What's the difference between Original Strength and Primal Move?

More and more we are beginning to see primitive movement patterns emerge as people realise the great power of getting their building blocks in order. I first started to learn about the primitive patterns through Gray Cook and his Functional Movement Screen (FMS). The FMS is a test that we use here at Qld Kettlebells to establish people’s mobility, stability and symmetry. The information garnered here can then be used to ensure that people aren’t performing movements that are high risk for how their body is presently set up, whilst also helping us to improve the way they move in general. Although I still apply the correctives that were taught during my CK-FMS certification, I am, more and more, migrating towards two other systems that effectively achieve many of the same benefits. The two systems are Primal Move (PM), and Original Strength (OS).

Both systems are excellent. Primal Move is deliberately designed to dovetail in with the FMS. When applied correctly, Primal Move is a complete bodyweight system that can result in an engaging, effective form of training that improves all of the movements that are utilised in the FMS in a really fun manner. One of the things that I appreciate the most about Primal Move is that it achieves its aims whilst placing a high value upon play and fun.

Original Strength does a lot of the same things. It improves people’s FMS scores. It is heaps of fun, even though it doesn’t have the same breadth of structured games as PM. It is effective and engaging. Where the Original Strength system really shines though, is in its simplicity. You don’t need to be a “rocket scientist”, and you don’t need to have a deep understanding of the body or even to care about it for OS to have the capacity to be life changing. It all boils down to 5 simple movements: rocking, rolling, nodding, crawling, and cross-crawls. If people do these every day, or even regularly, the potential to improve the way their body communicates with itself and to remove their ‘movement blockages’ is startlingly significant. I would suggest that OS is the simplest, most accessible form of movement restoration for people, regardless of their age.

At the end of the day, the question of how the two systems differ can be summed up quite simply. Primal Move is like a PC and Original Strength is like a Mac. PCs can be incredibly powerful in the hands of someone who is well equipped to deal with a complex system, and are awesome for games, but if you want something that can do the vast majority of what you could do with the PC, but that comes in an incredibly easy to deal with package, then you are probably looking for a Mac. You just have to accept that you won’t have the same range of games…

I love how easily the Original Strength system can be applied. Whether you are a personal trainer, physio, chiropractor, or teacher, I believe that this system can help the people you are dealing with. I would love to see people in nursing homes moving better and holding their grandchildren, school students regaining their movement and being able to act like children (because more and more this ability is being robbed from them by technology!), and office workers losing their back pain and headaches. If you deal with these members of the populace and share my vision of improved movement and quality of life, you’re going to want to be a part of the next OS workshop that is coming to Brisbane.