Old Forum OS Baby Crawling "good, better, best"

[gatorbait]

Due to the nature of my training environment for the forseeable future (rocks, rocks and more rocks),  I am using tactical knee pads when baby crawling and cannot crawl dragging the tops of my feet across the ground.  (I am working toward more advanced crawling where my knees will be off the ground and this will not be an issue, but for now...)  When loading baby crawling as described above with weight and/or time would there be any detriment from using the knee pads?  And I noticed the hamstrings got a lot of extra attention from crawling with the ball of my foot down as one would in leopard or spiderman crawling. But the little bit of spiderman/ and leopard crawling I have done, the effort seems a lot more quad dominated.  Is it ok that hamstrings seem to dominate this movement?  I am just curious if its just a matter of "good, better, best" as described in OS Perfromance or if either of these two issues would have a negative effect on my body or gait patterns.  Thanks.

 

[Steve Freides]

Sean, I am far from expert on these matters, but I would try to find whatever is a good fit for you for now.  If crawling on hands and knees involves too many rocks, there are other things you can do.  In my non-expert opinion, part of why one goes through these "developmental" patterns is to improve our sense of contact with the ground, to improve proprioception, vestibular system, etc.  I would think that knee pads take away a valuable part of the feedback your body would normally receive while doing this movement, so again, I might look for alternatives.  If the shoes doesn't fit, don't wear it.

-S-

 

[Steve W.]

Sean,

Is there no more forgiving surface you can use to crawl? You don't need much space since you can crawl a few steps forward and backward or back and forth laterally, and you can do axial crawling within a circle less than one body length in diameter. You can even do stationary variations like bird dogs or cross crawls on six points (hands, knees and toes) or four points (hands and toes, with knees just off the ground).

If not, I don't think knee pads are all that bad, albeit not ideal. Even if you don't drag the tops of your feet along the ground, I would still try to do baby crawls with the instep down (or at least the toe down), rather than on the ball of the foot.

But the bottom line is that any crawling you do is good, so do what you have to do. IMO, keeping your head up is the biggest key, moreso than whether you wear knee pads or drag your feet on the ground.

 

[jgruginski]

I would believe that progression in unweighted crawling would probably surpass the benefits of adding load to a "regressed" movement. You stated that you've done a little leopard and spiderman crawling, but I would imagine time would be better spent improving in those movements instead of loading a baby crawl. Not an official stance, by any means and I haven't read the newest OS book, but when I think about why crawling is done at all, improved movement, reflexive stability, and breath control are primary. Loading comes after mastery so I could see a focus on these more advanced movements being worth your time right now, if the loaded crawl isn't going to work.

 

[gatorbait]

Thanks for the replies guys.  There is some concrete areas to crawl.   I am doing some axial crawling and 6/4 point cross-crawling, and I am working towards more of the advanced crawls and hopefully sooner rather than later will be able to do leopard/spiderman crawls for time.  The reason I am trying to make this work is because crawling for time forward and reverese seems to be the only thing that consistently keeps an old injury (chronic bulging disc C6/C7) in check.   Again thank you for the replies.  This is a terrific community.

Sean

 

[Geoff Neupert]

Hey Sean -

You can't find anywhere indoors to Baby Crawl? All you need is a hallway.

If not, kneepads are fine. Still "good," but not "best."

And then switch to leopard crawls when you can. In the meantime the axis crawls and 6/4 point cross-crawling will work great too.

Hope that helps.

 

[gatorbait]

Geoff,

Thanks for the reply.  Nowhere indoors where I can really do anything other than some axial crawling.  Im in a pretty austere environment for now.  I'm currently working on leopard crawls per the reccomendations in OS w/pushups and squats and just hit 3 min.  So that is coming along.  (On a side note, I've been doing that whole routine as prescribed in the book, but I make half the squats the one -leg squats per the video from a few weeks ago where you sit like a kid on the non-squatting foot at the start.   This has been terrific!  I feel great in the hips, low back and legs from these.)

Thanks for the reply!  I'll keep plugging away at the leopard, axial and cross-crawling!