Getting with the Animal Flow: A training workout making waves in Bollywood

In the current day and age, fuelled by a quest to look and feel good, the definition of fitness is constantly rewritten. Among several diets and viral workout trends that have gained popularity, the animal flow has emerged as a hot favourite— finding favour among several Bollywood A-listers like Varun Dhawan, Vidyut Jammwal, Rakul Preet and Mrunal Thakur, among others.

Developed by Mike Fitch, a fitness educator and movement coach based in the US along with his Co-founder Karen Mahar, animal flow entails flowing from one movement to another like an animal.

“It’s a type of quadrupedal movement training. In other words, it’s a ground-based bodyweight movement training, where we navigate the floor by moving our bodies around the arms which are on the floor,” says Swetha Devraj, aka Sweaty Shwetha an animal flow master instructor based in Bengaluru. “One can learn standalone movements or understand how to connect them together and create a flow of their choice,” educates Devraj who is also a Co-founder of SweatyNinjas Online Training Company.

To date, there are only about 28 master instructors of Animal Flow in the world for a skill that is just above a decade old. Becoming a certified trainer often means undertaking three levels of qualification. In the first level (L1), those interested will need to complete a two-day workshop with the last level (L3) being the pinnacle of this system.

Offline workshops are conducted across India in metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai, among others.

YS Life dives deep into the practice of Animal Flow, its benefits and challenges, and some tips for beginners who want to start this routine.

Getting into an animal flow

Animal flow emphasises functional exercises that include crawling, jumping, hopping, and more. These movements are designed to increase mobility, flexibility, stability, power, and endurance. Awadhesh Pratap Singh Chouhan, an animal flow regional leader ( Pune) and Level 3 instructor explains that the workout combines elements from different bodyweight disciplines like breakdancing, parkour, gymnastics, and hand balancing with animal locomotion patterns.

It takes about four to five sessions of 45-50 minutes each to start seeing results.

“Animal flow stands apart from other training programs as every movement has a specific function and the workout focuses on neuromuscular development,” shares Nyela Kapadia, Founder of Workout With Nyela and Co-founder IFML ( Intermittent Fasting Mindful Living).

Breaking down the movements

There are about six components that make up animal flow, according to Farhaz Sarang, a Level 1 and 2 instructor. It begins with wrist mobilisation, which involves preparation of the wrists before practice. Then, you’ll need to wake up the body and encourage it to communicate, which will be followed by form-specific stretches which are a series of actions that encourage flexibility and stability.

Then comes the animal element. Known as travelling forms, these are exercises that mimic the movement of animals after which individuals are encouraged to change positions in a fluid manner. Finally, all of this is combined to create sequences.

“One of the most popular movements is scorpion reach, which is a position much like a downward dog…this is a great form-specific stretch, which opens your shoulder, abdominals, hips and spine,” shares Ishan Lall, Co-founder and Head of Training at Knox Studio, Delhi.

The workout can be practiced by individuals of all skill levels—from those with minimal experience to those who have highly experienced with the form and can be practised anywhere. “All one needs is their body. You can flow anywhere, anytime,” says Devraj.

What are the benefits?

According to Chouhan, it can reduce back pain, increase the range of motion, enhance muscular strength, help with posture correction, and stimulate the mind-body connection.

What’s more, Kapadia credits animal flow for conditioning binocular vision (state of simultaneous vision, achieved with the use of coordinated use of both eyes) and strengthening both right and left-brain function by practicing cross-lateral movement, which allows increased communication between the two sides of the brain. For Devraj, animal flow comes in handy during the time when she has her periods, as it helps reduce cramps.

Contrary to perception, this is not just a ‘calorie burning’ workout, says Sarang. The calorie burn varies from person to person but it is more about engaging your entire body in a single go.

“This obviously means you will burn more calories. But at the same time, you will gain more than that,” he adds.

What to keep in mind while starting out

While there isn’t any restriction when it comes to doing Animal Flow, it must be performed under the guidance of a trained instructor, says Kapadia. However, like any other programme, it’s best to speak with a doctor prior to the exercise.

Any cardiac complication, specific joint care or previous history of injury or surgery will need to be considered, mentions Devraj.

Here are some helpful tips suggested by Lall that will help beginners:

● Take your time and master the movement before jumping into doing complex flows. The time taken to master the movements at the beginning will make flowing later much smoother.

● Drill, drill, drill. To get better at animal flow, doing shorter flow drills with more repetitions help make good progress.

● Learn how to have fun with it and don’t get too caught up in your own head. Treat it like play rather than work to perform better.

As with any training program, it’s important to ease into animal flow. Lall says that the workout can get intense and hence advises that it is important to allow the body to adapt to the new stimulus before pushing too hard.

Similarly, Sarang is of the view that the workout can be overwhelming for beginners, especially when they observe experienced movers, which can be discouraging. “But remember, the tagline of Animal Flow is ‘movement for every body,” he says.