Ido Portal Workout

There are several ways of training your body without needing any expensive equipment, such as callisthenics and martial arts.

What these methods are missing is the movement practice tools to help a trainee master movement. While they teach you how to build strength, agility and endurance, they don’t integrate how to perfect the manner in which they move.

And that’s where the Ido Portal method can help you out. Developed by Israeli trainer Ido Portal, the physical training method makes complete use of the trainee’s own body weight and movements for training. This results in improved physical development for your body.

So, let’s take a deep dive into the Ido Portal method and the philosophies behind it to understand how it works. You may find it to be a great addition to your movement training regimen!

How The Ido Portal Method Works

The very foundations of the Ido Portal workout are based on Capoeira, which is an Afro-Brazilian form of martial arts with a heavy emphasis on movement. 

It was conceptualised as a workout method reliant on self-dominance, dictating that its practitioners learn how to master their bodies in free movement. You may see athletes performing exercises that involve inverted movement or crawling close to the ground as a warm-up technique.

The Ido Portal method aims to improve your physical prowess through a few different disciplines, which include:

• Gymnastics
• Resistance training
• Ground-based conditioning
• Mobility

These disciplines are all targeted in three phases of the Ido Portal method, giving you a stepping stone to reach during each phase. The three phases of the Ido Portal movement training are isolation, integration and improvisation. By approaching the workout categorically, you will have a clear picture of the type of approach you should take with the program.

Phases Of The Ido Portal Workout

1. Isolation

To make progress with the Ido Portal method, you will need to build strength first. Otherwise, you will find little progress when going through the exercises during each session. This is why the isolation step marks the first phase of the workout.

During this phase, you will be building strength using several movement patterns, which will help you build agility and flexibility later on. These bodyweight training patterns include, but are not limited to:

• Deadlifts
• Lunges
• Squats
• Crawling
• Pulling (horizontal and vertical)
• Pushing (horizontal and vertical)
• Rotational patterns
• Power training
• Stabilisation drills
• Upper body training (bent-arm and straight-arm)

If you’ve performed callisthenics or followed a movement-heavy discipline before, some of these may be familiar to you. Each exercise listed here emphasises building strength through bodyweight training while keeping physical development equal across your muscle groups.

Where the Ido Portal method differs from other disciplines when speaking of these exercises is that Ido only requires you to finish your daily sets. Strength training escalation is not as important with the Ido workout as it is for other training philosophies.

Once you’ve mastered these movement patterns and can perform them at the drop of a hat, you can move to the next phase. Remember: your movements must be free and fluidic as you perform them to truly reach a stepping stone.

2. Integration

The second phase of the Ido Portal method has an even heavier focus on the movement culture. Think of this phase as the combination of all the movements you’ve been performing thus far.

Your movements will flow from one to the next seamlessly, and as you continue movement training, even more movement sequences will become a part of it. By the end of this phase, your movement training session will become a carefully-choreographed free-flowing dance with pre-planned movement sequences. And this is where the workout’s Capoeira roots show the most.

Due to its seamless flow, getting the hang of it isn’t easy as you start out. Along with a complete mastery of the isolation step, the second phase demands that you practise building movement sequences to perfection.

The integration phase also showcases that fitness extends beyond just muscular definition and pure strength. Being able to go with the seamless flow of your exercises and workouts is a good skill to have.

3. Improvisation

The last phase of the Ido workout is the improvisation stage which merges the philosophies of the previous two stages. This is where your imagination will be tested while movement training.

Improvisation is where your movements will resemble either dance or pre-planned movement sequences much more closely. Of course, it won’t happen overnight – it will require plenty of time to master because of what the routine demands from you. So, keep at it, and focus on what you need to learn and how you can get to it.

Ido Portal Workout Programs And Events

You will find most Ido workout programs online that showcase workouts, tips and routine planning. Video and picture resources aside, you will benefit from the commentaries provided by practitioners and movement teachers. 

As for offline programs, you will find trainers that offer programs and events in various locations in Europe, Middle-East, Asia and North America. Consider joining an event to find more information about the workout from other trainees or veterans in the field. 

You may even implement certain motions performed by these people, should you find them useful or appealing. In-person demonstrations benefit you immensely, particularly if you’re struggling to improve the flow of the workout.

And if you find someone with similar goals, you can keep in touch with them and exchange tips, ideas, and exercises. Ido workouts lead to a great number of social interactions that can help you stay motivated and motivate others as well.

Here are a couple of movement programs to consider if you want to join one.

1. The Movement Athlete

The goal of The Movement Athlete is to build your strength with bodyweight training. Maintaining a certain level of strength is essential to perform well and remain healthy at the same time.

This program focuses heavily on high-powered movement sequences to improve strength and performance. These include movements like:

• Handstand push-ups
• Single-arm push-ups
• Muscle-ups
• Single-arm body rows
• Pistol squats
• Single leg squats
• Handstands
• L-sits 
• Human flags
• Back levers
• Body levers

All of these are extremely difficult to perform without building adequate strength. But your body will eventually develop enough strength to perform these effectively through the principles the Movement Athlete program trains you in. Progressing exercises based on your current level, making use of progressive overload, increasing exercise volume and complexity, and rest are all essential for it.

And the program increases the pace of your workouts in steps, which can help you ease into the Ido Portal method.

2. Movement 20XX

Movement 20XX is much more focused on movement patterns and flow than the Movement Athlete, digging into the Capoeira roots of the Ido workout. Locomotion patterns are the backbone of this program, all the while using other movement patterns for effective training.

With locomotion, you will be performing quadrupedal ground-based exercises, such as switches, crawling, transitions and more.

Something worth noting about Movement 20XX is that you can easily incorporate it into your regular training regimen. Simply start slow and progress until you’re ready for more advanced movement. Within weeks, you will have learned a lot about how these exercises can benefit you and how to perform them effectively.

The program also helps improve your performance in traditional training. This means that you  will perform deadlifts, pull-ups, muscle-ups, single-leg squats, and bench-presses in a smooth manner. You can document your progress until the final progression stage to see how much of a difference the training has made.

Ido Portal Workouts: The Cost

Of course, much like a gym membership, Ido Portal workout programs and events aren’t free. To get started, you will need to pay a fee for premium courses, after which you can get started on the Ido Portal fitness journey.

Along with video and pictorial resources, you will get access to certain tools and tips to keep you going through the journey. These may include equipment, diet and movement recommendations that can streamline your workout sessions even further.

But if you’re on the fence about joining a workout program, you can opt for a free one instead. With free programs, you can get a peek into how the program works and if it will suit you well or not. Just remember to take it easy and not force yourself through the workout stages. Gaining mastery over any field requires patience and practice, after all.

The Ido Portal Diet

The Ido Portal diet rejects all processed foods and some grains in favour of an all-natural diet that preserves or helps enhance your fitness. While it does allow some flexibility based on individual preferences and goals, the idea here is to maintain a low body-fat ratio.

Here’s a list of what to avoid when following this diet:

• Processed foods
• Junk food
• Genetically-modified foods
• Foods with chemical ingredients and additives
• Gluten
• Dairy
• Trans fats
• Refined sugar
• Extreme dieting

Certain indulgences like dark chocolates from time to time are fine so long as you consume them sparingly. And remember to ease yourself into this diet instead of going all-out with the change in your eating habits from the get-go.

Here’s a brief list of what the diet allows you to eat:

• Grass-fed meat
• Natural animal protein
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Eggs
• Seeds
• Rice
• Potatoes
• Dark chocolate
• Water
• Nuts

These cover many of the essential nutrients, resulting in a low-medium carb content, a medium fat content and a medium-high protein content. You can also use supplements to support this diet even further, such as whey protein, vitamin D, zinc, omega-3S and more.

The Paleo Principle

A major part of the Ido Portal diet is the Paleo Principle. Its basic beliefs dictate that a person ought to eat food as it is found in nature. And yes, that includes meat as well!

This diet habit is based on what researchers believe our ancestors consumed many thousands of years ago. The first humans were hunter-gatherers, after all, and they presumably didn’t suffer from any diseases stemming from obesity. And since there were no artificial additives or processing involved in the diets of ancient civilisations, it’s assumed that their diet was completely healthy.

There are certain risks to be aware of that make a palaeolithic diet not as desirable. The first of these is the complete or near-complete omission of nutritious foods like legumes, dairy and grains. Legumes have several micronutrients like zinc, iron and copper, while dairy products have calcium for bone health. 

Without these in your diet, you stand the risk of facing nutritional deficiencies. And while being nutritionally deficient, it’s unrealistic and impractical to continue training, not to mention incredibly risky and taxing on your body.

Secondly, while eating certain types of meat raw can be perfectly safe, there’s always a risk of it containing bacteria like salmonella and E.coli. Chicken, beef, and pork may all carry these bacteria, which can give you food poisoning and harm your body more than it would do good.

It’s better to use the Paleo Principle as a general guideline rather than a strict rule. Thousands of years of medical science have more than doubled our life expectancy, and one mustn’t ignore it in favour of an archaic practice. 

Consider talking to a certified dietician to see what suits your body before embarking on your training journey.

Summing Up

The core idea behind the Ido Portal method is to move as freely as possible and train the human body for more than just pure strength. It dictates that your body and brain must be equally as sharp, and through movement patterns, you will reach the desired fitness level.

A key part of this workout routine is to diversify your collection of movement patterns and exercises. Repeating the same movement pattern can have a negative impact on your performance and motivation, not to mention the problem of overuse.

And lastly, Ido Portal says that striving for physical fitness for a particular aesthetic is not conducive to remaining healthy. Aesthetics can be a good motivator to start your Ido Portal method, but making it your sole focus is not how to approach health and fitness.