Practice these animal movements to increase the power, strength and mobility of your lower body in a dramatic fashion.
Animal Movements have a history of thousands of years going all the way back to ancient Shaolin Temple and ancient India (Kalaripayattu).
One thing the mainstream fitness culture has not caught up with yet is the massive utility of animal movements. It has a lot to do with the modern mind's limited and simplistic understanding of movement and exercise in general.
Yes – today we have a limited understanding of movement. Exercise science has many things right but it also likes to see everything as simple levers and pulleys.
The proof is evident: when people train in the gym, all they think they should do is one-dimensional up-and-down movements. That's literally the only thing that makes sense.
Of course movements like that are beneficial and important to do, but movements such as those alone produce very stiff bodies and limited athletic performance.
Animal movements at first glance do not even make much sense to most people. People ponder: "What muscle are you targeting?".
The answer? You are training the body as a whole while emphasizing different parts of the body.
Animal Movement Strength Training is one of the best ways to learn how to move the body as one unit. What we did to the ancient Animal Movements is that we expanded them to a next level and turned the training style into a real method of strength training.
If you look at nature, nothing is one dimensional or limited there. Animals flow. In nature everything flows.
You are part of nature – why do you move like a stiff block instead of flowing like water?
1. Ostrich Walk
The Ostrich Walk is a dynamic and active moving pike stretch focusing on the hamstrings, calves and lower back.
The Ostrich Walk mainly develops flexibility of the hamstrings. The bouncing is also great at stimulating the fascia and tendons and restoring their elastic quality to support efficient free movement.
2. Elephant Walk
The Elephant Walk is like a moving straddle pike. It works very similarly to the Ostrich except it emphasizes different parts of the hamstrings and the wider you go the more the adductors are recruited.
An excellent movement for opening and mobilizing the hips. Your lower back also gets stretched.
3. Indian Elephant Walk
The Indian Elephant is a low squat walk variation. The pronounced forward learn posture and bouncing steps target particularly the mobility of the groin and inner thigh region. You will also develop strong glutes and endurance to stay in low stances.
This is way more difficult than it looks when performed for long periods and develops very strong legs as a result.
4. Crane Walk
Crane Walk is a walking front jump kick sequence. This is a great movement for functional core stability, allowing you to throw your legs in the air swiftly and effortlessly.
The movement is fantastic for dynamic hamstring flexibility, explosive hip flexor strength and balance.
The origin? The movie called... The Karate Kid! The movement is still super effective though.
5. Feather Legs
Feather legs is a squatting tip-toe walk that develops great dexterity and lightness to your lower body. This happens by learning to use your ankle and knee joints as an integrated springy system.
After training this movement, you will develop a powerful set of quadriceps which are able to support you in almost any position and super strong calves & ankles.
6. Goose Walk
Goose Walk is a low toe squat walk emphasizing upper back posture and shoulder mobility. Due to the upright posture and differently placed center of mass, goose walk is significantly harder than the "easier" duck walk variation.
Goose walk gives you the ability to move and support yourself in the highest degrees of knee flexion restoring your functionality and control in low squat positions. The dynamic movement also intensely works the ankles and their stability.
Released: MASSIVE Expansion to Movement 20XX Method!
This week, we also released the biggest update to Movement 20XX Method to date.
The purpose of this advanced expansion is to cement Movement 20XX as the most complete movement training method available.
This is a massive update featuring:
- 30 new animal movements
- 5 new routines
- A new methodology lesson
- 32 new videos and over 3 hours of video
The update is more suited for intermediate/advanced members who have already completed at least month 3 of Movement 20XX.
These are movements me and Samuli have been working on the most in the last 6 months - movements include many unique and extraordinary creations and classics from over the years.
If you already own the program, it's 100% free and you can just log in. You can learn more about the entire method at Movement20XX.com
Stay strong.
