Our human bodies are capable of incredible movement diversity and we are built to use it. When we talk about natural movement different thoughts will jump to mind for different people. While some probably instantly see themselves running barefoot through the forest many others probably think of simple every day movement like getting up walking to a neighbor’s house or cooking something. There is certainly also a large number of people who don’t get triggered in any specific way when hearing natural movement simply because they never gave it any thought at all. In the following I will give you some insight into different perspectives and lead on to a definition of it that’s quite functionally oriented. Now the first question we have to answer is who is right?
In today’s world this is the ever repeating question: “Who is right?” “What is THE correct definition?” etc. As I keep reminding people of, “right” and “wrong” can always only be defined within certain extremely narrow parameters, which in regard to our life, our body or even our mind and emotions is not very practical. With regard to natural movement that’s no different. Let me quickly explain.
If for instance someone shows you how to do the perfect “correct” pull-up the question has to be – “correct in regard to what?” There are dozens of pull-up variations and each one of them targets a different muscle group more or less and requires a different kind of coordination. Now unless you specifically requested a pull-up variation that targets a specific muscle, or at least your trainer told you exactly which target area and coordination the “perfect and correct” pull-up version he or she just showed you is for, the construct of the “CORRECT” true version crumbles.
“Right and wrong aswell as correct or incorrect are always definitions that are only true within a very narrow focus!”
Hopping back to our topic natural movement, there are different ways how we can define it. One definition can be that it’s any type of movement we do throughout the day that serves our locomotion and our life. Another way of looking at it, which is nowadays picked up by many newly emerging “natural fitness” methods like “MoveNat” or “Evolve Move Play” is to see movement that requires the full involvement of the body which ties back to what’s considered more primal movement forms like squatting, jumping, balancing, climbing etc. as natural movement. In this sense something like writing with a pen or using a computer-mouse or touchpad could be considered “unnatural” movements.
Like one of the principles of Alexander technique puts it; “There is no wrong movement, only one that is not optimized…” Natural seems to always be in the eye of the beholder because for many of us today, it’s the most natural thing in the world to drive a car or ride a scooter. Going back say 500 years, none of that would have been considered natural movement, let alone even recognized as any type of movement that makes any sense (pushing with one foot to go faster while waving one hand in front of you – aka steering – and preparing to shift to the next gear with the other). Considering this, we can postulate that what can be defined as natural movement is something that also changes over time massively depending on the surroundings one lives in.
We can run, walk, crawl, jump, drive a car, ride a bike etc. and we can do so efficiently or not. With great posture (whatever that might be) or not, with a lot of tension in the body, or not. Long story short, we won’t find any definitive answer, nor one that different specialists around the world will agree upon in regard to what natural movement is as long as we try to define it by certain types of activities. Both associations I brought up in the beginning are equally correct and incorrect unless we leave this point of view and look for a totally different framework for our observation.
That’s why
I propose an approach that takes the use of our most basic shapes and properties of our basic structures into account. It is the most logically applicable one that also allows for a great variety of different movements and their development over time. It’s also the one that I experienced to be the most valuable one in teaching movement those past 20 years.
Note: There are many more aspects that go into what I would eventually consider the full scope and implications of natural human movement than what I explain in the next lines but I will only graze those additional aspects a bit later in this article.
When we look at the shape and structures of our joints, it quickly becomes apparent that not a single joint in the body represents a simple geometric shape like for instance a hinge of a door or window that is based on a cylindrical shape. A joint is obviously always a region where two structures meet. In case of the body those are often, but not always, bones. Going back to the door hinge, what we find is a cylindrical bolt of some sorts and a second structure with a cylindrical hole in it that perfectly fits the diameter of the bolt. Bring those two together and you get the typical movement a door is capable of which is swinging in two directions around the axis of this cylindrical junction. In the body we do not have any such simple joint. Instead of simple geometric shapes we find highly complex three dimensionally curved surfaces at the end of our bones where they connect to one another.
Virtually all joints in the body allow for more than one degree of freedom especially in terms of micro movement and many of them, allbeit obviously functionally limited by the capsule ligaments and tendons, change their potential movement variations depending on the position the two building bones are in. A knee-joint for example is mainly designed for flexion and extension, but the lower leg can also rotate in the knee once it is bent. Fazit, much more “options” for movement and degrees of freedom are needed in typical joints of the body as opposed to a door hinge.
While a hinge joint of a door or window works totally on its own, the same can’t be said for joints in our bodies. If you look at a skeleton, with all soft tissue and connective, all ligaments, tendons, muscles and joint capsules removed, not only will the bones not hold together, but even when you hold radius and ulnar (the bones of your forearm) to the lower end of the humerus (your upper arm bone) and try to fit the joint surfaces to one another there are plenty of angles you can put them together at. if you hold the bones together like that the elbow joint (without its soft tissue) is capable of much more movements and a significantly larger range of motion (in some angles) than what’s possible in a living body. One can roll and side-flex the elbow joint in ways that are impossible with the capsule, guiding ligaments and all the muscles and connective tissue attached.
The interesting question that should immediately pop into everyone’s head at this point is why, are we built like that. Why don’t we just have perfectly cylindrical hinge joints or where needed perfectly spherical ball and socket joints? One of the simplest answers to this is because it’s the easiest way to ensure incredible movement diversity of the body and make movement biomechanically highly efficient. On top of that it’s also to mention that it’s the easiest way to ensure smoothness of movement and preventing us from looking like a badly built robot that just tries to make one wobbly step.
What does this mean for movement?
When we take a close look at people who move exceptionally well*, it quickly becomes apparent that their movement is fluid and smooth without edges, hard stops or straight lines. Every single action is on a slight curve that’s often totally invisible to the untrained eye and their movement is very well connected which means that even lifting the arm also affects the position, tension and angles of the hip joints, the knees, the ankles etc. This is natural movement!
(*..and by that I don’t mean an Olympian athlete who is mainly trained in one specific sport, or even a crossfit guy who performs movement for a very specific purpose, by that I mean people who have incredible movement efficiency, a lot of flow and the potential to great movement diversity who also perform movement only with the minimal amount of tension needed to ensure completion of the task or motion.)
Let me put this in other words so that it becomes even more clear what I mean. When you try to perform a totally linear movement it’s actually the most difficult task you can ask from the brain because we are not built for it. To move in a perfectly straight line, or to isolate the elbow joint for a biceps curl with the hand facing palm up throughout the whole movement is rather difficult for the muscles because it requires a lot of coordination and fine tuning. The reason is that our body, not a single part of it is built to move in a perfectly straight line. It’s the combination of an elaborate network of muscle slings, connective tissue and pressure transmitting bones that let movement appear straight but it actually isn’t.
If this essential fact is either forgotten, overlooked or simply neglected which it definitely is in the modern fitness world, many demand movement of the body that it’s actually not built for.
So the question is what is the result of that?
The result of attempting too many “straight line movements” is increased muscular tension that again translates to on increased pressure in the joints which is considered a constant stressor by the body. While we need positive pressure and even sometimes stress for training and resilience purposes, it becomes a problem when they are constant and present in every move we make because this also affects our natural alignment and posture.
A growing issue…
More and more people nowadays seem trapped in the issue of movement limitations and by that I don’t mean they can’t touch their toes. There are a couple of factors that influence natural movement, which I will go more into depth about in a separate article, but I still want to quickly mention some of them to give you a basic idea.
a) generally higher stress levels
b) fitness-training using machines
c) trauma (physical, emotional or psychological)
d) habit transmission
a) Higher stress levels influence the muscular tension aswell as breathing. The more tension there is in the muscles the less this muscle is capable of fine motor-control and adaptation to quickly changing requirements.
b) In modern gyms a lot of machines can be found that are designed to help isolate certain muscle groups and highlight certain functions. Those that pose the most problem are machines like treadmills, or for example the butterfly station.
Those machines cannot be adapted to one’s personal body proportions and because they use “perfect hinges” they are bad news when it comes to the aspect of supporting natural movement because they force the body to move in ways the body’s joints are not built to move in efficiently. Using cables or free weights or better yet more body centered approaches to fitness like animal locomotion and body weight training is definitely the better choice.
c) All sorts of trauma influence the body’s tension level and its coordination. Whether it’s a certain compensational pattern you created subconsciously to reduce pressure on a broken leg, some kind of surgery that changes tensions patterns in connective tissue or any kind of deep emotional or mental trauma, it all directly affects body movement and tension. Just think about it. You can easily tell if someone walking down the street is feeling depressed, anxious or in love or if the movement flows freely or has some sort of hiccups in the flow. Most people don’t normally pay attention to those subtleties consciously but if asked almost everyone would notice. Again long story short normal emotional daily expression isn’t a problem at all and is well within the range of healthy and normal human expression. However a whole special treatment branch that is body centered psychotherapy wraps around limitations in physical movement and it’s free expression through emotional trauma.
d) Most of us learn the first stages of movement more or less in the same way when we start to roll, crawl and sit as babies. However, shortly after this primary movement learning time we are exposed to quite a mix of additional impulses. What follows to the developmental movement phase is the creation of social bonds and connection through mimicking habitual postural and movement patterns of those closest to us. So basically a child takes on the most prominent movement and posture patterns of his parents and close social surroundings. But the process doesn’t stop there. Based on this priming, additional patterns are added in later teenage years and all even in adolescents because it’s part of our social synchronization methodology of connecting with our tribe. Obviously the problem isn’t this mechanism of social interconnection but the fact that the number of people having what can be considered healthy posture and or movement patterns and habits declined massively over the last couple of decades and still drops. In other words the number of healthy subjects to copy is so low that it’s almost impossible to grow up and or live in an environment where healthy natural movement and posture are naturally reinforced and confirmed every single day.
Is it even possible to move “naturally”?
Using the definition that describes natural movement as movement that is as close as possible to well-coordinated free flowing movement based on individual geometry, proportions and biochemistry etc. it is absolutely possible to move naturally or at the very least relearn to move with this efficiency even today.
Contrary to what you might think it isn’t very difficult to re-learn this way of moving because it is the naturally “programed” way of our body. Everything else, stress related tension, habitual copies etc. are merely add-ons to our movement programming or conditioned habits due to repetition. Once you show the body how to move more efficiently it will happily adapt and “remember” the original coordination. What might take a bit longer is when there is actual physical “damage” from old injuries or afore mentioned psychological trauma that might hold tension patterns. However there are many possibilities to solve such issues.
You are also likely to experience relief from stress or even notice more mental focus and a calmer mind in general since the body is so tightly linked with the mind and there is no such thing as a one way street in our body- mind- complex.
I will write a separate article about simple steps one can take to regain more natural movement habits.
For some point d) from above (habit transmission) might still echo in their minds and raise the question whether or not an adaptation of one’s movement habits will have adverse effects on social interaction. It’s true that this is kind of tricky to answer but at least partially it’s possible to generalize. Moving is a key element in social recognition, so changing something in the way you move will definitely not go unnoticed. Albeit 98% of people will probably not come up to you and point it out because as established earlier, it’s more a subconscious process rather than something consciously obvious unless your friends are highly trained therapists or movement experts which in this case would change the game considerably. Changing to a more “natural movement” pattern as defined above won’t restrict you from performing certain moves. It will merely change the way you coordinate or even trigger them. Which again simply means that socially people might notice subconsciously that you move differently but it won’t mean that suddenly you can’t do your skating tricks anymore etc. Simply by improving your movement, your friend-circle won’t change overnight. Probably the biggest impact it will have is on your appearance and your self-confidence which those who know you well might recognize. When you start to move according to your physical geometry you literally, physically reaffirm yourself with every movement you make. In other words you become much more authentic in your daily life which most likely will also affect your social interactions however in a rather positive sense. In the bigger scheme of life this potentially shifts the people you attract into your life and which friendships you will make from here on out, but like mentioned earlier, it is still up to you to meet with your old friends too. And finally that’s all it always comes down to. You! How you feel and how you choose to live. Chances are if you are reading this you want to improve some part of your life or at least want to know more about your possibilities in this body. Point being, this is something you are doing for yourself.
Last but not least:
“Being more authentic always goes hand in hand with being more conscious of oneself!”
Naturally such an approach to natural-, human- movement in general also improves ones connection with oneself, because self-awareness increases tremendously when we pay attention to physical sensations our posture and movement. This all has a lot to do with, not always, but from time to time allowing the body deliberately and consciously to move at its own pace rather than in a rhythm or fashion that our conscious thoughts want. I call this moving at your individual “physiological tissue speed” which you can read more about here shortly.
Movement is maybe the most essential part of life and improving it so that you feel comfortable and free is a great and awesome journey.
All discussions and thoughts about a clear generally accepted definition aside, I consider most concepts that are currently proposed and taught under the umbrella term “natural movement” as an improvement to simply going for rigid gym workouts because they are closer to what we are in life outside the gym.
Side note: Gym workouts or heavy lifting definitely also have their place and benefits and I wouldn’t cast them out completely but rather suggest to broaden the spectrum and adapt or at least complement the training.
Considering the positive effects for one’s own wellbeing engaging in practices that help to restore natural movement is definitely worth a go and most importantly really fun!