Monday, November 2, 2009

Primal Movement Patterns

And while the law of 'competition' may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensure the survival of the fittest in every department. - Andrew Carnegie

There are seven primary movements that serve as the foundation for most movements we perform in life and sport. These movements were necessary for our ancestors to survive, prior to modern times. Anyone, who could not perform these patterns would have a limited chance of surviving in the wild. Fortunately, we have come a long way from having to hunt and gather our food but we still need to be able to perform these basic movement patterns in order to enjoy a higher quality of life with as little pain as possible.

Primary Movements
  1. Twist (rotation of the spine and hips)
  2. Pull (ex. pull-up)
  3. Push (ex. push-up or putting groceries in high cabinet)
  4. Squat
  5. Lunge
  6. Bend
  7. Gait (craw, walk, jog, sprint)

Most healthy people should be able to perform these movement patterns with just their body weight unless a injury has occurred. If you can already perform these movements with body weight the next progression is to add weight or seek out advance exercises.

Benefits of Primal Movement Training

  • Development of bio-mechancially sound general motor patterns (meaning you can move efficiently in many directions).
  • Prevention of orthopedic injury through improved static and dynamic postural engram programming.
  • Increased ability to focus of task or game strategy due to freedom from the physical body (your not a slave to pain or decrease range of motion throughout the body).
  • You have a greater opportunity to maximize your potential in sport and everyday life.

WOD (Workout Of The Day)

For 20 minutes complete as many sets as possible of:

400 meter run (.25 miles on a treadmill)

Max pull/chin-ups

Note the number of pull/chin-ups for each round.

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