3 Levels of Locomotion You Need to Master

April 8, 2023 by VAHVA Fitness

3 levels of locomotion everyone has to master for the sake of our physical development. This is all it takes!

If you look at the animal kingdom or creatures in general, they have many different methods of locomotion.

Some animals move without limbs crawling on the ground, meanwhile most mammals move on all fours.

We as human beings have the ability to mimic almost any animal and move on a variety different ways. 

Genetically, we were designed to move on two feet (bipedal locomotion), on all fours (quadrupedal locomotion), no limbs at all (limbless locomotion) and everything between.

When we grow up, we tend to focus only on 3 major alignments: sitting, lying and standing forgetting the rest of the ways we can move and align ourselves.

As a result we grow stiff and limited. We get old.

How to combat this? We need to start moving the body as nature intended.

Here is how you do it:
 
In Movement 20XX Method, we have categorized all flow movements into three categories: high flow, low flow and ground flow movements.


Different locomotion patterns can also be categorized depending on how many limbs are used.


These include:

- Quadrupedal movements (4 limbs)

- Tripedal (3 limbs)

- Bipedal movements (two limbs)

- Unipedal movements (1 limb)

- Limbless locomotion


We use this categorization sometimes as well but we quickly noticed the high flow, low flow and ground flow to be the easiest and best way to make sense of locomotion patterns as a training system.


This is because a lot of movements transition continuously from one limb to another. For example a lot of high flow movements where you are standing up move continuously between unipedal and bipedal locomotion.


Even some movements we've recently added to Movement 20XX Method transition from quadrupedal pattern to a bipedal patterns. 


In some ground flow movements, you are also basically using your limbs but just dragging the rest of the body on the floor. It just makes no sense to call these movements anything other than ground movements.


For these reasons, we came up with high flow, low flow and ground flow categorization that has made almost perfect sense and has allowed to practice locomotion patterns with the most utility.


1. Ground Flow

ground flow movement 20xx

Ground flow stands for the movements and locomotion patterns where a part of your body in addition to the endpoints of your limbs is touching the ground.


It can mean your back, stomach, shoulders or forearms. In many movements, your limbs are assisting and creating force but parts of the rest of your body are still in contact with the floor.


These movements include different crawls, rolls, ukemis and so on. A lot of break dance movements are like this as well. This is the least practiced and the least common category but something that should be taken seriously.


Especially when we get older and lose touch with the ground, the ground can teach a lot about ourselves, our bodies and our ability to move.

2. Low Flow

low flow movement 20xx

Low flow is by far the most popular category and the most beneficial for us to practice. This is because as humans we spend the most of our time standing up and do not get enough training low on the floor.


These movements include all the common quadrupedal movements such as the cat walk, monkey walk, lizard crawl and countless others.


In the Movement 20XX Expansion that we just released, most movements fall into this category.


By practicing these movements, you will develop the most amount of strength and mobility in your entire body, especially the upper body although the lower body movements are incredibly effective as well.

3. High Flow

high flow movement 20xx

High flow movements include movements such as different pirouettes, jumps and kicks. All of these different movements you do standing up.


Most forms of dance fall into this category - you are standing on your feet and performing different movements with your arms, shoulders, core and legs.


Qigong is also dominantly performed standing up. As humans, in addition to sitting and lying, the standing up posture is the most popular alignment you can take.


The benefits will be numerous with all of these 3 movement categories. If you want to make the body strong beyond belief, spend more time working on the low and ground flow movements. The high flow movements are amazing for limberness and coordination.


We just updated Movement 20XX Method with the biggest update we have ever done. 30 new movements, a new methodology lesson, 5 new routines and over 3 hours of new material.


The update is free for all existing members and free for the new members right now. You can learn more about the entire method at Movement20XX.com


Stay strong.


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samuli jyrkinen

About the author 

Samuli Jyrkinen

Samuli is the ninja behind the scenes (photography, videography, websites, program platforms and more). He has been training religiously for over a decade and has a firm grasp of physical and mental fitness. You will find our story here.

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