Animal Athletics – Ground-Based Training

Have you ever noticed how almost always your workout takes place in a standing position? EVO expert Bardo Tschapke will guide us in ground-based training, also known as animal athletics.

How does human movement evolve?

The motor-driven development takes place in a chronologically sequence (neuromusculoskeletal developmental sequence). From lifting the head up in a prone position, which occurs around the time we are 1 or 2 months old, up until the time we are able to roll from a supine into a prone position, around 6 to 8 month old.

It takes approximately 18 months until a human is able to walk – starting from bottom near movements (rolling, leaning, creeping, crawling) to more or less reliable and controlled upright movement. The human body needs this time to mature its nervous, muscular- and skeleton systems. It is a much longer time as for most of the other mammals.

What is ground-based training or animal athletics?

In animal athletics, we go back to the time when we were children and when we learned our motor-driven and neurologic patterns, the fundamental movement patterns. At that age each movement had to offer higher mobility and stability. We moved on a lower level to gradually improve our movement quality for the next level (upright posture).

Ground-based exercises are a beneficial alternative for every training program. Animal athletics include postures and movements of our early childhood, such as crawling, and movement patterns from the animal world, such as crabs, monkeys or lizards. It’s the re-learning of previously know movement patterns.

Why you should include animal athletics in your workout?

Animal athletics provide a better movement intelligence, control and dynamic.

Our movement is driven by external impacts, by impulses and sensations. While doing ground-based exercises the body has to counteract the gravity force. The whole musculature reacts in a way similar to that of a chain reaction to prevent that we fall, and thereby making focused locomotion possible.

Ground-based exercises challenge our body in a different way than standing exercises, e.g. our joints are in a different angle, separate muscular control and even physiological components such as respiration and blood circulation differ.

Benefits of ground-based training:

• Maximized activation of receptors
• Increased mobility
• Conscious usage of gravity
• A minor load of the spine
• Improved blood circulation
• Improved digestive system
• Improved breathing

Bardo Tschapke, EVO Le Flair Düsseldorf
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