This was our attempt to crawl like animals towards the camera. Give crawling a try, it will be tougher than you may think;)
The CatholicFIT Principle for week 3 is Food.
Food is our life source. What we eat throughout the day may dictate our energy level, our mental focus, our emotional state, our physical performance and our healing potential. Sweet Moses food is crazy important. Fortunately for us, God has given us perfect food.
Genesis 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.
This is why we try to eat “God-made food” 80+% of the time, that is, minimally processed food with five ingredients or less (fruits, veggies, meat, real butter and oils and some starches and dairy if tolerated well.) But today we are talking about exercise. So the question is …
How Processed is Your Exercise Routine?
Infant Crawling – Starting Position (hands and knees with knees hovering just off of the floor)
Becoming CatholicFIT is about (re-)discovering what God has intended for us through the prism of what we eat, how we move (exercise) and how we ultimately think and live. Just as we avoid processed food 80% of the time, the same can be said for how we exercise. If more than 20% of your exercise routine involves treadmills, ellipticals, Nautilus machines, etc, you are probably not moving your body enough in the natural way God has intended.
The solution to fending off processed exercise is to get on the floor. Crawling, starting position pictured right, is an awesome example of how we develop our natural strength as infants. If you want to restore your core muscles, this is a great place to begin.
Consider the development of a baby’s movement. Infants begin on their backs, eventually roll over when they develop enough core strength to do so, then learn to rock on their hands and knees, followed eventually with crawling. When we want to “reset” our body into its natural state of strength and balance, crawling is the way to go. Give it a shot, crawl forward and backwards 6-10 steps, and then repeat this without your knees touching the ground. It is tougher than you think.
Crawling maybe one of the most under-appreciated and therefore under practiced exercises, yet it is wicked awesome for developing total body awareness and strength.
Infant Crawling – the first step is with the opposite arm and leg
Infant Crawling
Infant crawling is done by getting into hands and knees position as if you are going to crawl. The difference here is that when you begin to move, you begin and proceed with your knees hovering an inch or two off of the floor. You remain in a hands and knees position, but you are actually on your hands and feet (or the balls of your feet and toes) as you crawl forward and backward. Try crawling forward 6-10 steps and then backwards the same amount.
Check out the At Home Routine video below for a sample of this type of crawling mixed into an at-home routine you can do anywhere you have some floor space.
(Sorry, I have yet to post the Infant Crawling video on my YouTube Channel and CatholicFIT Playlist.)
Animal (Spiderman) Crawling
At Home Routine with Exercises from Weeks 1-3
Try this routine at home as the video above explains:
- Warm up to increase your body temperature and prepare your muscles for exercise (jumping jacks, go for a walk, march in place)
- Run through a few toe touches and lunge stretches per leg working on a twist and reach per arm
- Perform a few squats – specifically the ones you are currently working on – squatting floor touches, sit to stands from your chair, overhead squats with a PVC pipe, single leg squats, squats holding weight, etc
- More Lunge Stretches – now that you are warmed up, knock out a few more of these
- More Squats – work on your squats a few more minutes
- Infant Crawling – work on a few of these, 6-10 forward and backwards x 2-3 sets
- 90-90 Stretch – cool down with a 90-90 stretch with each leg in front for about 2-3 minutes each
- Grab a drink and a high-protein snack – Nice Job!
Try these out … tell me what you think and look forward to Week 4 Exercises coming soon.
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