Animal Flow | The Movement Workout You Need To Try
The Crawl…Walk…Run theory is back and it’s time to use it in your training
If you think back to the primary movements learnt during our first years, our movements are initiated by an attraction to sounds, sights, smells and other people that lead us to begin a series of rolls, slides, crawls and sometimes falls. These movements are about as natural as they come – an animal flow!
Our explorative nature lends us to increase our range of motion, strength increases as muscles develop and coordination comes alive to support our movement and the mass we are supporting.
Eventually, crawling and rolling leads to walking and running. Our playtime in childhood years lends us to more free style movement like swinging from bars, rolling, jumping, tumbling and chasing, all with amazing pain free mobility. The amazing thing is, this is all part of our natural intelligence system.
We were born to move these ways.
So, what happened? Things turn south however, when we are encouraged to sit.
Instead of continuing on a path of healthy, flowing and healing movement patterns, we begin restricting movement, limiting our energy output (usually with excess energy intake, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish!) and suppressing our natural tendency to experience a regular and consistent free flow of energy through movement.
…Eat, sleep, move and repeat…
If we think back even further than our development as infants or babies, to our ancient ancestral beings, we naturally imagine burly, strong, ape-like creatures wearing loin cloths, catching their kill, gnawing on meaty shanks while in a deep squat and living in caves. Our hunter gatherer ancestors moved extremely regularly between chasing game, collecting and foraging for food and shelter, occasional migration and evading their predators.
Back in the day, we required significant movement for the purpose of survival in all of these respects. Between our less dominant position on the food chain and the necessity to ‘catch and/or kill’ every meal, much unlike this modern day lifestyle we live in where food can be ordered and delivered while we sit in the comfort of our heated homes - movement was absolutely essential for day to day subsistence.
All of their movements were organic, mindful, purpose driven, orchestrated by a body and mind that was graced with awesome biomechanics as a result of an enviable diet and lifestyle of functional movement – the everyday real life movement workout.
Animal flow movement is not limited to rolling around and swinging from a bar like a primate. This type of movement, in a modern day sense encompasses a generalist way of moving, whereby you allow your body to flow - bending, hinging, pushing, pulling, squatting, crawling, carrying, jumping, lifting and rotating as we are more than capable and ‘designed’ to do.
Why move this way?
It is not without mentioning that primal movement should be stemmed from the foundations of breath. As taught in some styles of yoga,
“movement should be initiated by the breath to allow intense connection with the flow.”
Moving in a primal way allows us to increase movement capability utilising a playful, fun, safe and body-aware approach.
"…We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing…"
So, do I start moving like a monkey when I train? Sort of…
Animal flow primal movement is a non-limiting, generalised movement pattern. There is no real necessity for a program. No recommendation of repetitions, sets, load or volume like the modern day workout routine. You need only consider frequency as the important element - as often as possible.
If you are looking for an Animal Flow style program, this is an amazing program that I still follow after 4 years and will be using for years to come. A highly recommended resource from the Movement Guru!
It is essentially play. We can get so much benefit with a lower risk of injury if we move back to an exploration of flowing movement, as intense or placid as is desired.
Here are a 10 basic Animal Flow walking patterns to include in your next session or warm-up:
To perform these movements with a high level of control, body awareness and focus is the goal.
All good professional movement coaches and athletes use and re visit these fundamental calisthenics, gymnastics and primal movement patterns to perform better throughout such a broad range of competitive areas.
Here are 10 more Basic Strength and Mobility based primal movement patterns to develop within your movement workout.
These are just a few fundamental animal flow patterns that can lead into some awesome free flowing sequences when we can link them together.
Try to perfect the basics first!
Whether you are resting in a position, doing repetitive movements or moving with added weight , there are a few fundamentals to remember:
Be mindful
Be cognisant and aware of your body’s current ability and state of functioning. If you jump forward and skip these basic patterns you are setting yourself up for injury.
Stay grounded
Progress can be slow but also rewarding. To feel your body move in new ways, or even how you ‘used to move’, is just an extremely liberating thing.
Get a coach
YouTube can be your best friend with getting fast information about movements and training, but getting a knowledgeable coach will ensure correct technique and cues that you may not be able to see yourself. Adult Gymnastics is an awesome place to get similar style training based around mobility and technique first and foremost. There are also so many great resources for improving long term mobility, this one is my go-to that I have been using for years!
Move often
Everyday. Even 10 minutes of an animal flow will be effective for combating sedentary lifestyle effects, improve postural alignment, blood flow, mood and a plethora of other benefits. You might even get a six pack!
Remember, to achieve something you’ve never had you have to do something you’ve never done. Next time you’re moving and sweating, lifting and shifting or bending and mending, let that age old saying, ‘you have to learn to crawl before you can learn to walk’, resonate in your mind.
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