The Animal Flow Thread

Bigger Stronger Leaner
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Hi friends!

Anybody here do any “animal flow”?

I am keen to hear from those who have tried such things to hear about your feedback regarding benefits in mobility etc.

I am thinking about doing a online course from GMB called elements, which is an introductory class to such moves as the bear walk and the frogger. Anybody got any experience on this course?

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Somewhat related: you should read “becoming bulletproof” by McNiff and Anderson. As far as I know they were the first to recommend crawling, rolling and rocking as training methods.

I’ve done plenty of tiger crawls in parkour (upstairs with you feet first for 5-10 minutes, oh the humanity) and bear crawls in BJJ (sometimes we’d have a partner hang onto us like a monkey baby). They are fantastic training modalities but many people (literally and figuratively) rush intro them. Do controlled movements at first and do not underestimate the beating your shoulder and core muscles in particular will get. If you do it right, you’ll feel it for a few days after the first session.

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[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
Somewhat related: you should read “becoming bulletproof” by McNiff and Anderson. As far as I know they were the first to recommend crawling, rolling and rocking as training methods.

I’ve done plenty of tiger crawls in parkour (upstairs with you feet first for 5-10 minutes, oh the humanity) and bear crawls in BJJ (sometimes we’d have a partner hang onto us like a monkey baby). They are fantastic training modalities but many people (literally and figuratively) rush intro them. Do controlled movements at first and do not underestimate the beating your shoulder and core muscles in particular will get. If you do it right, you’ll feel it for a few days after the first session.[/quote]

Thanks NightBird. I will have a look into that book. Have you read it? Does it come with programs?

Mastering controlled movements probably does look harder than it is. Thats why Im looing for a something reliable to help me.

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Cool topic.

Yoga, Tai-Chi, calisthenics, gymnastics, break dancing, Turkish get-ups, sitting on the ground and stretching, wrestling practice.

They are all sort of the same. Support and control your body through all sorts of position.

In wrestling practice we used to do all kinds of shuffles “animal walks.”

  1. Bear crawl. All fours.
  2. Crab walk. All fours, butt down.
  3. Seal walk. Push up position, walk on hands, drag your feet, keeping body straight.
  4. Duck walk. Deep Olympic squat bottom position, then walk around.
  5. Walking lunge.

There are a million kinds of pushups from every angle and leg lifts from any angle.

I would 1000% urge you to check out “Zusana” from Body rock TV on YouTube. She combines all kinds of different “ground based” BW moves and drills in her workouts. She also has great “charisma.”

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Not exactly what you’re looking for, but these little babies are related:

http://maxshank.com/change-your-life-in-5-minutes/416
Armor Building (only the tumbeling part)

Hope that may help a bit. I also heard this guy Ido Portal does some animal flow stuff, maybe you can give him a check.

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Great links Pano!

Jog around the gym, like in a circle.
Then side step around. Switch sides.
Kareoke around.
Take 3 steps, then forward roll. Do this around the circle.
Take the steps, sides ways roll around the circle. Switch sides.
Skip around the circle
Duck walk around the circle

Crab Walk, then use the Thoracic Bridge technique to “switch” your hips. Now go into the bear crawl.

Bear crawl, then do one of those 1 arm side planks, hold for a second, then switch your hips back to Crab Walk. From that crab walk position, raise your left foot and right arm, and touch them up in the air. Bridge your hips up from this 1 hand/ 1 foot position. Switch sides.

Use the thoracic bridge technique to switch your hips again. You’ll be in the top position for a pushup. Walk on your hands, supporting your weight on the tops of your feet, body straight and tight, like a seal. Then do a Hindu pushup.

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[quote]theBird wrote:
Thanks NightBird. I will have a look into that book. Have you read it? Does it come with programs?

Mastering controlled movements probably does look harder than it is. Thats why Im looing for a something reliable to help me.

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I have; it’s on my kindle. Unfortunately, it’s a fairly dry read but the information in there is good. A big part of the book is about describing different exercise variations. Robertson’s approach is not to train the muscles but the nervous system; according to him, the lack of ground-based moving in out everyday lives atrophies certain neural pathways and with a teeny bit of work, we can get them back.

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The spiderman crawl article discusses the same! Intruiges me alot. Too bad I can’t find the livespill anymore, there was a guy it fixed his blatter pain, and another guy who got something fixed you wouldn’t believe.
It just sounds unreal when you read it.

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Thanks mate!

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[quote]Panopticum wrote:
The spiderman crawl article discusses the same! Intruiges me alot. Too bad I can’t find the livespill anymore, there was a guy it fixed his blatter pain, and another guy who got something fixed you wouldn’t believe.
It just sounds unreal when you read it.[/quote]

I remember reading somewhere that this drill is overrated as most people don’t have the correct mobility to do it correctly in he first place.

Have you tried it yourself?

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I have, but nowhere as much to give useful input about it. I could get in the right positions I think, but it’s quite hard to get there indeed. Besides that, I have a hard time believing all the claims in thr article.