• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Protein Powder
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Creatine
      • AG1 Review
    • Equipment
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

Free the Zoo Humans: Workouts and Wisdom From Erwan Le Corre

Are you a wolf, or a chihuahua? Erwan Le Corre thinks you're a wolf, and he wants to help you feel like one, too.

Mindith Rahmat

Written by Mindith Rahmat Last updated on January 31, 2015

When Erwan Le Corre first came on board as one of our featured coaches a few years back, he brought a whole new perspective on fitness and training. Erwan’s system is unlike many fitness trends out there, and it’s no surprise that his message has caught on and spread like wildfire over the last decade.

When Erwan Le Corre first came on board as one of our featured coaches a few years back, he brought a whole new perspective on fitness and training. Erwan’s system is unlike many fitness trends out there, and it’s no surprise that his message has caught on and spread like wildfire over the last decade.

What Is MovNat?

Erwan is the founder of MovNat, an innovative system that encourages people to reconnect with their movement roots. Erwan explained his vision for MovNat in part one of our interviews, The Roots of MovNat:

My mission with MovNat is like a move nation. A nation of people who would wake up and every day do some natural human movement. Imagine a nation and the empowerment, on a personal level, a communal level, a national level, if every day people were to run, jump, climb, and do all those things solo or together. Imagine the radical change of energy, of health, and think about it in America.

A Movement Revolution

MovNat is based on the idea that what lies at the basis of all fitness is human movement. The thirteen basic movements taught in MovNat are:

  1. Running
  2. Balancing
  3. Jumping
  4. Crawling and Rolling
  5. Climbing
  6. Lifting
  7. Carrying
  8. Catching
  9. Walking
  10. Swimming
  11. Throwing
  12. Grappling
  13. Striking

erwan le corre, movnat, natural movement, featured coach

Obviously, training these movements is much different from typical globo-gym fare. Erwan distinguished his approach from mainstream fitness trends in part two of our interview:

The commercial fitness industry, what we see on TV and in magazines, has most people believing that being in shape is about looking fit and not being fit. It’s about discipline and pushing yourself hard so you can burn calories for a weight loss kind of thing, mostly for cosmetic, superficial results.It is mechanistic and reductionist. It is such a radical impoverishment of our true potential.

I’m sorry, but it’s absurd. What is the way a wild tiger, eagle, or horse stay fit? Do they go to a gym, isolating muscles and doing cardio on a treadmill? I know it makes people laugh because it is laughable. I have a question: why would it be any different in us?

What they do is they practice a full range of their own species-specific movement. The horse will run and jump. The tiger will also walk and crawl, balance, climb, jump. The eagle will fly. That’s all because of evolution, or creation if that is your personal belief.

In any case, the reason those animals are the way they are and move the way they do is that it’s just their nature. They don’t come up with super complicated, sophisticated drills presented in fitness experiments. It’s something completely basic, yet powerfully effective and real.

This might all sound philosophically sound, but what does it look like in real life? If you’re wondering how to apply the MovNat approach in your gym, home, or other workout space, look no further than the MovNat workouts Erwan wrote for us.

Cycle One: MovNat Basics

In the first cycle, Erwan provided videos and programming for a four-week introduction to MovNat. Here’s an example from the first day of workouts:

Week 1, Day 1:

  • Stepping Over x 4: Perform dynamically, avoid counterbalancing with the upper body. Switch sides.
  • Stepping Under x 4: Perform dynamically, avoid rounding the back. Switch sides.
  • Lateral Figure Four Sitting Reverse x 4
  • Assisted Squat x 8: Hold at the bottom and bounce softly a few times before standing up.
  • Split Squat x 4: Keep front knee stable, switch sides.
  • Deep Knee Bend x 4: Maintain a tall posture.
  • Deep Knee Bend Stances x 4: Hold stance for about 10 seconds each time. Maintain a tall posture and stable ankles and knees.
  • Medium Kneeling to Tall Kneeling x 4
  • Deep Knee Bend to Tall Half-kneeling x 4: Switch sides.

Click here to see the rest of the workouts and video demonstrations.

Cycle Two: Leveled Combo Workout Videos

Erwan also wrote a series of combo workouts for various levels, starting with beginner and ending with advanced videos. Here’s a sample video from the Intermediate series of videos:

Combo Workout - Intermediate Level Vol 2. | By MovNat

Click here to see the rest of the second cycle of combo workouts.

Reconnect to the Nature in You

If you think these workouts look simple, you’re right. If you think they look easy, you may be in for a surprise. But ultimately, as Erwan expressed in his article, Reconnect to the Nature in You, Become Powerful, and Create the Reality You Want, the real purpose of MovNat is to reconnect people with nature, movement, and themselves:

Practical, adaptable, efficient movement. Looks like I have been talking about the original human fitness method indeed.This is not the latest fitness trend, but the timeless expression and perpetuation of universal and natural human movement patterns.

This is about movement authenticity. It is about reacquiring the most ancient movement skills set and forming physically and mentally capable human beings, who are strong and useful.Express your true nature and become powerful, because if you can’t empower yourself, who will?

Click here to read Erwan’s articles, do the workouts, and learn more about MovNat.

Mindith Rahmat

About Mindith Rahmat

Mindith is a born mover. She has spent her life exploring various athletic disciplines, starting with ballet and modern dance from an early age. She went on to become a E-RYT 500 certified yoga therapist and teacher and discovered CrossFit after the birth of her daughter.

Mindith coached CrossFit at a number of boxes near her home in Southern California, which lead to her involvement in Russian kettlebells and Olympic weightlifting. She has coached a wide variety of populations and cares deeply for women’s health, specializing in pregnancy and postpartum fitness. She is currently studying the principles of Natural Movement and Kettlebell Sport, and is working to complete an additional teacher training in the Taoist art of Yin Yoga with Master Paulie Zink.

Mindith founded Breaking Muscle in 2011. Over 5 million people a month have visited the site, hundreds of thousands of them follow Breaking Muscle on social media, nearly 2,000 coaches have written or appeared on its pages, and there are thousands of free, fully-formed training plans freely available. Breaking Muscle has won numerous awards in the industry and is recognized for pioneering new approaches to fitness and coaching techniques. In 2021, Breaking Muscle was acquired by Barbend. Mindith continues to devote time to her kids, pursue her doctorate in psychology, do research, and teach.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

Hugh Jackman Deadpool 3 Workouts Spring:Winter 2023
Hugh Jackman Returns to Wolverine Condition in Workouts for “Deadpool 3”
Method Man Incline Dumbbell Presses December 2022
Check Out Rapper Method Man Cruising Through 120-Pound Incline Dumbbell Presses for 10 Reps
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Leg Workout
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Crushes 5 “Monster Sets” of a Leg Workout
Michael B. Jordan poster for Creed III
Michael B. Jordan and Jonathan Majors Look Like Shredded Boxing Stars in “Creed III”

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

Hunter Labrada Looks Shredded Before Taking on 2023 Texas Pro and 2023 Tampa Pro

Lat Pulldown vs. Pull-Up: The Battle for a Bigger Back

2023 Strongest Man in Iceland Results — Kristján Jón Haraldsson Repeats

Dorian Yates Explains the 2-Exercise Ab Routine That Fueled His Mr. Olympia Dynasty

Latest Reviews

Breaking Muscle Best Protein Powder

17 Best Protein Powders for Weight Loss, Muscle Gain, and More

Athletic Greens AG1

Athletic Greens AG1 Review: Is This Greens Powder Worth It?

Best Adjustable Dumbbells

9 Best Adjustable Dumbbells for Home Gyms of 2023

Best Creatine

11 Best Creatine Supplements For Building Muscle, Cutting, and More

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About