Play: The alternative to the treadmill-and-iPod workout

Suddenly and simultaneously, everyone in a crowd of about 50 tries to get to the opposite point of this bare but cramped room. Each must nudge, dodge and negotiate a tangle of swarming bodies.

It looks like a frightened mob scene from one of those Martians-invade-Earth movies, but to Frank Forencich this mayhem is a natural way to move and connect with one another. It's part of a philosophy he calls "exuberant animal," which seeks to replace the regimented, numbers-driven and lonely "workout" with the "primal, practical and playful" approach.

At its root, the approach is retro in the extreme, tapping into how we moved before computing workstations.

Forencich, who earned his degree in human biology at Stanford, has written two self-published books, "Exuberant Animal: The Power of Health, Play and Joyful Movement" and "Play as if Your Life Depends on It: Functional Exercise and Living for Homo Sapiens," which tap into the evolutionary and functional roots of movement. Play, he says, is older than fire and religion.

The National Institute for Play, a nonprofit that studies the importance of play in human development and wellness, contends that play is essential to life, capable of not just easing a load, but developing our brains. Founder Dr. Stuart Brown was trained in medicine, psychiatry and clinical research and has interviewed thousands of people about play. Elements of play are prevalent in the lives of successful people, he says, and the play-deprived pay a price.

Play is a way, Brown says, to discover big ideas and build community. It begins between an infant and parent and rolls all the way through our development, especially how we connect with peers.

Forencich worked with Brown to present a playful presentation for the Mattel toy corporation. Forencich said it was great to see company officers take off their shoes and play. The get-to-the-other-side maneuver was part of a video shoot filmed in a Northgate community center about a month ago. The video will be released later this year as another effort to generate ideas. Forencich wants therapists, personal trainers and PE teachers to consider a more holistic approach that focuses upon "physical happiness" and promotes "exuberance." If nothing else, he wants to offer an alternative to the cocooning treadmill-and-iPod workout.

The group that assembled for the video shoot included skilled athletes and near-couch potatoes. He told them he expected only two things: to be nonjudgmental and to have as much fun as possible. There was a method to what often seemed madness. For instance, when people would pair off, stand on one leg and nudge and pull on each other, they were working on balance, body awareness and core strength.

Participant Jeanne Shepard, an occupational therapist, has been a fan of Forencich's approach for years. In fact, she uses some of the principles and maneuvers to try to reach the developmentally challenged clients she works with at Fircrest School in Shoreline.

"It is hard to do cooperative games with my clients and they sometimes have a hard time balancing, but I can adapt to what they can do, and when I get a smile I know I'm on the right track."

In fact, Forencich hopes physical-education teachers will begin to embrace his approach.

"Instead of using pedometers and heart-rate monitors, I suggest they try the low-tech, high-touch approach," he says. "Try to make it more social by using imagination and simple toys and tools. I ask them to think about how they could teach without numbers and clipboards and devices — and with dance and martial arts and rhythm classes."

Shepard is an active woman who practices aikido, dances and hikes and especially appreciates the playfulness of Forencich's approach.

"You are having too much fun to notice you're working out pretty hard," she says. "In fact, the best part is the laughing."

Richard Seven: 206-464-2241 or rseven@seattletimes.com