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Strength & Conditioning – A 4-Week MovNat Primer with Erwan Le Corre: Week 1

Erwan Le Corre is the founder of MovNat, an innovative physical fitness approach that is grounded in natural movement. Find out what MovNat is about with a free month of exclusive workouts.

erwan le corre, movnat, movnat workouts, movnat philosophy

Written by Erwan Le Corre Last updated on August 4, 2014

Erwan Le Corre is the founder of MovNat, an innovative physical fitness approach that is grounded in ancient physical fitness practices and a broader understanding of human movement and health. Get a taste of what Erwan’s philosophy is all about with these exclusive workouts.

Click here to read more about Erwan’s unique approach to physical fitness.

To learn more about Erwan, read our feature interview:

Featured Coach: Erwan Le Corre, Part 1 – The Roots of MovNat

Featured Coach: Erwan Le Corre, Part 2 – Freedom of Movement and Mind

Week One: Four Days of MovNat Sessions from Erwan Le Corre

Week one is all about “context-free” locomotive drills, i.e. unloaded movements. Such movements do not need to adapt to complex environmental demands and can be performed on any flat surface, indoors or outdoors, anywhere. The drills will be pretty similar each day this week. You will, however, progressively perform more repetitions so you become a bit more comfortable with them everyday. Practice not just the physical side but also mindfulness by focusing on quality movement patterns, including joint stability, a tall posture, and balance, as well as a strong, yet slow and relaxed abdominal breathing.

Practice each drill separately so you become familiar with those movements from a proprioceptive standpoint. You may follow the specific number of reps indicated, or you may solely focus on sensations instead and practice as long as the movement feels beneficial to you.

Props:
None, except a yoga mat if you want to alleviate the discomfort of your knees and ankles supporting your bodyweight. Practice on a soft surface, grass, or sand if you can’t stand hard surfaces. Anyway, who said it was easy? Suck it up!

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.

Stepping Over:

Stepping over

Stepping Under:

Stepping under

Lateral Figure Four Sitting Reverse:

Lateral figure four sitting reverse

Assisted Squat:

Assisted squat

Split Squat:

Split squat

Deep Knee Bend Stance:

Deep knee bend stance

Medium Kneeling to Tall Kneeling:

Medium kneeling to tall kneeling

Deep Knee Bend to Tall Half Kneeling:

Deep knee bend to tall half kneeling

Day 2

  • Dynamic Stepping Over x 8: Perform dynamically, avoid counterbalancing with the upper body. Switch sides.
  • Dynamic Stepping Under x 8: Perform dynamically, avoid rounding the back. Switch sides.
  • Lateral Figure Four Sitting Reverse x 8
  • Assisted Squat x 16: Hold at the bottom and bounce softly a few times before standing up.
  • Split Squat x 8: Keep front knee stable, switch sides.
  • Deep Knee Bend x 8: Maintain a tall posture.
  • Deep Knee Bend Stances x 8: Hold stance for about 10 seconds each time. Maintain a tall posture and stable ankles and knees.
  • Medium Kneeling to Tall Kneeling x 8
  • Deep Knee Bend to Medium Half-kneeling x 8: Switch sides.

Dynamic Stepping Over:

Stepping over

Dynamic Stepping Under:

Stepping under

Deep Knee Bend to Medium Half Kneeling:

Deep knee bend to medium half kneeling

Day 3

  • Slow and Controlled Stepping Over (alternate sides) x 10
  • Slow and Controlled Stepping Under (alternate sides) x 10
  • Lateral Figure 4 Sitting Reverse x 10
  • Assisted Squat x 20
  • Split Squat (alternate side) x 10
  • Deep Knee Bend x 10
  • Deep Knee Bend Stances x 8 (hold for 20 seconds)
  • Deep Kneeling to Tall Kneeling x 10
  • Deep Knee Bend to Deep Half-kneeling (alternate side) x 10
  • Split Deep Knee Bend Reverse (alternate side) x 10

Deep Kneeling to Tall Kneeling:

Deep kneeling to tall kneeling

Deep Knee Bend to Deep Half Kneeling:

Deep knee bend to deep half kneeling

Split Deep Knee Bend Reverse:

Split deep knee bend reverse

Day 4

  • Stepping Over x 10: Perform in a slow and controlled manner. Switch sides.
  • Stepping Under x 10: Perform in a slow and controlled manner. Switch sides.
  • Lateral Figure Four Sitting Reverse x 12
  • Assisted Squat x 30: Hold at the bottom and bounce softly a few times before standing up.
  • Split Deep Knee Bend Reverse x 12
  • Deep Kneeling to Tall Kneeling x 12: Shift bodyweight backward as your knees go to the ground.
  • Deep Knee Bend to Deep Half-Kneeling x 12: Switch sides.
erwan le corre, movnat, movnat workouts, movnat philosophy

About Erwan Le Corre

Born in the French countryside, Erwan Le Corre's youth was filled with outdoor activities. This was the gym where Erwan learned physical fitness through running, climbing, crawling, and jumping. At the age of fifteen Erwan began the study of karate, receiving his black belt at age eighteen. From there Erwan went on to explore a broad range of activities including Olympic weightlifting, rock climbing, triathlons, trail running, and Brazilian jiu jitsu.

After exploring all these sports, but finding all of them lacking due to specialization, Erwan started developing his own methodology. He researched ancient physical fitness practices and put together ideas for an approach that was about a broader understanding of human movement and health. Using this knowledge and his experiences he created a system for training and coaching he called MovNat.

Erwan is now working on a MovNat certification, book, and DVDs to help people rediscover natural human movement.

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