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Other/Mixed Movnat?

Other strength modalities (e.g., Clubs), mixed strength modalities (e.g., combined kettlebell and barbell), other goals (flexibility)
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kenaces

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I just stumbled across some of their stuff on youtube, and have been enjoying playing around with some new movements. They have a workshop coming near me next month that I was thinking about checking out.

Anyone have opinions on Movnat in general, and their two-day workshops?
 
Movnat (natural movement) was developed by a French guy and was popular in the French military where I first heard about it over a decade ago. As I recall it was in essence a rejection of training via single movement 'drills' (eg push ups, Bench Press etc) in favour of exercise courses where you might sprint, crawl, jump over a ditch, climb a tree, pick up and throw rocks, swim through a tunnel etc, mixed in with some martial arts
 
A podcast I listened to a while back with a movnat instructor, not Erwan, was asked by the interviewer to pick the top 3 exercises. Swings and get ups were the top 2. Number 3 was crawling. That from a movement guy. (Can't remember the podcast but may have been Scott Rdella).
Immerse yourself in swings and get ups, do S&S, Throw in some crawling or any ground based animal moves for fun or variety and do it outside.
In no way is that meant as a criticism of Movnat, far from it. To move well, move often with efficiency and for a greater purpose. Movnat absolutely shares much of Strongfirst philosophy.
The thing with SF and Pavel's work is that it contains everything really. And for every niche within SF there is an entire encyclopedia supporting it - see Gray Cook and Brett's breakdown of the get up in their excellent video series. And then there is the fms - which isn't just a screen, the mobility drills and progressions look very much like Movnat mobility too, which looks like a lot of mobility drills in martial arts which look like fast and loose ......movement is movement.
To cross over from another thread about 2 lifts, this

This approach can be really effective. You really load a couple of exercises, maybe 3, but do a wide variety of movements light or unloaded. Perhaps deadlift, one arm press, and pull ups loaded but include some hindu pushups, bodyweight squats, yoga poses, a bit of sprinting, some flexibility work, balance work (like slack line), lots of walking, some practice with breakfalls and rolls, swimming.....

.....there you go. A fine template - is it Movnat or Strongfirst?
Pavel's roadwork - easy running with a couple of strength moves - go barefoot in the woods, pull ups off a branch and pick up a big old heavy lump of something and throw it maybe and you have a Movnat combo v a pistol and one arm push up. It's all semantics, really. But should you explore Movnat? Absolutely, why not? Parkour in the woods, great fun.

But if Movnat recommend swings and get ups as the best 2 exercises to cover most bases then there is no better instructional material here at SF.
 
Great post, @ali . Move well, move often, move STRONG - and then you can do anything you want to, and MovNat is a great choice. But you must be StrongFirst.
 
Hello,

The good thing about MovNat is that it is not "close-minded". A workout can contain weightlifting or ring, or whatever.

I do a lot of mobility work, it is fairly easy to incorporate some "strength moves" such as OAOL PU, muscle up, or pistol in a routine. Parkour / Freerunnning obey - to a certain extent - by the same rule: moving efficiently.

MovNat is also based on a lot of variety. S&S is more "systematic": almost daily base with the 2 same exercises (even if it works well :) )

I guess S&S + Trifecta + Split (front / lateral) + a few animal walks can be a good base for an everyday life. Eventually some full ROM pull ups and squats

Kind regards,

Pet'
 
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Thanks for all your thoughts.

I am considering movnat in addition to my KB practice not in place off. It just looks like a fun way to get some movement in, and I live in warm climate with a park only a 5m walk away.

As far as goals hmmmm. I am a 48 year old former fat boy who has been maintaining #60 weight loss. I am just getting over some injuries and looking to add more fun movement or some kind of new sport to my training. So my goals are 1)maintain general health / fitness 2)lose the last #10 pounds once and for all 3)Improve my fitness so I can better enjoy some hiking next summer(trip to upstate NY planned).
 
There are quite a few of these "natural movement" systems out there and the content across all of them seems more similar than different, so you can't really go wrong with any of them. I think the general idea of moving in a variety of ways and in a playful spirit makes a lot of sense and is a great complement to strength training.

In my personal practice, I've taken things from a lot of different sources, but I generally recommend Original Strength as a starting point because I like Tim Anderson personally, he is very generous with free content on YouTube (you really don't HAVE to buy anything to get all the content you need), and the basic moves (what he calls "resets") are very high bang for the buck (for me, at least).
 
Thanks - I love the OS material and have been doing resets almost everyday for many years. That said OS doesn't address lots of other movements that Movnat deals with.

I have always been curious what adding lots of crawling/loaded crawling to my training would do. My injuries have prevented me from doing too much crawling but maybe in a few months I can experiment with this.
 
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