Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Methode Naturelle Disciple

I came across an interesting blog today: Methode Naturelle Disciple

I've referred to Methode Naturelle before, an approach to fitness and physical cutlure that fits in well with the primal / evolutionary fitness approach. Erwan Le Corre - who I interviewed a year ago here - has been updating the approach recently to creat MovNat.

(Incidentally Keith has some interesting thoughts on Erwan here -
Probably an ideal body shape for an adult male in his 30s is shown in this YouTube video. We know it's ideal because of what the body is being used for - with power, poise, athleticism and novelty. Only a perfect body could perform the way Erwan Le Corre demonstrates in this video. In doing so he also sets up the criteria for judging what a perfect male body should be able to do (not only what it looks like). Form will follow function. Some will run marathons and therefore have a correspondingly different body shape; others will be more heavily muscled through heavy weight training. But humans in the Palaeolithic would not have run marathons or engaged in heavy weight training.)


Anyway, the new blog is by Kevin Coffin who is using it to gather information about Methode Naturelle and to record his own training and thoughts.

He has a really good post on Workout Structure which explains a little what an MN workout looks like. Erwan is a great thinker and inspirational guy, but he never really explains, in the material I've seen at least, how a workout is constructed.

Kevin identifies 7 series of exercises then explains what he does:

There is no set number of reps for any of the workouts. Just move on to the next exercise whenever you are starting to get fatigued. Don’t ever overdo it. This isn’t about being macho and competitive, its about practicing skills. Concentrate on correct form. Try to think of ways to use your body smarter, to accomplish the exercises with less and less effort. For instance, when climbing, practice the different ways of using your body momentum to aid you in your quest for height so that you are less tired when you get to the top. In everything, avoid injury; remember that avoiding injury becomes increasingly difficult if you are too over-fatigued.

I use this method every workday at lunch, for 30 to 60 minutes. There’s a dry riverbed near my office complex that I run down to, it has boulders and trees and sand for crawling. Saturdays are my “fun” day where I either get up in the morning and go for a free exploration run, without structure, or I do some sort of sport or hiking with my family.


It is a helpful post. Check it out.

7 comments:

Hans Hageman said...

I'm jealous. Methode Naturelle is one reason I'd love to move out of New York City. It would be great to set the example of moving/exercising through a natural environment for my kids.

.^ said...

I finally got hold of a pair of Vibrams, only to find that my feet were the wrong shape (little toes too short) so I had to send them back.

Never mind. After much scouting I've found a "course" that I can walk barefoot for an hour or so with little chance of injury from man-made objects. It goes through fields that provide a range of surfaces, from spongy grass to bare dirt and a bit of tarmac.

It's slow going after 40 years of wearing shoes (the last 10 in "extra arch support" shoes), but I feel it's paying off.

pieter d said...

Chris,

do you guest post for this site?

http://freeweightexercises.qarf.com/2010/01/26/methode-naturelle-disciple/

Chris said...

Pieter

No - they steal my content and I have no idea how to stop them, no ideas who they are. They just copy the whols post so links take you back to my blog, but they take my content and that of others without permission

pieter d said...

shame on them!

Kevin Coffin said...

Hans:

I bet with a little creativity, you could figure out how to use the environment of New York city to practice the same natural movement skills.

Climbing could involve walls and stairwells and park trees.

Jumping, running, and crawling, could be done anywhere.

Make it happen!

viagra online said...

I agree with him when he says that form will follow the function... this is something that many guys do not understand, they just want to look like Rambo and sometimes would sacrifice their health in order to look like that, without asking about functionality!