Outdoor Exercise

[Gagnrad]

Here's a couple of unusual videos.

This is a Frenchman who's developed an exercise method based on Georges Hebert's Methode Naturelle. He says it's a travesty that civilisation has got modern humans in a state where most can't function as natural athletes in their natural environment.

The idea is to do a range of activities such as our ancestors would have done in the "wild" state - running, swimming, climbing, jumping, throwing, and so on - outdoors in no shoes and nothing but a pair of shorts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGF-ErsJiI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m61t3ObnSP0

 

[Andy BB]

It's Bear Grylls

 

[Neumo]

Interesting idea that, which must look into further. We had our company picnic in Hyde Park in London yesterday & while we were standing round chatting while drinking bottles of cold beer we say a large group of people working out nearby. They were doing the 'British Army Fitness Program' (or whatever it is called) that is a new fad in London. There were about 50 people with numbered waistcoat things on being ordered around by a couple of PT instructor types, who were running them all over the place, in between doing lots of sit ups etc... It looked like a good hard work out as we stood there knocking back ice cold beer....

I have always liked the idea of the 'outdoor gym' so will look into this some more. There are some interesting videos on Dave Cantebury's site on this subject: http://www.youtube.com/user/wildernessoutfitters

 

[RAPPLEBY2000]

When I did army training (only TA) it's the fittest I've ever been, I actually had a "6 pack" I could run for miles with webbing and a pack! and for that reason alone I'd recommend the fitness training side of it.

the bit that you can't do at home and you can't recreate in the public world is the...reason/ethics you want to get fit. and working in a team and under pressure under PT staff, you definitely will get fitter.

wheather you can do that to the same effect in civilian life...I'm not sure.

it's far too easy to say....naaaa, I'll do it later.

It's a shame the Govt dosen't come up with some sort of fitness scheme rather than people with money getting the benefits...as usual.

This is a Frenchman who's developed an exercise method based on Georges Hebert's Methode Naturelle.

wow pretty inspirational stuff,

wish my local river was safe enough to do that, I'd love to do all that! If I did the locals would think I'm some sort of mentalist!

I'm just thinking as he's running along :
dog poo! glass! needle! rusty metal!

problem is as with all these things you never see the out takes where he missed the rock, or got his nipple caught on a bramble!

I think my point is, unless we have a private secure pristine wilderness, on our doorstep, it just ain't gonna happen.

Hand up who thinks he had to check out every single shot for dangers before he did them?

editing does wonders!

 

[Jus_like_that]

A friend of mine does "wild swimming", I went along for support to a competition in MARCH (well mainly to see a load of women in swimsuits) but I couldn't believe how she could even contemplate getting in the water at time of year. She kindly reminded me that 8 years ago she thought I was mad kayaking down holme pier pont in the middle of winter for hours on end. then she added that its me that has lost my sense of adventure and instead gained 5 stone!! (cheeky mare) but she was right.

Its too easy to put things off. So a couple of weeks ago a couple of us and our families went to the river dove and had a real good time splashing about seeing how far we could swim up stream then floating back down, all of us had a great day out!.... I still wouldn't try it in march yet though! lol

I don't know about anyone else here but I was always doing daft stuff like that and was fit as a fiddle but as soon I settled down I exchanged the six pack for a 24 crate of pedigree. lol

Sorry rambling now.

ATB

Adam

 

[TomBartlett]

Apparently any outdoor exercise is better for you than the same indoors.

 

[Gagnrad]

It's Bear Grylls

Interesting comparison. I suppose both men are very much all-round athletes and agile with it. I think both would agree with Georges Hébert that "athletic skill must be combined with courage and altruism", too.

I think Erwan Le Corre is distinctively different from Bear, though - and, rather unusual in general - in the way his practice is permeated by notions of "primal" humanity. That seems to be very much a coming thing in the U.S. (where he's based now) - witness sites such as this:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

Erwan doesn't train in a gym; he doesn't do "circuits"; he doesn't wear sports shoes (or really many clothes at all); he won't eat what he regards as "modern" foods, preferring "Mostly raw, made of lots of vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, eggs, nuts and containing no grains and no dairies"; he says he doesn't sleep in a bed but on the floor.

So he's really hard-core with respect to what he considers to be a "natural" way of life consonant with our evolutionary past. (Doubtless, that begs many questions about what life in the past actually was like.) He's also given to rather caustic comments about "zoo humans" - those who have been softened and distorted by our technological society.

I think there's something in this. It's interesting how, to take one example, modern shoes do provably distort and damage people's feet:

http://nwfootankle.com/files/rossiWhyShoesMakeNormalGaitImpossible.pdf