Hello my friends, especially those of you who are new to exercise! This post is about giving you a reference of what kind of movements to start with, and why they are important. “Functional movements” are movements that are common in our daily lives. As a trainer, even if my clients have a specific goal, I try to make sure to hit all the following movement patterns.
1. Squats
Squats are super popular right now because they help grow the booty(psst…so do some hinge movements, but we’ll get there in a second). Squats are also just great, in general. Though they may target the muscles mentioned below, to do a squat correctly, you use most of the muscles in your body.
Examples of Functional Movements: Sitting down and standing up, you basically squat before you jump, when you pop a squat to look at a bug on the floor, and lifting objects off the floor.
General Muscles Targeted: erector spinae (lower back), gluteus maximus, hamstrings and quadriceps
2. Hinge
Knowing how to hinge and being able to do so correctly, is important for protecting your back. The most well known hinge exercise is a deadlift, but there are other options. Hip hinges engage the muscles of your posterior region, which is why they help grow the booty. Hinges and squats may work similar muscles, but they are equally important.
Examples of Functional Movements: Bending over (you do this a lot) and lifting objects off the floor.
General Muscles Targeted: gluteus maximus, quadriceps, adductor magnus (inner thigh), hamstrings, lower back and erector spinae
3. Lunging
Lunging is great because it requires stability and the shifting of weight. Walking is a small form of lunging. You can also lunge in any direction.
Examples of Functional Movements: walking, stepping over something, taking a step to throw a ball
General Muscles Targeted: gluteus maximus, quadriceps, adductor magnus (inner thigh), hamstrings, lower back and erector spinae
4. Pushing
We push in 3 ways. Vertically: You are standing, have a can in your hand and push it up to the sky. You are also pushing vertically when yourself down to get out of a pool. Horizontal: You are on your back, have a can in your hand and push up to the sky(perpendicular to your torso). Last is the mixture of both. We push in many angles.
Examples of Functional Movements: Pushing an object onto a tall cabinet, pushing open doors, pushing yourself off the floor to stand up, pushing a kid on a swing
General Muscles Targeted: chest, triceps, quadriceps(pushing with legs), lateral and medial deltoids(shoulders)
5. Pulling movements
Pulling is another common movement we do. We pull children up when they “noodle” to the floor. Learning to pull properly with help protect your arms, shoulders, and back from such a dangerous activity. Noodly children are a dangerous trap. Pulling is just like pushing where there are two main directions in which we pull.
Examples of Functional Movements: (Besides pulling up noodley children) starting up a lawnmower, pulling down branches to get a piece of fruit, pulling on and off a wetsuit(this is so freakin hard!
General Muscles Targeted: back, biceps, rear deltoids,trapezius muscles, forearms, hamstrings(pulling with legs)
6. Rotational (twist)
You do the twist all the time! You twist when you reach for the cup on your far left with your right hand. You rotate your neck when someone behind you calls your name. When it comes to rotation, we want to be practice 2 things. We want to be able to rotate safely with a good range of motion, and we want to keep our bodies from rotating when we don’t want it to rotate. Control that twist!
Examples of Functional Movements: (Besides pulling up noodly children) starting up a lawnmower, pulling down branches to get a piece of fruit, pulling on and off a wetsuit(this is so freakin hard!)
General Muscles Targeted: rectus abdominus (abs), transverse abdominus (deep abs), and obliques(side abs)
7. Gait into Loaded Carry
This may sound silly to you, but how we carry ourselves when we move, our gait, is really important to pay attention to. How we carry our bodies through space is the combination of all the other movement patterns. If there is something wrong with your gait, you will have problems when you “carry a load”. If one side of your back is messed up while you walk, guess how more messed up your back will be when you are carrying groceries in that arm.
Examples of Functional Movements: walking, jogging, jumping around
General Muscles Targeted: not “targeted,” but your whole body is involved
That’s it for now, friends. I’m going to make a part 2, which will be a beginners workout using these movement patterns. Until then, here are some books great for beginners that you can find on Amazon! All three books break down exercises really well, and give a lot of info about working out. My favorite is the “New Rules” book in the middle, but I’m biased because my best friend gave me that book.
