Natty Power

Let the Nature guide you what to do and how to do it.

In this paragraph we will list all basic natural movements. Also, we will learn about the most important complex activities, which every human being must practice for improvement of power and other physical qualities.

Basic Natural Movements

There is a huge number of movements our body can perform, but when it comes to generating force to move large external objects, only 4 of them are fundamental and crucial:

• Hinge: picking up objects off the ground.
• Squat: lifting up body or object with the leg press.
• Push: moving objects away from the body with arms.
• Pull: moving objects towards the body with arms.

Whatever your goals in athleticism may be, you must train these 4 movements regularly, thoroughly and comprehensively. All other movements could be considered as accessory and therefore, they are optional.

These 4 movements are basis for development of pure strength and in case of faster lifting pace, development of strength dominant power. You can train them through powerlifting disciplines: deadlift for hinge and pulling power, squat for squatting power and benchpress for pushing power. Training all 4 movements at once is possible with Olympic lifts. Beside training all 4 movements in a single lift, Olympic weightlifting is ideal for development of strength dominant peak power, which will be perfectly balanced throughout the whole body.

Basic Natural Activities

Prime natural movements listed above are simple and related to moving heavy external objects. There are other, more complex natural activities related to moving our bodies:

• Walking
• Running
• Jumping

Walking is low intensity activity, best suited for older people, overweight persons and those who are recovering from injury. Running means moving body over distance as fast as possible, so it is perfect for development of pure speed. Running can be practiced in different forms, from relaxed jogging to super fast sprinting and everything in between. In case of carrying additional weight or resistance attached to the body, running will be leaning towards development of speed dominant power. Jump is a consequence of a very short and very intense burst of leg power, which propels body upwards in the air for height or forward for distance. Such instant power eruption requires development of explosive speed dominant peak power.

Combination of walking or running together with displacement of heavy external objects, results in another essential human activity:

• Loaded Carries

Strongman style loaded carries combine strength and speed at the same time and require a lot of stamina and endurance. This makes them a perfect activity for development of high continuous power output levels and all other physical qualities altogether. Beside strength, speed and power, strongman loaded carries will enlarge muscle energy depots and improve cardio-pulmonary condition.

As we saw earlier, jump is a manifestation of explosive leg power applied to body weight. There are other manifestations of explosive peak power applied to external objects. For example, humans are capable of transferring upper body power to external objects in the form of kinetic energy:

• Throwing

Throwing a heavy opponent in wrestling or judo or keg toss in strongman, leans toward exhibition of a strength dominant peak power. Throwing lighter objects, like baseball ball or a spear, leans toward speed dominant peak power.

Furthermore, humans can generate and absorb high impact forces which occur when our body, limbs or hand held objects collide with other bodies, limbs or objects:

• Impacts

Bodycheck in ice hockey is an example of full body impacts. Kicking and punching a heavy bag or opponent in Muai Thai are examples of limb impacts. Wood chopping or hammering nails are examples of impact transfer from one object to another.

Training for power carries an evident possibility of injury, but athletes should be particularly careful with throws and extremely careful with impacts. These two actions can easily hurt the performer and everyone else around.

In conclusion, all moves and activities described above are very natural and essential for complete power development. They are also interconnected and complementary to each other, so try not to skip or neglect any of them. Human beings have performed such activities everyday from the ancient times to modern day, so it is obvious that Nature created and constructed our bodies with practical functionality in mind. Remember, you can’t go wrong if you do what Nature wants you to do. Complying with Nature’s design and intentions will result in powerful body, capable to deal with all possible challenges.