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Current Exercise Article
Motion is Life IV: Move Like a Hunter-Gatherer

Here, in the fourth article of the series we progress from functional movement training to enhance the everyday movements of life to outdoor movements that emulate the motions of our ancient ancestors. Our ancient ancestors moved when they hunted for game and gathered up food, and then they rested to conserve energy. They had to climb up and down hills, and over top of fallen trees and rocks, more often than not, just like as the crow flies.

Choose Hilly Terrain: When you are out hiking, stay way from flat terrain. Instead, choose hilly trails. You will not only be doing weight-bearing exercises that strengthen the muscle groups above and below your hip and knee joints, but you will be strengthening and increasing the size of your connective tissues, including your tendons and ligaments. In addition, our hunter-gatherer ancestors also picked wild fruits and nuts, and gathered up firewood. They carried these goods in their arms and on their backs. You can do the same. Consider the following scenarios:

• Instead of buying strawberries, go pick them yourself, when they are in season. You will be squatting and pulling, and at times twisting and rotating your upper body.
• When doing your grocery shopping, put some groceries in a back pack and also carry one bag in each arm to balance the load from the front to the back. Now, if it is not too far, you can walk all the way home. Or, at least to your car, which should be parked at the far end of the parking lot.
• When you are gardening, reach up and prune your trees by hand. This will impart a twisting and pulling movement as if your were picking berries or nuts from a tree like our ancients.
• When you are cutting your grass, use a push mower. You are not only walking, but also using pushing and pulling movements at the same time.

We are Hunter-Gatherers: On the evolutionary scale, we are still in Stage 17, which is when our genetic code was last set some 50,000+ years ago. We are still hunter-gatherers. When you learn to live within the constraints or boundaries set by where we now stand on the evolutionary scale, you will begin to be fitter and healthier. One way to do this is to head into the outdoors and become one with Nature. Then, you will be experiencing the:

• environment in which we were designed genetically to be living in, and the
• surroundings in which we are best suited for as humans in the 21st century.

This is the environment of the hunter-gatherer. Sorry, there is no fast lane when it comes to the evolutionary time scale.

Be a Kid Again: Now, step back again into your past. Don't be afraid to return to the days of your youth. I'll let you in on a secret of mine. There is a lot of boy inside the man. I am a kid at heart and I move like I did when I was a kid. You can do the same. Your motive this time around may be different. Instead of playing with your friends like you did in your youth, now you may want to be able to play and move with your children or grandchildren.

Just be a kid again. Relearn how to move like you did when you were a child in the outdoors. If you wish it so, implement the above movement tips in your life and you will be able to do just that. If you can move like you did in the days of your youth, you will be living with a robust, energetic body. And, a body that is meant to last.

Past Exercise Articles

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