7 Primal Movement Patterns

Through my learning with the Chek Institute and teacher Paul Chek he has simplified movements that matter into the 7 fundamental Primal Movement Patterns. He uses the logic of primal because they are instinctive, required to live wild in accordance with nature and do not need to be taught to us as infants and children. However, due to improper exercise programs and repetitive stress movement patterns we not only create neuro-muskulo-skeletal imbalances but also lose the ability to perform these 7 Primal Movement Patterns like the ease of a child.

Gait-Of course we have heard that walking is our greatest exercise. There is some truth to that except when you have a rotation in your pelvis which results in injury to neck, back, hips, knees, ankles and feet and even toes. Ever see a bunion from too small a shoe and overpronation of the ankle and forefoot? I know first hand how a rotation in the pelvis causes walking or gait to be painful! After 20 minutes my right lower back would ache and my right big toe would swell, become red, and be very sore. I would soak my foot in an herbal tea to help ease the inflamation. Therefore, I spent more time engaged in corrective exercise and slow moving type exercise such as Feldenkrais and Qigong to realign my pelvis. Think of driving your car with the front end out of alignment. It may pull the car to the right or left. Then observe that the tires wear down on the side the steering pulls towards and also observe how much more energy it takes to drive. The longer the drive the more you will notice muscles of the shoulders and neck becoming sore and tired. In other words, overworked. Do this for 20 years and you set yourself up for greater risk for more serious injury. Please note that crawling is the very best exercise especially for infants and toddlers in order to properly develop the spinal curves and integration of the brain's hemispheres. Proper development equals greater learning, creativity, athleticism and ease of communicating thoughts into words. Let your child develop at his or her own pace. The child will learn to walk in accordance with their needs and process. To get involved and push them quicker is a mistake. They should be on the floor and Earth crawling as often as possible.

The Squat-Before a baby starts walking they will learn how to sit, crawl and then Squat. Squatting is so primal because it is part of proper defecation during bowl movements. It stimulates proper pumping mechanisms within the pelvic and diaphragmatic cavities. It keeps proper tone and neuro firing of the transverse abdominal muscles as well as spinal stabilizer muscles to prevent back injury and spinal degeneration. If you are walking your exercise program would best include learning how to restore proper squatting with weights and just body weight. The Chinese Wall Squat is a superb way to restore this pattern.

The Lunge-After learning the squat comes the lunge. It is also a natural progression from the crawl, squat and gait patterns. It is important because when we walk 80-85% of the time we are on one foot! Getting in a car door requires the lunge pattern. Climbing up and down stairs is the lunge pattern. Often one starts off with a split squat lunge exercise and builds up to walking lunges and then dynamic lunges.

The Bend-Bending at the hip joint or hip socket is of paramount importance to a healthy back. Most back injuries are often due to improper function and /or balance of the bend pattern. This pattern is also referred to as back and hip disassociation. The head of the thigh bone, the femur, must be able to move freely in the hip socket to a certain range of motion anterior and posterior before the pelvis rotates causing the spine to flex or hyperextend. This movement also involves the proper functioning of the psoas muscle which is implicated in numerous health issues from digestion, headaches to rotation in the pelvis and therefore problems with improper gait injuries.

Twist-Have you ever watched a baby on the floor grabbing and twisting with such fluidity? Where did it go? Well where ever it went, it can be resurrected with proper training. Proper core twisting involves the external and internal oblique abdominal muscles and we want to integrate the core with our extremities while in a 3 dimensionally free space. We want to engage in twisting patterns that are required by the demands of how we live our life. Getting in the car requires not only the lunge pattern but also a twisting pattern.

Push and Pull Patterns-Opening and closing doors requires this pattern as does holding a baby in one hand and pushing a carriage in the other or climbing a tree (which is also crawling and gait) or slapping a puck into the net! Most of our pushing and pulling for instinctual survival requires us to be standing on our two feet and most often on one foot. Therefore, all of the primal movement patterns require us to use free weights and cables to mimic real life. We don't push heavy weights lying on a bench in real life. Think again about getting into a car which is a pull, lunge and twist pattern. What machine trains that?

All of these patterns are those that we required to live closely and survive in nature. Our modern way of living has disrupted our primal instincts to move across the unpredictable plane of the Earth. Restoring these patterns will invigorate your body's instincts and confidence in this world. When you learn to exercise and move your body above and beyond the requirements of how you live then activities in life becomes easier and more joyful. And it is a joy for me to teach you how to do it.

Until we met, keep your body tuned up and your soul tuned in,

Dan