‘Primal Movement’ Workouts Are My New Favorite (Weird) Way to Exercise for Free on YouTube

Every day, we have the opportunity to learn new things. A few days ago, I learned more about primal movement, an exercise style I’ve seen around in my years of gym-going and YouTube browsing, but never interrogated further. Like cycling and Pilates, you can take in-person classes in this technique, but you can also just log into the video-sharing behemoth and find some free, guided workouts.

What is primal movement?

Primal movement feels more like play than punishment, which is a helpful way to reframe things if you struggle to enjoy exercise. Essentially, it’s a bodyweight exercise that emphasizes movements like crawling, squatting, lunging, rolling, and balancing, which can make you feel a bit like a toddler or a little monkey—hence the word “primal.”

That word may throw you off and can evoke thoughts of paleo bros, Liver King, and the like. While it’s true there’s some overlap in the communities, this is an exercise concept with its roots in functional fitness. It’s an effective, fun workout that doesn’t have to be a signifier of any broader or ickier ideology. Feel free to ignore those connotations as you roll around on the floor. It’s a nice break from the way we move (or don’t move) now when we’re hunched over our computers and cell phones in an office chair and nothing more.

You might look silly while you’re rolling and hopping around, but no sillier than you look using the chest fly machine at the gym or the magic circle in mat Pilates. Well, maybe a little sillier, but it doesn’t matter because this sort of exercise improves mobility and flexibility, builds strength and coordination, and helps with things like balance, joint health, and spatial awareness. You can reclaim everything you’ve sacrificed to the office chair, basically, by owning your naturally human movements.

While you’re searching for primal movement exercise classes and videos, you’ll definitely run across Animal Flow. These aren’t technically interchangeable phrases, though they’ve come to be. Animal Flow is a branded movement system that seeks to replicate animal-like movements—primal movement is a broader fitness concept based on human movement. A lot of the moves look similar and the results are also similar, but there are a few key differences. First off, Animal Flow costs money. You can join the program, take classes, attend workshops, and more, but it’ll cost you. That doesn’t mean you won’t find “animal flow” videos on YouTube and that they won’t be basically the same as “primal movement” ones. Just keep in mind that animal flow and Animal Flow are actually different.

Finding primal movement on YouTube

I recommend spending some time just watching primal movement workouts on YouTube before you actually try it. You’ll need a lot of space, first of all, for the rolling and lunging and whatnot, and you’ll want to know what the instructors are talking about before you attempt it. It’s supposed to be natural and human, but it’s not like we move like this every day in real life, so it could take you some time to tap into it.

Expect deep squat holds, bear crawls, crab walks, lizard crawls, and spinal rolls. The good news is almost none of these routines involve equipment, so you can do this whenever and wherever you are.

Smoov Moves

My favorite videos so far come from a channel called Smoov Moves, where a man named Grant takes you and 100,000 subscribers through primal movement moves designed for beginners, from arm swings to sliding hinges.