Correction on my above post. I started in July 2020 not May.
At the time I was one of Geoff's private coaching clients and he started me on the plan. Primary objectives were:
- Practice and learn deep abdominal breathing in body and head positions - breathing skills carryover to all lifting. Used the same breathing skill in bracing before each rep in the main lifting program.
- Vestibular 'calibration' - I remember telling Geoff that after only a few days I felt like my limbs were shorter. Not sure how to better describe it. Try for yourself. Something about the breathing with the head movement in each position let's your nervous system know it's "ok" to be in that position. Seemed to facilitate my nervous system. I bet @Geoff Neupert has a better description of what I'm trying to explain here.
- The head control helped me with a pinched nerve issue. I sit at a desk all day. The nods were part of the strategy to counteract hours of poor posture.
- Core. Dead bugs. Side Planks.
- Warming up the nervous system for primary training session. Getting head and neck mobilized and in the right position prior to lifting.
I followed the progression outlined in the program. Pretty straight forward process. I slowly increased the total number of breaths/ reps in each of the stages until I was ready to move to the next stage and then the next phase.
I did the plan daily for about 8 months. After that I moved to 3-4 times per week. Trick to keeping it going, for me, was that a full session takes only about 20 minutes. I also have a 'lite' version which consists of my favorite movements that I use when I'm pressed for time or only want to spend 10 minutes.
I have phases and levels that I'm partial to and feel have the most benefit for me. Honestly those are the positions and movements that are most missing from the movement patters of my everyday office life.
Also, for me, it's not about mobility as much as it's about breathing, nervous system reset and it just makes me feel better. My wife and I joke around when we are maybe lacking a little motivation before training - there has never been a time when finishing a P3 session did not make us feel better. Feels good every time.