Animal Moves: How to move like an animal to get you leaner, fitter, stronger and healthier for life

To understand why Animal Moves is so important, you need to first understand something about Darryl Edwards, its author. Darryl is a recovering analyst programmer, technical team lead, data architect, and technical architect who had a wildly successful career in Silicon Valley. After having a serious personal epiphany when he realized going to the gym to workout may result in the appearance of fitness, but doesn’t translate into functional fitness.Thereafter Darryl approached the subject of fitness with the same detailed and comprehensive analysis he had been professionally trained to do in tech: He went through every commonly practiced form of exercise, everything from Crossfit to Movnat, in an effort to discover the most functional form of fitness there is (the most practical and broadly applicable to a new unique real life scenario). Having independently discovered that when we eat what we are naturally inclined to eat, our bodies perform at a much more healthy and optimal level, he applied this analysis to fitness and - after repeated disappointments with other ways of exercising - had another epiphany: when we go out into the world and do what we would naturally be inclined to do, play with each other, we gain a much more optimal level of functional fitness.

Make no mistake, for Darryl, playing doesn’t mean that there is no intelligent design to the sessions. Having studied so many different methodologies and theories of fitness, he has had the benefit of being able to integrate the aggregate knowledge and overall take-aways into his planned play sessions. The end result is you go out and have fun like you did when you were a child and, losing yourself into the pleasure of the experience, you unwittingly exercise all the major muscle groups in your body. It is no coincidence he also used to perform magic as a hobby: he has managed to disguise a serious intense workout as a game, misdirecting you into having a blast all the while you are actually enhancing your functional fitness level.Although Animal Moves falls short of disclosing his entire secret playbook, given only to those who complete his certification course, Animal Moves does give you a healthy dose of FORTY functional movements, and provides you with a simple and easily accessible four-week fitness improvement plan, applicable to *all* ages, *all* lifestyles, *all* ability levels, and *all* fitness levels - with photos showing you how to do the moves. It also explains why movement is so important - for the entire generations of people sitting in front of their workstations for 40+ hours every week - even summarizing the latest up to date research on this issue.Let me make this clearer: For a mere ten bucks, you get the electronic version of Animal Moves for kindle (an app is available for iOS devices) so you can carry the Animal Moves in your pocket for easy access when it comes time to do the exercises - making it both extremely affordable and extremely practical - and a detailed guide for you to do very time-efficient workouts with no equipment or gym membership cost. Both the electronic and the 196 page paperback include the same color photos guiding you to a new level of personal health.There are therefore no more available excuses. Thanks to Darryl and Animal Moves, workouts are now fun, easy, extremely time-efficient, and are available at almost no cost to *everyone*. And, as analyzed in this book, the costs to the alternative sedentary lifestyle are far more expensive.Animal Moves comes with my highest recommendation for those needing to get off their @$$es as much as for those who are at what they think is a peak fitness level, who I would encourage to pick up the book to put their fitness to the test, if not to discover a more fun way to get there. Having finished the online Animal Moves course while the Animal Moves book was being written, simply reviewing Animal Moves has motivated me to do another four weeks. I strongly suspect it will do the same for you.As with all my reviews, no one paid me a penny. Enthusiasm for things that are excellent is its own reward.

Wow! This book (and the movements/exercises inside it) are a total paradigm shift from what we normally consider 'exercise' — miserable, repetitive, and grueling activities that we dread doing and can't wait to finish. After reading this book and learning/doing the moves, your ideas about exercise will be TOTALLY TRANSFORMED. It's all about unleashing your inner animal, getting playful, engaging in movements that your body has almost forgotten how to do, but yearns to do! This stuff is so much fun, and it also works as a total fitness routine. I've been doing these movements for almost a month now, and all I can say is WOW! My lower back pain has gone away, I'm leaner and stronger, and there's a difference in how I carry myself — I've gotten a bunch of comments actually. Darryl Edwards is a revolutionary, reconnecting us with our innate capacity and desire to play and move our body in so many creative new ways. I'm so happy I found this book!

This is my favorite fitness book!I love the background information about play in the introduction. The main section consists of clear instructions (including photos of steps) for very fun movements interspersed with great scientific citations and words of wisdom. Very practical, to the point book, is an easy read. However, it is not supposed to be just read but rather to be your companion for 30 minutes a day to provide an all-inclusive fitness program to improve your strength, balance, mobility, range of motion, and speed. I found it to be a fantastic complement to the video course “Animal Moves Challenge”, which I have been doing for the past year and found it extremely effective and efficient. I love that this program was designed for busy people who want to make the most out of their time and experience joy with movement. I also like that modifications are provided to accommodate for various levels of fitness.

As a former gymnast and someone who remembers childhood clearly, I can tell you that these moves are a lot more difficult than they look and they also feel right on a deep level. I can remember being a child running through the grass, throwing balls, chasing friends, climbing trees, playing games, pushing myself to my physical limits and coming home completely exhausted yet satisfied. These moves recapture that youthful type of play, in other words, they reconnect us to what used to come so naturally.I have never been one to love the gym. As a child I loved gymnastics because of how dynamic it is, it mimicked how I played outside. But as an adult it felt like I was betraying myself every time I got a gym membership and tried to work out. It always felt like something was missing, I longed to be outside and to become so engaged in an activity that I lost track of time. In the gym my usual experience was being painfully aware of every second that passed by.This book is like a manual on how to play like a kid as an adult (although anyone of any age can do them, and parents you can do these with your kids!). If that sounds like it means these moves aren’t effective then you have to remember how serious play time was to you. As children, play was actually hard work, we were just having too much fun to realize it. I can also say as a gymnast I never did anything like these moves and even at my most fit they would have been a challenge.After doing these moves I am extremely sore but I’m also eager to do them again! They are a fun challenge which can be a difficult balance to find.To sum it up, if you’re looking to get out of the gym, get fit and have a great time doing it by reconnecting with your younger, more playful self, then start here!

Every now and then a book comes along with content that you know will change the world and the way people view a subject.This is one of them!A true masterpiece by Darryl. Having followed him as the Fitness Explorer and been a keen fan of his Primal Play method, I could not wait for the launch of this book.Incorporating fitness into a healthy lifestyle that is full of vitality is of paramount importance, yet so many of us go about it in ways that are so unnatural, tedious and sometimes even downright dangerous!"Be Strong, Be Useful" and "Be Your Own Superhero" are two sections that really resonate with me. I was also amazed to learnt what being sedentary actually means!Being a keen runner (because I love the sport), I will be using the Animal Moves to really develop mobility, flexibility, strength, speed and stamina.Darryl talks you through a 28 day movement plan that can be scaled up or down for beginners, intermediates or advance.Play is serious and with this book you will have serious fun yet also have incredible work (play) outs!

I have found this book rather exceptional. It builds on his previous book, Paleo Fitness, and explores further the concepts of movement as medicine and a source of fun and longevity for kids of all ages - 0 to 100+. The book covers many topics of the multi-award winning authors vast knowledge on play and movement and conveys it in a way that is both accessible and informative. The 30 day progression covers beginner, intermediate and advanced levels with clear delineation and is broken down in sections giving introductory information, warm-up and cool down details, the 4 week programme itself, detailed descriptions and photo's of all the moves and postures discussed in the programme and finally further information.The photographs help complete the picture of what is required - even if mere mortals like myself cannot quite nail them every time.Overall a worthy investment of money which has much replay value and hopefully makes us adults realise that moving can be and should be fun.

What a book! I’ve been practicing functional medicine for over 5 years and like Darryl I am also a qualified Personal Trainer. But I was new to Functional Training until I enrolled into his Primal Play Coaching. In his heavily researched and referenced book, Darryl explains how: when we execute mindful movement, when we engage different muscle groups, when we really have to think before we move, when we copy animal moves in nature we are actually performing extremely effective “exercises” that aid in Mind Body and Soul. Furthermore, this is the book if you want to get your children involved in fitness and it will strengthen your familial bonds as you do so. No fancy equipment or expensive gym memberships needed. No weather prerequisites, no need to warm up or cool down (all explained eloquently in the book!)... THIS is the book if you want a succinct, helpful way to start your fitness journey.

This is a great book which will help you reconnect you to your evolutionary roots. As a nutrition and lifestyle health coach I know full well that movement is medicine and this kind of movement is pure FUN!You can do it anywhere; kids will love it; even older bones can have a go; and it's FREE! I bought a copy for my PT/Krav Maga Instructor son - his students will love Darryl's ideas for natural body movement, strength and flow.At every age... if we move better, we'll feel so much better!

I think this book is fantastic. A friend recommended it after I mentioned I wanted more primal movement in my workout routines. I have been either completing the routines as standalone workouts or tacking on to my hybrid athlete workout program.The moves are all accessible for beginner, intermediate and advance level so don't let that put you off!It has made my workouts fun and less repetitive. Personally love the scorpion press pushup.Buy this book!