Why I Crawl

Categories: Uncategorized Apr 06, 2014

I thought it might be a good time to share the reasons why I crawl. Not the reasons to crawl, but my reasons for why I crawl. This is just a quick list for me. Some of my reasons may be compelling reasons for you to want to crawl, but it would probably be good for you to have some of your own reasons, too.

Anyway, here is my list, thought I'm sure it's not an exhaustive list:

1. Wherever I go, there I am. I can crawl anywhere: in hotels, at the beach, in my house, at the park, or anywhere. Wherever I find myself, I have a place I can move, train, play, and stay strong and healthy. I don't need any equipment; no weights, no bands, no nothing. All I need is me.

2. Crawling gives me good posture. It is one of the movement patterns where we develop our posture as a child, but for me, it has restored my posture. Posture is a reflex. Having my posture, having good posture, allows my body to be strong, efficient, and resilient. Besides crawling for posture is a great deal easier than trying to hold false muscular positions in order to create the illusion of having good posture. Not only is that tiring, it is futile.

3. My X is strong. Crawling has tied my center together. My center is solid. I can now explode with strength and speed with no worries or issues of limitations. A solid center is critical to having a resilient body. It is in the center where we generate, transfer, and mitigate force.

4. Crawling has sharpened my reflexes, all of them. I move faster and smoother, I react faster, I think faster. Every step I take when I crawl reinforces the reflexive, muscular connections in my body. Every step further cements neural connections between the halves and throughout the whole of my brain. Even the reaction time between my hearing and tracking with my eyes has improved. I can hear something falling out of my cabinet, find it peripherally with my eyes, and grab it - like Spider-man, my senses are sharper.

5. I can move heavy things with ease. Crawling has taken the brakes off my strength. My stabilizers do their job, so my prime movers are free to do theirs. The result? I am stronger than I've ever been and I rarely touch a weight, or perform traditional strength training anymore. I spent 25 years inside of a weight room. The me I am today could easily out perform the me I was then. I know, this is all relative to my point of view, but this is my story, and my list. There was a day when I could easily rep out 315 pounds on the bench press for sets of 5. I cannot do that today, at least, I do not want to. But I can do a get-up with well over 80% of my bodyweight. I could never have dreamed of doing that when I lived in a weight room, or when I simply trained with kettlebells. Again, crawling has helped me do this. It has helped take the brakes off my strength.

6. I can fly. Well, almost. Crawling has restored sprinting to me. I can once again sprint full tilt without fear of injury, or concern that I am "too old" to sprint. I run like I did when I was a teenager, and I am 20 years past that time, now. There is no greater feeling of vitality that sprinting full speed and floating across the ground. It is like "flying." By the way, sprinting is strength training. It is powerful, explosive, and graceful. Crawling has allowed me to tap into this upper echelon of physical expression.


7. Speaking of physical expression, crawling has allowed me to express my body, my movements to their potential. I am just as athletic, just as mobile, and just as strong as I want to be. I know I have no limitations. I am free to move. I recently saw Captain America 2. It was a great example of what the human body should be capable of doing and how it should be capable of moving. The whole time I watched that movie, I knew, I believed, I could move like Captain America was moving. I really believe that now. My body has never felt better, I have never moved better. My only limitation now is my imagination. Physically, I am capable. I have vitality and my body is capable of expressing the life it was meant to have.

Again, this is my list and these are some of the reasons I crawl. I am not trying to start a world crawling brigade. I am only sharing with you what I have experienced. I have spent over three years exploring crawling. I have experiential knowledge of what it has done for me and what it can do for me.

Do I need to crawl anymore?

Nope. I don't.

Crawling has made walking and sprinting a reset for me. They now keep me tied together. BUT, I enjoy crawling. I enjoy its benefits. Just because I own what crawling does, doesn't mean I should stop doing it. It's like brushing your teeth: Just because I have the ability to brush my teeth doesn't mean I shouldn't brush my teeth. There is benefit in repeating that activity every day, two to three times a day. It keeps my teeth and gums healthy. In much the same way, crawling is an EASY way to keep my body strong and healthy. That, and crawling is super easy to progress. It allows me to continually improve and gives me the ability to continually find new territories of physical expression.

Anyway, and again, these are just reasons why I crawl. I have experienced it. I know what it can do for me. I even know what it can do for you. But don't take my word for it. Don't take someone else's word for it, either. Explore it yourself. See if it doesn't help you move better. See if it doesn't make you stronger. Test it. Experience it. Learn from it.

Often times, journeys that end up changing the world, start out with a simple step of faith. They defy known traditions and knowledge at the time. You can change your world for the better. You don't even need a lot of faith, a little dab will do you. I experienced this. I know why I crawl.

Why do you do what you do?

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