Walking is Falling

walking is fallingWalking is falling. This is how the body was designed to work. We fall forward and catch ourselves repeatedly when we walk well. The problem is very few people fall forward. Instead the overwhelming majority of people (just watch people on the street and you will see) lean backwards to move forwards.

Moving like him is such a drag on the body. Literally. Watching someone walk like that there energy is spilling down and out. Someone, and I mean everyone, who walks like that works so much harder than they should. Falling forward makes walking effortless and the body’s energy rises. The act of falling and catching is self fulfilling; momentum takes over and the muscle work is actually reduced. Leaning backwards to move forward requires work from a long line of muscles that have no business engaging the way they do when walking.

The way it works is pretty simple— moving through space with one foot in front of the other, as my legs switch there is a moment when the upper body is forward of the front leg. In that moment the brain registers that the body is about to fall and the brain tells the psoas major to initiate the pull of the back leg forward to prevent a crash. This is walking and walking is falling and the willingness to move this way has a huge payoff.

Why more people don’t move this way is another story, or post, or two….

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Nane Kimijan: Insane Exercise Video