Fanci That the Fundamental Movement Patterns

Well it’s well into the New Year and I been at the gym watching trainers teach new gym goers’ new workouts and one thing I do often see the lack of use of the exercise continuum with the clients and in teaching the foundational movement patterns that our bodies are already meant to know.

As a human, our bodies pretty much move the same way as other humans. There are six basic movement patterns that we all do and if you want to be strong, athletic, or just a healthy person you train all these fundamental patterns and they are:

Hinge

Squat

Lunge

Push

Pull

Carry

However, the exercises that mimics these patterns are not right for everyone, or at least not right away. For instance, if you start off with the wrong squat variation for you body type, skill level, or injury history or goal you will wind up with more injury and more problems. 

When most start their fitness journey in the gym they tend to have and idea of what exercise to do not knowing there are modifications or variations to each foundational movement we do. In short there is a starting point we all must or should start from before we jump to the more commonly known exercises. Most who start a fitness journey plan on sticking to it so I want you to forget about training specific exercises and instead train custom-fit movement pattern variations instead. By doing this you will avoid injury, get rid of some aches and pains and reach your strength and physique goals. 

The Hinge

Let’s start off with movement pattern I most commonly seen taught out of order or done with improper form because it is often done completely out of order when it comes to progression with another common exercises, the hinge. The hinge is the beginning part of a movement pattern that is so important because it helps us when it comes to protecting our lower back from injury but so many people have lost the ability to do it correctly. 

The hip hinge is often confused with another common exercise and that exercise is the deadlift, which is a specific exercise that falls under the hip hinge exercise umbrella. While not every hip hinge is a deadlift, every deadlift is a hip hinge pattern.  As one may guess many people don’t deadlift because they think it’s to risky and since deadlift is the only hip hinge most people know they skip training the entire movement pattern. What’s the result, well lower back pain and more injuries of course. 

One must learn to reintroduce and reactivate this pattern safely. The problem is most people jump right to the barbell deadlift from the floor, or right into kettlebell swings, before mastering the hip hinge.

How many times do you bend over in a day? The answer is a lot, it’s one of the most common movements our body does so to ignore would not be wise. To learn how to do it properly to avoid injury would be wise. So, honing this pattern is important for everyone. Mastering the hip hinge, you will avoid chronic flare-ups, lower back tightness, and generalized ‘neural-lock” of your mobility and flexibility. 

Hinge Pattern Progressions

Because this movement is such common movement, we often don’t think on how we do it, so we pick up bad habit when casually performing this movement. So, relearning this movement needs to be done slowly and implemented at lower levels to allow it to be done correctly. Here are the main progressions to use to reactive the hip hinge from the ground up. Take note these are not all hip hinge movements but the ones that most need your attention when relearning this movement pattern. 

Bodyweight RDL (Romanian Deadlift) 

Dumbbell RDL

Barbell RDL

Dumbbell Deadlift

Trap Bar Deadlift

Barbell Rack Pull (or lifting from blocks/plates)

Barbell Deadlift

What one must realize based on their body type, not everyone will have the ability to pull a barbell off the floor with a good neutral spine and that is totally fine. If you happen to fall in that category then just stop somewhere else on the progression list.  Remember based on your body structure, no matter how much your foam roll or stretch, you may never change your anatomy, so don’t force it.

 The Squat

When we think of the squat most of us think of barbell back squat and think getting your “bum” as low as you can go! That is one squat variation, but not the only squat variation nor best for all individuals.

When you think of the exercise “squat” you really should think of it as an umbrella term and under this you find not only barbell back squat, but goblet, sumo, air, jump, wall etc. The squat movement pattern isn’t about any specific type of squat exercise it’s far more important than that, at least if your goals are performance and longevity.

So, you have to ask does everyone need to be able to barbell back squat? The answer to that is, no. However, what most people do need is to display and maintain the ability to use synergistic muscular tension, stability and mobility through the torso, hips, knees, and ankles from an even bilateral stance.  Meaning you need even push through out the entire movement, you shouldn't be pushing more on one side or the other and your core should be should be the center point in the process. 

The squat movement pattern is key player that transcends in the gym. It’s used in our routine activity and movement requirements of our everyday life. However, everyone is different and that means everyone squats differently especially when it comes to loading the squat for power and strength. Identifying the proper squat progression is the first step.

Squat Pattern Progressions

The goal to find the squat variation that will give you the most benefit while minimizing risk of injury. How do you do this? By assessing your current skill level and trainability. And no you don’t necessarily need a Personal trainer to do this but it is recommended because they can better spot bad form and alignment issues.

While some gyms and Personal trainers use fitness assessments or other advance testing they are not always needed. All you need is to use the exercise continuum when it comes to fundamental pattern movements in this case the squat and master the first variation the move up the chain to the next one. It’s quite simple. 

Here’s the basic squat progression used to identify starting points and optimal squat patterns for just about anyone. We start out with the very basic support fundamental movement, then move up to the advanced variations:

Wall Squat

Bodyweight Squat

Goblet Squat

Barbell Front Squat

Barbell Back Squat

Now if you look at that progression you will see barbell back squat is the last on the list.  Let’s be honest for a minute, who’s gone to a gym and seen people in the squat rack with heavy bars on their back look like they are about to fall over or put themselves into traction? A good deal of people in the squat racks need to go back to the basics and get that down first.

Get this the barbell back squat is not even the ideal final squat for variation for everyone.  Here’s the idea, progress up in variations until you can no longer can progress anymore.  Once you figure out your ideal or the “hardest” variation that you can do perfectly then from there you will be able to train the squat pattern without internal restriction, get some awesome training, and minimize joint stress. The goal is to move up the list over time and progress strategically not all at once.

Once you figure out your perfect squat variation to at least start with on your fitness journey you need to fine tune your setup and execution which is how to perform the squat. For this you need to find the right stance and depth for you squat. This is where a Personal trainer does come in handy because it is not always parallel or below parallel when it comes to depth.  If you lower back rounds at all you gone to far. As for stance that is usually what is most comfortable for you. The quickest way (if you don’t think too much on it or don’t have bad knee’s) is jump in the air and land however far apart your feet are is usually (not always) a good starting point on your stance.

The Lunge

 Another overlooked movement pattern is the single leg function known as the “lunge”. Many people skip this movement pattern for many reasons but two main reasons are because they can’t use much weight as the bilateral sexercises and it can be difficult. If you have any weak links or dysfunctions, the lunge will let you know quickly.

However, single leg training doesn’t mean you are always doing some type of balancing act, it can mean emphasis is placed on one leg or side at a time in an asymmetrical stance, which is where the lunge comes to play, remember that even with single leg work, it’s impossible to purely isolate one side from another. There will always be interplay between the left and right sides even out of asymmetrically split stance.

Single leg movement exercise unlocks your strength and movement quality potential. They tap into our primitive patterns such as walking in sequence beginning with rolling over, crawling and pulling ourselves up and finally learned to stand and walk. Of course, not all of that was unilateral, but the movement between the steps was and that primitive patterning is what single leg movements are targeting for re-education.

Single-Leg Pattern Progressions

When most people think of lunges, they think of forward walking lunges and this variation is not ideal for everyone. Especially if your core and lower body are both not very stable. It’s actually a more advance way to lunge and jumping the gun can cause knee pain, SI joint aches and lower back pain. So, it’s best to start from the ground up instead.

Split Squat

Back Foot Elevated Split Squat

Front Foot Elevated Split Squat

Reverse Lunge

Forward Lunge

Single Leg Deadlift 

As you can see the single leg pattern does include a hinge-based movement with the single leg RDL. While there are overlaps between some of the movement’s patterns, this doesn’t devalue their importance in a good plan built around non-negotiable progression of the foundational patterns.

In the lunge pattern, be sure to include both the more knee-dominant variations such as split squats and the more hip-dominant patterns such as RDLs to cover all your bases.

As a type of personal note with this movement, I was training my daughter who I am so proud wants to get into the gym finally! With that being said all these movements are new to  her so I am having to start her from the ground up like I should. Well even with the first progression of this because it can be such work on stabilizing the core it is ok to have something to hold on too or even there to hold on too if you lose your balance to much. When my daughter was doing the split squat her balance was all over the place because her core is not strong so I had her stand by stable object to grab onto if she needed to, which she did as she did the exercise. So this is an option when first starting out as well.   

The Push

I see no lack of upper body pushing in the gym today, however what I do see is beginners going straight to the bench press while never first mastering the stability and the dynamic action requirements of the basic pushing action of the push up. Both exercises move though the horizontally directed plan of motion and target the same muscles, but very different when it comes to the static and dynamic stability component of the shoulder complex.

The reason why it is so important to start with the basic’s especially when it comes to one of the most mobile joints in our body IS because it is one of the most mobile joints in our body.  Meaning it is also one of the most injured joints of our body. Now I can sit here and talk about what the whole the shoulder complex can do what movements it can make and so forth but I probably bore you. It’s safe to say with the push movement we over use and cause injury. In the pull movements we under use so we are under developed in the posterior or back of the shoulder or in our backs all together which also causes injury which we will talk about later.

Movement patterns are put into either open or closed chain depending on contact points with the ground. If the hands or feet are in contact with a stable surface like the ground, the movement is a closed kinematic chain. If the hands or feet are freely moving, that is an open kinematic chain.

With the push-up the hands are on the ground or on another stable surface which is a closed chain movement.  Of course, you may have to adjust to keep your spine in neutral but the idea is to keep the shoulder and wrist align so when you come down so that you shoulder blades are able to move freely. This skill of stability, tension, and torque output in the shoulders and upper back is something that must be mastered in order to translate into a more static stability-based position such as the bench press.

Starting with the mastering the push-up at what ever level you need to begin with, allows the biggest advantage for you in the full body motor learning in the push pattern.  Once you figure out how to integrate core and hip stability to upper back and shoulder tensional recruitment and the push-up is the key in learning how to generate stability in displaying power and strength. Once this is learned in the horizontal plane of motion the vertical pushing will be the next challenge.   

Upper-Body Pushing Pattern Progressions

Since the upper body movement is led by the shoulder which I stated above was the most mobile ball in socket joint in the body, there is a need to break down both the push and pull movement patterns into vertical and horizontal planes o motion.

For the push motion the development starts in the closed kinematic chain and horizontal plane of motion with the push-up and progresses through the barbell bench press. Though the barbell bench is the final movement to master, the push-up will allow a person to move into the vertical pushing patterns while continue to progress through the horizontal patterns as well.

Below are the movement progressions for both the horizontal and vertical push patterns that can be used to identify an ideal movement pattern variation for each individual person based on skill level:

Horizontal Pushing

Hands Elevated Push-Up

Push-Up

Dumbbell Bench Press

Barbell Bench Press

Vertical Pushing

Single-Arm Dumbbell Overhead Press

Dumbbell Overhead Press

Barbell Overhead Press

How well you do a push-up will depend on the stability of the hips, core, and shoulders working together. It would be wise to look into more isolated core and hip functional stability and in this blog, we will look at that in the carry movement pattern, but we all know there are other ways to work on core and hip movement too.

Also, I want to note even though the push-up is the first in the progression, you may not start with the standard push-up or even the hands elevated push-up. If your core stability is not all there and you can’t perform a standard push-up that does not mean give up that mean simple modified. Go to the wall and decrease the angle until you are strong enough to do the standard push-up. There are many variations of the push-up too many to list, some more challenging than even the bench press itself. So, the push-up is where it is at.

When progressing through the horizontal and vertical pushes, be aware of not only the function and patterning of the shoulder and upper body, but the whole body, especially the core and hips and their ability to display and maintain good positioning, tension, throughout the dynamic motion at the shoulders. 

***Just a note to the vertical push pictures: You can progress either standing or sitting with these exercises. I show both ways here. Just a reminder there are many ways to modify and progress many of these exercises. 

The Pull

The upper body movement known as the pull pattern is one of the most misunderstood patterns of the upper body especially as it pertains to developing strong shoulder and resilient back. Strong and stable shoulders depend on pulling more than pushing, however where many people miss this is not understanding the different types of pulling and the planes of motion that each pull take place in.

The most popular pull take place in the vertical plane of motion and it’s the pull-up.  The pull-up has been ingrained as part of our requirement for decades. But it’s important to remember that not all pulling variation were created equal.

See the vertical pull more closely resembles a push-based motion because it places the shoulder into an internal rotation during the dynamic action of the movement itself.  This can cause problems chronically for internally- rotated positions and training compounds to create front sided shoulder pain.

There is nothing wrong with internally-rotated movements of the shoulders, it’s that they are not monitored and tend to be overused causing dysfunction and chronic pain of the front side of the shoulder or shoulder complex in general. Because of the popularization of the exercises the majority of pulling is centered around the deadlift and the pull up which are both internally-rotated movement patterns at the shoulders. 

In order to create a full-body stability at the shoulders through the pull, the horizontal pull which is the row, much first be mastered, before introducing the more complex vertical pull variations off the pull-up bar and beyond.

The back and upper shoulder were designed to function as primary stabilizers of dynamic actions that usually take place in pushing movements. This mean that these patterns can be trained hard, and under high intensities. Mastering the pull from a stable core and posterior hip unit will help develop the strong backside that can support functional movement and that is why this pattern must be a priority

Upper Body Pulling Pattern Progressions

This pattern must first be introduced and perfected from a full-body stability- based postion, which is achieved in the inverted row.  From this position the body is challenged to generate tension and create isometric stability through the legs, hips, pelvis and spine while the upper body works to generate the dynamic force in the pulling motion. Remember you are only as strong as what you can actively stabilize. That is why prioritizing this pattern gets results. 

The functional progression of the movement patterns in the horizontal pulling plane are as follows. This progression is based off of postural and static requirements of the body during the active rowing motion. From having the spine totally stabilized in the chest supported row all the way to needing to actively stabilizing the hip hinge pattern through the body during the bent over row, it’s clear that the majority of the weak links are identified in the core, as opposed to the shoulders in the pulling plane.

I want to note due to the majority of the weak links being in the core you will find you may need to modified the inverted row at first. To make it easier to transition to you can bend you knee at 90 degrees to decrease angle until you get strong enough to increase the angle by straightening the legs and then to make it more challenging increase the angle by elevating the legs.

Horizontal Pulling

Chest Supported Row

Seated Cable Row

Inverted Row

Single Arm Dumbbell Row

Barbell Bent Over Row

The vertical pull pattern needs to be de-emphasized in training sessions but not ignored.  Here are the functional progression patterns for the vertical pulling movement.

Vertical Pulling

Lat Pulldown

Assisted Pull-Up

Pull-Up

Once you mastered the vertical and horizontal pulling patterns, then you need to come up with a solid programming plan around these two planes of motion.

The Carry

We are to the final movement pattern. It’s seems moving your body from one place to another with smooth stability and control has become a lost art. The carry pattern can include loaded variations such as farmer carries this pattern is more associated with generalized locomotion of the body such as walking, running, sprinting to reactionary agility.

The gait is a simple yet powerful pattern that needs to be tapped into right to truly maximized performance while maintaining movement abilities over in a protective way. Because of the reciprocation of the lower and upper extremities during walking and running, the cores is targeted to function as it was originally designed to function and that Is because your arms and legs move at the same time to keep it simple.

This region must be challenged in terms of proximal stability with distal mobility and load when looking to progress athletic or in general performance or getting out of pain. This is why walking in addition to sprint work, loaded carries, and sled pushes/drags are foundational movements in smart programs.

But in order to reap the most benefits while minimizing risk of injuries, there must be a proper progression. We can't start out with sprints and max effort loaded carries. We first must learn to walk before we can run and that is why we are going to stick with the walking form of carry in this blog.

Carry and Locomotion Pattern Progressions

Like I said we are going to stick with basic walking pattern, which is the first part of learning the carry movement pattern. From walking on up, here’s the loaded progression of carries.

Walking

Farmer's Carry

Unilateral Farmer's Carry

Front Loaded Carry

Mixed Grip Carry

Overhead Carry

The carry pattern is primarily programed as a “core emphasized” training in many programs.  Open your mind to specific combinations of hand positions, tempos of walks and duration of time under tension, types of carries, just like you should on any of the above exercises.  As long as you keep good alignment you can challenge yourself by changing hand postion or foot postion, tempo, etc.

These are only a glimpse of the exercises preformed in the gym, but they are the ones you should start and master for your bigger lifts. Obviously, core work needs to be added and all these exercises work your core to some degree. Isolating your core is not a bad idea either. The best bet is if you are unsure take the time and hire a personal trainer to teach you the movement patterns. It will be well worth your investment even if it’s a short time.