Different load, different experience

I’ve been posting several videos lately of very specific joint movements, partly because it never ceases to amaze me how challenging they actually are! But different loading situations (body weight, resistance band, no load, etc) will create different experiences. When I do the ankle circles I posted about previously, they no longer feel all that challenging.

So this time, I’ve changed the load to one light resistance band, and no body weight (see video below). Now when you watch my ankle, you can see clearly the jerky movement that occurs, particularly in the second set of circles when I’m coming around to the front and medially (to the right). Even though this jerkiness is present in the closed-chain ankle circles I did previously, I’m much less aware of it. But shifting the load changes my mental focus, and my awareness of the movement itself.

Feel free to try these ankle circles for yourself, or try another movement/exercise that you do often, and change something about it — speed, load (different amount of weight, different direction, etc). How does that affect the movement itself?