Chapter 19: Practice Environments - The Practice of Natural Movement

The answer to the question “Where should I train Natural Movement?” is simple: anywhere and everywhere. Indeed, can we even talk about real-life physical capability without including a great degree of environmental adaptability? Environmental—as well as situational—complexity and variety breed movement adaptability and the motor-control and physiological adaptations it entails.

So, it might be tempting to think that for practice to be the most effective or even the purest, you must do it in the open in uncontrolled, wild environments. However, the naturalness of the movement patterns is not dependent on the naturalness of the environment in which the movement is done. There aren’t Natural Movement patterns for the outdoors and others for the indoors. The minute—yet massively important—adjustments required for environmental adaptability do not depend on movements being done in natural or artificial environments but on the simplicity or complexity of such environments.

You could build very long and tall walls and an immense roof over a large patch of nature, which would limit the area and make it “indoor,” but the environment would retain its naturalness and complexity. Conversely, you could take down the walls and roof of a conventional fitness gym to make it an “outdoor” location, but that wouldn’t make it a more suitable environment for Natural Movement practice than the artificial fitness stations at a local park. Natural Movement practice in both controlled and natural environments can be quite similar, but it won’t be exactly the same. Both present different advantages and opportunities, both have benefits, and both have downsides.

I’ve always tried to seek out environments with excitement.”

—Kenneth Chenault

 

Uncontrolled (Natural) Environments

 

By default, natural environments are uncontrolled. Uncontrolled simply means that the environment has not been designed, built, organized, or modified for the specific purpose of movement practice. Therefore, urban environments, even though they have been artificially designed by people, are uncontrolled because they haven’t been specifically made for the purpose of movement practice. However, urban environments are largely comprised of flat, linear, stable surfaces that are much more even and predictable than the surfaces found in nature.

Practicing Natural Movement within uncontrolled environments presents us with variables that can be advantageous and disadvantageous—sometimes simultaneously. For instance, “lack of variability” is listed both as an advantage and a disadvantage.

The advantages of uncontrolled environments include the following:

• Variety or environmental complexity: Natural environments can provide amazing variety in terms of height, distance, weight, angles, and surfaces—rough, smooth, uneven, angled, bumpy, holey, slippery, rugged, cold, hot. These qualities are essential to high levels of adaptability. The variety of surfaces is the aspect most difficult to re-create indoors.

• Lack of variety: Not all natural environments provide variety, but a lack of variety can be advantageous in that it forces you to train and adapt to particular environmental variables and become proficient with them. It can also force you to be more resourceful and patient by learning to take your time to find what you need.

• Lack of predictability: You can’t always know what to expect or how reliable the surfaces are in an uncontrolled environment, which forces you to be mindful, alert, and responsive. As you gain experience, you will start to know how to place your foot and body weight by just looking at your immediate environment or feeling it. In that sense, the lack of predictability makes you better at predicting both the environment and how you should move next.

• Lack of measurement or quantification: You rely mostly on feel and observation in an uncontrolled environment. You might still count repetitions, but natural environments make it not only hard or impossible but also somewhat irrelevant to measure anything in terms of distance, height, depth, or weight. This can be beneficial to those who are addicted to the systematic quantification of performance because the inability to rely on numbers gives them an opportunity to learn to fully focus on and rely on feel, observation, and even instinct.

• Freedom: There are no rules in nature other than natural laws. If you respect the environment and life where you are, you can do anything you want.

• Connection with nature: Remembering that nature is where we all come from and what we are all made of is a powerful experience that can take place only in nature. You can’t get all the benefits of nature from a pill; you must spend some time in nature.

Here are some downsides of practicing in uncontrolled environments:

• Lack of variety or environmental complexity: Lack of variety was listed among the advantages of uncontrolled environments, but it can also be a disadvantage. Natural environments are sometimes mono-dimensional—all ground, no trees to climb, nothing to balance on, nothing heavy to lift, and so on, which means that you might not be able to practice some skills and techniques.

• Lack of scalability: A lack of variety also might imply a lack of scalability. For instance, there might be a vertical surface to climb, but it is too difficult or too easy for your level of proficiency and therefore not beneficial to helping you make progress (or worse, is potentially dangerous). Uncontrolled environments are a take-it-or-leave-it/do-it-or-don’t proposition.

• Lack of predictability: Surfaces may give way, break as you hang, or move without warning as you land. Even surfaces you believe are reliable sometimes are not. Furthermore, weather conditions can temporarily change surfaces. For example, rain makes things more slippery. A surface can be dry on top and humid underneath, which causes your feet to slide. Depending on your level of capability, the lack of predictability can be an issue, and it sometimes presents even experienced practitioners with the risk of injuring themselves.

• Lack of progression: Not progressing is the direct result of a lack of variety and scalability because progression is possible only when both of these variables are present. A lack of proper progression is also a major cause of injury when the increase in difficulty is too abrupt and unsustainable instead of being gradual.

• Lack of safety: The unpredictability of the environment is a big factor in the increase of risk of injury. The lack of scalability can also contribute to accidents because, when the setting lacks appropriate options, you might attempt to do something that’s too hard for your current level of expertise.

• Lack of measurement or quantification: Your assessment of progressions and progress is restricted to feel and observation because it is hard or even impossible to measure or quantify distances, heights, or weights. Measurement and quantification are not only great motivators but also tools for ensuring safe progressions.

• Lower training efficiency: When you take all the downsides in aggregate, it makes for a less efficient practice. With lack of variety and scalability, you might find yourself spending a significant amount of time scouting the area for elements that fit the skills or techniques you would like to practice or the level of difficulty they require. Even when you know where to find settings that offer variety and scalability, they may be far from each other. If time is a concern—say you have only one hour for your practice—the distance you must travel can be a real problem. You may have to delay entire aspects of your training for another place and time. In addition, the lack of quantification and measurement may hinder your progress because you can’t be sure how to compare the difficulty of your practice from one environment to another. Overall, this is not conducive to optimal practice, and it leaves you to random, instinctive training and little to no programming. While that training option works, it requires a lot of free time.

Controlled Environments (Artificial or Natural)

 

Controlled environments are custom designed for the specific purpose of scalable, progressive, and safe training because they provide predictable and adjustable environmental variables in one location. A controlled environment is always artificial in the sense that you wouldn’t randomly find one in nature, but just because an environment is controlled doesn’t mean that it has to be indoors or made of artificial materials. Controlled environments are most often indoor facilities filled with equipment and artificial surfaces made of rubber, plastic, metal, and other synthetic compounds, but you may temporarily arrange or permanently build outdoor controlled environments that are entirely made of natural materials, such as logs of varied length, thickness, and weight; rocks; and wood bars and boards. (Note: In a natural environment, you cannot, of course, control all variables, including the weather conditions and how they affect the environment.)

NOTE

 

Remember: Controlled doesn’t mean artificial. Controlled means predictable and adjustable.

 

Practicing Natural Movement within controlled environments presents us with variables that can be both advantageous and disadvantageous—sometimes simultaneously.

A custom-made practice environment can be designed to combine variety, scalability, progressiveness, predictability, and safety in a single area to guarantee optimal practice efficiency. The following are some specific advantages of practicing in controlled environments:

• Variety: The controlled environment may include all the elements of environmental variety you need for practicing the full spectrum of Natural Movement skills, such as enough space to run; diverse surfaces for jumping, balancing, and climbing; and props for manipulative skills.

• Scalability and progressions: The equipment and props in controlled environments are adjustable in distance, height, depth, weight, and surface quality, which makes it possible to control progressions in difficulty (intensity or complexity).

• Predictability and safety: The predictability of the practice environment (for instance, a surface designed to provide a controlled level of instability) and the scalability of the level of difficulty greatly reduces the risk of injury and makes practice as safe as possible.

The following are some disadvantages to controlled environments:

• Lack of variability in environmental complexity: Unless it is specifically designed for Natural Movement/MovNat practice, practicing a wide range of natural movements in a controlled environment is a challenge and is inherently limiting. For instance, indoor gyms might have pull-up bars on which you can do only limited climbing movements. You must use your imagination to use existing elements for things they weren’t designed for, and you’ll also need to obtain formal authorization to do so. The natural diversity of surfaces in nature (such as bark, sand, rock, mud, tall grass, bumps, and holes) as well as weather conditions (such as rain, snow, and sun) that modify the terrain or how you interact with the terrain while in motion are also absent in controlled environments.

• Lack of unpredictability: When you always know what to expect, and you know that you can rely with 100 percent confidence on the surfaces and equipment you use, it’s easy to become less attentive—or even to act mindlessly. Lack of attention in a gym could lead to minor injury, but in nature the consequences can be much worse.

• Too much safety: Knowing there is no risk of injury in attempting a difficult move because there’s a crash pad or a perfectly clear and smooth area restricts your performance to being mostly a physical feat. When you have risk of failure but no actual consequence other than missing and trying again, you’re not training your mental fortitude. As a result, you can get a false sense of competence that will not apply in an uncontrolled context where real danger is present.

• Lack of freedom: Controlled environments are often small spaces confined by walls, and there are often rules and many “don’ts” that restrict what you can do. It’s easy to get a feeling of being boxed in because, as a matter of fact, you are in a box.

• Air pollution: Indoor spaces are usually filled with rubber, plastic, and chemical contaminants. They’re often poorly ventilated, and they’re devoid of natural materials, surfaces, and energies. Breathing bad air while training—sometimes at high intensity—is simply not healthy.

Options for Practice

 

At this point, you’re probably wondering what the best solution for your practice is. The only thing you can know for sure is that you can’t dissociate techniques from the specific type of environment in which they need to be executed. For example, if you want to practice balancing, at a minimum you need a narrow surface. You might have a choice between controlled complexity—a standard 2x4 on the floor—and uncontrolled complexity—a fallen tree covered with slippery moss that’s elevated some distance above the ground—but the point is that to practice balancing, you have to have something to balance on because all Natural Movement practice is contextual. What you are going to practice really depends on where you are, what context is available or accessible, and what you intend or need to practice and at what level.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

—Theodore Roosevelt

 

You want to always remain opportunistic and adaptable in finding or creating opportunities to move and practice. Don’t wait to find yourself surrounded by vast natural expanses! You can’t wait for the perfect environment, the perfect time, or even the perfect movement.

As a Natural Movement beginner, your priority concern is to avoid unnecessary danger and injury risk. The second concern is optimizing the (usually limited) time you have for practice by taking advantage of available variety and scalability to ensure sound progressions. Given that controlled environments are made specifically for the purpose of movement, they should provide anything a practitioner needs to ensure safe, structured, and efficient practice. A controlled environment is a perfect solution for beginners.

Unless you can find a local facility fitted for Natural Movement/MovNat practice, I suggest that, if possible, you create your own “controlled environment,” which you can call a “training facility,” “Natural Movement gym,” or whatever term you like. You can build one with inexpensive materials. The objective is to ensure environmental variety while simplifying environmental complexity and making it adjustable for safe and effective progressions. You retain the freedom to go test your newly acquired capability in uncontrolled environments at any time!

Regardless of where you practice, eventually you are your own “controlled environment” in the sense that you are able to control your mindset, choices, and behavior. Let me explain this idea: Nothing in the modern world expects any movement from you. Your Natural Movement practice is an optional strategy for a better life. Part of this strategy is finding the time to practice. Everyone is in a hurry these days. Yet we spend an average of 33 hours a week watching TV, and that doesn’t account for the additional hours spent on social media or video games through computers and smartphones. If you “lack time,” search no more, because it relies entirely on how you occupy your time. It’s a choice. You also should be able to control your mindset when you practice, starting with a commitment not to alter the way you train, whether there are people around or you’re all alone.

We all live every day in virtual environments, defined by our ideas.”

—Michael Crichton

   

Would you choose the left or the right? Even or uneven? Flat or bumpy? Linear or nonlinear? Simple or complex? Repetitive or changing? Convenient or challenging? Dull or stimulating? Conventional or adaptable? Predictable or adventurous? Artificial or natural? Do you see landscaping on the right or do you recognize an immediate opportunity for Natural Movement?