I’ll never forget the first time I attempted what I thought was a “simple” bear crawl in front of some of my family members. I was demonstrating natural movement progressions, feeling pretty confident in my abilities after decades in the fitness industry. https://www.rushwalter.com/natural-movement-strength-training-for-complete-beginners/ What followed was thirty seconds of the most humbling movement experience of…
Earlier I watched my 67-year-old client Patricia carry four grocery bags up two flights of stairs with better form and less effort than her 32-year-old daughter. The difference wasn’t that Patricia was stronger in the traditional sense – she couldn’t outlift her daughter on any gym exercise. The difference was that Patricia had spent two…
Several years ago, I had what I now call anther “gym revelation” moment. I was working with Ed, a 42-year-old client who could deadlift 400 pounds, bench press 315, and squat 350 for reps. On paper, he was incredibly strong. In reality, he couldn’t pick up his three-year-old daughter without his back seizing up, and…
I thought I knew what explosive power was until I got schooled by a 140-pound dancer named Carlos at a movement workshop several years ago. Here I was, a guy who’d been training strength athletes for decades, watching this lean dancer explode through animal flow transitions with more raw power than most of my powerlifting…
Last summer with laughter, I watched a five-year-old completely destroy my carefully planned workout program without even trying. My friends grandchild Jake was visiting while I was training a client outdoors, and within minutes he was bear crawling around us, transitioning into perfect squats, then rolling and tumbling with this effortless flow that made our…
Several years ago, I found myself in the middle of what I now call my “fitness identity crisis.” https://www.rushwalter.com/understanding-faithful-fitness-a-holistic-approach/ I’d been training people for over two decades, building my entire career around physical strength and performance, when a client asked me a question that stopped me cold: “Do you think God cares about our physical…
When your a strength trainer and anyone glides past me carrying twice as much, they get my attention. https://www.rushwalter.com/holistic-strength-training-for-beginners/ Then when I noticed they were moving with this effortless grace that made me question everything I thought I knew about strength and mobility. That moment sparked my deep dive into primal movement patterns, and what…
About thirty years ago, I made one of the biggest mistakes of my career – I tried to create a “one-size-fits-all” natural movement program for my gym. https://www.rushwalter.com/holistic-strength-training-for-beginners/ Spent weeks crafting this elaborate system with progressions, rep schemes, and fancy names for everything. Handed it out to fifteen clients, expecting amazing results. Three weeks later,…
Perhaps because I was and continue to proclaim I am a good tree climber, that I have always enjoyed natural strength movements. So when I am asked to help school children enjoy moving more, I jump at the opportunity. https://www.rushwalter.com/holistic-strength-training-for-beginners/ I was demonstrating what I thought was a simple bear crawl during a family fitness…
Several years ago, I thought recovery meant chugging a protein shake and maybe foam rolling for five minutes if my legs felt extra cranky. Then I hit what I now call “the wall that changed everything” – a period where my strength gains completely stalled despite following all the traditional recovery protocols. https://www.rushwalter.com/holistic-strength-training-for-beginners/ Sleep was…
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