Motor: Involving or relating to movements of the muscles
Moron: A stupid person
Motor Moron: Someone who doesn’t have the basic strength and coordination to handle their own body
The people that visit this site certainly aren’t your average people. Not everyone wants to be able to stand on one hand or doing crazy acrobatics.
But the truth is everybody should be able to do the most basic skills. And its sad that so many people cannot. Even many people who are considered strong or in shape sometimes have the movement skills of an infant.
So in this article I want to talk about the skills that EVERYONE should have. No two ways about it, short of paralysis. Everybody should be able to do the following things without much if any effort.
And I’ll go so far as to say that if you can’t do the following you don’t deserve to have the miraculous machine that is the human body. (And the sad truth is it probably won’t be too long before you lose it.)
- Walk
- Run
- Sprint
- Jump
- Get up from the ground without using your hands
- Squat down and be able to stay there
- Roll in all 8 directions
If you can’t do the above then you need to work on them. These are basic human movement patterns everyone should be capable of.
To get slightly more complicated (but still sticking with things everyone should be capable of) we can add the following.
- Pushups
- Pullup/Chinnup
- Swim
- Headstand
- Gymnastic Bridge
- Wrestlers Bridge
- Move each joint individually
This is a basic list. But can you do everything on it? And can you do everything on it easily without effort?
But I’m surely missing some things. Add your comments below if you have suggestions and I‘ll add to the list.
From there we can start to get into more advanced movement patterns along with acrobatic skills. I’ll save that for another time.
I’m sure to hear the excuses come out of the woodworks from many people on this one. To give every reason why they can’t do these things. But save it. Instead just work on gaining the ability to do these movements if you don’t have it. Even if you need coaching on these skills, get it.
And for those of you that may laugh at this list because you are so far beyond it, there are probably people in your life that you could nudge in the right direction to get them to move better.
Comments
What exactly do you mean by Roll in all 8 directions? At first I assumed forward roll, backwards roll, then I wasn’t sure how you’d define a sideways roll.
I think he means a sideways shoulder roll for the side and diagonal directions.
I’m confused with the diagonal rolling
I’ll shoot a quick video that shows you all 8 directions of rolling and the different ways to do it.
Looking forward to vid logan. Many thanks
It doesn’t actually matter if you can’t roll about in eight directions, just so long as your happy.
@jim: I would not be happy if I couldn’t do basic movements (as well as much more) like I listed above.
Logan you’re hilarious.
Keep up the hard work.
You’re doing it right. 🙂
By moving all joints independently, do you also count the joints in your fingers and toes? because i can defiantly move all of my major joints independently but i just tried to wiggle my middle toe by it’s self and i’m pretty sure it’s just about impossible.
@Eli: That would be a little more advanced, the toes more so than the fingers but yes I think independent control of them all would be great.
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I think it’s rather severe to say that being unable to do a set of skills you think are important means someone doesn’t deserve their body. I’m a drummer and a pianist, should I say that people who don’t meet a certain level of criterion musically don’t deserve their ears? I think it’s fair to say that the coordination I have in my hands and fingers is greater than yours. Am I more deserving of them? What about people who live their lives in their minds: artists, engineers, writers, musicians, professors, mathematicians, et cetera ad infinitum – do these people really need to know how to roll sideways? It’s a bit silly.
@Alan: All I’m saying is having basic movement skills will aid in the life of every single person, even if they never use it, through better health and longevity. Everybody needs to be able to move around, and I think there are certain aspects the should be a bare minimum to that. Not everyone needs to play music, though it would improve many a person’s life to do so.
Yeah, just go roll.
Logan… you forgot the barrel roll!
Thanks! I need to work on my rolls (not spring rolls, though).
If you want to master your body, please do check SYSTEMA KADOCHNIKOVA’s lower acrobatics. This is the Russian Martial Art way of moving for combat conditioning, and it is awesome !
Will do.
Just realised this thread is some years back. Is the vid still available of rolling in all directions.
Actually I should be created something new for my Inner Circle members real soon on the topic.