MovNat Expansion Course: Physical Culture Reinvented

The MovNat Expansion Course Group

Just as Erwan LeCorre predicted, I have mixed emotions about returning home. After spending five days at his MovNat Expansion course in West Virginia last week, I’m gratified to take a few rest days, heal my wounds and sleep in my own bed. Nevertheless, there’s another part of me that’s longing to be back at Sumersville Lake, with its unpredictable weather and rough terrain, facing more MovNat combo and course challenges. What an adventure.

Last August, I attended the very first MovNat seminar in the U.S. At that time, LeCorre was just coming off a wave of publicity resulting from Christopher McDougall’s feature article about him in Men’s Health. And while MovNat was hardly a household name at the time, I got a sense that Erwan was clearly onto something big. Driven by his tireless and contagious passion, he seemed determined to revolutionize the way people thought about fitness. In fact, he rarely uses the term “fitness”, preferring to talk about concepts such as “natural movement” “adaptiveness”, and our “true evolutionary nature”.

A year later (and with four MovNat courses under my belt), I predict that MovNat is going to explode in popularity. He’s managed to take some very old ideas (particularly drawing upon Georges Hebert’s Method Naturelle), update them for modern times and is now spearheading a movement that has not only caught the eye of the mainstream press, but also some fairly influential people in the training world (including Robb Wolf and Steve Maxwell, both of whom have completed past Expansion courses). Erwan has the concept, the coaching system, the philosophy, the vision, and now the resources. I can’t wait — MovNat is going to be huge!

Developing Climbing Skills

What was this year’s Expansion course like?  It was tough, for sure — at times, even brutally so. While I ended each day thoroughly exhausted, I was also somehow exhilarated. There’s something about nature that is completely healing. Just being in the woods, hearing the sounds of the forest at night, feeling the earth under my bare feet and the sun against my skin; I felt as though I was re-charging.

The days were full. During the week we began training after breakfast, stopping for a quick lunch, and subsequently resumed training until dusk. Everyone pitched in for meal preparations and dish-washing, and we stayed true to a paleo diet (no grains, dairy or legumes) which included lots of raw vegetables, protein, fat and fruit. Coconut milk was a staple. And Erwan’s Vitamix blender was a welcome luxury, as he concocted paleo sauces and smoothie treats that were beyond compare.

MovNat Base Camp

Active Down Time

I found the group this year particularly solid. While it took a day to become acquainted, the troupe bonded well and acted as a team – encouraging one another and cooperating in a tribal manner that I think made Erwan proud. Each person came prepared to train hard and learn lots. While we came from different training backgrounds: CrossFit, Parkour, Juijitsu, Kettlebells and more, we were equally challenged by the specifics of MovNat training. Having to adapt to the demands of nature was no easy task. There were no comfortable pullup bars in the woods anymore than their were Olympic bars or kettlebells. No amount of “functional fitness” training could prepare you properly. This was real life, complete with risk and sometimes real danger.

Over the course of the week, we practiced the full gamut of natural movement skills, from barefoot running to swinging from tree branches.  Erwan assigned us series work and combos, where we had to transition from one skill to another — all while maintaining quality of movement. It’s taken me a while, but I’ve learned that the latter is extremely important and should take precedence over intensity. We need to learn to move primally and with grace, like the human animals we are.

Forest Clean and Jerk

Erwan gave an informal presentation on the final night on Intermittent Fasting, a fitting topic as we were denied breakfast the following day. Indeed, our final task as a group was to survive a non-stop 2-hour intensive course that took us through the woods — all to be completed in a fasted state. What a rush!  Erwan had our hearts racing within the first few minutes with some fierce interval drills followed immediately by a dizzying roll down a hill, and a good sprint. The course highlights involved multiple muddy bog crossings, climbing drills, walking on all fours through the forest, scaling fallen trees and rocks, log shouldering, and even included an arduous rope climb. It seemed like hell at times, but somehow it was also fun — in the true sense of the word. It was fun because, despite the pain and discomfort, it was profoundly rewarding to not only see what you could accomplish personally, but to see everyone in the group overcome their own challenges. We pulled it off — every last bit of it.

Post circuit. Caked in mud, scratched, scraped and bruised.

As this wasn’t my first experience with Erwan or with MovNat, I’ve had some time to reflect on what I learned on this most recent exploit. I have a better awareness of the absolute breadth of MovNat training options, and that we can barely scratch the surface at these events. Little wonder that LeCorre’s days are so long with us, there is so much he wants to share. And running the final course has really opened my eyes to further training options in my own backyard of Toronto. It’s easy to look at the images of Erwan training in Corsica or in other tropical paradises and come to the conclusion that MovNat isn’t appropriate for cold climates or urban areas. But that’s an unfortunate interpretation. You can train in the MovNat style anywhere.

I’m anxious to spread the word.

Tags: Erwan Le Corre, Expansion Course, MovNat, natural movement, paleo, seminars, training, West Virginia