On April 5, a video of a fitness team in Suzhou practicing "crocodile climbing" in the park appeared on the hot search. The upstream news reporter contacted the person in charge of the team, he said, "crocodile climbing" has been insisted on for three years, but it is only a small fitness project of the team, practicing 2 times a day, each time controlled in about 50 seconds, not as netizens imagined that they will practice for a long time, and the action has also been improved, which has certain benefits for the lumbar spine. Medical experts remind people with arthritis, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases to be cautious about doing this kind of strength exercise.
The team has more than 80 people, and the oldest age is 71 years old
A group of people put on gloves, on all fours, crawling forward slowly like crocodiles, as the music sounded, the movements were uniform, shouting slogans: "Huh! Left hand ha, right hand ha!" Recently, this "crocodile climbing" video in the Xiangshan Scenic Area of Zhangjiagang, Suzhou has been hotly discussed on the Internet and on the hot search. Some orthopedic experts told the media that the "crocodile crawl" has more disadvantages than benefits, and this way provides a certain intensity of exercise, but it may lead to soft tissue damage around the joints of the upper limbs. "Crocodile Crawl" has less exercises for muscle strength, endurance, joint stability, etc., and it is recommended to do it in combination with other exercises.
Members of the fitness group are doing "crocodile crawling". Photo courtesy of the interviewee
On the 5th, upstream news reporters contacted Mr. Zhu, the head of the crocodile fitness group in the video. He is 55 years old, runs a business in Suzhou, and is also a fitness enthusiast who has been trying the sport since August 2021. With the increase in the number of participants, Mr. Zhu established the Suzhou Zhangjiagang Crocodile Fitness Group, which has now reached a scale of about 80 people.
"There are about thirty or forty people who usually insist on participating in mountain climbing, and we will exercise on the mountain for an hour, and there are many projects, such as push-ups, horizontal bars, parallel bars and abdominal wheels. We do it twice a day, about 50 seconds to 1 minute, and then we take a few minutes off. ”
Upstream news reporters saw that one of the most popular videos of the crocodile fitness group has received millions of likes and tens of millions of views, and similar fitness groups have also appeared in Zhejiang, Hunan and other places.
Because the "crocodile crawling" action is more special, doubts also follow. In the local area, people often come to watch or learn from experience, and occasionally some people express puzzlement in the video comment area: "How many thousands of years did it take for people to evolve to learn to walk upright, and wouldn't crawling go backwards?" Some people questioned: "Can this really exercise the body?" In this regard, Mr. Zhu said: "It's no longer strange, let's do our best and keep fit." ”
The members of the fitness group are not only the elderly, but also the post-90s. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Mr. Zhu introduced that the oldest in the team is 71 years old, the youngest is born in the 90s, and 80% of them have jobs. "That's why we start exercising at 6:15 a.m. every morning, because everyone has something to do, not nothing, and the 71-year-old big brother is still starting a business and opening two factories. ”
Experts remind: these people are not suitable for "crocodile climbing"
On the 5th, Mr. Zhu saw "crocodile climbing" on the hot search. "We also consulted with an orthopedic surgeon who thought it would be good for a herniated disc in the lumbar spine, and we also have surgeons on our fitness team, and if it didn't work, we wouldn't have lasted three years. ”
In August 2022, Mr. Zhu also participated in the recording of CCTV's "Workplace Health Class" program.
Mr. Zhu went on CCTV to record a program. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
Regarding the action of "crocodile crawling", Chen Xin, deputy chief physician of the Department of Spine Surgery of Peking University Third Hospital, believes that from the perspective of orthopedics, the risk is not great. "Similar to a dynamic push-up or plank movement, it is flat like swimming, which reduces the stress on the spine and intervertebral discs, and is helpful for enhancing core strength and joint stability. However, it is still not recommended for the elderly with old shoulder degeneration, rotator cuff injury, and arthritis of the lower limbs. ”
According to Jimu News, Xu Delong, the attending physician of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine of Wuhan Fourth Hospital, believes that the "crocodile crawl" lying on all fours is actually similar to the dynamic version of four-point support, which can exercise core strength, help the stability of the lumbar spine, and reduce the burden on the lumbar spine compared with upright training. If there is a problem with the lumbar spine, proper crawling is beneficial to the recovery of the lumbar spine, but the exercise is not suitable for people with high physical requirements and hip joint movements.
Mr. Zhu's Douyin. Screenshots of the network
Xu Shunlin, chief physician of the Department of Cardiology of Peking University Third Hospital, believes that for patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular arteriosclerosis, and cardiac stents, doing this action will increase blood pressure, and chest pressure and abdominal pressure will also put a lot of pressure on the heart, so it is not recommended.
Because the "crocodile climb" is difficult for middle-aged and elderly people who do not have a certain exercise foundation, Mr. Zhu has also improved the movement recently, and designed a "Moon Climb" on the basis of crocodile climbing. "The standard 'crocodile climbing' is to train the core and strength, and the 'Moon Climbing' has a better effect of relieving the lumbar spine and cervical spine, for example, now we will practice a standard climb and a 'Moon Climb' in two crawling exercises. ”
Upstream news reporter Tang Hao