EDITOR’S NOTE: These workouts are written by Tim Anderson, founder of Original Strength. Tim’s goal as a coach is “to set people free through movement.” Regain your original strength with this four-week cycle of workouts that focuses on one of the most fundamental human movements: crawling. To learn more about this program, read Tim’s article here.
The following four-week plan is designed to help you restore your original strength, increase reflexive strength, and improve your performance in whatever physical area you are passionate about. In the first two weeks, the goal is to ease your way into crawling three days a week. The workouts will be posted on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but you can move them around to fit your schedule. These training sessions may seem easy for some of you, but give them a shot nonetheless. I think you may be surprised at how this simple exercise can restore and refresh your body.
In weeks three and four, the plan goes down to twice per week. In these two weeks, we start to strength train while we are still pressing reset. These training sessions may seem grueling. You will be left with an even fatigue, yet still feel fresh and able to conquer the rest of your day, if not your week. Again, the workouts will be posted on Mondays and Wednesdays, but you can adjust these days around your schedule.
We are only performing ten minutes of work in each of these training sessions. If you can, perform these training sessions on lighter days within your training week. If you cannot, or do not have lighter training days, feel free to continue your regular training and fit these sessions in when you can. You could even use weeks one and two for your movement prep before your training sessions. If you do this, don’t be surprised if you perform well during your training routine.
For weeks three and four, it may be wise to perform these sessions on their own, at first. Surely you can find two days a week that you can crawl for ten minutes. Be aware, this could become one of your favorite strength training exercises.
Week 2: Increasing Reflexive Strength and Strength Training
Day 1
Forward baby crawl for 5 minutes, then forward leopard crawl for 5 minutes.
How it is done:
For the baby crawl, crawl on your hands and knees. Keep your head held up so you can see the world. Drag the tops of your feet across the ground. It may help to wear socks.
For the leopard crawl, crawl on your hands and feet. Your knees should track inside of your elbows. Again, keep your head held up so you can see the world while keeping your butt down below your head. Note: this is not a bear crawl.
If you can, breathe in and out through your nose.
Time rules:
Baby crawl for 5 minutes of work using a stop watch. If you have to stop and rest, stop the time. When you recover and start again, start the time. Crawl until you’ve reached 5 minutes. Then, leopard crawl for 5 minutes of work using a stopwatch. If you have to stop and rest or take a knee, stop the time. Good luck!