Animal Flow - Level 1 Workshop
Level 1 - Two Day Workshop
Hi everyone! I just finished up the 2nd day of Animal Flow 1 at DTS Fitness Education Centre here in Toronto. It was an excellent experience and I'm very glad I went. What is Animal Flow? I like to describe it as 'ground-based movement'.
This was a weekend course that ran for about 6 hours each day. We were a group of 20 students - most were fitness professionals and a lot of them had tons of experience in the industry. We were lead by 2 amazing instructors - Roshan and Freyja. They were thorough, knowledgeable and super fun. They made all of the material very accessible for us and were both very hands on as well.
Why did I take this course? If you follow me on instagram, you'll know that I've been doing a lot of ground-based movement/ flowing around on the floor type stuff. I started getting into ground-based movement when I realized that I really enjoyed yoga so this was a natural transition into animal flow (I would one day like to take the Yoga Teacher Training as well). So, I've been doing my own thing, messing around and also realizing how well yoga and animal flow complements lifting heavy ass weight! I did a quick google search and learned that DTS hosted this weekend course and BAM! I signed up and walked in with an open mind.
I didn't know what I was getting myself into...
This stuff is HARD! I don't know what I was thinking but I thought this course would be a breeze. Boy, was I wrong. This was a great feeling for all of the trainers/instructors in the room as we are usually on the opposite side of this interaction. I'm usually the one teaching new things to a beginner and the beginner is usually the one struggling. So here I was, struggling to do some seemingly basic movements. This was a humbling experience and I embraced it and rolled with it.
We learned a lot over the two days and our instructors kept drilling it into us that all we needed to do was practice, practice, practice. I agree.
In Closing
I had a great time learning from the instructors as well as the other participants in the workshop. The workshop was presented to us in a clear, concise and digestible manner. I will definitely look into taking more of these at DTS. Kettlebells maybe? Oh boy...
What now? Time to practice! I always tell my strength training clients that it is simply a numbers game. If I do 50 squats today with excellent technique, that is only 50 reps. I need to do that about 100 more times until I'm at 5000 reps. It's all practice. In terms of animal flow, I've spent about 12 hours in formal practice. In contrast, I've probably spent thousands of hours lifting weights in the gym. That is why I am efficient and skilled in strength training and still a newbie in animal flow. It's simply a numbers game.
Practice, practice, practice.
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