You don’t merely watch an athlete compete, a dancer perform or a child play, writes Stanford University psychologist Dr Kelly McGonigal in her book The Joy Of Movement. You sense their actions via your mirror neuron system – part of our human instinct to try and understand others. And watching Mr Alex Sesto (@sestoflow), you want to move.

Helpfully, Sesto is a teacher of “movement”, a vague-sounding term that he admits can be hard to convey in words. The best way to understand it, he says, is to try it. Newcomers to the classes by his Flowstate Collective at various locations across London can’t believe the many, varied and novel ways in which they find themselves moving. In this restricted age, with so many of us sat if not locked down, it’s “liberating”.

Sesto was a promising young footballer at Premier League club Arsenal until derailed by injury. He played “soccer” and studied marketing in the US, then found himself behind a desk at a marketing agency back in the UK, “medicating” by organising events on the rave scene. After an epiphany (involving the hallucinogen DMT), he quit his job and qualified as a PT. Bored of simply lifting ever-heavier weights, he got into gymnastics then discovered cult movement teacher Mr Ido Portal, who became more prominent as a sort of Mr Miyagi to UFC fighter Mr Conor McGregor. Reaching Portal’s advanced level promised to keep Sesto busy – and engaged – for a long time.

Cranking out reps in Hiit classes, we don’t think about how well we’re moving, says Sesto. “It’s easy to beast people,” he says. “But it’s harder to teach them how to control their bodies and get stronger properly.” If you want to move better, or as well as him eventually, make these moves first.

Flowstate Collective divides “movement” into three main areas. “Linear strength” consists of gymnastic bodyweight exercises – push-ups, pull-ups, handstands – performed in a more rigid structure of sets and reps. Sesto will typically dedicate an hour and a half a day to linear strength (usually working on a skill such as a handstand press-up or one-arm chin-up) or free-flowing movement. Or a combination thereof.

Not ready for handstands? Start with the two fundamentals. The first is hanging, both “passive” (just hanging) and “active” (lifting yourself up by pulling your shoulder blades down). Weak shoulders and tight chests are common symptoms of too much keyboard and bench pressing; hanging simultaneously stretches, strengthens and decompresses. At home, Sesto will hang from his doorframe pull-up bar whenever he makes tea.

The second is the squat, a traditional resting position that, adapted to chairs, many of us now find uncomfortable; the squat is also central to Sesto’s morning movement session and a lot of his advanced flows. So get comfortable whenever you can: while watching TV, in between hangs while brewing your tea. Hanging and squatting is “not the sexy, pretty work”, says Sesto, but is fundamental to hips and shoulders that function.

Flowstate Collective’s second main area of movement is “nonlinear strength”. You might be phenomenally strong in the conventional gym movement patterns, but what happens if you move an inch or two to either side? Sport – and life – aren’t linear. Nonlinear strength is about loading joints in unusual patterns to build resiliency.

Imagine you’re at the centre of a compass with eight possible directions of travel. Set a timer for 60 seconds then, balancing on one leg, tap the other toe out as far as you can north, then south and so on, constantly thinking about how to stabilise your body; perform three rounds on each side. Another drill, that Sesto has given to a lot of older clients, is to set a timer for two minutes and see how many times and ways you can go from standing to having your back on the ground without using your hands.

Whatever the activity, your north star should be to always move with grace – “a very underrated quality” possessed of gymnasts and dancers, says Sesto. “It takes so much strength to be graceful.”