The dreaded Inchworm!  He has a separate book for QM?  I won't ask for another massive translation effort, but are there any new additions to the repertoire of movement besides the inchworm? 

Gregg, that kinda was my point: all the natural method stuff is on the Hawaii forum, and so most of the rest of us don't realize it's there... It would be cool to have maybe a post here with links to the main and most interesting natural method posts from your corner of the maze? Pleeez?

I'll look up my notes (yes I took notes) on QMs and try to give you a good rendition of my experience
By the way, I got that book through inter-library loan, maybe your library can do that too (I know many of the university libraries have those services in place, usually for free)!!

Phil, didn't you notice a lot more QM type exercises creeping into the Primal warm-ups? No worries, I'll keep adding more

Surprisingly, I found them easier to do backward ;P
How do you do side to side ? do you bring in your hands and feet all together when you go in, then spread out in star shape when going out? or do you stay with hands and feet far apart the whole time?
(hah! now I have to try out that version; it's more like octopus QM than inchworm but it should be interesting )

Ah! I finally found my notes and some free time, so here's my take on Georges Hébert's Quadrupédie.

First, QM encompasses anything that has to do with using all four limbs together. Think QM walk, yes, but also plank, push-ups, crouching, falling on your hands, crawling, handstands, rolling, etc, etc. Lots of different sub-topics, and as always Hébert goes through every different skill and lays down every possible way to do it. Example: the basic push-up can be done forward (the usual way), backward (facing up, kind of like arm dips), or sideways (starting on side plankand lowering yourself, bringing the extra hand down as a support at the end of the way). Very systematic variations, some probably better than others, but always trying to do everything in all the possible ways.

Second, he insists through the book that circus clowns are probably the most accomplished type of athletes, as tumbling in apparent randomness requires acrobatic strength, agility, and adaptability. He sees hand springs (jumping from your feet to your hands and then to your feet again while progressing forward or backward) as the dividing line between simple QM and acrobatic QM, which he regards as the highest discipline of physical athletism.

Then there's billions of exercises and progressions on the theme; I'll list here in random order the ones I noted. As a warning, a lot of the stuff here can be very advanced, be very careful when you try them and follow a slow progression.

- static positions (planks, crouching, standing): how to go from one to the other, moving the hands or the feet, facing forward, backward or sideways.

- QM walking and running: forward, backward and sideways. Changing pace from slow to fast to slow, switching styles, making long paces, turning around, adding sudden stops in plank. Note there is a slightly different variant of our QMs: keeping the hips higher, back leg almost straight. This is supposed to be easier for long walks.

- QM jumps: start with a progression from crouching and back, then add a jump to it. Jump in all directions, adding spins,etc. Pretty hard...

- crawling: there's an entire piece on crawling or snaking, using your hands and feet or just your core and back muscles (yes, like a snake)

- falling: again, progress slowly. Start bending down to get into a plank, then slowly increase the distance. Going backward or sideways, it is recommended to spin in order to land on both hands facing forward. There is only so much strength we can build on our arms.

- "piqué": anything where the feet leave the ground before the hands touch. "Piqué" cartwheel, handstand, etc

That's pretty much it. There's a lot of work to be done in these few exercises, though! I have barely scratched the surface for most of these, and it already changed a lot of my conditioning. Enjoy!

Sounds good.. an easy start might be to go over the book we translated and comment on it (there's a lot of great advice from Uncle Georges on walking and running, for instance, but it's usually crammed in two or three sentences). And there's a lot of modern stuff that can be seen as extensions / variations on the same theme, too.

if we could make out a sample training seesion,

maybe like:

warm up

then

run      100m (fast)
quad     30m  (fast)
jump     maximum distnace X 5
climb up and down a 4m rope/ pole X 2 (fast)
throw and catch something (a few kgs, i use a 2l water bottle filled with sand) X 15 (throw high)
lift and carry something (very heavy) 10m
swim 20m front crawl (fast)
balnce on branch/bar 20m (move fast)
fight someone

run      500m
quad     100m
jump     3/4 maximm distnace X 20
climb up and down a 4m rope/ pole X 4
throw and catch something (not so high) X 40
lift and carry something (heavy) 20m
swim 40m front crawl
balnce on branch/bar 40m
fight someone

run      2km
quad     400m
jump      small distance, small landing space, X35
climb up and down a 4m rope/ pole X 5
throw and catch something (not so high at all) X 70
lift and carry something (no very heavy) 50m
swim 100m any stroke
balnce on branch/bar 100m
fight someone

cool down


?

could someone post those tests the G.H had?
sorry i dunno where to find them:(