What is Natural Movement?

A large part of finding out if a modern man would survive if they were transported back 200,000 years to the era of cavemen can be explained through our collaboration with Erwan Le Corre.

The founder of a physical fitness system based around natural movement, workouts that are closer to that of our ancestors, Erwan shone a light on not only the benefits of why building in more ‘natural’ fitness is physically beneficial, but also why gym-only fitness might not be giving you the best results – especially when it comes to sizing up against our ancestors!

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WHAT IS WRONG WITH MODERN, GYM-ONLY WORKOUTS?

Erwan Le Corre: “Where do I begin? If a person is only using the gym to work out, there is a lot they are missing out on when compared to the historic version of fitness.

This starts with the fact that a gym-only workout is both isolated and compartmentalised. When it comes to your muscles when using machine based work-outs, they are working in isolation. The human body isn’t meant to work in isolation but instead as a unit. Machines dictate and shrink movement patterns, and do not let the body move freely the way it is supposed to.

Couple that with the more repetitive, numbers based sets of the gym, and compartmentalised drills for strength, cardio and mobility – there is very little understanding of the practical nature of movement, and what has to be performed in the real-world to be physically adept and ready. Specifically programming for strength or endurance is absolutely fine, but if it’s all you do then it’s unnatural.

Finally, if you’re only working out in the gym, where is the fresh, clean air, the natural light and the horizon? If we were to bring a bunch of ancestors to a modern gym, they would want out right away.”

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WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF ADDING NATURAL MOVEMENT TO YOUR FITNESS REGIME?

Erwan Le Corre: “As mentioned, there is nothing wrong with training in a specific discipline or isolated part of your body in the gym, however adding natural movement into your weekly regime will bring with it benefits that are the opposite to the downsides of a gym-only fitness plan.

In a nutshell, these benefits are totally in line with what our ancestors had: real-world physical competency and preparedness. Natural movement is based on the full-range of human, evolutionarily natural movement skills that work your entire body as one cohesive unit.

As opposed to the isolation of a gym that benefits a specific muscle or goal, it is about being able to move and physically perform with the effectiveness and efficiency that our ancestors did, but also in ways the modern world also occasionally demands. These movement patterns and skills are universal to mankind’s survival strategies, and dating back to the beginning of time, will never be a fad or go out of fashion. They are a necessity.

This is a style of fitness that is most natural to the human body, so is one that should be factored into anyone’s fitness plans.”

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HOW DO YOU COMPARE AGAINST OUR ANCESTORS?

Feeling interested in pairing up natural movement with your current regime in the gym?

Well before you get going, find out how you currently compare to our ancestors by finding out what they could do.

From squatting for 30 minutes straight to running 10 miles in under 80 minutes, the fitness benchmarks of our primal forefathers can be found right here. The ideal set of goals to set as you take your fitness back to the Stone Age.

Erwan Le Corre is the founder of physical fitness system MovNat. For serious, methodical and scientific instruction on evolution-based natural Movement visit movnat.com.

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