Go wild!
The latest way to get fit takes its cue from how animals move. It’s ideal for older people – and no, you don’t need to roar like a lion
by PAT SYWESTCOTT
Animal magic
Patsy performing the Front Step
Two elements of the Scorpion Reach
Wave Unload
The Ape
photography JOHN MILLAR
Do you know what your sixth sense is? No, me neither. But it’s called proprioception. Described as the innate ability to detect the whereabouts of our bodies at any point in time, it’s vital to help maintain balance and co-ordination that decline with age.
Sounds challenging – especially for someone who, as a child, couldn’t even do a handstand let alone a cartwheel – but I’m about to put mine to the test with a new exercise class that’s making waves in the fitness world.
Animal Flow, so called because it uses natural body movements with names like the Beast, the Crab and the Scorpion, draws on one of the biggest current trends in fitness, quadrupedal (on all fours) movement training (QMT). Experts are hailing this as an uber-effective way to improve joint mobility, muscle strength, power and stamina. It’s also said to be useful in rehabilitation for neurological problems such as stroke.
A review published last year in the American College of Sports Medicine’s Health & Fitness Journal concluded that Animal Flow and similar forms of QMT could improve proprioception, the loss of which as we get older is thought to be partly responsible for our greater risk of falls. It also provides ‘opportunities to gain whole-body stability, improvements in co-ordination and increases in joint range of movement’.