Chapter 24: Ground Movement 1: Lying, Rolling, Crawling - The Practice of Natural Movement

24

Ground Movement 1: Lying, Rolling, Crawling

 

“Only by bringing peace from the ground up can problems higher in the body be understood.”

 

—Ida Rolf

 

Ground movement refers to positions and movements that you do while your center of gravity is lower than your knee level when you’re standing, regardless of which part of the body is the base of support. Ground movement includes lying, rolling, crawling, sitting, kneeling, squatting, and the many types of get-ups or transitions between lower and higher positions.

Place a piece of tape on the wall at your knee level, then lower yourself into any position in which your center of gravity is below that mark. You’re holding a ground position or doing a ground movement.

Ground movement is where each person’s movement journey begins after birth. Infants go through a Natural Movement developmental process during which they learn to elevate their center of gravity progressively until they reach bipedal standing positions. The practical value of ground movement is enormous. It’s a shame that modern society has such little regard for ground movements. Most are dismissed as being “animal-like” or “child-like,” or they’re considered to be reserved to activities such as military training. Before you address how well you move when standing on your feet, you should verify how comfortably you move below that level.

From a practical perspective, ground movements allow infants to move around before they can stand and walk autonomously, and the movements help infants learn movement patterns that are essential to overall movement competency. Ground movements are useful for passing under or through low obstacles, handling tasks and chores on the ground, reaching something low and difficult to access, resting, lowering your field of vision, looking for something on the ground, camouflaging yourself or taking shelter under something, avoiding falling, moving when the terrain is challenging for bipedal motion, moving when standing isn’t possible or is challenging (because of injury, sickness, disability, or intoxication), breathing better in smoky areas, or playing with young children.

Functionally speaking, ground positions and movements are great for the entire body: feet, ankles, knees, hips, lumbar and thoracic spine, shoulders, wrists, hands—they’re all covered! No one is truly physically capable, including athletes, if they’re not proficient on the ground.

If done right, ground movement can restore function in and strengthen your whole body and feel very healing, especially if you do it regularly on real, earthy ground. Even better, ground movement requires no equipment at all, except maybe a mat, and you can do it at home—either indoors or outdoors—while you visualize the potential real-life situation in which the movements might apply.

In this book, I am, of course, giving ground movement the attention it deserves. With every position and movement I present, the rule of thumb is to always maintain ample abdominal breathing. Make your ground movement practice a breathing practice for extra benefit.

Lying and Rolling

 

Lying techniques and movements are a great introduction to ground movement because they happen close to the ground, with the lowest possible center of gravity, and the movements are similar to what you learn in the first developmental stage of life. Rolling is an effective way to switch from being supine (face up) to being prone (face down) or vice versa. For some techniques, you use your limbs relatively minimally; instead, you rely primarily on the action of your core, hips, and shoulders. Those techniques are excellent for spine mobility. Other techniques require more limb action. Unlike limbless creatures that can slither, humans must use varied points of support to anchor ourselves and reduce friction to help us push, pull, or roll effectively as we perform the lowest ground movements.

In a practical sense, lying positions and movements are important in many ways. We use lying positions to rest, conceal ourselves, and protect our bodies. We also use these techniques to move when more elevated stances are too unstable or when we must creep underneath or through confined, narrow, or thick environments. Rolling enables us to rapidly switch the orientation and direction of a lying position, to transition from a landing to a lying position while dispersing high impact forces effectively, and even to quickly regain a standing position after an unexpected fall.

Positions

Unlike many other natural positions, lying positions are common in our modern lifestyles, and for a good reason: We go to bed every evening and find ourselves in diverse lying positions as we sleep. Even though you might feel like you’re well-versed in lying positions, I encourage you to explore as many of the variations shown in the photos as you can with intention and mindfulness. There are more variations than what I show—for instance, the position of your legs doesn’t have to be straight. You can modify the leg position to create positional variations. You do something similar for the sitting positions shown in Chapter 25. Feel your points of support and point of balance, especially in the side-lying positions, and notice how they affect your breathing.

Some positions are fully relaxed; others are “active” and require you to hold muscular tension. Also explore random transitions from any of the following positions to another position.

 

1 Supine Lying arms down to the sides (or extended to the sides, crossed over the chest, hands protecting the face, etc.).

2 Prone Lying, head up with chin on the ground, bent arms pointing forward.

 

3 Protective Supine Lying, bent legs and arms, open hands on the head, forearms shielding the face.

4 Prone Lying, head off the ground, arms off the ground, one arm reaching forward at an angle.

Lying Rolls

As practice, rolling is a fun movement to do. However, the apparent simplicity of rolling movements is deceptive. For most adults, these positions and movement patterns feel very awkward at first. That’s because there’s a big difference between rolling randomly (and often clumsily) on soft surfaces for fun and rolling intentionally and skillfully on firm surfaces. You might lose balance. Your sense of proprioception and spatial awareness might be tricked and confused. You might realize that you lack the spine mobility and body coordination to perform efficient rolls or that you lack the abdominal strength to roll from a lying position when you haven’t generated any momentum. Working on these techniques might expose physical weaknesses you didn’t know you had.

I recommend that you start learning to roll on relatively soft, forgiving surfaces to avoid feeling very uncomfortable and tense. I also recommend that you start rolling from lying positions rather than standing positions. The reason is that it’s easy to throw a roll using the pull of gravity, but if the roll is uncontrolled, the landing might resemble a painful crash. Starting from a lying position is the best way to ensure that you first learn a controlled, slow-motion roll. Lying rolls are both self- and gravity-powered. The first phase of the roll is self-powered, and the second phase is more gravity-powered.

If you can perform a good roll in slow motion, you can perform a good dynamic roll, but the opposite isn’t necessarily true. If you want to eventually learn efficient and safe rolls from standing positions, you need to learn to perform them first from lying and in slow motion with impeccable control over your positions, sequence, timing, and relaxation.

Side Roll

Once you have become proficient at the Side Lying positions and Side-Rocking movement, rolling all the way to the other side makes sense when you need to switch your body position from supine to prone or vice versa. Possible uses for the reversal in body orientation are as a protective move or, more likely, a transitional move before you use a different crawling technique. You also might use it to get up and start moving forward immediately in the desired direction. For instance, from the Supine Lying position, if you want to move in the direction of your head, you would have to use a Shoulder Crawl, a Hip-Thrust Crawl, or an Inverted Hand-Foot Crawl (which are covered later in this chapter) without being able to look where you’re going or see what’s behind your back. By first reversing to a Prone Lying position, you can use a great variety of crawling techniques or even get up and immediately face the direction you’re headed. You also could use the Side Roll to cover some distance on a flat terrain relatively rapidly while staying very close to the ground when there’s a danger of being noticed or hit by projectiles.

You can also use the rolling move when you’re going downhill, but only as a form of temporary recovery after a fall and to maintain some body position control if you can’t bring yourself to an immediate stop. Although Side Rolling down a hill covered with thick grass can be fun, you never know when a stone is going to get in your way, and vital parts of your body, such as the face, back of the head, neck, and spine, are exposed to a real threat of severe injury. There are other ways to crawl or slide down a steep slope while avoiding unnecessary risks.

Supine-to-Prone Side Roll

To perform the Supine-to-Prone, Stretched-Arms Side Roll, you can roll to the side and back, then roll to the other side, alternately. When you have more space available, you can roll over a certain distance without stopping and then roll back to where you started.

Optionally, you could perform the Side Roll with your arms crossed over your chest or tight along the sides of your body. You also can include short pauses after you reach the straight Side Lying position, perform the roll very slowly, or perform the roll very dynamically. Also, nothing prevents you from using your arms to push off the ground with your hands, forearms, or elbows and facilitate rolling; however, you can learn more about the mechanics of this particular movement by learning to do it with your arms stretched (which can be necessary if you’re doing the movement while holding something in your hands).

 

1 Assume the Supine Lying position, arms fully extended above your head.

2 Initiate the motion from a hip rotation in the direction you want to roll, shifting weight to the side of your body. You may assist the rocking motion by lightly pushing off the foot opposite to the direction in which you want to roll or by lifting your back leg (the one that’s opposite the direction in which you’re rolling) and swing it in the direction you want to roll.

 

3 As you keep driving the Side Roll through your hips, your center of gravity reaches a point beyond your base of support. At this point, you can relax and let gravity effortlessly pull you to the Prone Lying position.

4 From the Prone Lying position, you may roll back to your original Supine Lying position or roll farther in the same direction as your first roll. If you choose to keep rolling in the same direction on a flat terrain, you should use the momentum generated by each “fall” from the Side Lying position (forward when rolling from Supine-to-Prone Lying and backward when rolling from Prone-to-Supine Lying). Of course, if you use the Side Roll down a hill, gravity pulls you without extra effort on your part. If the slope is steep, you might not even be able to control your speed and will have to change your position to stop.

Prone-to-Supine Side Roll

The Prone-to-Supine Side Roll is slightly more difficult to execute because of the human body structure. From the Supine Lying position, our hips rest on the soft, rounded part of the body: the rear. In the Prone Lying position, our hips rest on the hard, bony part, which is a natural obstacle that makes rolling using only hip rotation quite challenging.

There are three strategies to propel your body into a Side Roll from the Prone Lying position.

• Push off from the forefoot that’s on the opposite side to the direction you want to roll to assist hip rotation.

• Push off from the forefoot that’s on the side that’s in the direction you want to roll to shift your body weight and elevate your body slightly in the opposite direction and then use the momentum generated by gravity pulling your body weight down to roll easily in the intended direction.

• Lift your back leg (the leg opposite the direction in which you want to roll) to help lift your hip off the ground and assist your hip rotation.

Front-Rocking

You can use Front-Rocking to precede get-up techniques and make it easier to transition to a Squat or Kneel. The backward motion is also a natural part of the Backward Roll. As a drill, Front-Rocking is great for abdominal strength and spine mobility, especially if you rock back all the way to your upper back. Unlike many other movements, a supple rounded back is necessary for performing this movement efficiently.

 

1 Position yourself in a Bent Sit, leaning forward.

SAFETY NOTE

 

It’s important that you control the backward momentum and do not end up rolling back farther than your upper back. The back of your head may slightly and briefly touch the ground, but in no way should you shift any body weight onto it. Putting body weight on your head could potentially strain your neck. If you roll past your upper back, you’re engaging in a Backward Roll, and you should shift weight to one of your shoulders. To be on the safe side, keep your rocking amplitude low at first—rolling only to your lower back before you begin rolling back forward. You can progressively increase how far back you roll.

   

2 You may slightly push off your feet or lean backward to shift weight to the back of your rear. Your feet and legs elevate, which helps you reach a point where your center of gravity is beyond your base of support. You’re pushing yourself off balance and allowing gravity to pull you back and down.

 

3 As gravity pulls you back and down, smoothly shift weight from your rear to your back while pulling your bent legs up and toward your chest.

 

4 Forcefully contract your abdominal muscles to pull your rear higher and your legs farther back so your feet are above your head or slightly beyond. You’re shifting your body weight and rolling all the way to your upper back.

5 When you’ve rocked as far back as you’re going to go, hold the position of your rounded spine and let gravity pull and rock you forward. If you rocked backward with the intention of using the forward momentum to get back on your feet, you may drive your hips and legs forward and down more swiftly to generate a stronger forward momentum that will enable you to easily transition to your feet.

 

6 You reach the starting position (a Bent Sit) and are ready to rock back again if you’re doing a repetitive drill. If you’re using the rocking motion to transition to a position on your feet, the position of your feet and legs depends on whichever transition you’re going for. (Read more about ways to get up in Chapter 25, “Ground Movement 2: Sitting, Kneeling, Getting Up.”)

A progression to this drill that also increases the benefit to abdominal strength is to perform it without letting your feet touch the ground at all, which prevents you from pushing off your feet and legs to generate backward momentum. In that case, start the movement with both feet off the ground. You may bring your bent arms in front of you with your hands in front of your face or on top of your head in a protective stance.

Backward Roll from Supine Lying

The lying Backward Roll allows you to change your body orientation from supine to prone. You also can change your body direction so that your head points in the direction your feet had been pointing before the roll. The Backward Roll from Supine Lying can be quite useful in situations that require you to stay low to reduce your visibility or exposure, for switching position for observation or aiming at a target, and so on. When you start from a higher stance, such as a standing position, you can use it as a fast and smooth transition to a Prone Lying position, to disperse impact forces upon landing, or as a recovery from getting off balance and tipping backward.

As a drill, the Backward Roll from Supine Lying movement is a safe way to begin to practice for the Backward Roll; for the Backward Roll, the progression goes like so: from sitting, from a Half Squat, from standing, and finally from landing from various heights. Before you can work through that progression, you must make sure that you fully control the pattern, which you can do by practicing the roll without any momentum. The Backward Roll from Supine Lying pattern is where you begin the roll—first doing it without any rocking motion. Beginners tend to roll in random directions and end up lying at an angle; although this is acceptable, it should be the outcome only because you intend it rather than because it merely happens without your control. Your goal is to ensure a linear roll, which means that once the roll is done, your Prone Lying position is aligned with your starting Supine Lying position.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

Remember to maintain ample and relaxed abdominal breathing while rolling to facilitate relaxation and T-spine mobility.

 

SAFETY NOTE

 

It’s important that you control the backward momentum and do not end up rolling back farther than your upper back. The back of your head may slightly and briefly touch the ground, but in no way should you shift any body weight onto it. Putting body weight on your head could potentially strain your neck. To be on the safe side, keep your rocking amplitude low at first—only rolling to your lower back before you begin rolling back forward. You can progressively increase how far back you roll.

 

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

Some people find it helpful to start with straight legs so that they don’t try to kick themselves over. Keeping your legs straight forces pure abdominal contraction that’s coupled with a little momentum from your legs.

   

1 Start in the Supine Lying position with your legs bent. Your arms are extended to the sides of your body in a V shape, palms down.

2 Stabilize your position with your hands and arms and lift your rear and legs off the ground and toward your head using strong abdominal contraction. Your lower body is leaning slightly sideways at an angle, but not so much that you fall to the side. Start turning your head in the direction of the shoulder you will roll on, which enables you to see where you will place your feet on the ground. The more you turn your neck toward your shoulder and tuck in your chin, the more comfortable the movement feels.

3 Keep pulling your lower body up and back so that your feet are above the ground beyond your head as you shift your body weight onto the back of your shoulder. Your opposite shoulder is starting to come off the ground. Make sure to protect your neck by keeping your head clear of supporting any body weight.

 

4 Your body weight is now almost fully supported by the shoulder. Use your arm on that same side to stabilize your body and prevent it from falling sideways as the balls of your feet reach the ground; using your arm also helps stabilize your position. The arm on the opposite side of your body is off the ground. If you want to roll back linearly, which means closely aligned with your original position and direction, you need to make sure that you place your feet behind your head to make an invisible straight line between the original position of your feet and head. When you reach a point of balance where your center of gravity is right over your base of support, all you need to roll is to push off your shoulder and bring your center of gravity beyond your base of support; gravity takes over at no extra energy cost. The weight of your body pushes on your legs, so you can let your feet slide on the ground at a controlled speed. As you roll back, you accompany the rolling movement of your body by rotating your shoulder and arm on the ground (see the close-up photo) to facilitate smooth repositioning into the Prone Lying position.

5 Finish the roll with your body fully flattened against the ground and your arms fully extended to the sides of your body. Optionally, you can extend your arms overhead in front of your body.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

Remember to maintain abdominal breathing while rolling to facilitate relaxation and T-spine mobility.

 

SAFETY NOTE

 

With both the Backward and Forward Roll, you do not want to roll straight along the body’s midline, which would involve rolling over your spine (or onto your neck) and could potentially expose it and make it vulnerable to hard objects on the ground. Instead, you roll from one shoulder to the opposing hip, with the spine contacting the ground for only a very short time on a very small area.

 

SAFETY NOTE

 

When you’re doing a Forward Roll, it’s essential that you not push body weight onto your neck, and it’s also imperative that you turn your neck and head in the opposite direction of your weight-bearing shoulder and tuck in your chin. Keeping your head straight—or worse, trying to turn it in the same direction as the weight-bearing shoulder as you do in the Backward Roll—would result in straining your neck or even badly hurting it.

 

Drill: Half Backward Roll

The most important part of the Backward Roll is to reach the flexed-spine position while you’re resting on a single shoulder with the balls of your feet touching the ground behind your body. You can reduce the movement to just that part of the movement and do it as a drill. As soon as your forefeet touch the ground, immediately push off the ground and let gravity pull your body back down into a supine flexed rocking motion. As you rock and roll back again, make sure to alternate which shoulder you’re rolling to.

Forward Roll from Prone Lying

The practical applications for the Forward Roll are the same as the applications for the Backward Roll. You perform it with your arms extended along the sides of your body, extended at an angle from the body, or extended perpendicularly to the body. In any case, it doesn’t make sense to try to sneak your arm underneath your torso before you roll.

As you start practicing the roll from a higher stance such as Tall Half-Kneeling or standing, one arm can be turned inward and down toward the hip before you roll. This option allows you to start dispatching the greater impact forces with a line running from the back of your hand to the shoulder instead of placing your shoulder on the ground with your arm extended.

 

1 Assume a Prone Lying position with your arms extended perpendicularly to your body. (Optionally, you can extend your arms along the sides of your body or angle them slightly from your body). Your feet rest on the forefoot. Your head is already turned in the direction opposite of the weight-bearing shoulder.

 

2 Push off the balls of your feet and bring the leg opposite your weight-bearing shoulder forward in a wide step, placing your foot at about hip level. This move starts positioning your body sideways in the direction of your weight-bearing shoulder. Begin protectively tucking in your chin.

3 Optionally, you can use core strength to make two or three small steps forward, elevating your hips off the ground and pushing your rear upward. Note that this option is a bit slower than the option described in step 2.

 

4 Push off the foot of your bent leg to drive your body forward with your rear up while you shift your weight onto your weight-bearing shoulder. Avoid pushing your body straight toward your head and neck.

5 You have pushed off your feet and fully extended your legs. The balls of your feet are still on the ground, ready for the final push that will make your center of gravity go beyond your base of support so that your body topples and unfolds to the other side. Both your arms are on the ground to stabilize your body and direct your upcoming roll. Also, you should be inwardly rotating your shoulder and arm during this phase to facilitate the smooth repositioning of your body in the Supine Lying position. You’re now rolling to the other side at no extra energy cost. Gravity is pulling your weight and lower limbs down. Immediately turn your head to verify that you’re headed in the right direction.

6 As you unfold your legs, you still can adjust the direction of your body to some extent by moving your hips. When you end, you have repositioned your body to “land” your roll in exact alignment with your starting Prone Lying position, only you’re now in a Supine Lying position.

You can conveniently practice the Back and Front Rolls from a lying position because the body’s orientation reverses from supine to prone as you do each roll. Make sure to practice both rolls on both shoulders, first in a straight line—reversing the orientation of your body without changing its direction—and then rolling at different angles.

Progressions for Both Rolls

• Perform a controlled roll, both slow motion and dynamically, without using momentum (such as forcefully pushing off your feet or rocking at the start).

• Perform the roll without assistance from your arms, both in slow motion and dynamically, which requires perfect core control. If you have issues not using your arms, you may bend and tuck them with your hands on your chest so that you avoid placing them on the ground.

• Roll at a controlled angle—for instance, at a 90-degree angle—so that you’re oriented in a different direction upon landing.

• Roll from a higher position—such as squatting or standing—then after landing on your feet after a jump.

Lying Crawls

Lying crawls enable continuous motion over a distance as you stay as close to the ground as possible. You use a lying crawl when it’s the best contextual option or simply because the context leaves you with no other option at all. Technically speaking, lying crawls are all about efficient alternation of points of support to reduce the normally large frictional surface and resistance that comes with lying positions.

Shoulder Crawl

The Shoulder Crawl is a fast way to crawl in a Supine Lying position. This crawl enables you to go under and/or through very low—and sometimes narrow and long—obstacles. If necessary, you also can hold and carry a relatively light object or load in your arms. If you tend to be stiff in your shoulders, this is a great movement for loosening them because shoulder mobility (and hip rotation) are essential for making this movement effective.

Although you might have to execute this movement in a nonlinear path in a real-life context, I recommend that you first practice this technique in a perfectly linear way to make sure you have good spatial awareness and body control.

The Shoulder Crawl is deceptively easy, especially because it is a full contralateral pattern that relies on a base of support of an opposing foot and shoulder to work efficiently. Although you rotate your hips, you must avoid hinging your hips if you want to move in a straight line as efficiently as possible. You may practice by following a line drawn on the ground (or a line of tape on the floor); try to follow the line without looking. This is a more technical movement than it appears if you want to do it efficiently.

 

1 From the Supine Lying position, slightly flex your leg to bring one foot within a few inches of your rear and plant your heel firmly by flexing at the ankle. If the terrain is slippery, you may bring the foot a little farther toward knee level to give your heel more friction on the ground when you extend your leg. Keep the other leg extended.

 

2 Use your hips to shift your body weight to the side of your body that’s opposite of your planted foot. This greatly reduces the surface of contact of your body with the ground. Keep your head slightly above ground the whole time.

3 Press down on your heel to maintain friction and extend the bent leg to push your body up while both your heel and weight-bearing shoulder stay anchored where they are. Extend your leg until you feel that you have reached full shoulder depression, meaning that your shoulder is as far away from your ear as it can be. As you are extending the leg, pull the opposite shoulder toward your ear.

 

4 While shifting your body weight to the opposite direction, slide your other foot to bring it slightly closer to your rear and plant the heel firmly to repeat the preceding steps on the other side. Keep your free shoulder pulled up toward your ear so that, as it reaches the ground, it will be placed as far forward in your path as possible, which maximizes the distance you cover per rotation.

This is the exact same position that I describe in step 2, but from the opposite side. Now repeat the same sequence, keeping your body aligned on a longitudinal axis and your shoulders relaxed. Maintain ample, relaxed abdominal breathing.

There’s are some faults and inefficiencies you should avoid for an efficient shoulder crawl:

• Using ipsilateral movement—in other words, trying to push with the foot and leg on the same side as the supporting shoulder, which makes you lean to a single side, makes it harder to be balanced or to press down on the heel to generate friction, and creates superfluous tensions and slows the movement.

• Bringing the foot too close to the rear and bending the leg too much. The length of leg extension should be short enough to match the limited range of motion of the supporting shoulder. When you keep pushing off the leg after you’ve reached maximum shoulder depression, you will force your hips to move out of line. This makes your path a zig-zag in a Hip-Thrust Crawl fashion rather than a line.

• Back pedaling if you are not pressing the heel down when you extend the leg.

• Using limited range of motion in the shoulders, which limits how much distance you cover during each cycle. If you notice this issue, sit up and rotate your shoulders backward fluidly and with maximum amplitude and then resume the crawl.

• Hip hinging or flexing the spine when the body rotates to the side orientations, which disturbs the rest of the positional sequence or could give a zigzagging motion to your trajectory.

• Breathing intermittently, which is usually related to overall stiffness, especially in the shoulders.

• Trying to stay flat on your back and slide back. If the terrain and your clothing make sliding easy and energy-efficient, sliding while flat on your back can be a good idea; otherwise, you will struggle.

Alternatively, you can practice the Shoulder Crawl in a Prone Lying position, although it’s much more difficult and slower to do it this way.

Hip-Thrust Crawl

The Hip-Thrust Crawl is an effective way to move while you’re lying on your side. Because you’re moving in a direction opposite to your orientation, this movement enables you to put distance between yourself and a threat while you maintain eye contact with it (so you can promptly react as the situation evolves). When you use the Hip-Thrust Crawl, you also can hold and carry an object in your arm. In combat situations, you can use the same movement to bring your legs between you and an opponent who’s on top of you in the mount position or side control.

In both practice and real-world situations, you can do the Hip-Thrust Crawl by pushing off both legs or a single leg and moving along one side of your body (so you move in a straight line) or alternating sides (so you move in a zig-zag). You can look at it as the human version of the lateral undulation or sidewinding that some reptiles do.

The single-leg Hip-Thrust Crawl described in the steps is more challenging than using both legs because it is a contralateral pattern that relies on opposite foot and shoulder as the base of support. Start your practice by planting both feet and pushing off both legs before you switch to the single-leg version.

 

1 From the Supine Lying position, look in the direction opposite to where you intend to move and bend the leg on the side of your body that’s opposite to where you’re looking. Pull the foot of the bent leg as close to your rear as possible if you want to generate maximum power and distance; otherwise, you don’t have to bring your foot as high.

 

2 Press the heel into the ground then push off it to elevate your rear and prepare for your hips to move rotationally.

3 Shift your body weight sideways toward the shoulder that’s opposite your bent leg to reduce friction and allow full extension of your legs to move your hips backward. During this phase, your base of support should be located between your heels and shoulder.

 

4 Press down onto your heels and maintain mild ankle flexion to help maintain friction from the heels and prevent them from sliding as you forcefully push off your leg. Extend your leg fully, driving your hip as far as possible to the back, then let the side of your body come back in contact with the ground. Depending on the context in which you’re doing the crawl, you may fully extend your arms during the motion as if you were pushing something away with them, flex your arms and keep them close to your chest and off ground, or bend your arms in front of your face in a protective fashion. Bring your heels close to your rear to repeat the entire sequence again on the same side. Alternatively, you can set your body to replicate the same sequence on the other side.

Half-Press & Full-Press Prone Lying Positions

With the Half-Press and Full-Press Prone Lying positions, you elevate the upper body with the support of your arms as you remain in a lying position with your legs and hips in contact with the ground. These movements are useful when you want to transition from lying to crawling or the other way around, need to crawl very low and elevate your field of vision to observe or scan your surroundings, or are trying to reach something while staying close to the ground.

The Half-Press and Full-Press Prone Lying positions start to open your hips, lumbar spine, thoracic spine, and shoulders, as well as shift body weight onto your palms, wrists, elbows, and shoulder, which is a great preparation for crawling movements. Look at the photos before following the suggested routine.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

Remember to maintain abdominal breathing.

   

1 Half-Press Prone Lying

 

2 Half-Press Side Prone Lying Hip-Trunk Rotation

3 Full-Press Prone Lying

 

4 Full-Press Prone Lying Head Tilt

5 Full-Press Prone Lying Front-Arm Extension Off the Ground

 

6 Full-Press Prone Lying Hip-Trunk Rotation

7 Full-Press Prone Lying Hip-Trunk Rotation with Upward Arm Extension

Half-Press Prone Lying Positions

Assume a Prone Lying position. Bend your elbows and support your upper body on your forearms with your hands open and flat on the ground. Keep your hips down, but don’t force them to press all the way down onto the ground if it doesn’t happen naturally. Now, change the position of your forearms to be a bit wider, narrower, farther forward, pointing inward, or pointing outward; you also could shift body weight between your arms. Maybe support your head with one hand. Stretch your arms forward or sideways. Turn your head to the side or look up.

Extend one arm forward, to the side, or up. Stretch and reach as far as you can. You could try to reach a real object or surface to make the movement completely real.

Protract one shoulder (pull it forward) and retract the opposite shoulder (pull it backward) and rotate your hips so you can look backward, on each side.

Full-Press Prone Lying Positions

Now place your open hands on the floor at about head level or just behind your head and press up. Both arms are fully lengthened, in the lockout position, which means that your arms are externally rotated with your elbow joints facing your body and your elbow creases facing forward for increased stability. Keep your hips down, but don’t force them to press down onto the floor or force the lumbar spine to extend and reach a state of discomfort or pain. The same is true when you rotate your hips, trunk, and neck and extend your arms. Find and maintain a position that is comfortable or challenges you slightly. You can explore a variety of positions that are similar to the positions you did with your forearms on the ground, such as looking back or reaching with one arm to the front, side, back, or up.

Crawling on All Fours: Feet, Knees, Elbows, Hands

 

It’s time to move on to quadrupedal crawling patterns, which implies the support from all four limbs and support from the knees, elbows, and hands. With quadrupedal crawling patterns, the center of gravity is elevated above ground, which tremendously reduces friction and enables much faster motion than lying. It also gives you greater ability to clear slightly elevated obstacles in your way. From quadrupedal positions you can very quickly change your orientation or revert to lying positions, and you also can transition to standing positions much faster than from lying. You have several options in terms of the points of support you choose—feet, knees, forearms, or hands—which enables you to easily change level. Using your knees and forearms makes for a very strong and stable position but slower motion, whereas using your feet and hands enables you to move at the fastest crawling speeds possible.

 

1 Start in a Prone Lying position with one arm fully bent to the back just below shoulder level; your hand is flat and externally rotated so your fingers are pointing to the side or the back. Your other arm is reaching to the front with a slight bend in your elbow; your hand is aligned with your shoulder.

2 Push off your back hand and press down your front hand to elevate your chest slightly off the ground, then keep pushing your back arm to elevate your chest and front arm more.

 

3 Finish pressing off and extending both arms to fully elevate your trunk. From there you can reposition your torso and arms in their original positions, or you can switch to the same arm position using the opposite arms.

Rotational Knee-Forearm Crawl

This movement is a contralateral prone crawling technique used to move underneath obstacles that are sufficiently wide but not tall. Uses include moving into and through confined areas to stalk animals or to move to safety while avoiding being seen or reducing your visibility. This movement is also convenient for crawling uphill while staying low. The same rotational hip pattern, which is the driving motion for the movement, can be used with a knee-hand, foot-forearm, or foot-hand base of support.

Even though this crawl makes you look like you are lying, you are moving with your upper legs, hips, and trunk off the ground most of the time. Because this pattern is best known as the “army crawl,” it is seen as a grueling, brutal movement based on raw conditioning. The perception is that you mainly pull yourself forward using your arms. In fact, it is a very efficient technique that mostly uses the powerful and lasting motion generated by hip rotation that pushes off the knees. Depending on the terrain and the friction you get, it is indeed sometimes necessary to pull hard from your forearms when your knees are sliding back. Otherwise, you should let your hips and core do most of the work. You should be using just the amount of tension you need in your arms to move them forward while keeping your trunk off the ground. You can do the exact same pattern in a rotational foot-forearm fashion; however, if the terrain is slippery, it won’t work as well as being supported by your knees. You also can do this movement in a rotational foot-hand crawl, although a regular Foot-Hand Crawl without hip rotation is more efficient in most cases.

 

1 Start in a contralateral Prone Lying position. On one side of your body, your leg is fully bent and tucked forward with your foot open and flat on the ground with your heel close to your rear. Your arm on that same side of your body is tucked backward, palm down. On the other side, your leg is extended to the back, and your hip is resting gently on the ground. Your arm on that side of your body is bent and placed forward in front of your body with your hand aligned with your head. In a typical contralateral position, the arm and leg on one side of your body are close to each other, and on the other side of your body they’re away from each other.

2 Contract your abdominals, then push off your back knee to drive your hips forward. As your hips and chest elevate, press down your front forearm to support your trunk off the ground and allow it to move forward. Simultaneously, pull your back arm up and forward in a relaxed fashion.

3 As your hips reach maximum elevation, your base of support runs from your back knee to your front elbow. With the shoulder of your supporting arm reaching above or slightly beyond elbow level, rotate your hips to shift your body weight to the opposite side. Through this rotation and as you keep pushing off your supporting knee, pull and bend your back leg to tuck it to the front and on the ground while placing your back arm to the front of your body. The position should be like the starting stance, just on the opposite side, and you can resume forward motion. You can move backward by reversing the sequence. Going backward is not harder or more energy-consuming than the forward motion if you keep mainly using your hips and core.

 

4 Rotational Foot-Hand Crawl

Contralateral Single-Foot, Single-Hand Drill

The Contralateral Single-Foot, Single-Hand drill could be a practical foot-hand movement if you’re trying to reach something in front of you. Otherwise, this is a fantastic way to learn and develop foot-hand contralateral balance. To start, you can do this drill from a knee-hand position, especially if it is too challenging in the foot-hand position.

 

1 Start in a square foot-hand position with your feet and shoulders mostly aligned but with slightly more body weight shifted toward your feet so your shoulders are slightly behind hand level.

2 Contract your abdominal muscles and glutes. Release one hand and the foot on the opposite side to establish a stable Single-Foot, Single-Hand Contralateral position.

 

3 You may challenge yourself further by fully extending the off-ground leg and arm to the back and front. Regardless of how far you extend your arm and leg, hold the two-points-of-support position briefly and then get back to the square foot-hand position and replicate the same exercise using the opposite arm and leg.

Foot-Hand Crawl

The Foot-Hand Crawl is probably the most “animal-like” crawling pattern of all. As a matter of fact, it is best known as the “bear crawl” (as if bears have a monopoly on this style of crawling). Most terrestrial mammals are quadrupedal, meaning they move on all fours, as do baby humans before they learn to stand erect and walk. The Foot-Hand Crawl enables you to cover longer distances at a faster speed than any other crawling techniques. It also potentially enables you to balance on a narrow surface; pass under, over, or through obstacles; and carry a load. There are a great number of faults that can occur when you perform this deceptively straightforward and easy natural movement. Those faults don’t prevent you from being effective, but they certainly lower your efficiency and fatigue your body.

Let’s talk about the good form first, starting with the easier way to do it: the 4/3 points of support sequence.

4/3 Points of Support

In this pattern, regardless of forward or backward direction, the position continuously and alternately relies on four and three points of support: two feet and two hands, two feet and one hand, two feet and two hands, one foot and two hands, two feet and two hands, and so on. By alternating points of support that way, the position and movement is always well-grounded and stable. You alternate between a contralateral position and an ipsilateral position each time you regain four points of support. This sequence is a great compromise between speed and balance/stability. The position is more compact than the 4/2 points of support version. Overall, the 4/3 version doesn’t demand as much joint and core stability as the 4/2 version.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

Do your best to keep a neutral spine (or close to it) as you do the movement. Depending on how far you extend your hands and feet, your base of support may become a bit more compact, forcing you to round your back slightly, which isn’t a big issue.

   

1 Start in a contralateral foot-hand position described earlier with your feet and hands staggered. Both legs are half bent, and both arms are in the lockout position. Your head is slightly tilted back; tilt it just enough to allow forward vision.

2 Shift your body weight onto the front hand while keeping your arm strong in the lockout position. Release your back hand and move it toward the front.

 

3 As the shoulder of your back arm is vertically aligned with the palm, place the hand down to the front and establish an ipsilateral foot-hand position.

4 Shift your body weight onto the front foot so you can release your back foot and pull it forward.

5 Place the foot you’re moving in front of the grounded foot and re-establish the same staggered, initial contralateral position (but on the other side).

Apart from the obvious and usual positional inefficiencies, such as an overly rounded back, bent arms, hyperextended neck, intermittent breath, and overall stiffness, the following are some of the typical issues for this pattern:

• Being confused about the timing of when each limb should move, which messes with your positioning and generates even more issues. Make sure that you fully understand the difference between an ipsilateral and contralateral foot-hand stance and that you can intentionally position yourself in either position at any time if you become confused and need to reset your position.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

For practice, you can reverse the sequence to go backward or move sideways either in a shuffling fashion or “weaving” with your limbs crossing the midline of your body.

 

4/2 Points of Support

In this pattern, the position continuously and alternately relies on four and two points of support in a contralateral fashion: two feet and two hands, opposite foot and hand, two feet and two hands, opposite foot and hand, and so on. This variation requires significantly more joint and core stability because of the contralateral phase on two points of support. Once you learn this pattern, you can more easily maintain great spinal alignment and a smooth, fluid, precise replication of position on each side, which prevents the usual inefficiencies of the 4/3 points of support pattern. This pattern also is the more reliable pattern when you’re balancing on narrow surfaces.

 

1 Start in a longer contralateral foot-hand position than described earlier, with your feet and hands positioned farther to the front and back and your spine fully elongated. Both fully extended arms are making an inverted V shape running from your shoulder girdle down to the ground. Both your legs are half bent, and both arms are in the lockout position. Your front knee is almost touching the front elbow, whereas the back knee and front foot are aligned. Your head is tilted back just enough to allow forward vision.

 

2 Shift your body weight onto your front hand and front foot so you can release both your back hand and foot at the same time. Immediately pull the back hand and foot toward the front. The moving arm and leg should pass the supporting arm and leg at the same time. You can see in the photo that the moving arm and leg are practically hidden behind the supporting arm and leg. Keep the supporting arm strong in the lockout position and the supporting foot, ankle, and knee very stable.

3 Keep driving your body forward until you can place the moving arm down to the front, re-establishing the exact same start position (but on the opposite side). Ideally the moving hand and foot should reach the ground at the same time, but there might often be a very brief difference of timing. You pause while you’re on the four-points-of-support base; otherwise, you want to make it as brief as possible, spending most of your time on two points of support and very little time on four. Repeat the sequence.

As always, “perfect form” is that which adapts best to the context, and the Foot-Hand Crawl is no exception. You might have to lower your body to pass underneath an obstacle, which turns it into a Rotational Foot-Hand Crawl; extend your legs and elevate your hips to momentarily relieve your arms or step through an obstacle; or decide to step your feet far forward as if you were ready to explode into a sprint at any second. If you make these adjustments consciously and intentionally, they are efficient modifications. Otherwise, they are blatant faults.

NOTE

 

You must maintain impeccable joint stability to stay stable during this phase. Lack of joint stability alters how you land your foot and hand and your next four-points-of-support position, which itself compromises the next move. If this phase of the sequence gives you trouble, revert to practicing the contralateral Single-Foot, Single-Hand Drill described earlier.

 

Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl

Most people know about this movement, which is commonly called the “crab crawl” (even though I don’t see the connection with crabs). However, most people struggle with the Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl because of inefficiencies, including improper breathing, position, and timing, as well as because of lack of relaxation or mobility. This technique requires great shoulder, elbow, and wrist mobility, so it’s common to see people being quite uncomfortable just from assuming the Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl position.

You can’t move as quickly with the Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl as with the prone Foot-Hand Crawl. The Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl is most often used when you must move down moderate to steep grade slopes with challenging surfaces (slippery, muddy, rocky, and so on). In this case the supine position on all fours, with a low center of gravity and a more erect torso, allows you to maintain greater balance and control over the orientation of the body than standing, and it prevents a backward fall from standing, which could injure your wrists, elbows, and (most importantly) spine and head. You can use this movement on flat ground to move across a slippery surface. Another use of the Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl is to go either backward or forward to create or close a distance with something while keeping an eye on what is going on. In that case, your body and head are oriented in the direction where vigilance is required, regardless of the direction your body is going.

The Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl is primarily a leg-powered movement. By default, when you have your arms locked out, they are externally rotated. It is possible to internally rotate the arm, but this tends to internally rotate the shoulders, which in turn tends to make you round your upper back, so there is zero advantage to that. An internal arm rotation uses more triceps and shoulder strength, and it’s much more prone to resulting in flexion at the elbow and hunched shoulders, whereas external rotation helps stabilize both the elbow and the shoulder to stay retracted, which consequently contributes to the stability of the upper spine. The stable upper body and arm position supports pulling or pushing through your legs and enables you to pause anytime, including on a single arm, with great stability and economy; the internally rotated arm does not allow this. However, internally rotating and even flexing the arms with your elbows out can be handy if you need to press or push more from the arms and upper body, usually when there’s an obstacle in the way.

There are several versions of the Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl. The 4/3 points of support variation is the most used (as with the prone Foot-Hand Crawl). In this variation, you move one point of support at a time, alternating between three and four points of support, which also alternates between ipsilateral and contralateral positions. If you don’t want to think too much about your movement at first, do it this way, and in most cases, the movement comes naturally.

The 4/3 points of support method is stable but slower than the contralateral, 4/2 points of support pattern (which is also like the prone Foot-Hand Crawl). This variation is faster but more challenging because you must be more stable and have impeccable position, sequence, and timing.

Last, the ipsilateral, 4/2 points of support pattern is effective but highly inefficient. Try it for yourself. All you need to do is start in an ipsilateral position (feet and hand away from each other in staggered positions on both sides). Shift your body weight to the foot and hand on one side of your body so you can release the foot and hand on the other side and travel them forward. It’s somewhat fun, but awkward and quite inefficient.

The photo sequence displays a 4/2 points of support pattern. You can use an easier, more stable 4/3 points of support pattern both for training and for real-life purpose, but in terms of skill training, it is not as beneficial as the 4/2 version, which challenges and improves your joint stability and balance much more.

Moving Backward

 

1 Start in a typical contralateral stance. On one side of your body, your foot and hand are relatively close to each other and on the other side the foot and hand are wider apart. Your ideal position should be comfortable—neither too wide nor too compact. Both arms should be in the lockout position, and your shoulders should be retracted. Lifting your foot and planting your heel firmly on the ground will get you greater friction, especially when the terrain is slippery.

2 Shift your body weight to the back foot and hand to prepare a contralateral two-points-of-support base then immediately release the front foot and hand and start pulling the arm and leg toward the back.

3 Pull the rear foot backward and place it on the ground, with your knee bent. At the same time, extend the trailing arm behind your body. Ideally, the moving foot and hand should reach the ground at the exact same time, and your body weight should shift on them so quickly that you can lift the opposite foot and hand off the ground immediately in a contralateral stance opposite to the start position.

You may mark a pause in the four-points-of-support base if needed; otherwise you want to maintain momentum and spend most of the time on two points of support and very little time on four.

Repeat the sequence entirely from the start. For optimum technique, your ideal position is replicated very closely on both sides every cycle, except when the terrain imposes modifications in changes for the sake of adaptability.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

To improve your stability in the two-points-of-support contralateral stance (photo 3), hold it on the spot for a few seconds and then switch sides. You may also shift your body weight forward and backward a bit (moving your shoulder in front of or behind vertical alignment with the palm).

 

Moving Forward

When you’re moving forward, the main technical key point is to use your heels as “anchors” and pull the body forward through the legs. This simple cue will correct the common perception that you should push yourself forward only through the arms, which is very costly from an energy standpoint. When you imagine pulling your body to the front from your feet, you use your legs much more, which distributes the load and effort more equally through the upper and lower body.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

If you lack space or want to develop better technique in both directions, you may combine backward and forward motion over a short distance, moving two or three steps forward and then reversing direction.

 

Faults

Typical faults in the Inverted Foot-Hand Crawl (regardless of direction) include having an overly compact stance, keeping your torso too vertical with a rounded back, hunching your shoulders, bending your arms, and trying to push your body forward or backward while relying only on the arms. You want to open your position more, lock out your arms, pull your shoulders back (like you’re proud), plant your heels, and pull or push from the legs to drive the hips. Remember to keep breathing abdominally.

TECHNIQUE TIP

 

Before I continue with other types of ground movements, I want to mention general tips about training progressions after you’ve learned crawling techniques. Incorporate the following progressions and variations into your practice as you gain more experience:

• Increase distance

• Increase speed

• Increase distance and speed

• Change directions

• Transition from one technique or variation of a technique to the other

• Increase environmental complexity by practicing on diverse terrains, including uneven, smooth, rugged, slippery, soft, hard, inclined, and declined surfaces

• Crawl facing the opposite direction you’re going: backward going up inclined surfaces, forward going down declined surfaces, at an angle on inclined and declined surfaces

• Crawl over, under, and through obstacles, especially narrow ones

• Add a load that you carry on your back, chest, or lap

• Crawl while pushing or pulling an object