It’s easy to think of little children when you hear the word “crawl”, probably because all kids start off by crawling before learning to walk. Thinking of crawling as a form of exercise may not go down well with everyone, because you might be wondering how it benefits the body exactly, but according to Mayo Clinic physical therapist Danielle Johnson, crawling is an essential move for grown-ups too.
While many people think crawling is absurd, Danielle Johnson does it everyday, and other studies, hers inclusive, have shown that there are a lot of benefits to it. As a matter of fact, the fitness industry has been giving a lot of attention to crawling and it has been shown to be a rehabilitative, restorative, and even a performance-enhancing movement. To some others, it is one of the best training exercises to perform.
Below are two major benefits of crawling:
It builds a foundation of reflexive strength
Your reflexive strength helps your body to anticipate movement before it happens or while it happens. This reflexive strength is the foundation of your strength; the original strength you were born to develop. Lacking reflexive strength can affect your mobility. To improve your reflexive strength, you have to work on strengthening the center of your body, where generated powerful forces intersect and cross over. The cross over of forces to other parts of the body won’t be possible without a solid center. Crawling is a great exercise that works on the center of the body to improve strength and mobility, and the more solid your center is, the greater your benefits.
Crawling tones all round
Crawling works on your major muscles, which includes the calves, quads, glutes, shoulder girdle, hip muscles, and deep abdominal muscles. As it engages these muscles, it gives you a full body workout and keeps you fit.
The interesting part about this exercise is that you don’t have to go to the gym or get a very quiet place to crawl. You can simply do it anywhere you think is fit. According to Danielle Johnson, there are multiple variations of crawling, and you don’t necessarily have to stick to the general one we all know. You can also crawl on your hands and toes, or even facing up, in a crab crawl. Whichever one one you choose, you will still get a full body workout.
Image courtesy of: mensfitness.com, mensfitness.com.
