Original Strength Resets (Rocking, Crawling, Head Nods)

Setup

Head nods performed lying on the back; rocking performed on hands and knees; crawling performed on hands and knees moving across the floor.

Execution

1. 1Head nods: lying on the back, gently nod the chin toward the chest and back, moving only the head
2. 2Rocking: from hands and knees, rock forward and back through a full pain-free range, keeping the spine neutral
3. 3Crawling: from hands and knees, crawl forward using opposite arm/leg coordination, keeping the hips low and controlled
4. 4Sequence the three together as a short daily 'reset' routine

Key cues

• Keep movements slow and deliberate, this is about quality not speed
• Breathe naturally throughout, don't hold your breath
• During crawling, keep the hips low and moving smoothly, not bouncing
• During rocking, keep a neutral spine, avoid sagging the low back

Common faults

• Rushing through the reps instead of moving mindfully
• Sagging the low back during rocking or crawling
• Crawling with same-side arm/leg instead of cross-pattern coordination
• Skipping head nods as 'too simple' — they are foundational for vestibular integration

Tweaks

• Add cross-crawling patterns (opposite hand to opposite knee) for more coordination demand
• Increase crawling distance/duration as a conditioning-adjacent variant
• Use head nods and rocking daily as a 2-minute nervous-system 'reset' before training

Muscles

Notes

Original Strength's core premise: these primal patterns 'reset' movement quality by re-establishing reflexive stability learned in infancy.

Sources

• Original Strength Training System - What is the OS training system
• Original Strength — Resets Overview

Attribution: Original Strength (Tim Anderson & Geoff Neupert)