Children are naturally flexible. And they have boundless
energy. In fact, when PROFESSIONAL athletes have tried
to keep up with a child, they get exhausted within an hour.
Literally and truly.
Before my daughter hit the crawl stage, she had to do
baby pushups – not to mention a lot of back hyper-
extensions. In order to achieve the sit-up-in-bed stage,
she had to do a lot of leg lifts and knee pullins. One of her
favorite exercises was the army crawl. That one whoops
most adults within a few seconds.
After army crawls come bear crawls. Oh yes, one of my
favorites for torturing people into great shape fast.
Bear crawls are one of the most overlooked bodyweight
exercises – and if you take a minute a day – well, maybe
more like 30 seconds to crawl like a bear – believe you me,
results are a coming down the pike.
After bear crawls flip over for a bit of crab walking, and
you’ve virtually hit every muscle in the body, except the neck.
Now let’s look at the three crawls already mentioned – and other
assorted exercises in my books and weave a fat-burning workout
around them:
1. Baby pushups – hips and legs on floor – push off palms, lower
and repeat
2. Army crawls – 10-20 seconds
3. Leg lifts – 10-20 to start
4. Leg pull-ins – 10-20
5. Bear crawls – 30 seconds
6. Crab walks – 10-20 seconds
7. Get-ups – lie on back and come to standing – 10x –
this fine exercise is one that I specifically emphasized for the
80 and 90-year old men and women I trained at my gym in
California. – Very important.
So you see, even the most basic things we do as a child can
be turned into a kick-butt workout, using nothing more than
your own bodyweight.
And the sky is NOT the limit. It can go on and on and on – so
that you are always challenged.
By the way, babies also know how to breathe properly. They
do it naturally, right out of the gate. Because babies breathe
deeply, they have more energy, laugh all the time and have
a great time while exploring and learning from their new world.
So never think you know too much when it comes to fitness.
Going back to the ultra-basics may be the workout of your
life – especially now, when you’re 20x the size you were as
a youngin.
Kick butt – take names,
Author of Int’l best-sellers Combat Conditioning and Combat Abs –