The Ido Portal Workout You Can Do Anywhere
Movement.
We often take this word for granted, not realizing its importance and impact in our everyday lives. We see movement simply as an action, but, for others, the word bears a deeper meaning, a lifestyle.
Not too long ago, Ido Portal launched a small community that sought to challenge popular beliefs in movement and fitness. The community brought together athletes of all shapes, sizes, disciplines, sports, and backgrounds in order to understand the body from a holistic, multidisciplinary point of view--that is, by looking at the body like a single entity, much greater than the sum of its parts.
As a result, Portal was able to develop a cross-disciplinary, almost universal, approach to fitness, combining information, practices, and philosophies from all over the world. He draws inspiration from yoga, martial arts, physical therapy, body building, dance, gymnastics, and the list goes on.
All these bits and pieces are what make the Ido Portal Method so unique.
Isolation. Integration. Improvisation.
Isolation is all about targeted movement. Exercises that fall under this category include squats, bench presses, and even bicep curls.
Ido Portal approaches isolation training with a different mindset. He espouses a philosophy based on efficiency of movement as opposed to the traditional thinking of more weight, more reps, and more sets. Efficiency of movement should always be the goal because quality beats quantity anytime.
Integration is like forming sentences out of words. In the field of movement, a pushup is no longer just a push up. Rather, it is an exercise that flows into an interconnected series of movement patterns.
What integration teaches us is that movements can be combined into pre-planned sequences, just like a choreographed dance. “Hardness and rigidity are not always the answer. Sometimes it’s softness than can undo maximal hardness in order to reach and improvisational capacity,”.
Improvisation is the final component of Ido’s philosophy. It is only after you have mastered the first two, isolation and integration, that you can be ready for improvisation.
In fact, the best part about Portal’s school of thought is that no one can ever truly be a “master”--not even Ido himself. Because so many disciplines and fields are involved, there’s always so much to learn.
There’s a great opportunity to bridge different movements by mixing and matching them in a single cohesive flow. That way, each routine has the capacity to be different every time!
After learning so much from Ido, we created our very own 5-10 minute Ido Portal movement flow that you can do anywhere involving 10 movements.
10 Minute Ido Portal Movement Flow
Squat Hold
Sideways Travelling Primate
Beast Reach
Queda De Rins (Qdr)
Role
Au Cortada
Rotation Into Low Bridge
Crab Reach
Side Kick Through
Lizard Crawl
Squat Hold
How To Do It:
Stand with feet a little over shoulder width apart.
Squat and bend your knees close to 90 degrees.
Hold for your desired time.
Sideways Travelling Primate
How To Do It:
Start in a deep squat position with knees bent past 90 degrees. Place your hands on the floor, directly in front of you and shoulder width apart.
Turn your head to the right and have your right leg slightly in front of you with the knee slightly extended. This will serve as your starting position.
Shift your weight to the right. Slide both hands passed your right foot.
Jump sideways to the right. You hands should not leave the floor.
Land with your left foot between the hands. Your legs should be in the same position as Step 2.
Repeat and switch sides.
Do everything the same but towards the left this time.
To get the most out of this movement, keep your body low! If it’s still too hard, try shuffling your feet instead of jumping.
Beast Reach
How To Do It:
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and crouch down. Stretch your arms forward and place your hands on the floor in front of you. Your head should be right between your arms.
Extend your legs and bring your torso forward until both shoulders are aligned over your hands in a full plank position; lift your bent right knee to the outside of your right elbow.
Keeping your hands planted, reverse the motion back to crouch position.
Repeat with the left leg.
Animal flow is a brilliant ground-based bodyweight training system that teaches several elements you can find inside the Ido Portal method, particularly the locomotion patterns.
The Beast Position is the foundation for may yoga movements and is the prerequisite for many other movements in Ido portal.
Queda De Rins (QDR)
How To Do It:
Start in a deep squat position.
Place your hands on the left side, shoulder width apart and perpendicular to your body.
Shift all your weight onto the left side.
Create a tripod with your arms and your head in between. Your left ear should be touching the ground.
Flex your core and lift your legs up off the ground.
Flex your knees and get them both as close as possible to your right elbow.
Repeat on the opposite side.
Of all the movements, QDR and Au Cortada are the more challenging ones to master. Ido Portal comes from many practices including capoeira, and these two movements are the foundation of this brazilian dance-fighting style.
Both exercises require a high degree of strength, flexibility, and mobility. It is an absolute must to stretch your wrists and thoracic spine prior to doing this!
“It is not about training, it is about moving.”
Au Cortada
How To Do It:
Start in an upright position with your knees slightly bent. This will serve as your starting position.
Shift your weight to the right and put most of your weight on your right leg. Your right-side knee should automatically flex further.
Place your hands on your right side, shoulder width apart, and facing your backside.
Put all your weight on your arms and whip your legs up in the air. Your core should really be engaged at this point.
Land with your left foot first then your right. Disengage your hands from the floor and you will be back to the starting position.
Repeat on the other side.
This move should look similar to a somersault. The Au Cortado is a deadly move in capoeira, requiring tremendous shoulder strength and core control. If someone hit you with this move in real life, you’d probably get knocked out cold in an instant.
Rotation Into Low Bridge
How To Do It:
Start in a deep squat position. This will serve as your starting position.
Place one hand behind you so that you have three points of contact with the ground (both feet and your left hand).
Abduct your right arm so that it meets your left arm. This will force your back to arch and your head to drop between your arms; your stomach should be pointed to the ceiling and your should feel a deep burn in your glutes and back.
Reverse the movement until you are back in the starting position.
Repeat starting with the opposite arm this time.
Rotations Into Low Bridge can be quite challenging if you lack spinal and shoulder flexibility and mobility. You can do a simpler variation from a standing position.
Stay a comfortable distance away from a wall and do low bridges using the wall instead of the floor. This will help you train your back to be flexible enough to do this movement anytime and anywhere.
Crab Reach
How To Do It:
Sit on floor with your knees bent and feet flat. Place both palms on floor behind you with fingers pointing away from body. Lift your butt one or two inches off floor.
Raise your right arm overhead as you arch your back and lift your hips off floor as high as possible.
Lower your hips towards the floor and place your right hand down, still keeping your butt lifted.
Repeat with your left arm.
Sidekick Through
How To Do It:
Start in a 6 point stance. Your hands, knees, and toes should be making contact with the ground. Your shoulders should be stacked over your hands and your hips should be stacked over your knees.
Get into a 4 point stance by lifting your knee at least one to two inches off the ground. Maintain the same form. This will serve as your starting position.
This is where it gets tricky. You may refer to the video if needed. Bring your right knee to your left elbow.
Rotate and open your body to the right. Pull your left arm back off the ground, opening your entire body to the teft.
Kick your right leg through the left side. Your left elbow should be pulled back and your left leg should be straight out with your toes pointed. Try not to touch the floor with your legs. Your abdomen and your core should be heavily engaged at this point. Feel the burn.
Return back to the starting position.
Use the opposite leg and arm.
When doing this, remember to take things slow. Focus on the right form for each individual body part and isolate each movement mindfully.
Lizard Crawl
How To Do It:
Start in a straight arm plank position with your shoulders stacked above your hands.
Bend your elbows and get into pushup position. This will make you close to the ground like a lizard.
Lift your right leg and bring your knee close to your right elbow. This part will test your thoracic mobility and hip flexibility.
Slide your right hand out and around in front you until your arms are straight above your head. Your palms should be parallel to the floor when doing this. This part will test your shoulder strength and mobility.
Lift your left leg and bring your knee close to your right elbow.
Same as Step 4, slide your left hand out and around in front you until your arms are straight above your head.
Repeat this until you’ve reached your desired distance.
If you want a challenge, work this movement backwards.
Conclusion
Know that all of your weaknesses will probably be exposed early with this type of movement.
While all the movements above can take your strength, flexibility, and mobility to the next level, a lot of them require a lot of work to get right.
You’ll truly be humbled by the amount of integrated mobility, stability, and strength needed to complete the moves above. Unlike most systems that can be done right out of the gate, the Ido Portal method works your body with 3-dimensional movements that require a certain level of proprioception, range of motion, and muscular activation most people have never experienced.
The goal of the Ido Portal system isn’t to suck people into some newfangled fitness craze but simply to bring all kinds of people together to do what our bodies were meant to do--which is to move!
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