4 Reasons to use Animal Flow for Athletes

Animal Flow for Athletes

                For those who do not know what Animal Flow is I have provided this link for you to check it out before reading this article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYkafEBJ9oI

 

                There are an endless amount of reasons why Animal Flow is such a beneficial workout for Athletes, but for today we will list what I consider to be the top 4.

1)      Mobility/Flexibility: In may experience with working with Youth Athletes,  I have noticed that the reason so many of them get injured is because of lack of mobility in their joints.  When the joint cannot move properly the body creates compensations.  These compensations lead to injury in the long run. Doing Animal Flow, even as just a warm up, can help promote mobility in the joints and get the body ready to perform task whether in the weight room or on the field.

2)      Rotary Stability:  What sports use rotation? ALL OF THEM.  Many of the moves used in Animal Flow require you to stabilize you core while lifting opposite limbs. The movements also require that you control the movement of your body before placing the limbs back on the ground.  One of the rules of Animal Flow is that Limbs Lift and Land Lightly. In order to follow this rule you will have to have a ridiculous amount of rotary stability due to the fact that these moves place such a high demand on our anterior chain slings.

3)      Connection of Muscle Patterns: Too often in training programs there is a ton of isolation exercises for specific muscle groups. Many of these exercises are not beneficial for athletes.  Animal Flow requires that you train muscular patterns through full ranges of motion.  There are many moves that require you to engage the entire posterior chain. Training these patterns help to promote better movement which can lead to a stronger well communicating body. I have also found that training these patterns teaches better neuromuscular control and helps to prevent injury in athletes.

4)      FUN! :  In working with youth athletes, I have found that they are bored with the weight room and bored with training.  Today’s youth are use to constantly being mentally stimulated.  Animal Flow is not only effective it is also extremely FUN.  All the youth we work with get excited when we do our Flow part of training. It is something that they find interesting and challenging. Fun is the secret ingredient that keeps our athletes coming back and excited for every training session.