Ditch the treadmill for climbing trees
Experts say it tones every inch of your body. So did it work for Anna Maxted?
MOST adults don’t climb trees. But here, on London’s hampstead heath, amid the sundappled leaves of a senior oak, barefoot on a branch, and breathing in the glorious scent of summer, I wonder why not.
It’s fun. It’s freeing. It’s natural. As movement coach Ben Medder says: ‘ We evolved from arboreal animals.’ Our ancestors moved on four limbs through the trees and leapt from branch to branch. he urges me to try.
I reach, grasp an overhanging bough, swing from it — and fall all of five inches to earth, with a jolt.
I feel like a stiff, housebound creature. And there are a lot like me. A survey last year by herbal tea brand honest found that British adults typically relax outdoors for less than four hours a week.
But cutting ourselves off from the natural world harms our health, physically, and psychologically. One U.S. author termed it ‘nature deficit disorder,’ as a largely indoor life makes us more prone to anxiety and depression. Meanwhile, scientific studies show that spending time outdoors improves mood and brain function.
But perhaps we’re catching on. A drive towards getting back to nature is gathering pace. As an alternative to office- based counselling, some psychologists now offer Walking Therapy. And forest bathing — or
shinrin-yoku, the Japanese art of immersing yourself in nature to heal body and mind — is blooming over here.
Medder quit a desk job in IT seven years ago to pursue a more life-enhancing career as a natural movement coach, and he’s been delighted by the response. ‘We’ve lived outside for most of human history. People genuinely want to be more connected to their ancestry, their roots.’
As well as his London classes, Medder runs an annual six-day Wild Woods course in the Lake District, which combines natural movement with wilderness survival skills such as foraging and wildlife tracking.
I’m happy to start with a two-hour tree climbing session — I feel oddly timid as I grapple with the lowest branches. My age is no excuse — there are 12 of us today, and one of the most able climbers is in her late 50s.
TRee-
CLIMBING might seem like a simple exercise, but believe me it’s anything but. It’s a skill composed of movements we learned in babyhood — crouching, crawling, balancing, getting up from the ground without needing support — but neglect woefully as adults.
As I negotiate the lower limbs of a sturdy oak, I feel like a toy train, made to run along a single track. As I haul myself higher, I realise that running along a single track is exactly what I do on the gym treadmill. When I last ran outside, along a Suffolk beach, I wrenched my knee on the shingle. I don’t cope well with the randomness of nature.
Medder understands. I’m typical of the average Brit in being what he calls ‘active sedentary’. Do I, he asks, focus on how much I move over the course of a day, or ‘on the one spike of activity when you exercise’? he says that we often lose sight of the bigger picture, and believe ‘ three weekly trips to the gym lets us off the hook with our bodies’.
Medder compares movement to a nutritious diet, whereas exercise, though beneficial, is like a supplement — especially if we treat it as a chore. Natural movement is ancient, innate to an active lifestyle, enjoyable, sustainable.
he says: ‘ Dancing, climbing, walking, jumping, crawling, lifting, swimming, fighting, even sex. These are all movements the human body was designed for.’
Many of us are conditioned into being physically cautious. As Medder explains: ‘ Most children are told: “Don’t climb that, you’ll hurt yourself.” We learn that our instinct to play and climb is wrong. We start to fear looking ridiculous, or falling.’
Medder’s toddlers play nearby in a muddy patch during the class, and are a perfect reminder of how as kids we move so freely. I think of my 11year old beetling up his favourite tree in the park (despite my shouting, ‘Get down!’). Medder wants us to reconnect to that joy and curiosity.
he believes ‘moving like a human’ through tree-climbing is a powerful antidote to the habits of modern life, which will benefit emotional health, and build strength and confidence.
He
SAyS: ‘The diversity of the trees means you can be pushing and pulling, skipping and lunging, reaching and stretching, balancing on things, swinging off things.
‘All these wonderful angles would be impossible to replicate with set exercises. And of course being outside compounds the benefits.’ I watch Medder and try to learn. he says that one climbing technique is to ape (sorry) an orang-utan — they move by grasping or reaching, distributing their bodyweight over several branches, and they keep their torso mainly upright.
Medder shins up the sheer trunk, then slips between branches, up, over and around. he suggests we repeat a short climbing route to build confidence and flow.
I hoist myself on to a branch by leaning on it with both arms straight, and lifting each leg up until I’m crouching like a frog (a basic move when you’re nine, but 49 not so much.) I walk along branches rather than climb high, as I feel wobbly 6ft off the ground. I can feel that it’s great for balance and core strength.
I hugely enjoy the session and I trot home, buzzing. A simple pleasure, yet surprisingly challenging. It makes you feel alive.
The mechanics of tree-climbing are complex yet fundamental to being human — and I’m determined to rediscover them. My 11-year old and his favourite tree are about to have company.