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.

Essential Skill: Carry Your Own Bag

Why exercise?  It boils down to being a more effective person in my mind.  To that end, how do you know if you are effective as a human?  By being physically able to make your way through life without relying on others or becoming overly taxed.  As hunter gatherers on the plains 30,000 years ago, the set of physical skills we needed are different (and more challenging) than what we need today.  We still run into daily situations where being a little stronger, faster, quicker or more conditioned in general could mean the difference between life and death (or less dramatically, sweating through your dress shirt or not).  To address these modern challenges, I propose a few training standards that we should all strive to meet.

Sir, do you need help with your bag?

In no particular order, the first essential skill is for you to be able to comfortably move a carry-on sized piece of luggage up a few flights of stairs and lift it into the overhead bin. The target weight for a full carry on is 40 pounds.  Despite having handles, it will be an awkward load since all the weight will usually be in one arm for the stair climb so working out with asymmetric weight exercises would be good for this (dumbbells, kettlebells, one-arm pushups, pistols, etc).  To lift your bag into the overhead, you'll need to clean and press it above your head.  Learning to clean a medicine ball, sandbag, or other odd shaped object and then pressing it is key.  Barbell or kettlebell clean & press is good to but you'll find that the lack of a solid gripping point on an odd shaped item develops better real world strength.

Chivalry isn't dead but there may not be a strong man around when you need him.