Are you as fit as a 4-year-old?

Introduction

EVO is all about re-connecting with natural movement. We intentionally designed a training space with different zones and appropriate equipment that encourages you to move naturally. But what is natural movement?

What is Natural Movement

In order to understand natural movement, we need to apply a suitable filter. As humans, we moved naturally when we were young – a time when movement was pure and unadulterated. As small children, we were skilful, purposeful and playful movers. This is how we view natural movement at EVO, and why we developed a unique training system that helps to build natural movement.

Rebuilding natural movement

Most importantly, when we say ‘build’ natural movement, we are actually talking about ‘rebuilding’. Every healthy human possessed good movement skills by the age of 4 yrs old. Consequently, as we grew up in modern culture, we gradually lost many of these essential physical skills. This was the consequence of several factors: unsuitable footwear, prolonged sitting, and poor movement patterns are some of the key factors that have caused this decline in physical function.

Key skills

By the age of 4 years, healthy humans have achieved a number of motor skill milestones – think of these as landmark movement skills. Many of these skills serve as essential building blocks for more complex movements. At this point, we have learned how to stand upright, walk, jump and run, bend forwards and touch our toes, move on all fours, twist our bodies with ease, roll, invert our bodies, hop on one leg, balance on one leg, and squat to the floor.

Many experts believe that these building block skills are more than just milestone markers – they are skills that continue to shape physical development in adult life, and as such, should be mastered and practised on a regular basis.

Reclaiming movement

With this in mind, we’ve developed a simple movement assessment to test whether you’re as fit as a 4-yr old! We’ve taken some of the key skills that young children can perform and created a movement checklist with a simple scoring system.

Assess your natural movement

Complete each movement as described and score 1 point for each.  The maximum score is of 10 points.

1. Can you sit cross-legged, comfortably and with a tall spine for 1 minute?
2. Are you able to you sit back on your heels in a kneeling position?
3. Can you maintain an upright kneeling position (2 knees) for 2 minutes, without fatigue or losing balance?
4. Are you capable of pushing your big toes into the floor when standing?
5. Can you balance on 1 leg for 1 minute without losing balance?
6. Do you have the ability to hold a deep squat position comfortably for 1 minute?
7. Are you able to jump up and land with balance?
8. Can you bear walk with straight legs?
9. Are you capable of roll forward and stand up with good balance?
10. Can you hang from a bar for 20 seconds?

Scoring

8-10    Fit as a 4-yr old

5-7      Fit as a 40-yr old

<4        Fit as an 80-yr old

Don’t be shy – feel free to share your scores and photos on Facebook and Instagram!