Go for a Crawl

"Going for a Run" is an expression that most of us instantly understand. When you say this, you intend to put on different clothes & special shoes, go outside (or jump on a treadmill) and shuffle along at a rapid rate until you get tired and sweaty. The goal is exercise for health, conditioning or body adaptation to accomplish a distance/time goal. Going for a run equals weight loss and healthiness in the minds of most people.

He makes it look so easy

It's really not the best way to lose weight or keep it off though. It's boring for many people. It's damaging if you do it incorrectly (you actually do need to learn how to run). Watch people's faces when they jog and you'll see many pained expressions or at best blank, zombie faces. People dread to do their run, but they feel compelled by social norms that it is the best thing to do for exercise.

How about mixing a "Go for a Crawl" day into your workout routine? If you're training for a race, consider this a cross-training day. If you run for weight management, this will replace a run in your weekly training schedule. If you're into conditioning for some other sport, crawling in the grass will be a great augment to any sport. You will get cardio and strength training in one activity.

What do you do? Go to a field & crawl around like a bear in the grass. Repeat until you are tired and sweaty. That's it.

Maybe don't crawl until you bleed. Watch your wrists though and go slowly.

It is silly so you will laugh at yourself. It is difficult on your coordination, balance and muscles so you'll get a workout. Kids will want to join you because it will be funny to them too. Other adults will question you about it and probably want to try it themselves too. It's a natural activity even if it feels a bit unnatural at first. Crawling is fun so you'll want to do it and wanting to exercise is key to reaching your goals.

When you use all your muscles at once, you get the best possible workout.

La Méthode Naturelle

 Être fort pour être utile (Being strong to be useful)
- Georges Hébert

Contrary to what Nike might tell you, physical fitness training is not a new concept.

Georges Hébert was a French physical education thinker and instructor in the early 20th century.  He was inspired by the seemingly natural physical prowess and physique of indigenous populations. In his mind, these people had no instruction on diet or exercise yet had a superior level of fitness to people living a modern lifestyle. Other thinkers in Hébert's time were proposing physical training concepts and programs prompted by public health and military preparedness. His philosophy strove to mimic the behavior patterns of native people by centering on a return to the basic functioning and enhancement of natural human skills (La Méthode Naturelle). The 10 basic movements in his mind were walking, running, jumping, crawling, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, defending and swimming; a standard training session would involve a combination of these elements.

Old school obstacle course training inspired by Georges Hébert

USMC obstacle course training, Parkour, MovNat, Fartlek among others are all modern implementations of La Méthode Naturelle.  Essentially the principle is that learning to master obstacles in the world around you provides all the physical stimulation we need to achieve a fully functioning human body.  Individual components of fitness like strength, endurance, or flexibility are not trained in isolation but as a byproduct of developing useful skills.  Movements aren't scaled for age or sex. There is no end-state fitness goal. You listen to your body and practice everyday striving for greater efficiency in movement. Physique is also a byproduct of focusing on improving movement.

Fit bodies are not just for men

To Hébert, a strong, agile body was a useful body. Doing stuff when and how you want to do something was the purpose of training. Not just pullups for stronger arms but for better climbing ability.  Not just better climbing ability as an end-state but to better scale something for a vantage point or to escape. The underlying purpose of life enhancement permeates all physical training sessions.

Think about what drives you to train your body.