Mixtaping different disciplines of fitness to create unique workouts is a hobby of mine lately.
Yesterday, I found myself short on time. I had roughly 20 minutes to make some workout magic happen. Assessing the previous day’s workout, I decided on two modes of exercise:
The Lizard Crawl
Rowing
The goal: total body training effect (in under 20 minutes)
Short burst workouts are a perfect solution to time-restricted days. Days where I’m tight on time, but high on motivation. “Short”… not be confused with “easy”.
Generally, shortening a workout means the intensity gets cranked up to offset the decreased volume and duration.
It involves crawling forward (or backward) in a low prone position, much lower than a traditional bear crawl. The Lizard Crawl is a total-body exercise, well worth learning and working through the progressions.
Most people will feel limited by their upper body strength when Lizard Crawling. The strength needed in this particular range of motion may need some acclimation.
That being said, there are plenty of Lizard Crawl variations to accommodate any skill level.
Here’s an example:
The Lizard Crawl, though graceful and rhythmic when performed by great movers, sucks the life out of you across even moderate distances. It’s a very complex and demanding pattern.
Rowing, on the other hand, is, well, rowing.
The rowing erg is beautiful in its simplicity, yet brutal in its ability to break a person’s soul at higher intensities. Though machine-based, rowing is one of those near total body activities that I cannot recommend enough. Rowing is primarily a posterior chain, upper body pull/lower body push action.
A quality rowing erg will cost you some cash, but across the long-term, it is well worth the investment.
Turns out, the Lizard Crawl and rowing compliment each other perfectly.
I’ve created workouts in the past using short distance Lizard Crawls and 250-meter row intervals, but never beyond that distance. The 250-meter is a fantastic distance for an all out sprint.
Today I increased the challenge a bit, bumping the row up to 500-meters.
Here’s how the workout was structured…
Lizard Crawl for 20 yards
+
500 meter Row
Repeat for 6 rounds.
Rest for 60-90 seconds in between each round.
That’s it. Two movements and roughly 18 minutes of time to work with.
Warm-up with something, anything. A jump rope or some simple dynamic movements will work fine. I do not advocate skipping warm-ups all of the time, this situation is unique, an outlier.
A cheetah doesn’t ask a Gazelle for a chance to warm-up before pursuing it for nearly a mile, it’s worth considering a human may not always have adequate time to warm-up.
Many times, doing less things, but doing those things better makes for the best workouts.
Aesthetics and performance are built incrementally, piece by piece, workout by workout.
Thoughts and Suggestions…
Find a pace on the rower a few levels below your personal best. I aimed for a 1:35 min/sec pace for the 500-meter intervals, knowing that my best 500 meter was roughly 1:27 min/sec.
Why do this? Because you will not be able to maintain a personal best pace for 500-meters across 6 rounds, with incomplete rest periods and lizard crawling before hopping on the rower. Setting a challenging pace just below your best will get the training effect you’re after and allow room for progression in the future.
After standing up out of the rower, expect your heart rate to be sky-high. 60 seconds of rest will not feel long enough, and it shouldn’t. It’s incomplete rest by design. Use every second to collect yourself before the next round. Walk around slowly, stay upright and slow your breathing.
Keep in mind, a 500-meter row is not an easy distance to row on its own. Adding pre-fatigue in the form of a Lizard Crawl will zap you.
When rest comes to an end, force yourself into the Lizard Crawl. You’ll want to rest longer in later rounds but don’t. Stay strict. When rest is over, settle your breath and start crawling immediately.
Anticipate the first few rounds of Lizard Crawling to feel great, followed by a steep drop off.
If the full Lizard Crawl is too aggressive, scale it back. Head over to my YouTube page and search “Lizard Crawl”. You’ll find a bunch of different Lizard Crawl options I’ve played around with.
The push-up is a fundamental human movement pattern effective for building athletic performance and improving aesthetics.
Calisthenic exercise solutions are HOT right now, and for good reason.
Push-ups are a premiere bodyweight-based upper body exercise capable of building useable strength, endurance and sculpting a lean physique.
It’s easy to get stuck doing the same variation of push-ups, which can make training dull and potentially lead to skipping workouts. There’s a whole world of push-up progressions and variations worth exploring.
The draw to bodyweight based training makes sense. First and foremost, bodyweight training is FREE.
Second, bodyweight training is natural movement. How? Why? It’s just you managing your own weight against gravity, which makes this form of exercise pretty damn realistic for everyday life.
Seems logical to improve one’s ability to handle their bodyweight in various positions and patterns. The ability to press oneself up from the floor (to do other things like crawl or walk, etc) helps us stay mobile and live life.
Bodyweight training can be as advanced as a person wants, or going the other direction, scaled for any beginner.
Push-ups, squats, lunges, crawling and vertical pulling exercises pull-ups/chin-ups are the foundation of before external weight ever enters the equation.
Traditional Push-Ups…
When someone says “push-ups”, a lot of people immediately picture a max set of pumping up and down. And yeah, you’re right, these are definitely push-ups, but these are just one variation done in isolation, in one body position, to nausea.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the traditional push-up, but you’re leaving out a lot of AWESOME variations if you stop exploring there.
It’s a reasonable thought that many people would find a renewed interest (and results) in controlled physical activity if they delved a bit deeper into the hundreds of different push-up variations that exist.
The traditional push-up doesn’t (and shouldn’t) be the end of the road variation-wise, which is why I’ve had some serious motivation to share exercise variations lately.
That being said, pay your dues with traditional push-ups before departing for the “sexier” variations. The basics are the fundamental pillars from which all other movement is built.
The Often Forgotten “Secret”…
There’s no special “secret” sauce in fitness, only what you know and what you don’t know.
And you don’t know what you don’t know.
If there is a “secret” to push-ups, it’s that they are often overlooked and forgotten during workout exercise selection. Our eyes drift to objects of weight or other fancy gadgets instead of down at the floor where we can assume the position and start doing work in less than 2 seconds.
It would seem that push-ups are perceived to be rudimentary, lacking effectiveness or “only for beginners”.
If you find yourself thinking about push-ups in this way, I once again encourage you to dig into this article (and future articles) to explore and try every variation I’m about to share.
I guarantee you’ll be humbled by the potency and cognitively stimulated during most of these variations.
Adding weight to a push-up is a common strategy to improve upper body strength, and indirectly, improve core strength at the same time.
But what about pushing up in odd body positions?
Having fully adopted and integrated ground-based movements from both Ido Portal and Animal Flow, I’ve been exploring different variations of pressing up from the floor at known and unknown (improvised) times throughout a workout.
This post is all about some of the push-up variations I’ve been toying around with across the last 10-12 months.
Watch the video, read the short description then give it a try.
Explore what YOU can do.
#1 Resistance Band Assisted One Arm Push-Ups
Resistance bands are a brilliant tool to make exercises like chin-ups/pull-ups, single leg squats or single arm push-ups more palatable. The band reduces the amount of weight the working arm must move during the exercise, which is often enough to make the exercise manageable.
I value eccentric-only variations, but there is so much value is being able to go through a full range of motion, with a little less weight.
#2 Lateral Push-Ups
Traditional push-ups are a great exercise and should be taken as daily medicine, but pressing up from a variety of positions will expand your body’s movement IQ. The traditional push-up is very linear and can become boring in time.
Lateral push-ups put your body in a squat position, which from the get-go is unique. The “fall-out” requires rotation of the torso and soft hand placement.
Lightly touch your nose to the floor, press back up into the start position. Performed rhythmically and for long durations, lateral push-ups will tire you out.
Aim for 6-8 reps on each side, but don’t be scared to work these for even longer sets.
#3 Stationary Low Lateral Shifts
The low lateral shift was my first personal experience with a hybrid push-up. Hybrid, in the sense that there is no upward/downward motion, yet many of the same muscles involved in push-ups are being worked.
Considering most people find themselves weakest at the bottom of a push-up, this exercise will challenge you to the maximum since you’re hovering at that depth.
Cues: Shift your body side to side without making ground contact, yet avoiding the imaginary “razor wire” above you. If you’re familiar with “Archer Push-Ups”, you’ll notice the body position is similar. The difference is you are not pressing in this low lateral shift, the tension is high and constant throughout the work set.
Aim for 3 sets of 5-8 shifts side to side.
#4 Dynamic Low Lateral Shifts
I could have tagged this exercise as “Traveling Low Lateral Shifts”, but dynamic sounded more professional and the definition of dynamic fits perfectly:
– relating to forces producing motion. Often contrasted with static.
This exercise is a stationary low lateral shift but now you’re moving across space. I would consider this an introductory exercise to Ido’s locomotion training, though still falling into the Isolation category.
Cues: Stay off the floor, but don’t rise too high.
Start slow, maybe traveling 5 yards down and back. Work up from there, as far as you can handle.
#5 Beginner Lizard Crawl Push-Ups
Lizard Crawl push-ups are a great way to practice pressing in a non-traditional body position.
The full Lizard Crawl is one of the best exercises I’ve added to my personal workouts in years.
Of all the exercises in this post, Lizard Crawl Push-Ups require the least amount of strength, which doesn’t mean they are easy peasy, but you’ll likely be able to work these for higher repetitions. Anywhere from 10-15 repetitions per arm.
*** If you want a humbling experience, I do suggest you attempt a full Lizard Crawl to gain some perspective on how difficult the movement pattern is. Normally I wouldn’t recommend this, but being a body weight crawling pattern performed 2-3 inches from the floor, I see no real danger in trying it. You’re either going to have the strength, mobility, and coordination to do make it or you’re not.
No equipment required…
With the exception of the resistance band for assistance on the one arm push-up variation, all of these exercises require no equipment.
This gives you an opportunity to test these exercises in your next workout.
If you travel frequently for work, congrats, you’ve got some new push-up variations to play around with your hotel room or the hotel gym.
Don’t procrastinate, get after it.
To learn more about Ido Portal and my interpretation of the Ido Portal Method,check out this post.
The goal of this article is to present several of my homemade lizard crawl regressions to get a newbie acclimated. Most of these drills were designed to help myself better understand the mechanics of the lizard crawl, and I’d like to share them with you…
The Lizard Crawl exercise, from my point of view, is the king of the ground-based locomotion drills. It’s a monster of an exercise, best broken down into digestible segments if you’re a beginner to such training.
Lizard crawling is jam-packed with physical benefits that spill over into all other areas of one’s physical practice. The lizard crawl will test joint range of motion and stability, muscular endurance and strength, core strength/stability/endurance and motor control all in one shot.
Another positive side effect of lizard crawling is conditioning. It’s pure work when you’re inefficient and learning. Expect to be winded with heart rate will be soaring after several yards.
Although a successful lizard crawl is a total body effort, the upper body is tested to a great degree. The lizard crawl elicits a similar training effect to more common crawling variations (bear, crab, etc) and progresses it a step further.
Remaining in the low position for the duration of the crawl is what does most people in.
A full blown lizard crawl is deceptively difficult. Watching someone like Ido Portal lizard crawl (a world class movement practitioner), it’s easy to think, “Doesn’t look too bad, it’s just crawling, I could do that”. And maybe you can. If so, good on you.
But for most people, the mechanics are complex. As mentioned earlier, joint position and range of motion, the timing of the hands and feet, core activation in difficult positions may completely foreign.
Foreign = struggle bus.
I do suggest you watch several of these videos and test abilities to give yourself a baseline for improvement.
Even if you’re able to crawl several feet on both sides, the next challenge is to add some distance to the movement.
Without further ado, here are few more lizard crawl variations to slip into your workouts demonstrated by yours truly…
Lizard Crawl Variation #1 – 2 Hands + 1 Foot
In this variation, keep two hands in contact with the floor while practicing hip range of motion and foot placement. Softly move the knee up beyond waist height and place the ball of the foot on the floor. Lower into the bottom of the push-up, chest hovering roughly 2 inches above the floor. Pause, looking forward, return to the start position.
Lizard Crawl Variation #2 – Soft Arm Reach
Introduction to reaching with the lead arm. We will remain stationary for the time being. Expect the complexity to ramped up significantly once movement is introduced. This variation involves a soft slide of the lead arm, straight out and back in. This also provides some sensation of what it will feel like supporting the body on one arm, another challenging aspect of the lizard crawl.
Same exercise cues as the previous variation, lower step with the leg, plant with the ball of the foot, lower down with control, but now slide the hand out softly. Breathe.
Lizard Crawl Variation #3 – “Alligator” Arms and Legs
To give you a taste of some dynamic movement, here is the short-arm variation of the lizard crawl.
I refer to it as an “alligator” progression. The idea is to reach with a limited range of motion, keeping the elbows flexed and close to the rib cage. This elbow position is far more manageable versus reaching out into full extension.
Also, notice the limited range of motion on the foot placement. Plant with the ball of the foot, stabilize and gain control, breathe, now move the hands and support. Slowly move forward, don’t rush it.
This variation is a humbling introductory training stimulus to the full lizard crawl. Many will begin to understand the sheer complexity of the lizard crawl pattern after trying this.
The path to improvement is practice. Don’t be discouraged by your initial attempts. It may be a frustrating experience, even if you consider yourself to well conditioned.
It’s common to find joint mobility, stability, core strength and endurance to be lacking, all of which can be practiced using the three progressions I’ve shared.
Practice the progression that allows for technique achievement.
Each will lead you to the next and continual progress will be made.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Ido Portal Method training philosophy, check out this popular article I wrote several years ago…
The Lizard Crawl is one of the most challenging crawling patterns.
Aggressive joint angles, timing and coordination of the limbs along with a massive muscular demand make the lizard crawl pretty brutal in the beginning.
Not all that long ago, I was a beginner with the lizard crawl.
The pattern was pretty sloppy for a long time. I was inefficient and felt out of control.
Inefficiency with movement might be great for burning calories, but it’s a bumpy road when you’re trying to build the pattern.
On the road to preparing my body for the demands of the lizard crawl, several key exercise regressions played a significant role. and this blog post directed at the beginner looking to learn more.
The goal of this article is to provide several launch points to work up into the full Lizard Crawl.
Each Lizard Crawl exercise progression is designed to provide a gentle introduction to the body position and loading.
A full-blown Lizard Crawl has a deceptive number of moving parts moving and requires plenty of mental processing and physical capability.
Exercises
The full lizard crawl requires:
👉 Mobility
👉 Upper body and core strength
👉 Coordination and timing
Improving control over shoulder range of motion is important for lizard crawling and beyond.
The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint and should be able to move freely, but with control.
When the shoulder joint lacks mobility or control over range of motion, problems can surface.
Shoulder CARs
Controlled articular rotations are a mobility exercise that great for daily shoulder “hygiene”.
I like to perform 8-10 reps per side each workout, which means every day. Yes, every single day.
Mobility training is a critical component of fitness, yet, training mobility like you would strength or endurance is a relatively new to a lot of people.
My friends over at MyDailyMobility created daily mobility workouts to introduce people to effective mobility training that’ll expand your range of motion and help control what you’ve already got. Check it out
Upper body strength is essential for the lizard crawl. If you lack upper body strength, the full lizard crawl will be impossible.
Regular push-ups are a great place to start. You should be able to perform 15-20 bodyweight push-ups without rest.
From there, progress the bodyweight push-ups by adding weight. The weight can be in the form of a weight plate, sandbag, chains, weightvest, backpack loaded iwth gear, etc. Whatever you’ve got.
Weighted Push-Ups
You’ll have to reduce the reps per set once you add weight, and consider lengthening the rest periods to recover from each effort.
Start with 10-20lbs of additional weight and work up from there. Stay rigid from head to heel.
Sets/Reps: 3-5 sets of 5-6 reps. (the last rep should suck)
Next, it’s time for a gradual transition into single-arm push-up variations.
Single-arm push-ups are an incredible exercise for building pressing and core strength.
I really like this carpet slide push-up variation.
Carpet Slide Push-Up w/ Reach
Carpet Slide Push-Ups increase the load on the working arm, provide practice of reaching the non-working hand out to move forward (as you would in the full lizard crawl) while introducing a less stable position for the core to sort out.
Your mid-section will probably be sore after a carpet slide push-ups.
Gradually decrease hand pressure on the carpet slide, eventually removing the slide completely, just lightly sliding the hand across the floor surface.
Sets/Reps: 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps.
*** The rep range is pretty broad, but keep pressing until you feel posture begin to break down. At that point, end the set and rest.
Core Training
The lizard crawl will put your core strength, endurance and function to the test.
Here are 3 different exercises to integrate into your workouts.
Core Rolling Patterns
Rolling patterns are exercises you have to try to truly understand how draining they can be. When you take most of the momentum out of rolling, you’re rolling over with subtle movements from your mid-section.
Very humbling drills.
Sets/Reps: Roll 360 degrees, than roll back to the start. Go by feel here, this exericse can be self-limiting, as in you’ll burn out won’t be able to complete a full revolution.
Hollow Body Rocks
Turn yourself into a banana and keep that position while you rock like a rocking chair.
Sets/Reps: 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps.
Dragon Flag Variations
Dragon flags are one of the best core strengtheners I know.
Sets/Rep: 3 sets of 5-8 reps.
Lizard 🦎 Looking Exercises
For beginners, breaking the lizard crawl up into sections and training each section works well.
I like to start introducing the coordination and timing aspect of the lizard crawl by practicing non-moving variations.
First, become familiar with what the low position feels like, because it is different.
Push-Up with Alternating Foot Placement
The goal of this first drill is to practice the feel of the lizard crawl while reducing the amount of strength needed to do so.
Using two arms into the descent accomplishes this.
👉 Step the foot up to the outside of the hand and plant.
👉 Lower down into and out of a push-up.
👉 Return to high plank position.
Don’t forget to relax the jaw and breathe.
Sets/Reps: 3-4 sets of 6-10 per side
Alternating Lower-Body Step and Reach
👉 Starting in a high plank position, step one foot to the outside of the same side hand. (The side you step to will be opposite of the working arm)
👉 Slowly lower your chest to 1-2 inches above the floor.
👉 With feather light pressure, slide the unloaded hand out into full extension.
👉 Pause for a moment, breathe, feel the position.
👉 Slide the hand back in, return the foot and press up to the high plank.
Sets/Reps: 3-4 sets of 8-10 reps on each side.
Dynamic Crawling Variations
The next step in the process is to start moving around.
Building up strength is important, but it’s time to dive into crawling.
Crawling can be a humbling activity, especially for adults.
We think of it as something exclusive to babies or when your TV remote slides underneath the couch, but crawling is a great coordination and conditioning activity.
I’ve been checking the Ido Portal Method website for 7 years hoping the “store” page would populate with a few online products.
Take my money Ido Portal, take my money.
7 straight years of, “Coming Soon”.
I’m confident saying Ido Portal is not going to write a book or create a digital product.
Ido has mentioned in interviews he doesn’t want to chain his work to the “foreverness” of a book.
Plus Ido Portal Method training philosophy is constantly evolving and expanding, so he’d likely have to compose a 10,000-page book on movement training, which would receive weekly edits for all eternity.
Like others who wanted to know more about The Ido Portal Method, I started to compile notes from his old blogs, YouTube videos, and interviews. The idea was to collect enough information, sort it out and begin piecing together a program for myself.
But at some point, I’d burned out.
I started researching alternatives. Something that could bring me close to the Ido Portal Method style of training, without wrecking my bank account (more on that below).
While the Ido Portal Method has brand name recognition (with movement training), I knew there had to be other training systems comparable to, possibly even better.
Initial search results confirmed that there were some amazing alternatives.
The Bones of Ido Portal Method
Weeks of sorting through older content on Ido’s first blog, YouTube videos, and other media was time-consuming and painful.
But, it gave me valuable insight into his movement philosophy.
Deconstructing his training methods, it becomes clear Ido Portal Method is a carefully organized hybrid system.
A collection of many different disciplines and methods:
Categorizing the main elements provided clarity on what to look for during my alternative program search.
Again, looking through the magnifying glass, one will find elements of gymnastics, locomotion, Yoga, traditional resistance training, dance, Capoeira along with mobility training from Functional Range Conditioning (FRC).
Most of these methods are bodyweight-based. However, Ido does utilize barbells, dumbbells and other tools to train strength or loaded stretching.
“Expensive Machines, Cheap Bodies”, is a classic theme inside Ido’s camp.
While I disagree with going cold turkey on all gym gadgets, I do understand Ido’s point of view. People get lured into thinking they need fancy fitness machines to get into shape, build strength, etc.
You don’t.
Equipment manufacturers do not care if you buy their products only to love itwhen a customer buys a product, only to use it for drying wet laundry. They have your money, you have clutter.
The potency and power of a simple gym set up can be humbling. A pair of gymnastics rings, an overhead pull up bar, a space to crawl/roll and a willingness to train hard more than enough to make huge gains.
The Rise of Locomotion
Ido Portal did not invent locomotion, crawling and floor flow sequences.
I know this will be difficult for some people to read, but humans crawl as babies during early development and flow-oriented training has been around for generations.
He can be credited with being one of the first to post locomotion work on YouTube.
Crawling/locomotion, bridging and various “Floreio” elements is a great way to expand workouts away from linear exercises. It’s easy to see the Capoeira influence.
Locomotion exercises can be progressed similarly to traditional exercises, giving beginners an opportunity to practice regressions while offering advanced trainees some really difficult patterns.
Along the way, isolated locomotion work is fused with other movements to create sequences.
Movement 20XX (a digital program from Vahva Fitness described below) was one of the first programs I found to be teaching a similar ground-based conditioning/locomotion curriculum at a FRACTION OF THE COST.
Newsflash: Online coaching with Ido Portal Method is expensive as shit.
How do you quantify “expensive as shit”?
Expensive as shit = $1,000-$2,000 for 3 months (3-4 hrs per day, 6 days per week)
Price tag 6 years ago, best believe it’s higher now.
It’s unlikely you’ll be coached by Ido Portal himself, but rather one of his students. Plus, they reserve the right to fire you with zero refund.
People can justify and afford to spend $150 on a program. Especially one with zero compromises in content and coaching, and likely a superior delivery with stream quality and support.
Across 12 months, that’s $15 per month. Very doable.
Spotlighted below are a few training systems worth exploring:
Movement 20XX
Movement 20XXis a bodyweight based training system that uses ground-based conditioning exercises and combinations to create pre-planned flows and movement sequences.
Natural movement training.
Students start out by training movements in isolation, gaining strength, stability and fluidity prior to transitioning into movement sequences, and eventually improvised flow work.
Movement 20XX blends many different movement disciplines, cherry-picking the best elements from Parkour, Yoga, bodyweight training, etc.
I started working on beginner locomotion years ago. Doing so changed everything about my movement quality, capacity and confidence.
It also started a shift in how I viewed the “working out” and fitness.
The first few weeks of crawling was no joke. It was humbling and I sucked. But in time, my body adapted to the demands, graduating from stiff and immobile… to pliable, dynamic and strong.
My early attempts at the lizard crawl were ugly.
It’s a tough pattern. The body position and range of motion were foreign, and the timing of the hand/foot movements was a challenge to manage. Getting into the low position was challenging (trademark of the lizard crawl), much less moving anywhere.
I reluctantly swallowed my pride and started training as a true beginner. The basics of crawling became my daily practice.
With practice, progression and adaptation, the Lizard Crawl became one of my favorite locomotion patterns, and still is to this day.
I experiment with a lot of hybrid variations of the lizard crawl now, along with integrating it into conditioning circuits. Nothing like sucking wind while crawling 1 inch off the floor. Whew.
Locomotion exercises are primarily quadrupedal (4 points of contact with arms and legs) and move the body through a natural (yet uncommon) range of motion, reconnecting the upper and lower extremities, challenge the torso muscles, timing, etc.
I include a variety of crawling patterns in nearly all of my workouts.
Currently, I use crawling patterns inside of pre-workout warm-ups (daily tune-up) on strength-focused days, as part of work capacity circuits or with bodyweight based flow sessions.
The bodyweight based flow sessions are fun and equally challenging for the body and mind. The premise is simple. I move around a room without a plan for 10, 15, 20+ minutes.
Here’s an example flow…
A lot of crawling and locomotion patterns I integrated from Ido Portal Method (skimming the blogs and social media) are being taught by Eero Westerberg in Movement20XX, which is why the program made the list as a valid alternative to Ido Portal online coaching.
Movement 20XX was designed to be effective when used remotely, which makes it great for training at home or while traveling. The program design is progressive and structurally sound.
Global Bodyweight Training
Strength is a critical component of becoming a better mover.
Dare I say… strength might be the most important of them all.
Strength comes in many forms. Strength doesn’t always have to be associated with bench pressing 3x your bodyweight, deadlifting a truck or heaving a 300lb atlas stone onto a platform.
A full range of motion single arm push up is a demonstration of pure strength.
As I get older, I care less and less about quantifying my performance with numbers (weight on the barbell, etc).
What I do care about, is how my body feels the other 23 hours a day (when I’m not training) and also what I’m able to with my body in both known and unknown situations where I need to be able to perform.
There’s some truth to the old saying, “Nice body, what can you do with it?”
Bodyweight Athlete curriculum introduces and educates people on the power of leveraging bodyweight based strength training.
When I found Global Bodyweight Training, the first thing I noticed was how closely the curriculum matched what I had designed for myself. It was nearly a carbon copy.
I’d recently decided to trim the fat with regard to exercise selection and variation, choosing to pursue higher-level bodyweight patterns like single-arm push-ups, single-leg squat variations, handstand positioned pressing, L-Sits, etc.
Progressive bodyweight training requires plenty of body tension, attention to detail and refinement of technique.
Bodyweight Athlete is a structurally sound training program for anyone interested in experiencing the potency of bodyweight training.
The best part about bodyweight training is it can be taken ANYWHERE.
You’re never without an opportunity to workout.
Bodyweight-based patterns included in the curriculum:
Muscle Ups
Handstand Push-Ups
Single Arm Push-Ups
Single Arm Body Rows
Pistol Squats
Handstands
L-Sits
Human Flag
Back Levers
The exercise progressions listed can be scaled for any level fitness, from beginner or elite level movers.
Carefully selected exercises and well-timed progression of those exercises are extremely powerful.
The human body is an adaptation machine. In order to continue making progress, you’ve got to increase the challenge somewhere. Increasing the challenge can mean adding load, complexity, volume, time under tension, etc.
Quality programs are designed to condition the body progressively and safely. You want to boost performance while limiting the chance of injury during training.
Regarding injuries, always remember there is life outside of the gym. If you’re destroying your body while working out, life is going suck. Dealing with daily aches and pains, dysfunction and injury is no way to live.
Keep the needle moving… safely. Your gym work should enhance your life, not take away from it.
Bodyweight Athlete emphasizes joint mobility work, core conditioning, self-myofascial release, and breathwork. These are lesser-known elements (yet important) of a comprehensive approach to building a body.
It’s easy to become fixated on the sexy part of the program… the exercises.
Building a high performing body is a multi-faceted approach.
Mobility, establishing and expanding your useable range of motion, is CRITICAL.
I’ll go ahead and say mobility training IS strength training.
Keeping joints buttery and strong contributes to adding useable strength to your frame and also avoiding doctor’s visits for preventable joint conditions later in life.
Core training. Lots of people have gone deaf to the importance of training the core. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why, but I think it could be because people are wasting their time with most core-focused exercises.
In fitness, the pendulum always seems to swing too far in one direction (with concepts, machines, techniques, etc) and people get hyper-focused on things for a little while before the novelty eventually fades.
I think this is sort of what happened with core training.
Just like low load/high volume bodyweight exercises (1000 bodyweight squat workouts) do very little for increasing raw strength, limited range of motion crunches and sloppy toe-to-bar work also do little to contribute to developing a functional core.
(Oh. My. God. He said “functional”. Send me a better word and I’ll edit it out)
Take a single arm push up. If your mid-section is weak, you’ll know within the first 6 inches of the descent. Low back with fold, ribs will flare, compensatory movement becomes the default operating system.
Approach your core training like you’d approach building other patterns (squat, deadlift, pulling, pushing, etc) and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Everyone will read and digest this article differently (seeing value or maybe not seeing as much value) and I understand that we all have different financial budgets for investing in programs.
That being said, I do believe that combining the strength work from The Bodyweight Athlete with the ground-based conditioning elements (crawling, locomotion, etc) taught in Movement20XX is an extremely powerful approach to take.
You’re getting the best of both worlds. Strength and natural movement training.
Train elements from each in the same workout, or, alternate every workout.
I’ve used both approaches and found each to be equally effective and enjoyable.
Either way, you’re going to make great progress.
Follow a system
Find a training system and follow it.
I’ve provided a few options for you to look into, please do.
Skipping around from program to program, using bits and pieces of various techniques doesn’t deliver the same results when compared to digging in and following every detail from a full training system.
Building fitness and movement capacity is a multi-faceted endeavor.
There’s plenty to consider and monitor.
Strength, mobility, movement training, traditional resistance training all play a significant role in creating a strong, well-conditioned, injury resistant, dynamic body.
It’s a lot to think about, it’s not easy, but in time you’ll begin to gain an understanding of how to building a body. The path to improvement should be simple, not complex.
Avoid the minutiae of complex training systems. Both of the programs above are structured with clear communication, free of B.S. and straight to the point.
Keep it simple. Work hard, stay consistent, bust your ass when you’re training and remember to give your body rest when necessary.
The best advice I can offer is to limit the “paralysis by analysis” and exhaustive research.
Yes, do your own homework and self-educate, observe which programs areworth trying out, but ultimately remember to settle on 1 or 2 get into the gym to do the work.
Nobody ever “thought” themselves into a better moving body with less body fat.
At some point, you must get your hands dirty and move, even if you’re god awful. If you’re new to this stuff, lord knows, you might be god awful.
Keep at it and your body will begin to adapt. You’ll move with improved grace, balance, strength, and confidence.
In the beginning, nobody knows what the hell they are doing. Not Ido Portal, not me, no one.
If you’d like to see what I’m up to, check the Meauxtion YouTube channelor Instagram to see what my daily training looks like from a home gym.
The effectiveness of the Ido Portal Method is no longer a secret.
Ido’s knowledge is quickly becoming the premier system for building body weight dominance.
Before you watch the videos below, remember that the best gains are made when following a system, which is basically a recipe.
Keep the movement recipe simple:
Find an effective training system and practice it relentlessly.
Everything works… for a little while. Literally everything. Some programs are more effective than others, but people who commit themselves to any one system are going to see results from their effort. If you’re not getting results, it’s time for a self-audit to identify what’s missing. Chances are high the audit will reveal it’s something you’re not doing, or in some instances, not doing, that’s holding you back.
Allow me to rant on the value of practice…
Practice until you are sick of practicing. Then practice some more. Had a bad training session? Come back tomorrow and do it again. Build
There is no substitute for hard work. You’ve got to tear up your hands, sweat and have a willingness to be sore and humbled by the difficulty of the movements.
Practice increases understanding, awareness and insight, motor control, strength/stability/endurance/power/mobility.
The “elite” become “elite” because they practice. A lot of athletes who are household names across the world, practice 10x more than people think. When you’re watching them on television, you’re seeing the finished product. Thousands of hours of behind the scenes blood, sweat and tears prepared that athlete to execute on the main stage.
Exercise #1: QDR: Beginner Rotational Push-Ups
Now, while doing something is generally better than doing nothing, it is possible to practice incorrectly, which is why receiving feedback from a mentor or a teacher so valuable. A teacher is an advanced practitioner. The teacher, through experience, has acquired understanding, knowledge to share with students.
The best teachers maintain the humble student mentality despite being experts at their craft.
Exercise #2: NDA Beginner Lateral Push Ups
With movement, more specifically body position, it is very easy and quite common to think that you are practicing technique correctly when you are not.
Improper body alignment or stopping short of a full range of motion are two extremely predictable situations that a teacher has the eye and understanding to verbally cue or re-position.
Exercise #3: Beginner Hybrid Push-Ups
A person could slip any (or all) of these exercises into their current workouts and get the full benefit. Remember, each of these exercises is a puzzle piece that makes up an entire program. Progress will always be faster when working inside of a system, which is a well drawn out plan.
Exercise #4: Dive Planks
Another problem the distanced onlooker has with Ido Portal’s current portfolio of work is there isn’t a clear and defined starting point for a beginner. Beginner in my world means someone who’s unfamiliar with all of this stuff. Not someone who’s banging out unsupported handstands, looking to move on to an iron cross.
Exercise #5: Push-Ups with Toe Touch
One option a beginner has is a tedious scavenger hunt through old information on Ido’s previous blog. Before I started to assemble the puzzle pieces, this is what I did. It sucked.
If sifting through hundreds of blog posts seems a bit tedious, there are other fantastic training programs similar to the Ido Portal Method approach. These books serve as a logical stepping stone into the Ido Portal Method movement philosophy.
Are they identical? No. Are they extremely similar? Hell yes. Will you get results? Hell yes.
Here are those alternative training systems, should you decide to investigate further…
Whether you’re a novice or advanced trainee, a simple equipment set up can catapult your progress and increase your enjoyment. Actually wanting to workout because you enjoy the process is just as important as training intelligently.
For the beginner, gymnastics rings and parallettes are the best starting point and will provide big bang for your buck. There are endless exercise progressions and variations using rings and parallettes.
L-Sit progressions, tuck and push-up variations, vertical and horizontal pulling exercises, hanging challenges just to name a few.
Nayoya Gymnastics Rings
The Nagoya Gymnastics Rings (Amazon, $30) currently have a 5-star rating and over 1,007 customer reviews. You’re welcome to shop around, but for the price and quality, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better deal with similar quality.
Best-selling author and movement enthusiast Tim Ferriss has raved about these gymnastics rings after testing them himself in past newsletters and blog posts.
Gymnastics rings are an unbeatable buy in my opinion.
For parallettes, I constructed mine from PVC using these exact instructions. It was inexpensive, simple and fast to assemble. They work fantastic.
Ido Portal Method training is taking off like rocket and growing in popularity every single day.
There’s a moutain of Ido Portal movement videos and articles all over the internet describing his techniques and teaching.
[I do not speak for Ido Portal in any way. Ido is a man with his own original thoughts and ideas. Anything I write or discuss on this blog is my interpretation of information he’s published on his social media page, his old blog, Youtube interviews and various other sources.]
My background…
I have an extensive background in strength and conditioning, but it’s traditional in every sense of the word.
It took years for me break away from deadlifts, squats, pushing, pulling, and core work… and expand into movement training.
Old habits die hard, but eventually, I dove head first into movement training.
Gradually, I rebuilt my body, peeling away layers of stiffness, improving range of motion, coordination and newfound strength.
Thousands of people have done the same, many through the information in this article.
It’s amazing to see the feedback of those who’ve decided to take actionable steps toward building up their movement arsenal.
The first time I encountered Ido Portal Method, I knew I was watching something different. This was a much different approach to building fitness. The training tactics were unlike anything I’d seen.
Crawling, sprawling, twisting/turning, reaching, flowing, strength movements paired with Capoeira, gymnastics, hand balancing, dance, gymnastics, etc.
Ido Portal Method was like an open platform for many differnet styles of movement.
Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it changes shape, moves in a different direction.
Since my initial exposure, I’ve spent a significant amount of time reading, watching, practicing and digesting Ido’s methodology.
This article is my translation of the basics of the Ido Portal Method.
Ido Portal Training Methodology…
If you’re looking to get the summarized view of what drives Ido Portal’s movement methodology, the formula looks something like this:
Isolation—> Integration—> Improvisation
Step 1: Isolation
Step 2: Integration
Step 3: Improvisation
What I currently comprehend, the movement paradigm is a series of transitioning from phases.
Isolation to integration to improvisation.
Ido Portal Method raised the bar with movement standards.
Most systems teach isolation (do this squat, then do this deadlift, then run up that hill, then do a pull-up) and stop there.
Ido Portal Method takes it a step further.
Here are details on each phase.
Isolation
In the Ido Portal Method, Isolation based movement is essential for making progress.
This is the base of the hierarchy.
Strength is a prerequisite for movement.
Being strong enhances movement capacity because you OWN every position.
Isolation = building strength with movement patterns.
Movement patterns:
Squats
Deadlifts
Lunges
Carrying
Crawling
Vertical Pulling
Vertical Pressing
Horizontal Pulling
Horizontal Pressing
Bent Arm and Straight Arm Upper Body Training
Glute-ham raises
Rotational patterns
Core training
Power Training (cleans, snatches, jerks, kettlebell swings, etc)
Stabilization drills
This is isolation.
You might be familiar with these exercises.
There’s also a heavy emphasis on high tension bodyweight-based strength training exercises.
Body levers, hanging and climbing, dips, muscle ups, parallette work such as L-Sits, and Tuck Planches, single leg squats, single arm pressing, handstand push-ups and various locomotion patterns (crawling, rolling, etc.)
Gymnastics strength training.
Mixing traditional strength training with body-weight based exercise is a potent combination.
These are time-tested, proven strength builders essential to physical development.
Improving athleticism with Isolation style training opens doors to building movement sequences (performing several movements in a row) and evnetually fully improvised movement flow.
Multi-planar strength and movement freedom.
The bottom rung of Ido’s movement classification system is often the highest rung for other training systems.
HIGH. STANDARDS.
There’s a realm of physical expression that exists beyond getting fixated on sets, reps, putting more weight on the bar, numbers numbers numbers, or racing the clock to set new P.R.’s in a WOD.
Handstands, leg-less rope climbing, ground-based movement flow training packed with locomotion patterns and bodyweight movement patterns are here.
Our bodies are designed to move freely.
Ido Portal Method combines the best of many movement disciplines.
Integration
Integration is the point where movement sentences are formed from the words (isolation).
A squat, is no longer just a squat.
A squat is a stepping stone to another movement, and another, and another.
The practice is evolves into a seamless flow, moving about.
More movements are integrated, creating series of movement patterns formulating a “sentence” of movement.
Sidenote: There’s a heavy Capoeira influence.
The ground conditioning (locomotion patterns, Capoiera, etc) combined with gymnastics/bodyweight/traditional strength training, fused with flexibility and mobility work is NOT NEW, but since it’s being repackaged and people are seeing incredible results, it’s definitely creating a paradigm shift in fitness.
“Fitness” is less about who can build the best looking body or lift the most weight (both respectable pursuits), it’s about moving and how your body can perform when confronted with the known and unknown.
The shift is on and people are taking notice.
Nike has…
More Integration…
Integration builds on the physical preparation from isolation training.
Pre-planned movement sequences make up part of the Integration phase. This is similar to a dancer demonstrating a choreographed routine. Just because the routine has been practiced for months doesn’t make it any easier to execute.
I’ve watched the “Locomotion Research” video 50+ times. Watching someone move like water is inspiring. The movement sequences demonstrated in the video are deceptively difficult.
Ground-based locomotion is a multi-planar movement requiring a level of body awareness, joint range of motion and on again/off again body tension most people rarely practice.
Many of these dynamic patterns are animal-like.
People are often humbled by the amount of mobility and strength needed for locomotion patterns.
After the first few sessions, locomotion practice will leave you sore.
The Lizard Crawlbridges the gap between “lifting weights” and putting those gains toward challenging movement patterns.
Crawling is difficult.
If you’re not yet crawling, get into it.
Crawling patterns are effective for building coordination, spatial awareness, strength and movement capacity.
Improvisation…
Ido has commented on numerous podcasts that improvised movement represents the highest form of human movement. I couldn’t agree more.
Dominating isolation exercises makes the transition to integration significantly easier.
With consistent practice of Isolation and Integration, one will arrive at the final progression of Ido’s movement philosophy… improvisation.
World-class gymnasts (pound for pound the strongest people on the planet) are rarely expressing improvised movement. Competition routines are all pre-planned, practiced and choreographed prior.
Improvisation is the combination of isolation and integration. You’re essentially making it up as you go, or “flowing”. Though it will likely take years of dedicated practice, improvised movement flows are achievable.
This is where progression becomes important.
Flowing like Ido Portal doesn’t happen overnight.
Practice is king.
I’ll spend less time describing the Improvisation phase of the Ido Portal Method because most folks need to focus on nailing down the elements of Isolation and Integration.
In interviews, Ido has mentioned several times he thinks there is a dimension to be explored beyond Improvisation.
Isolation and Integration Progress
The Ido Portal Method represents an incredible shift with how we view and define fitness.
Humans are made to move (climb, run, jump, roll, carry, etc) and I think there is an emerging sector of people who want to experience the thrill of moving in this way.
It’s important to clarify that traditional physical fitness modalities aren’t obsolete. Nor should they be.
A person should spend a great deal of time gaining ground in the Isolation phase, grooving technique, building strength, improving joint control throughout a range of motion.
Hammering away on the basics (squats, pulling, pressing, etc) is fundamental to progress.
The goal is to build strength, stability, mobility (the missing link of fitness), conditioning and constantly expand movement capacity.
Conditioning is also important, and should never be overlooked.
Train Like Ido Portal Method without the Pricetag
Several years ago, I started looking for alternatives to the Ido Portal Method for several reasons.
Ido Portal doesn’t offer programs through his website.
Training privately with Ido and his team is EXPENSIVE ($2500+)
Like many of you, I couldn’t afford $2500 for a workout program, no matter how spectacular.
I started researching alternative programs with the belief that similar results could be achieved while investing less money.
With enough research, I found what I was looking for, and what I felt other people could benefit from as well.
Here are two amazing programs to check out:
Movement20XX
The Movement Athlete
Combining all of these programs creates a comprehensive training system.
Strength, movement training and mobility.
Movement 20XX teaches ground-based movement, locomotion patterns (lizard crawl, etc),movement sequences and improvised flow work.
The Movement Athletewill build strength using bodyweight exercises. Strength is critical for performance and long-term health. Pistol squats, one arm push ups, handstands, l-sits, body levers, upper body pulling, etc.
Here’s a little more about each program.
Movement 20XX
Movement 20XXis a ground-based bodyweight training system that teaches many of the locomotion patterns and flow work found in Ido Portal Method.
Locomotion mainly consists of quadrupedal ground-based exercises like crawling (lizard Crawl, etc), switches, transitions, etc.
Integrating Movement 20XX into my own workout regimen has been awesome.
I started by supplementing my traditional resistance training workouts with a few basic crawling exercises, and built up from there.
Over time I strung together exercises to create repeatable movement sequences.
Movement 20XX integrates the best elements from different movement disciplines to create a hybrid system of movement training.
Crawling, transitions, switches, flow, etc.
I started Movement 20XX with a stiff spine, poor hip and shoulder mobility, tight hamstrings, and mediocre movement capacity.
After about 4 weeks of dedicated movement practice, my body acclimated to the mechanics and demands of the patterns.
Using the curriculum from Movement20XX, I made more movement gains in 2 months then I had in the previous 5 years.
Interestingly, my traditional lifts saw boosts in performance. Deadlift, squat, pull-ups and pressing all improved, felt smoother, etc.
If you want to explore movement, this is the program to get.
M(eaux)tion Fitness 