For about a year now, I have been interested in MovNat style training and primal movement. There is a whole new movement in the fitness world that some call Evolutionary Fitness which encompasses much of this. Without going into a whole lot of detail some of the basic ideas are that human beings are "designed" to be proficient at running, jumping, climbing, lifting, throwing, swimming, balancing, carrying, defending, and quadrupedal movement. One of the fundamentals is that these movements should be rooted in functionality. I think of it like this: it is great to be able to do 20 pull ups, but what functional use are those pull ups if I can not use them to actually get on top of an obstacle? If my life depended on me being able to climb up and on top of something it would be meaningless if all I could do was get my chin above the ledge. Being able to run 5 miles around a track is a good achievement but can I run those 5 miles on uneven surfaces, maybe wet surfaces or rocky surfaces? Can I do it in the dark? Lifting weights in the comfort of a gym, with symmetrical objects will make me stronger but does it translate into being able to use that strength when it counts? Can I lift an odd shaped object, like a human being, and carry them to safety?
A program designed around the principals of natural movement attempt to build a human being that is not only strong and healthy, but also able to deal with all challenges found in the real world. To quote the founder of MovNat, Erwan LeCorre, "You are not beach ready because your body shape looks good, but when you can run, swim, and carry someone out of the water."
So I have been exploring my own fitness program and attempting to develop a program based around natural movement and the principals of functionality in real world scenarios. I started by going out to some of the beautiful, local parks in Austin and the rocky trails of the Greenbelt. The first thing I noticed was that barefoot running is a completely different animal when there are obstacles in your path like rocks, logs, loose dirt etc. It is also a different kind of running when you have to traverse inclines and negotiate steep declines. Running on a trail that requires you to duck under and jump over things is a completely different experience from putting in a couple of miles on the track or around the neighborhood.
Plyometric jumps, or box jumps are a staple of CrossFit workouts. This is an exercise where you jump up and down from a box repeatedly for a set number of repetitions. I have done this countless times in the gym, on boxes of 30 plus inches in height. Translating this movement into nature requires a whole host of skills that the gym environment does not necessarily demand. Nature requires balance and accuracy. Imagine a large rock or a tree branch. How do you jump and land on these objects? They are not symmetrical. They do not have flat surfaces. Chances are when you jump on a rock you are landing on a surface that is extremely uneven. Jumping on a tree branch and your landing surfaces is uneven, and moving! This kind of jumping requires the ability to land accurately and with balance, to be able to "stick" the landing or be able to land and move immediately to the next object.
Natural movement applications of climbing were and are an humbling experience for me. Erwan LeCorre explains that in MovNat training pull ups are really just the first part of a climbing application. I am pretty good at pull ups, both kipping and strict. I can even get a few weighted pull ups. But I found myself struggling to get on top of a tree branch. I could pull my chin up to the top of the branch, but that was about as far as it went. It was at this exact point that I realized my gym training just was not enough. Pull up bars are nice and smooth, perfectly round, and a comfortable width. Tree branches and rock ledges are not.
Luckily I have found some good natural movement training partners through https://www.facebook.com/groups/austinnaturalmovement. The group is headed up by a great guy who has experience training with the founder of the MovNat method. We get together twice a week for training sessions with people of all skill and fitness levels. Through these sessions I have begun to re-learn the functional movements of the human body. I really recommend this group to you if you live in the Austin area and are interested in this kind of thing. You can also find us on MeetUp at: http://www.meetup.com/austinnaturalmovement/
We are also lucky to have MovNat instructor Clifton Harski coming to the Austin area in late October for a 1 day MovNat seminar. The seminar is limited to 14 people and will fill up fast so I suggest you register asap. I am registered and can not wait for the experience. You can find more information here: http://www.eventbee.com/v/movnat1dayaustinoct30
The last thing I want to add in this blog post is the natural movement is extremely fun. We spend so much of our lives being serious adults who have serious adult responsibilities. We very rarely do things simply because they feel great and are great fun. Even with our workouts we have a serious mentality. We go to the gym because we want to lose weight, or reduce our blood pressure, or get stronger, or look better naked. All of these are great goals but we should also seek the experience of cutting loose and having fun. Exploring natural movement makes you feel like a kid again. Essentially it is the kind of exercise you got as a kid: running, jumping, shouting, throwing things, shadow boxing, and climbing trees. I think of it as recess for adults. Wouldn't you like to go back to recess?
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