Have you ever wondered how often you can do Natural Movement workouts? Similarly, how much time do you need between your workouts? And what if they are “full body” workouts? Would three sessions a week be ideal? Perhaps a 4-day “split”? A little bit every day? Find out in today’s post.
How many days each week can I do a full body workout? And how much time do I need between workouts?
With MovNat you can do a full body workout daily, or even several times daily if you want to. And the time between workouts can be a few minutes, a few hours, 24 hours, or longer. Let me explain.
A bodybuilding approach to exercising by targeting specific muscles leads us to believe that it is ineffective – or even counterproductive – to do full body workouts every day. Since muscles need to rest, we should alternate the particular muscle groups we exert every day, right?
Well, from a MovNat perspective, things are quite different and refreshing! Because we don’t think in terms of just “muscles” but “movements.” We believe the human body is designed for Natural Movement, which includes ground movement, crawling, walking, running, balancing, jumping, vaulting and landing, hanging and climbing, lifting and carrying, throwing and catching, among other fundamental human movement skills. Therefore, our training sessions naturally and systematically serve as a “full body” workout. Humans can and should do some of these natural movements daily, even several times a day. This is both possible and productive because those movement patterns and efforts are the very ones we as a species are designed to do. An obvious example of this is when children are free to do so, all young kids will move naturally.
Now, the human body is certainly subject to limits and the laws of conditioning. And too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing. So, to make a Natural Movement practice sustainable, we have to let go of the idea that we have to exclusively and systematically work ourselves out with high intensity. It’s not only unnecessary, but unproductive to train only at high intensity levels. The beauty of the MovNat system is that sessions, while they may involve bouts of high intensity, also often use low-intensity efforts through fundamental yet extremely beneficial natural movements. For example, when getting up and down from the ground, this mindfully works out our mobility, balance, coordination, relaxation, accuracy, and alertness.
The result is that you can practice every day; just once or even several times, depending on your individual goals and abilities.
If you look at those locomotive and manipulative Natural Movement skills I’ve mentioned – ground movement, crawling, walking, running, balancing, jumping, vaulting and landing, hanging and climbing, lifting and carrying, throwing and catching, etc. – and combine some (maybe even all) of those skills together in a session, you’ll find that all of the body’s “parts” are very much involved!
That’s the MovNat approach. So, at its most basic level, creating a full body workout is as simple as combining several Natural Movement skills into one session. Perhaps some crawling, some hanging and climbing, some jumping and landing and some lifting and carrying: is there any part of your body that’s not actively participating?
Here’s an example of a fairly intense full body “MovNat combo” workout you can do at home, the gym, a park, or in nature. This example below can be scaled down or up depending on individual ability.
Repeat this combo 5x, with an optional rest period between combos.
–Jump from and land on a target for accuracy. Place a wooden box or soft obstacle in between to increase intensity (10x)
–Foot Hand Crawl forward and backward the longest distance you can manage (5x)
–Get Up and Get Down from a sitting position on the floor to a standing position using only one arm for support, as fast as you can (10x – 5x each side)
–Explosive Pull-Ups, reaching as high as you can with your body (10x)
–Clean with Barbell, Kettlebell or Other Object (10x, weight varies depending on personal ability)
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With a MovNat approach, you’ll use full body workouts virtually every time you train, and therefore, elements of strength training, cardio training, mobility, coordination, and balance will be more or less worked on depending on the session. It all depends on how you program it based on your goals. If you decide to emphasize strength, your program may involve more lifting and climbing movements (for instance a pull-up is a climbing movement) as the primary efforts in your sessions. Similarly, if you decide that the goal of a particular session is to get a cardio workout, you can still have climbing and lifting movements in your session, plus other movements like running or jumping, but the difference is that you’ll increase velocity and intensity to challenge and stimulate your energy systems.
The point is that the MovNat system is both versatile and adaptable. With Natural Movement, you can accomplish virtually any fitness goal if you use the right movements and programming. We help you do just that with guided programs such as MovNat Metabolic, which helps you transform your body and what it can do through a higher intensity application of Natural Movement. We also help you learn how to do this yourself through our MovNat Certification Program so that you can start applying the methods for your own goals, or help others do the same.
Start Moving Naturally At Home
Our e-course, MovNat Level 1 Fundamentals, is a perfect resource for beginning your Natural Movement Fitness journey at home! If you want to build your movement and fitness from the ground up and regenerate your body using practical, natural movements that enhance fitness, function, and physical capability, learn more at the link below.