034. Walking
Not very powerful activity, but fundamental indeed.
Put on your most comfortable sneakers and go outside for a walk. It can not get any simpler then this. Walking is such an essential activity for human beings that everyone must practice it on regular basis.
033. Olympic Lift
One powerful movement to rule them all.
Hinge, squat, push and pull are essential movements for building pure strength and strength dominant power. For pure strength development, use maximally heavy weights and lift them slowly and under control. For strength dominant power, lift sub-maximal weights abruptly and rapidly. First train for pure strength and then slowly move to power training by incrementally increasing lifting speed over time. After achieving a solid strength and power basis in 4 essential movements, you can experiment with more advanced, more complex, more efficient and more balanced movements.
032. Pull
You have to be able to forcefully move objects towards your body.
Similar to push, there are also 2 ways to pull objects, depending on actual situation, object size and mass:
- Upper body pull: Natural way to pull smaller and lighter objects by standing still and just flexing arms towards the body. Think about pulling a lever on slot machine, rowing a boat or pulling a starter cord of a lawn mover.
- Whole body pull: Natural way to pull larger and heavier objects by walking backwards mainly with leg power, while keeping arms extended and straight. Think about tug of war or pulling a rope attached to some object, like a car, sled, tire, wooden log, etc.
031. Push
You have to be able to forcefully move objects away from your body.
There are 2 ways to push objects and applying a proper pushing movement will largely depend on actual situation. While you have a free will to choose how to push objects, the movement will be mainly determined by the size and mass of the object:
- Upper body push: Natural way to push smaller and lighter objects by standing still and just extending arms away from the body. Think about opening a door, passing a pot across the table or distancing from a person standing too close to you.
- Whole body push: Natural way to push larger and heavier objects by marching forward with legs, while keeping arms extended and straight. Think about pushing a car with empty gasoline tank, rolling a bale of hay or pushing a sled.
030. Squat
Develop all physical qualities from the waist down with one single movement.
First test your squatting abilities by going down as deep as possible, with heels touching the ground. If you lack flexibility to squat this way, try working on solving this issue by going deeper and deeper every day.
029. Hinge
Hinge is a rudimentary movement in which you bend forward to pick something up from the ground.
Before lifting any actual object, first try to perform this natural movement by itself, to get accustomed. It should be a reminiscent of powerlifting movement known as deadlift, except you won’t lift anything at the beginning, especially not a heavy barbell.
028. Natural Human Activities
Let the Nature guide you what to do and how to do it.
There is an infinite number of natural activities that our bodies can carry out. However, there are only a few of them that are truly essential for the very existence of human beings.
027. Nature Wants You to Perform Natural Movements and Motions
It is in human nature to move and be physically active.
Movement is a change of body or body part position. Motion is a series of movements performed in succession. For example, lifting leg from the ground up is a movement and walking is a motion. In this paragraph we will list all basic natural movements and motions.
026. Nature Wants You to Train Naturally
There is nothing truly new under the sun, so let’s get back to Nature. Lift weights and move your body the way it feels natural.
We are living in the age of so called “progress”. We are bombarded with “innovations” and “improvements” in all areas of life. Take a look at the number of scientific researches conducted in the physical training domain. It is huge and new ones are emerging every day all around the globe. Their purpose is to decode principles of Nature and results may be valuable, but unfortunately, way too many of them are sponsored by companies with direct interest in getting specific results. We can witness new stuff popping up all over the Internet, new training methods, new fitness machines, new diets, new supplements, etc. Majority of these “discoveries” are just aggressively advertised useless junk, with only one goal in mind - to take your money away! If you are not born yesterday, you are probably aware of all these frauds.
025. Nature Wants You to be Patient and Persistent
Take your time and never give up.
How many times you have heard about some miracle method or a supplement that will make you big and strong in shortest imaginable time? We are constantly bombarded with this kind of lame marketing, but in reality, there are no shortcuts to strength, speed and power. You can always resort to steroids, but they are unhealthy and dangerous. So, it is clear that you will have to invest time, effort and energy to become strong, fast and powerful. Be patient, be persistent and results will come.