Mammalian and Reptilian Crawling
Exercise of the Month: May 2012
Fitness Level: Advanced

This exercise needs a certain level of imagination! Before you start picture yourself firstly as a Lion (Mammalian Crawl) and then as a Crocodile (Reptilian Crawl).

Lower yourself onto the floor so that you are resting on your toes and your hands. Your feet should be hip width apart and your hands should be level with your chest but wider than shoulder width apart. Your elbows should be ‘soft’ with a slight bend in them. Engage your abdominals by drawing your belly button in towards your spine and adjust your body position so that there is a nice straight line running from your head to your heels.

Step forward with your right foot, bringing your right knee towards your right elbow. At the same time lift your left hand and move it a step forward, so that your hand is now in front of your head. As you do these moves you will find that your body naturally wants to rotate allow this to happen, but make sure your head turns to look to the right.

Continue to walk along the floor moving your opposite hand and leg, completing press-ups as you go.

Repeat as above but use the same arm and same leg as you crawl along the floor. With this crawl aim to keep your body in a much more neutral position and limit the rotation as you crawl.

Crawling is not only a wonderful exercise for strengthening the whole of the body but being a body weight exercise it helps to keep the body strengthened in proportion. By switching from a mammalian to a reptilian movement you are also challenging the nervous system, helping it to stay sharp and therefore helping you to pick up other skill based movements more quickly.

If you have not as yet had enough reasons to give a crawl a try, then by speeding up your movements you can also add a great cardiovascular component to this already fabulous exercise!