The Duck Walk

Happy Monday to you all. After much traveling, I’m back at my Heaven House working with clients, talking to lots of really great people for my Living 4D with Paul Chek podcasts and resuming my regular video schedule – at least for a while!

This week’s blog/vlog features the Duck Walk, an exercise with ancient origins that’s very easy to master, IF your body is prepared for it.

The applications for this exercise are broad, especially for people like me who like to lift heavy stones and athletes who compete in mixed martial arts, Jujitsu and wrestling and use it for conditioning.

The really cool thing about the Duck Walk: It’s a good exercise for construction workers who are always lifting heavy things and even new Moms who have to pick up their small children all the time.

The Duck Walk is a deceptively, simple exercise because it puts your body in a position of poor mechanical advantage, so it works the muscles quite hard. It’s great for the legs and just good Primal Pattern® movement medicine.

In fact, you see kids do these kinds of exercises non-stop all day!

During my vlog, I’ll show you how to perform the Duck Walk with no weights and holding a 30-pound medicine ball. Stick with performing the Duck Walk with no weights and good form until you can perform three one-minute sets or as far as you can go without running out of gas.

One caveat: Be sure that your body is ready to do this exercise that relies on having a healthy back and good knees to perform it.

If you’ve experienced any disc injuries or have continuing knee problems, I strongly recommend seeing a skilled orthopedic therapist or CHEK Practitioner who can help you determine if this exercise is safe for you to perform. (Find a CHEK Professional closest to you at our CHEK Connect website.)

Want to learn more about Primal Pattern® movements? You can start by reading my book, Movement That Matters, which will show you how to create functional training programs.

But, if you want to go deeper into learning how exercise works like a drug, consider taking my series of Program Design courses that are requisites for our live CHEK Exercise Coach classes.

Hope you’re walking like Donald (the duck!), but safely and with good form, soon!

Love and chi,

Paul