I have subjected myself to terrible side-eye & public embarrassment, and I will keep doing it.

I have subjected myself to terrible side-eye & public embarrassment by crawling around on the ground like an idiot.

And I will keep doing it.

Why?

Well...

I live in 2-4 week experiments.

Our lives are the greatest experiment.

For the past 30 days, I have been indulging in animal flow / primal movement exercise for at least 1 minute a day.

And I do this often outside in the sun.

What does that mean?

People look at me like I am a god-damn zoo animal.

But I can’t deny the results:

My pushups have never felt as fluid, even when I was doing daily calisthenics.

Bodyweight dip rep PR has skyrocketed (over 2x'd in 30 days, no cap).

Massive control gains in handstands.

Mobility is off the charts:

- squats are deeper

- no more nagging upper hamstring tendon tingling when stretching

- wrists are f l e x y.

And even more so, scapular control has increased immensely.

That is only after 30 days.

I can't imagine what my results will be in 3 months, 1 year, or even 5 years.

Maybe I'll become George of the Jungle.

(I can hope)

What am I actually doing?

My wording of "animal flow and primal movement" is intentionally vague and broad.

Key thing: I don't limit myself.

But, I do FIVE primary styles of movement every time:

1. Crawling

2. Squatting

3. Traversing

4. Hip Hinging

5. Bending

Why these five? They hit all the zones that I need.

Let me break them down:

1. Crawling

Crawling is fundamental to humans, something we do before we walk. Naturally, we crawl as kids but once we graduate to bipedalism (moving on two feet), we rarely come back.

I began my crawling journey here, a video from one of my favorite movement channels, Strength Side: https://strengthside.com/blogs/blog/how-crawling-heals-the-body

Crawling showed me a PLETHORA of weaknesses that I had. And I believe that, in combination with the other 4 movements, it has strengthened those weak points. I credit crawling to 80 percent of my recent gains in pushing control and strength.

I recommend you to pull up the video mentioned above, and follow along with their video. You will find it alone is a shockingly great workout.

2. Squatting

The humble and all powerful squat is king.

If there is one thing that most people need more of in their life, it is squatting.

Personally...

I am apart of the long legs and especially long femur gang.

Aka, my genetics don't help me get into a deep squatting position.

As well, being a digital nomad, this means that I sit around at a computer doing work the majority of the day.

All of this leads to stiff hips and immobile ankles.

Getting into a deep squat can be tough, at least it was for me.

If it is difficult for you as well, I recommend you read [My Deep Squat Story](https://thebrookslagle.framer.website/blog/my-deep-squat-story) It generously outlines how I went from tipping over every time I went to get low to being able to hold a deep squat for over 2 minutes.

I continue to build squatting into my daily life, now more than every and in my practice especially.

3. Traversing.

I learned about traversing from rock climbing.

By definition, it means lateral movement.

Most of our lives we are moving in one or two plane of motion, forwards & backwards, and sometimes up & down.

Traversing laterally or on a side ways axis is something we rarely do.

When we need to go a different direction, most of the time we turn out body to face where we need to go.

But rarely do we every do movements like shuffling to the side.

Traversing is very common in a variety of things from animals to even off-road vehicles (iykyk).

I combine traversing with squatting & crawling, and even some handstand work.

Doing this will not only increase the strength in your legs and arms (depending on the movement), but also challenge your core in a way that is rarely done.

4. Hip Hinging

If squats are king, the hip hinge is queen.

Picking something up, whether it be during deadlift, or your phone is a vital part to being able to move.

The ability to bend over and pick up even our own body weight is something that we overlook.

This is especially true in single leg variations.

When I don't have access to the gym (as I currently do not), I mix in single leg deadlifts and RDLs with anything slightly heavy that I can find (mostly rocks and cinderblocks currently).

Single leg hip hinge is a real treat and wake up call for the body. Try it. You might be surprised.

5. Bending.

Bending is something that was mostly foreign to me for the past 19 years. (I am only 22 yr old so...)

I (and most of us) have been told to NOT bend your spine as you will get hurt. But that's simply not the case, and that logic is the primary reason why spinal injuries are so prevalent.

We are never told to be strong in bent positions.

Bending is the general term I give spinal flexion and the ability to handle weight.

Currently, I do forward bending in the form of Jefferson curls and backward bending with bridges.

I am FAR stiffer and weaker on the backward bends, because of this I am trying to prioritize this training each day.

If you want to age well, do bends while you are YOUNG.

Don't wait to strengthen your spine, do it now and future you will thank you.

In the end, I do roughly 15 mins minimum of combined movement of this daily. Most of the time it is ~10 mins of crawling and traversing on all fours and the rest is spent in active stretches like squatting, hinging, and bending.

I implore your try some of these movements out. You might surprise yourself on how strong you are in some movements, but yet so stiff and weak in others.

I hope you enjoyed reading.

P.S. My dm's are always open to chat about this stuff! Outside of web design and development, I love fitness and movement. hit me up here: https://twitter.com/thebrookslagle

KEEP GOING

B.S.