The other week I spent time observing my toddler at play. I wanted to observe what natural movements were being performed, especially those that involved manipulating objects. Here is a list of what I came up with:
- Picking objects off the floor (deadlift motion)
- Bodyweight squats (lots of them)
- Lifting objects to shoulder/chest height
- Lifting objects overhead (not as frequently)
- Walking while carrying objects
- Climbing/pulling up
- Dancing
- Walking
- Short, quick running
From this, it is easy to construct a lift of similar gym exercises:
- Deadlift
- Bodyweight squats
- Upright Row
- Shoulder Press
- Farmer's Walk (hunter's walk)
- Pull-ups (or some type of climbing)
- Dancing
- Walking
- Some type of fast locomotion – sprinting, intervals, etc.
I think this is a pretty good list of functional exercises. Any movements that were really important in human evolution should be evident in children's play. Children's natural play is really "practice" for hunting and gathering, and they should naturally be engaging in movements that would have helped them to be successful adult hunters and gatherers.
My gym workout for the past few months has been pretty similar to this already, but I will probably make the transition to include all these movements in the future. For example, I have always done chin-ups, not pull-ups. However, pull-ups are really much more of a functional movement.
Am I missing anything on my list??
Wrestling – as a kid I spent a lot of time grappling with my brothers. Hard to duplicate in the gym but very natural.
Pullups – Frank Forencich in “Play as if your life depends on it” argues that pullups are not necessarily primal. Primates do lots of swinging on their arms and if we were to be climbing then usually we would be able to involve our feet/legs not just the arms.
It would be interesting to hear about your toddlers’ frequency and intensity of exercise
Matt,
Good points. I have a two year old and I think its interesting to notice the mobility/coordination aspects of her “workout” as well, particularly in regard to squatting and sitting. Many authorities have observed that mobility precedes stability and strength in development, and this can easily be seen with children. From this perspective, a child’s incredible squatting abilities are more notable for their mobility than strength. Children can go back and forth from sitting to standing with ease twenty times without ever doing it the same way twice. Sometimes there is rotation, sometimes one leg folds under, sometimes the knee tracks inside the toe, sometimes out. They certainly don’t need to follow the strict rule of tracking the knees over the second toe and then not going past the toe. We could benefit from this kind of mobility, especially if we want agility. Children can also sit on the floor in any of one of many positions (many of which mimic Scott Sonnon’s bodyflow positions or various positions used by Feldenkrais.) The full squat, a cossack style squat, a seiza position or the legs in a “z” or “w” formation.
In my opinion, the lesson here might be that strength should not be a focus until there is an adequate base of mobility and cordination. As adults who have spent years sitting in schools on chairs and at desks, we have lost the hip and ankle mobility that we would have retained as hunter gatherers, who are comfortable sitting in a full squat for hours at a time and working from that position as well. I wonder whether it is advisable to try to build strength on top of severely compromised mobility (relative to an HG) or whether one is better off putting most of their efforts towards recovering mobility through a program such as z-health or tai chi or feldenkrais. In my personal experience, I have always noticed that recovering mobility in my hips, ankles, and knees leads to instant gains in “functional strength” such as safely cutting on a soccer field, picking up an odd object or sprinting. (My squat numbers go up too.) I have more at my blog about how increasing mobility/coordination will increase strength. http://toddhargrove.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/the-central-nervous-system/.
I also agree with Chris’ comments about pullups for similar reasons. Kids on a playground (and monkeys) swing from branches/poles with an extended arm. The training here is on multiplanar mobility and coordination of the shoulder girdle, and integration with the rest of the body. (Although there is quite a bit of grip strength involved too!)
-Todd
Interesting stuff Todd. I’ve really been paying more attention to mobility myself recently.
This might not be applicable to a toddler, but older boys at play will do (along with wrestling, as Chris mentioned) a burpee-like movement. Not a strict push-up, per se, but a ballistic movement. The burpee is the closest thing I can think of.
Matt,
I apologize if this is a repeat post — I don’t think my original remark updated properly. Anyway, this comment doesn’t really pertain to toddlers, but older kids will certainly engage in burpee-like movements while rough-and-tumble playing.
The wrestling and play-fighting does seem logical. I would imagine this is mainly for boys, or at least much more frequent among boys than girls.
For squats, I think that mobility implies the existence of sufficient strength. If a toddler can squat and easily rise up again, then he/she is strong. The same for adults. The natural purpose of squatting is to assume the position known as the squatting position, not to raise a substantial non-body weight. If one can’t easily do body-weight squats, then use-it-or-lose-it may apply, and one should do some body-weight squats from time to time.