ACT Course Outline

Level I     Level II     Level III     Level IV     Level V

About Resistance Flexibility

The Genius of Flexibility introduces the Resistance Flexibility™ (RF) training of Bob Cooley. Resistance Flexibility advances and unites physical therapy, yoga, personal training, psychology, traditional Chinese medicine, and Genetic Personality Type theory.

Resistance Flexibility is a unique, hands-on modality used to develop athletes and performers, rehabilitate the severely and ordinarily injured, and help people of all walks of life achieve their goals. Based on an original biomechanical and energetic analysis of the body and personality, RF achieves unprecedented results.

Course Objective

This intensive is designed to introduce participants to the concepts, principles, and practice of RF. This includes basic self stretches, basic assisted stretches, mashing, and an introduction to the physiological, psychological, emotional, and spiritual upgrades that RF can facilitate.

This course includes lots of physical activity, but you work at your own pace. Variations are taught for every exercise allowing people of all ages and abilities to fully participate.

One of the primary goals of this training is for each participant to leave knowing at least one self stretch and one assisted stretch that they are comfortable performing for each of the body's 16 major muscle groups.

Another primary goal is to introduce participants to our growing community of health enthusiasts that are continually developing each other's health through assisted stretching and the sharing of perspective.

Upon completion of this training, participants will be prepared to begin the coursework required for certification.

Course Audience

The Affiliate Certification Training is designed for two categories of people:

• Individuals who are interested in practicing Resistance Flexibility to accelerate their personal development
• Individuals who are interested in becoming a certified trainer

Those interested in training others professionally should know that the distinguishing feature of The Genius of Flexibility's training programs when compared to other modalities is our priority on improving the health of the trainer before the health of the client. The true measure of success for our trainers is not what they can provide for the client, but instead how developed they are themselves - physically, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually.

We believe the trainer must first embody the changes possible through RF before they will ever be able to provide an optimal RF experience for others. This is not a program to train normal fitness professionals. As such, our trainings provide a solid base to learn the principles of Resistance Flexibility, while the required coursework provides the rich learning experience necessary for one to personally develop, practice the learned principles, and become a proficient practitioner.

Those interested in personal development will be provided with a powerful tool to improve all aspects of their flexibility along with community support from others who regularly practice self and assisted stretching.

Preview of Concepts Covered

This course will teach you new concepts about flexibility such as...

• Inflexibility is not caused solely by tense muscles, but by the dense fascia and/or scar tissue that has accumulated in and around the muscles.
• You must continuously resist and contract a muscle while lengthening it in order to exceed the tensile strength of the accumulated dense fascia which results in immediate increases in flexibility and strength.
• Most of the increases in flexibility occur when the muscle starts in a position where it is as short as possible and then lengthened, not at the end point of the stretch where the muscle is already fully elongated.
• The flexibility of a muscle is not just limited by its own health and ability, but by the shortening capacity of its balancing muscle group.
• It is commonly thought that simply weight training a muscle increases its ability to shorten, however, the ability of a muscle to shorten is dependent on its resistance flexibility.
• Range of motion does not equate to flexibility. True flexibility includes the health of the tissue and the muscle's ability to continuously and fully contract concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically throughout that range. Extreme range of motion is often an indicator of hyper mobility potentially leading to instability and damage of the joint structures.
• Stretching is not just a physical activity, but has direct and predictable associations with the physiological, psychological, emotional, and spiritual parts of a person.
• Stretching is not just a solo activity. Maximal results require the participation of others through assisted stretching.
• ...and so much more!

Worldwide Attendance

The Genius of Flexibility welcomes the diverse people from around the world that are traveling to our center to participate in the Affiliate Certification Training.

What's Included

Mentor Assignment

You will be assigned a mentor at the training. Your mentor’s primary responsibilities are to review your coursework journal reports and offer you guidance as you progress in your RF training.

Email Support

Your mentor will be available to you via email communication after the training to answer your questions and offer you feedback on reports of your self-stretching and assisted stretching coursework.

Community Support

Connect with others who have attended our certification courses, share your stretching experiences, and find someone to trade assisted stretching with on a regular basis.

Certification Manual

Certification manual will be provided to all participants.

Studio Internship Hours

Assisting in our studios is a great way to complete coursework and implement what you learn during the certification. This includes:

• Stretching Trainers

  Our trainers are trained in sophisticated ways well beyond how a regular client is trained due to their years of experience practicing RF on a regular basis. Stretching a trainer allows them to experience your assisting skills directly in order to upgrade your skill level by providing you with tailored feedback.

• Assisting Trainers in Private Sessions

  Learn how to assist, communicate with clients, problem solve, work with a wide variety of types, develop a person in many ways, enhance your technique, and more.

Private Assisted Stretching Classes

Reserved for certification course participants, our private assisted stretching classes offered at The Genius of Flexibility Santa Barbara are a great opportunity to learn how to assist and get assisted regularly, with guidance from experienced trainers. As a course participant, you are welcome to participate by purchasing an assisted stretching class package.

Course Details

• Level I is a two-day course, 8 hours each day

Course Outline

LEVEL I — Principles of RF, Beginner Self & Assisted RF

1. Principles of RF
   1. RF vs. other stretching modalities
   2. Fascia and flexibility
   3. Resistance Strength Training (RST) vs. Resistance Flexibility Training (RFT)
   4. Demonstration of RF force
      1. Sample bicep self stretch
      2. Sample bicep assisted stretch
   5. Range of motion vs. true flexibility
   6. Interdependence of strength and flexibility
   7. Principle of limitation
   8. Principle of balancing muscle groups
   9. Sample tricep self stretch
   10. Four aspects of stretching: physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual
   11. 16 Meridian Muscle Groups (MMG)
2. 16 Self Stretches — The Energy Series — Beginner
   1. Beginner self stretches for each of the 16 meridian muscle groups
3. 16 Assisted Stretches — The Energy Series — Beginner
   1. Beginner assisted stretches for each of the 16 meridian muscle groups
4. Mashing
   1. Mash major muscle groups using feet
      1. Hamstrings
      2. Quads

Preview of Concepts Covered

Vector Feel

In the Level I training, you all learned the basic self and assisted stretches. In Level II, we will step outside of the structured movements for each of the 16 meridian muscle groups and you will instead learn how to stretch by "feel." This means learning just what it is the person you are assisting is doing when you ask them to resist. Are they flexing or extending? Adducting or abducting? Internally or externally rotating? Each of these vectors are telling you just how you need to move the person in order to stretch them in just the right way.

Stretching Board

We will be using the stretching board when working on the lower body. This allows the person being assisted to have their waist and one of their thighs and ankles strapped in so that their body is stable while their other leg is being trained. This reduces the stabilization demands on the assister's body and allows the assister(s) to position themselves optimally to gain leverage for greater feel.

Besides being able to stretch a person's lower body one-on-one, everyone will form in groups of three so that two people can assist one person. More hands assisting = more sophisticated movements in more planes.

We will practice free form stretching for the upper body. Adding the rotational vector to the upper body movements provides a new level of sophistication when assisting a person.

Analyzing Tissue Health

In this course, you will begin to identify the health of the tissue of the person you are assisting. Is the tissue normal, tense, accumulated dense fascia, scar tissue, or optimally healthy (aka "super" tissue)?

You will also begin to develop a feel for the health of all of the other tissues and functions of the body: ligaments, tendons, oxygenation, venous blood flow, arterial blood flow, cerebrospinal fluid, nerves, hormones, organ linings, lymphatic flow, bones, joints, cartilage, and lymph nodes.

Besides learning how to identify this in the person being assisting, you will also be provided with a chart to fill out as you are getting assisted. This is so you can know what others are feeling in your tissue, which would otherwise be very difficult for you to discover on your own.

Differentiation of Forces

There are many types of "resistance" to encounter when working on a person. What is it you're feeling? To name a few possibilities, resistance in the body can be differentiated as: fascial resistance, muscular strength, muscular tension, muscular tenseness, joint limitations, balancing muscle group's inability to shorten, and/or scar tissue.

Basic Problem Solving

Learn the basic problem-solving formula to achieve optimal gains in strength and flexibility in any muscle group, quickly. There is a much better way to problem solve chronically tight areas of the body. Rather than just hanging out in a pose, waiting for it to get better, apply the basic problem solving formula to address the issue in a fraction of the time.

...and more

Intermediate self stretches; mashing the hamstrings, quads, calves, and upper back; bone rotational interrelationships; five assisting choices

Course Details

• Level II is a two-day course, 8 hours each day
• All participants receive a certification manual

Course Details

• Level III is a two-day course, 8 hours each day
• Attendance is limited to participants approved by The Genius of Flexibility Center
• All participants receive a comprehensive 180 page manual

Course Objective

The purpose of ACT Level IV is to teach participants how to use GPT information to better help themselves and the people they work with. Participants will experience and identify the types from within themselves as well as from observations from people being those types. GPT lectures immerse participants into the Theory of Types.

Course Details

• Tuition: $2000
• Level IV Certification is a one week course (Monday - Sunday / 8am - 6pm)
• Level IV is taught by Bob Cooley and Elite Trainers
• Participants are assisted by an Elite Trainer (ET) for one hour each weekday
• ETs are assisted by two participants for one hour each weekday
• Attendance is limited to participants approved by The Genius of Flexibility Center
• All participants receive a certification manual
• This training is open for current clients from our centers to attend as guests. Guests may participate in the daily lectures. Guests do not attend the the morning GPT & RFST class, will not be assisted like the ET or ACT participants, and will not receive certification credit for the course. Tuition: $1500
• Public GPT lecture / participation occurs on Saturday night

Training Schedule

Monday - Friday

8:00 - 9:00 am	16 types of stretches to experience GPT. Four types of stretches each weekday and all 16 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
9:00 - 10:00 am	ETs assisted by two participants
10:00 - Noon	Two 45 minute GPT lectures (see topic list below)
Noon - 1:00 pm	Lunch Break
1:00 - 6:00 pm	Participants are assisted by an ET and one participant for one hour. ETs will also be working in private sessions with clients during this time frame and the one hour sessions for participants will be scheduled accordingly.

Saturday and Sunday

8:00 - 9:30 am	Cooley Yoga Class - GPT and RFST
9:30 - 10:00 am	Breakfast
10:00 - Noon	Group RFST assisting of ET and Participants
Noon - 1:00 pm	Lunch Break
1:00 - 4:00 pm	Three GPT Lectures (see topic list below)
4:00 - 6:30 pm	Dinner Break
6:30 - 8:00 pm	Saturday — Public GPT Lecture / Participation / Typing Sunday — Entertainment

Course Objective

The purpose of this course is to teach participants how to use different strategies and analytical tools to create a concordant plan to better help themselves and the people they work with. Strategy and analysis lectures will immerse participants into the four different colliding analysis data.

Course Details

• Tuition: $3500
• Level V Certification is a one week course (Monday - Sunday / 8 am - 6 pm)
• Level V is taught by Bob Cooley and Elite Trainers
• Participants are assisted by an Elite Trainer (ET) twice each weekday (two 1 hour sessions)
• ETs are assisted by participants for one hour each weekday
• Attendance is limited to participants approved by The Genius of Flexibility Center
• All participants receive a certification manual
• Public GPT lecture / participation occurs on Saturday night

Training Schedule

Monday - Friday

8:00 - 9:00 am	16 types of stretches to experience GPT. Four types of stretches each weekday and all 16 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
9:00 - 10:00 am	ETs assisted by participants
10:00 - Noon	Participants are assisted by ETs for one hour
Noon - 1:00 pm	Lunch Break
1:00 - 2:30 pm	Two Analysis and Strategy Lectures
2:30 - 6:00 pm	Participants are assisted by an ET for one hour. ETs will also be working in private sessions with clients during this time frame and the one hour sessions for participants will be scheduled accordingly.

Saturday and Sunday

8:00 - 9:30 am	Cooley Yoga Class - GPT and RFST
9:30 - 10:00 am	Breakfast
10:00 - Noon	Group RFST assisting of ET and Participants
Noon - 1:00 pm	Lunch Break
1:00 - 4:00 pm	Three Anaylsis and Strategy Lectures
4:00 - 6:30 pm	Dinner Break
6:30 - 8:00 pm	Saturday — Public GPT Lecture / Participation / Typing Sunday — Entertainment

Your Genius Show

The Genius of Flexibility Trainers
Becoming Flexible In All Ways