Fundamental Movement Patterns
Movement, it’s what the body was made to do. One of the most essential parts of life, the ability to move is perhaps one of the greatest gifts our body has to offer us. Movement is what gives us the ability to fulfill all of our needs. Without the ability to move we cannot eat, we cannot seek shelter, we would be unable to elude predators. Movement is essential, but the quality of that movement can vary greatly between individuals. Luckily, the ability to move is a trainable trait, and with a little bit of practice, we can reap massive benefits.
Movement is a very dynamic, complex activity. With all the possible combinations and the ability to move different joints in different ways, we can see where attempting to train movement patterns most effectively could seem like a daunting task. But let’s take a cue from Avril Lavigne and not make things complicated. If we were to simplify movements to a basic form that would carry over to all essentials of human movement it would look something like this
Horizontal Push
Vertical Push
Horizontal Pull
Vertical Pull
Squat
Hinge
Step
Rotate
Horizontal Push
The horizontal push is an action where you are pushing your arms straight out from your body. The muscles you use to perform the action are the chest (pecs), shoulders (delts), and triceps (or tris), as well as some smaller muscles throughout your trunk (or core, torso). Generally speaking, these muscles can handle a high workload so you can use higher reps here.
Typical Sets/Reps
This varies but I’ll generally choose 3-5 sets 3-6 reps on heavier movements and 2-4 sets 12-15 reps on lighter.
Example Exercises (Equipment)
Bench Press (Bench/Bar)
DB Bench (Bench/DB)
Floor Press (DB)
Push-Ups (Bodyweight or BW)
Cable Press (Cables)
Band Press (Bands)
Vertical Push
The vertical push is an action where you are putting your hands over your head. The muscle used to perform this action include the shoulders, triceps, and chest as well as muscles through the trunk. A higher rep range here works, but be prepared it's gonna burn!!
Typical Sets/Reps
Again, this varies, but similar recommendations to horizontal push, 3-5 sets 3-6 reps on heavier movements and 2-4 sets 12-15 reps on lighter.
Example Exercises
Overhead Press (Barbell)
DB Shoulder Press (DB)
Single Arm Overhead Press (DB)
Bottoms Up Kettlebell Press (KB)
Viking Press (Landmine/Bar)
Landmine Press (Landmine/Bar)
Horizontal Pull
The horizontal pull is an action where you reach for something and pull it back into your body. The muscles being used here are the mid/upper back (lats, rhomboids, traps), the front of the arms (biceps or bis), and smaller muscles of the rotator cuff and trunk. A higher rep range works here with a focus on the squeeze and use of the proper muscles over a higher weight. Control tends to help a lot in back development, although there's always a time for heavy.
Typical Sets/Reps
Being more postural-based muscles, the back tends to respond better to a higher rep range, sets of 12 to 15 are not uncommon, however when rowing heavy, ranges of 4-8 are more typical.
Example Exercises
Seated Row (Cable/Band)
TRX Row (TRX)
DB Row (DB/KB)
Barbell Row (Barbell)
T Bar Row (Barbell)
Chest Supported/Seal Row (Bench/DB/KB/Bar)
Vertical Pull
The vertical pull is when you reach over your head and pull something towards you, or when you grab something and pull yourself up. The muscles used include the mid/upper back, the arms, and the trunk, as well as smaller muscles throughout the chain. A higher rep range here is also encouraged, although when performing pull-ups especially, lower rep ranges are acceptable.
Typical Sets/Reps
When using bands or a cable machine, higher rep ranges are encouraged. On pull-ups however an as many as you can type of attitude is adopted until proficiency occurs when a 6-12 range is typical. 3-5 sets is where you want to be.
Example Exercises
Any Lat Pulldown Attachment V, Wide Grip, Over/Underhand, etc (Cable)
Single Arm Pulldown (Cable/Band)
Pull-Ups *with/without assistance (Pull up bar)
Chin-Ups *with/without assistance (Pull up bar)
Band Pulldown (Bands)
Squat
The squat is a movement pattern where you push your toes over your knees, simultaneously pushing your hips back, lowering your torso. When your thigh bones (femurs) are parallel to the floor, you push through your feet and drive your hips back up. This movement is very similar to sitting in a chair and standing back up. Your foot placement should generally start slightly outside of shoulder-width with your toes pointed slightly outwards. Cueing for the squat is hard to generalize so know that there is room for personal preference. The muscles used in the squat are primarily the front of the thighs (quads), the hips, the butt (glutes), and the back of the legs (hamstrings) but all muscles of the lower body and trunk musculature work here.
Typical Sets/Reps
The barbell back squat is typically used for 3-5 sets of 3-8 reps although there is nothing set in stone. When using machines or lighter variations, higher rep ranges (12-20) and sets (4-6) tend to be preferred.
Example Exercises
Barbell Back Squat (Rack/Bar)
Front Squat (Rack/Bar)
Hack Squat (Machine)
Leg Press *to some degree (machine)
DB Front Squat (DB)
Goblet Squat (DB/KB)
Air Squat (BW)
Hinge
The hinge or hip hinge is an action where you keep your back flat and push your hips back, bending at the waist like a door hinge, picking something up, and standing back up, driving the chest up and hips forward as you push the ground away. The muscles used here are the low back, hips, glutes, and hamstrings, as well as many, many other small muscles. It’d honestly be harder to name the muscles not used in some way. Your whole body gets involved in this movement pattern.
Typical Sets/Reps
The hip hinge is generally the most systemically fatiguing movement pattern. With so many muscles being involved and the typical nature of being able to lift a relatively great amount of weight here, usually, a lower rep range and sometimes even set range is preferred. 1-3 heavy sets of 1-5 deadlifts are generally typical, with lighter variation seeing 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps being used.
Example Exercises
Deadlift (Bar)
Trap Bar Deadlift (Trap Bar)
Romanian Deadlift (RDL) (Bar)
KB/DB RDL (KB/DB)
KB Swing (KB/DB can be used but be extremely cautious with adjustables like probably just don’t)
Pull-Thru (Cable/Bands)
Step
The step is an action where you lift your foot and plant it back down. When we step we want to make sure our knee is always moving over our toes. The muscles used in the step are mainly the quads, hips, glutes, and hamstrings, although again (kind of a theme about these movement patterns huh?) muscles of the trunk are involved.
Typical Sets/Reps
When we step we are only able to do so with one side at a time, also known as a unilateral movement. As such, when recorded as 8 or 10 or 12, it is very common that means with both legs, or per side. Moderate rep ranges of 6-10 are typical, 3 or 4 sets.
Example Exercises
Lunge
Step Up
Split Squat
Side Step
Side Lunge
Side Step Up
Rotate
When we refer to rotate, we are more specifically referring to rotation of the trunk or torso. Generally, with hips facing forward, we twist at our shoulders, configuring our midsection similar to a rung rag. Think of driving a shoulder to your opposite hip bone, that's rotation too! The muscles involved in rotation are that of the trunk, although muscles of the hips can be involved as well.
*Sometimes rotation can irritate past issues with the back so if rotation is painful please refer to an appropriate specialist to make sure rotation is safe for you. If your back is healthy (it's still healthy if it aches once in a while that's kind of normal) rotation done appropriately poses no risk and is an integral part of life.
Typical Sets/Reps
Rotation-based exercises are usually loaded quite light to avoid any contradictions with the spine. Without heavy loading, high rep ranges are used, sometimes even up to 50. Typical sets and reps can be seen as 2-4 sets with 15-50 reps
Example Exercises
Wood Chops
Bicycle Crunch
Russian/Mason Twist
Cable Twist
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