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Old Forum La Methode Naturelle

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Kyrinov

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Hey folks,

Through a recent interest in parkour work as a way to expand my training opportunities throughout the day I came across George Hebert's Methode Naturelle work which is the cultural foundation of parkour as far as I can tell. Fascinating guy, fascinating ideas that go well beyond the inevitable specialization/showoffing growing into the art. I remember when parkour was originally a thing that involved impressive running, climbing, jumping through the terrain...now it seems to have become about doing aerials off of everything more than the old "finding a path" of the original stuff. Hebert had a much larger vision still, incorporating parkour-like stuff with carrying, throwing, swimming and, of course, fighting. I've been dreaming of organizing such a course myself as I live in the ideal locale but lack the interested parties to make it a reality quite yet. Anyhow just thought I'd bring up his name and recommend checking him out as he's a must-read for the discerning physical culturalist.

Charles
 
I just had to add my own rough translation of one section of his work - could be taken straight from SF writings.

On the value of physical training according to natural method:

"That the amount of work or effort able to be exerted is higher, this means greater tension and speed. Tension and speed are therefore the most important physical attributes."
 
Charles, with your interest, you'll probably enjoy the book 'Natural Born Heroes' by Christopher McDougall.
 
Charles,

If interested, I have translated Georges Hébert's Practical Guide To Physical Education and broken it up into several sections, as in his book: the general explanation of the method and how to conduct a "complete" model session, then breaking down his fundamental drills for movement (arm, leg, trunk, suspended, hopping, breathing, etc.), then his functional drills (running, lifting, throwing, climbing, jumping etc., with 2 sections I have isolated: self-defense and now translating swimming).

You can find those by clicking HERE on Amazon Kindle (and btw, any iPhone or computer app allows you to read it without owning a Kindle). The hard copy paperback will be out imminently.
 
Philippe, how interesting. I was going to buy it the other day! Movnat and erwan le corrè bases a vast chunk of the philosophy to Herbert. Is their a great difference? Do you know?
 
Phillippe, merci bien mais etant Canadien j'en ai point besoin de traduction ;)

Bonne chance avec le bouquin!

Brad, I'll check it out for sure. What struck me so much about it is that these are ideas that I've slowly been converging on myself though had not defined or developed them nearly as well as Hebert. I've always naturally adapted a "methode naturelle" approach to my training for many years now. Long before I'd touched a kettlebell I used to supplement my martial arts training with sessions of carrying and throwing logs and rocks, digging holes, climbing trees and all sorts of natural pursuits. I couldn't afford a gym membership and didn't much like gyms so I've long been in the habit of working with nature by simple default. I'd even been dreaming of organizing a kind of methode naturelle course before I even knew the word - thought it would be fun to organize a kind of rucking/carrying course in my local area with various obstacles and specified points at which myself and my partner(s) would box or wrestle for a period of time before carrying on. I've done similar training before and I find it absolutely fantastic. When you bracket a combat session with other tiring physical tasks it immediately teaches your nervous system to be as efficient as possible...combative exercises in such conditions look very different from what one sees with well-rested sporting competitors. Suddenly classical martial arts systems begin to make an enormous amount of sense. No room for ego and inefficient movements when you start a round already sucking wind and know you've got a lot more of the same ahead of you.
 
Allistair,

Indeed, Erwan bases a lot of his stuff on Hébert and others. He told me he updated the information, though one would argue that movement is movement and personalization is about marketing maybe too. I only had a brief conversation, and he is a charismatic spokesperson for MovNat. Hébert's guide is really good at breaking things down, which is the value of a system, a method. Easy to understand and implement, no pretension, it is a solid link between movement fundamentals, function and session organization. I can't speak for MovNat, as I trained with elements of it in its infancy back in 2008, and carefully focused on Hébert's work to give it a faithful translation, without bias, at the prompting of Dr Ed Thomas, with whom I had another conversation today about it.
It's history, fitness and knowing where we come from helps us get to where we need to be.
 
Philippe, thank you. Looks like I'll be popping into amazon for some more reading material.
 
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