This post will explain the idea of Natural Movement and how I coach it.
Natural Movement is a health & fitness discipline based on the practice of ancestral human movement skills. It encompasses the skills of breathing, ground movement, walking, running, jumping, vaulting, balancing, crawling, climbing, lifting, carrying, throwing, and catching.
Although human beings lived in the wild for 97% of our existence on Earth, we no longer live in our natural ancestral setting. As domesticated humans, we have become physically fragile and lost the rich diversity of movement previously enjoyed by wild humans. Our daily movement repertoire now consists of a few commonly overused movement patterns. Essentially we have gone from being the gentleman on the left to be the gentleman on the right.
Modern common movement patterns are standing in line at the store, sitting behind a desk, sitting behind a car steering wheel, walking to the mailbox, and sitting on the couch at night watching a large glowing box. If you’re an athlete, you could add linear running and linear weightlifting as additional habitual movement patterns. Very rarely do adults in developed countries find themselves climbing trees, crawling, or spending any time on the floor. Never straying from these consistently limited movement patterns eventually “casts” your body into unnatural postures. You wouldn’t want to leave your broken arm in a cast any longer than necessary. Disuse of your whole body is a very similar process as what happens to a broken arm in a cast too long. It leads to health problems, physical dysfunction, and pain.
Natural Movement training aims to regain diverse evolutionary and biological movement patterns to restore and maintain health, fitness, well-being, happiness, and even a sense of freedom. Developing a Natural Movement practice sets a healthy baseline of agility, mobility, and flexibility to support a healthy lifestyle or additional athletic endeavors.
Natural Movement training is conducted one-on-one, in small group classes or large group classes. For one-on-one training, a movement assessment is conducted. Then a training plan is derived based on the results of the movement assessment. Small group and large group training sessions are conducted based on beginner, intermediate and advanced skills. Training is done outdoors. All training begins with a Natural Movement warmup, then proceeds to a period of skill introduction, then skill practice, then skill challenges. Skill challenges take the form of movement courses in which clients are required to use a combination of Natural Movement skills they have practiced to navigate a challenge course successfully. See the examples below.
How do you know if you should start a Natural Movement practice?
- Do you sit for work 6-8 hours per day?
- Do you have neck, back, hip, or knee pain even though you haven’t been injured in those areas?
- Do you have trouble getting up off the floor without using your hands?
- Do you find it difficult to stand on one leg for 30 seconds, and then the other, without losing your balance?
If you can say yes to any or all of these, you need to do something soon before your physical degradation gets any worse, no matter your age. It is especially crucial for people in their 40s and 50s. Things will not get any easier for you, and the degradation will only pick up speed if you don’t find a way to hold it off.
Practicing Natural Movement is simple and can be done every day. Ultimately, a Natural Movement practice can help restore a range of human movement patterns, which will make your body more robust and less prone to injury. There are different methods of learning Natural Movement. I teach a system called MovNat. It’s a straightforward, replicable process for teaching someone to move in varied ways, starting from extremely easy and progressing to more advanced movement. I will go more into more precise examples of MovNat movements in subsequent posts, or you can contact me directly via email or text with any questions. info@coachdsnaturalrunning.com or (813) 498-0226
Regards,
Coach Warren Dickey