ESTABLISHED IN 2019

Our story.

As friends from a former workplace we shared a passion for health, fitness and thought-provoking conversation. The relationship was formed through learning each others strengths and limitations, and helping each other to find ways to improve them. Understanding neurology-based training methods and how physical training products impacted our athletic potential, became our obsession.

So, after some additional influence from a like-minded friend and the Founder of Z-Health® Performance Solutions, Dr. Eric Cobb, we came up with a plan to advance the ethos of athleticism and rehabilitation through the use of neuro-centric training tools.

After years of product development, the two of us – a Z-Health® Master Trainer and an Industrial Designer – started Intelligent Training Equipment LLC. We’re proud to bring you our first product and hope to build upon this community of neuro-centric athletes.

Our goal is to bring neuro-science to the forefront of athletic training and rehabilitation.

That means developing products and content that push the boundaries of mainstream thinking on athletic science into a whole new neurology-focused mindset. To make that happen, it takes a community of intelligent individuals with the willingness to break the mold of the antiquated, linear, biomechanical approach to physical health.

History Behind The Shape

The Icosahedron

Rudolf Laban’s “icosahedron”, part of his theory of movement analysis

(Image retrieved from http://www.dcd.ca/exhibitions/sutcliffe/icosahedron.html)

In Laban for All, expert teachers of Laban’s techniques clearly present his beliefs on the importance of the icosahedron’s shape:

“When we are given specific movements to do… or wish to do of our own accord, be it dancing, acting, gymnastics, sport or any other physical activity, without a map, it can prove unnecessarily difficult and the result often lacking in precision… Laban believed that the icosahedron, the largest of the five crystals, was most closely related to the structure and movement ability of the human body. His idea of using it as the scaffolding of the kinesphere arose spontaneously from his study of movement and dance and his activity as a dancer and dance-teacher. Even so, he was astonished to find such a correspondence between the angles of the icosaherdon and the maximum angles through which our limbs move. He also discovered that certain proportions within the icosahedron followed the law of the Golden Section.” (Newlove & Dalby, 2004, pp. 27, 47)

Rediscovering the Icosahedron

Dr. Eric Cobb “Doc”

Neuroathletics expert Dr. Eric Cobb in an interview about neurocentric training

(Image retrieved from https://www.artzt.eu/ratgeber/fitness-und-sport/neuroathletiktraining-ist-kopf-und-koerpersache)

“We create our tools and then our tools create us.” – John Culkin

My first attempts at verbalizing and explaining movement began at the age of 14 while I was teaching tennis lessons and martial arts classes. Not long after I began teaching, I found myself frustrated because I had no real plan to quickly get across vital movement concepts to my students other than saying, “practice more.”

Because of this frustration, I began experimenting with many different types of teaching methods to see what would work for my students. In this process, I quickly I found myself teaching movement concepts via the use of arc diagrams through different planes of motion. In other words, I began trying to describe the SHAPE of the movement. Following that, if the students were successful in creating the right shape, I moved on to the FEEL of the motion – attempting to share with them the kinesthetic understanding of the EFFORT required.

I found these concepts highly successful with some students, but not so much with others. However, I also found that by breaking athletic patterns down into shapes, arcs, efforts, etc. I profoundly increased my understanding of what was occurring. It was an early lesson that I held on to that eventually led to building and working with early versions of what would eventually become The Maverick.

Now, 35 years later I consider this tool to be one of the most important and unique innovations available for bringing neuroscience-driven training concepts into the movement industry. The unique design of The Mav allows you to explore movement in a uniquely integrated way that is difficult to achieve with the vast majority of currently existing tools available in the movement fields.

The team at Intelligent Training Equipment has done a tremendous job not only in bringing the original concept to life, but also turning The Mav into a brain-based training center that is unmatched.

-Doc