movement to get into pain—doesn’t it make sense that one movement could get you OUT of pain?

YES! Z is broken down so anyone from a 6 year old child all the way to a 110 year-old person can learn and practice Z movements in safe, controlled manner.

There are three main reasons people come to us:

1. Pain relief
2. Physique transformation
3. Performance enhancement

Z helps all three. 90% of our clients find it appealing they are able to feel and witness results in the very first session. For the remaining 10% alternative methods you may or may not have heard of will be recommended. We want you to experience the body you were designed to live in. Therefore, we will recommend appropriate resources when you have a condition that is beyond our training.

Just because you are not in pain does not mean that your joints are functioning properly! Joints not functioning properly = muscles attached to those joints not functioning properly which eventually leads to injury. Moving around with joints not functioning optimally is similar to driving your car with the emergency brake on—your car will still move…at a much slower and more choppy ride. Continue this for a while and your car will be headed for the repair shop. Continue moving with sub-optimal joint mobility and your body will be headed for breakdown just like your car.

Once you have an understanding of the Z system, you can implement simple exercises 5 minutes or less per day and see results. Once you begin to feel the power of 5 minutes you will want to do more!

Athletes see changes immediately because you have a higher level of body awareness than the average person. Z will make you better both in your sport and also as an athlete overall. Z will make your body smarter about movement which translates to better speed, strength, power, endurance, and coordination…without trying harder.

The foundation of Z is rehabilitation. However please check with your doctor before beginning this or any exercise program. That being said, MANY of our clients have seen phenomenal results from past or present injuries. Z is amazingly safe once you understand the basics and have worked with a Z-certified trainer.

R-Phase = Rehabilitation, Re-education, Restoration (Level I). Whether you have past or present injuries, R-phase is the foundation for all Z programs. Most people, no matter how athletic, find tremendous benefits from R-phase due to loss of actual awareness of specific joints in the body.

I-Phase = Integration (Level II). Most people are ready for I-phase approximately 3-6 months after doing R-phase. The reason for this is I-phase builds on R-phase and there are many layers to implementing R-phase effectively. Consult with your Z-trainer to ensure you aren’t skipping ahead too fast.

S-Phase = Sport Specific (Level III). Level III is VERY DEMANDING. A high level of understanding and fluency in Level I and Level II is MANDATORY prior to beginning S-Phase. Level III introduces sprinting, agility, coordination, plyometric and visual drills Z style.

A session with a Z Trainer will provide you with a few targeted Z exercises that are specific to what your body needs right now! Also, if you have a specific pain or performance issue a Z Trainer will get you started immediately in the right direction and also help you find and address your root problems.

Z practitioners are taught assessments that predict what movements are most likely to be beneficial and to evaluate the immediate impact of a drill.

Z is first and foremost a system designed to impact the central nervous system (CNS) because that’s where the maximum pay-off is – the CNS controls strength, range of motion, flexibility, pain levels, performance, everything that one might want to change. From the Z perspective the main obstacle to altering the CNS is its massive overabundance of unconscious and often reflexive protective mechanisms – such as pain, weakness, decreased ROM, stiffness, spasm, etc. (which we might summarize as the startle response.)

Z is a way to convince the CNS to decrease its protective mechanisms in relation to movement. The main way to do this in Z is with mindful, coordinated, novel and non painful movements in strategic areas that are lacking coordination or mobility. The right movement will cause the CNS to immediately lower its protective mechanisms in relation to the movement and related movements. One of the reasons a movement is “right” is because it “reminds” the CNS that it can do something it “forgot” it could do safely. (eg an ankle tilt cures ankle foot SMA). The CNS considers the new movement possibility to be “good news” and immediately lowers the protective mechanisms in regard to the drill performed and all other related movements (which might be a very large range of movements). The wrong movement will threaten the CNS, causing it to raise the level of protective mechanisms such as pain, weakness, lack of ROM, etc.

Neuro-plasticity is the speed at which your central nervous system adapts to learning/re-learning a skill. Movement is to an extent based on the adaptability of your belief systems.
Neuro-plasticity = Biomechanical mobility
Neuro-rigidity = Biomechanical immobility

I have found movement practice to be the most effective approach to cognitive and behavioral shifts. There is a direct correlation between musculoskeletal mobility and neuroplasticity. Movement is the backdoor approach to overall change.

Analogy of a safe with a combination lock…
Just because the dial spins, does not mean the safe is going to open. Your body has a specific combination of exercises that will help relieve pain, increase sports performance, or move better in general. You must find the right drills in the right combination in order to unlock the safe…your body.

Think about your computer. Windows or some other program is the operating system that allows all the other programs on your computer to run. Z-Health is my operating system. All of the crazy programs that I like to do (kettlebells, tire flipping, sledge hammers, etc.) all are “ran” by the same underlying system. If your nervous system and joints will allow it to happen, then we will do it and have a great time. If something is telling the “operating system” that today is not a good day to run those programs then we have to do something different. If your computer (body) has a virus, we have to take a step back and “rewire” it or do some basic joint mobility work.

I tell my clients occasionally – that they have a software problem not a hardware problem. If your computer isn’t working well, most of the time you don’t try to fix the hardware by getting out the screwdriver or whatever, you look to fix the software by rebooting, getting rid of the virus, whatever. The body is the same – people are usually looking for hardware solutions to a software problem.