Some people call them animal movements.

Some people call them primal movements.

I don't really know why because it's not

like we evolved from crabs. If anything,

crabs might be our evolutionary endgame.

Whatever you call them, some people will

tell you it doesn't matter because these

movements are just gimmicks, right? I

mean, you've seen people on Instagram,

on Tik Tok, crawling around on all

fours, myself included, and maybe you've

thought it all just looks a little bit

silly, especially if you're used to

lifting heavy weights at the gym. If

that's the case, then you're missing out

massively and you're probably also

missing the point because animal

movements like these, these crawls,

these locomotive exercises, they can do

so many wonderful things for you. Not

only building size and strength and

endurance, but athleticism and agility.

In this video, I'm going to talk you

through some of the very most effective

animal movements and crawls, how you can

program them into your training, and how

you can get really tangible benefits

from them, no matter your experience and

no matter your goals.

We'll start with the bear crawl as that

is really the fundamental building block

that all other animal movements

elaborate on. Here we learn contrlateral

movement. That means moving the left arm

at the same time as the right foot and

vice versa. This is a great pattern to

learn for general dexterity and

coordination as we commonly move in this

way when running, walking, throwing or

punching. We also want to keep the core

engaged. No sagging at the waist. This

is great practice for general movement

and protecting the back. It's like a

moving bird dog in that sense.

And then you just pull for time or for

distance, however you want to program

it. Obviously, this is going to be great

for training the shoulders to an extent,

the pecs to an extent, the triceps. It's

also surprisingly good at training the

quads. Like, don't underestimate how

effective this can be. I've explained

why high rep calisthenics are so

effective in several videos lately, and

it's something that more and more people

are waking up to. Doing these sorts of

crop exercises has all the same

benefits, but it's also a little bit

more fun because you're moving and you

can spice it up and make it more

interesting that way.

And that is the crux of the issue.

People dismiss these exercises as being

too easy without treating them the same

way they treat other exercises.

They don't push themselves or use

progressive overload. Try crawling for

three sets of 1 minute with a 30-

secondond break and then tell me that's

not going to build at least some muscle

when your arms and legs are screaming at

you. Not hard enough? Try 2 minutes or

add some weight with a rucks sack. You

can also just crawl faster like a

gallop. At the same time, this is also

fantastic for cardio and endurance

because it's a form of locomotion just

like jogging. It's just one that uses

more of your body all at once. So,

there's really no reason to write this

off. And if you're someone who avoids

jogging because you don't like that as a

form of cardio, then consider doing

three sets of two, 3 minutes of crawls

and just see how much your heart rate is

going at the end. How much cardio you've

got from that. I talk about this all the

time. This is what we really need for

functional performance. You don't exert

your strength once as much as you can

lift. You exert it over a long period of

time. Smaller amounts of strength. for

example, when you're playing sports,

when you're moving furniture, wrestling,

playing with kids, literally anything.

Always also using endurance. So,

building them both at the same time

makes so much sense. That's why kettle

bells are great as well. I recently

damaged my shoulder. That's one of the

reasons I come out here to crawl.

Brilliant way to rehab it. It doesn't

hurt crawling, and it just gets the

blood going there over and over again,

which is fantastic for repair and

rehearsing those movements. Before we

get on to the next exercise, I'd like to

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fully flat on the ground. That means

you're not getting the full stretch

these movements are capable of, and it

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Minimal shoes also let you use the

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for sponsoring this video. And now on

with the show.

If you do want something though that's

going to be a bit more focused at

building strength and muscle, then

consider the lizard crawl. Now you guys

will know the lizard crawl if you watch

this channel regularly which of course

you do. Basically it's a crawl but much

lower to the ground like so. This

immediately places a significantly more

tension on the chest making a more

useful tool for pec hypertrophy and

strength endurance. If you bob up and

down slightly, it starts to mimic a

one-armed push-up. If you choose not to,

it becomes more of an isometric hold

with a big mobility portion as well. is

you need to get your hips up and to the

side and you need to get your arm more

overhead. So, it's great for building

mobility in the shoulders and in the

hips at the same time. And at the same

time, it's great for thoracic rotation

because you need to twist the body in

order to get the leg up to the side.

This will happen automatically as you're

performing the movement. If you try the

lizard crawl and you find it too

awkward, that isn't a cue to stop. You

learning the movement is the gains. That

is what's going to offer you the biggest

benefit for your movement IQ. And once

you've done that, then it becomes a

powerful tool for muscle and work

capacity.

This makes it a great exercise for

building strength and for building

mobility. And if you can do this for a

minute, then you're really on to

something quite impressive. So again, I

don't want to hear that doing crawls or

animal movements is too easy doesn't do

anything until you've done three sets of

one minute lizard crawls. And if that's

too easy, then try two. But I don't

think you'll probably need to. And of

course, you can also crawl faster for

more challenge, or you can crawl uphill

for more glute activation, or downhill

for more shoulder activation. You can

also turn this move into a more

explosive movement by doing jumping

lizard crawls. This also lets you

incorporate the myotic stretch response.

And if you check the work of I am

longevity, I'll link his YouTube channel

in the description down below. Then you

can see that these types of explosive

movements might be the secret source for

staying youthful in your movement.

You also need to twist your body at the

same time, adding that nice thoracic

rotation. In short, the lizard crawl

adds both frontal plane movement and

rotational plane movement in one

exercise. And that additional rotation

combined with the contrlateral movement

actually makes this an even greater

coordination challenge that will help

you to develop superior athleticism.

Again, this is how we use our bodies. We

rotate when we walk, when we run, and

when we throw.

Let's change lanes now and look for

something more mobility focused. The

elephant crawl. Start from standing,

then go into pike position, folding at

the hips. Make sure this is a hip hinge

and not rounding your back.

Now, walk out your hands as far as you

need to in order to feel a slight

stretch on your hamstrings and calves,

keeping your legs straight and feet flat

on the ground. Again, barefoot shoes are

essential here. Now, crawl.

Now, of course, this is a way to train

your hamstring mobility, which can iron

out so many problems, and it's a way to

train your overhead mobility for moves

like handstands. What makes it so

effective, though, is that it encourages

you to train for mobility in a way

that's easy and fun. The biggest mistake

people make with their mobility, in my

opinion, is often trying to force

themselves to get results too quickly.

They hold painful, boring stretches,

which have a number of unwanted effects.

It makes them not want to do it for one,

harming adurance, but it also makes them

tense up, which makes stretching much

harder and is completely

counterproductive. My advice is to

stretch gently, and crawls are a

brilliant way to do this. Finally,

crawls like these encourage you to move

in those end ranges of motion and to

thereby develop the control and

confidence that will reassure your

nervous system to ease up and let you

get into those positions.

With that in mind, actually, the

elephant walk can also be used to

describe a much more static version of

this exercise where you get into a pike

position and then walk your legs like

that, holding the stretch on the

straightened leg and then switching. But

again, you don't need to force it. If

you want to do this at home, you don't

have space to elephant walk around your

living room, then you can just find a

raised platform and then do the same

thing that way, feeling a gentle stretch

in the hamstrings and calves as you do

it. And again, it's one that will make

you go ah instead of ah, you know,

that's the difference. This is something

easy and relaxing you can do whilst you

watch TV. And building that hamstring

mobility

makes such a big difference. This is the

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just added a complete full body workout

using only these animal crawl movements.

So, this should be great for anyone who

wants to see how you can program these

crawls and make them effective. You can

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So, we don't use elephant crawls for

building strength as such. Although, you

can add a little push off your hands if

you want to make this slightly more like

a pike push-up. And the same goes for

the next one, the crab crawl or tabletop

crawl. Here, you'll be crawling on your

hands and feet, but with your crotch

thrust up to the sky, humping the

heavens. This opens up the shoulders,

and it's actually great for building

wrist mobility as well, an overlooked

aspect of mobility that's important for

moves like handstands.

If you don't let your waist sag like

this, but instead fully extend it as a

form of antiflexion, flexion being this,

crunching towards the ground, extension

being this. But arguably antiflexion,

avoiding bending forwards, is even more

important as we use this to prevent

folding over when we pick something up

heavy in front of ourselves, for

example. Thing about this and all these

crawling movements is that they

challenge this stability through

movement. You're not just holding a

position. You're keeping part of your

body rigid while moving the rest. This

is how stability is used in sports and

in life. And it's a far more dynamic

challenge. And again, that speaks to

this training in general. With crawls,

every rep is different, making for more

robust movement patterns, making you

more prepared for whatever life throws

at you. This is a great stretch on the

hip flexors, too. And we've seen how

important this is for a whole bunch of

things, like preventing back pain by

relaxing the sous. So much bang for your

buck with these movements, but only if

you focus on what they're for and how to

get the most from them. Keep that crotch

high and feel the stretch at the top of

the legs.

So, that's a bunch of crawling movements

and how you can incorporate them into

your training. But not all animal

movements. Not all locomotion are

crawls. There's a bunch of other

exercises, a lot of walks you can do

that will more specifically target the

legs, both leg mobility and leg

strength, explosiveness in just the same

way, strength endurance. So, in a future

upcoming video, I'll talk about those as

well. But for now, don't sleep on

crawls. Don't underestimate them and you

can get some incredible results. But

either way, guys, thank you so much for

watching this one. I'll see you next

time. It's so cold I can't click my

fingers. Bye for now.