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Bodyweight Minimum effective distance for feet reset and for crawling.

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Tommygray89

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Hi all,

Is there a minimum effective distance/dose for the ankle mobility drill sequence that is detailed in the SFB manual?

Also I noticed Fabio doing a Spider-Man crawl forwards, then backwards and final side wards in his recent vibrams video. Is there a minimum effective distance to do for this sequence?
 
Good question about the crawling. I would like to hear some answers or thoughts about that also.
I do some crawls, but I suspect I am not doing enough for it to be effective.
 
On a daily basis I like to do 30m forward,backwards and lateral. This is spread over the day whenever I feel like it, but I'll tend to do forward and backwards together and lateral at a differebt time.
For example today: first thing 30m forward & backwards combined, just before lunch 30m lateral crawling, afternoon maybe another 30m back and forwards.
 
@offwidth I mix spiderman and leopard going forward, trying to do more spiderman at the moment. I do baby crawl backwards as I feel like I get the most out of this. I do lateral spiderman crawls beacuse they are the most fun.
 
Thanks... One more question then I'll leave you alone...

Obviously there are only so many hours in a day to 'train'; so in doing an effort vs impact analysis, what would you say is the biggest effect you are getting from the crawls?
 
@offwidth I mainly do crawls and other OS work as rehab/prehab work. I've found after some ileopsoas bursitis that crawls, cross crawls and deadbugs in combination allow me to keep that horrible pain in my hip at bay by both stretching and strengthening the muscles affected. I don't think I could manage any of the impressive times that Tim and Geoff suggest building up to in their books, apart from maybe if only doing forward baby crawls. Moving pain free is enough for me.

This was illustrated as important recently whilst away I didn't have the time or space to do my usual OS work, and after a long day of walking I was in such severe pain in my hip and back that I had to take pain killers to sleep. Maybe one day I'll work on really mastering crawls for the wider benefits, but right now they do enough for me keeping me moving well.
 
I really dislike crawling. I tested it to about 2 months, and build up to 6 min of continuous Leopard Crawl, and 3 min as part of OS Resets in my General Warmup.

I am not sure I got any performance benefits from it,nas part of my warmup. For me I occasionally put it at the end of my training session as a finisher.

For the crawling portion of my Daily Resets I substitute, 1ea-One Handed, One Legged Plank, 10ea-Banded Paused Bird Dogs, and 10ea-Weighted Dead Bugs. For me they really tie the X together, and activate everything.

I have a lot of respect for the power of Crawling, I personally dislike it. The video of Fabio training was awesome, and inspiring.

P.S. During my Crawling progression, after 10 minutes of Baby Crawling my knees, and palms were very tender for about a week. That was not fun.
 
That's interesting @Geoff Chafe

I think that is the first negative thing I have heard from someone within StrongFirst community but I guess there is no one size fits all exercise.

Fabio's video was very cool, I have always enjoyed working with him ( done SFG, SFB, SFL and PlanStrong with him)
I've kinda learnt if Fabio says something is a good idea, it's generally a really good Idea.
 
I share @Geoff Chafe's opinion - great if it works for you, not my thing except for fun for a short distance once in a while, not a regular training practice for me.

-S-
 
I think that article (and subsequent comments) highlights something interesting about various trends we see in fitness. I think humans are always keen to find the next panacea, and unfortunatly the fitness industry sometimes promises it. Of course the good thing about forums such as this is that you can also see the negative data points as well, something that is never includes in the advertising.
As an amateur enthusiast I have learned one major lesson over the last year -the pursuit of the perfect routine is the enemy of the good. Finding what works for you is a process. Finding your own minimal effective dose takes time, and a coach that knows you might be able to work it out for you, but that probably requires a lot of experience. Often striving to do more can be unproductive, or even drive you to a laser focus when you might at that time need a more rounded approach.
I personally have never got the great cardio pay offs from crawling that Geoff and Tim talk about in their books, but that's why I have swings and snatches instead. When I tried crawling for 10 minute periods it negatively impacted on my squats which were my main focus at the time. Every tool has its use, and finding what works for you will need a period of experimentation, I use a 30m crawling route as this is a distance I can easily measure in laps of my living room when at home and it leaves my fresh for the rest of the day. Other resets don't do a great amount for me, and are left by the wayside.

Short summary - your milage may vary. The expert coaches are a more reliable source than me.
 
@ali, that article was an interesting read.

I think I should put forward some background. I am a nomad, I travel the world and do humanitarian development and have various adrenaline filled adventures/misadventures in some of the wilder parts of this world. I stopped for about 6 months in England and trained to achieve all my StrongFirst Certs ( I am only missing the bench press test, which I hope to achieve in the coming weeks.)

In about 5 weeks I'll be heading to south east Asia to remote areas to do some development work for 3 months. Afterwards I intend to head to Nepal and do some more work.
Effectively for the next 6-8 months I will be without a gym, so Bodyweight training will be my focus as will flexibility/mobility.

My main focus will be getting the strength and mobility to achieve a bodyweight pistol.
For the crawling, I see it as a morning recharge,helping make my one arm one leg push ups a little crisper and also as an aid for rock climbing ( one of my common adventures).

Based of what @DavThew has said, I think a daily 30m for each direction will be an initial goal. Once I have achieved this and practiced for a few weeks I'll adjust off how I find it and what effects it is having on me.
 
Certain things work better for certain folks at a certain time. For me OS was huge and the more I crawl the stronger I get at everything. I have seen it not have a much a boost in others and for them it was a different load/movement that helped them.
 
Crawls had a huge impact for me. I never did them for time or distance, just a couple of playful forward and backward crawls in my room as a warmup for S&S.
For me they compliment the TGU perfectly, because as stated in Brandon's article they have the same benefits. The difference is that the the TGU is slow. No one would actually try to go as fast as possible on a rep. On the other hand (after you got down the technique) you can go balls to the wall on crawling without much risk of injury.
Also "playful" is a huge point, at least to me. Running, climbing, jumping around. Crawling falls right in line with those and being able to crawl around for an extended period of time without exhausting yourself is a lot of fun and makes you feel like a kid again. I say this at the age of 28 :) and I can't imagine how amazing it must feel if I can still say this at 40, 50 or 60.
 
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