One thing that has helped me understand that doing the classic exercises repeatedly is the seven functional movements. In the fitness industry, the recommendation is to build your strength and muscle with compound movements. These compound movements include the squat, the bench, the deadlift, pull ups etc. When I first started lifting, I did these exercises because I knew that they were the bread and butter . However, I didn’t understand the full extent of why these movements were so important until two years ago. We all know why we go to the gym, but why do we do what we do?
The Seven Functional Movements
There are seven basic functional movements that your bodies perform on daily basis in everyday activities. These movements target all the muscle groups and optimises your bodies to be at its best. If you want to build a balanced body and want to build muscle, this is for you. Everything that you do in the gym mimics the same movement patterns that we do in everyday life. Once you understand these functional movements, you can get creative and build a training plan for yourself.
The Pull
The Pull is one of the seven basic functional movements that the body performs on a daily basis. For example, when you pull something towards you or pull yourself towards something counts as the Pull. This is why the pull up will always be the classic sign of total bodyweight strength because it is not that easy for most people to pull their own bodyweight.
The Pull movement can be broken down into two parts. The first is horizontal pulling such as any type of row i.e. dumbbell row, pendlay rows etc. The second is vertical pulling such as pull ups and pull downs. Both types of pulls target the same muscles in the back (traps, lats, rear delts, rhomboids), as well as, biceps and forearms. It’s the grip that changes what muscles are targeted.
An underhand grip will target more biceps and the middle of your back. An overhead grip doesn’t require the biceps for assistance and will feel harder. That’s why chin ups are relatively easier than pull ups.
The Push
The Push is one of the seven functional movements that the body performs on a daily basis and can be broken down into two parts. The first is horizontal pushing such as push ups, bench press, floor press; and the second is vertical pushing such as shoulder press, overhead press. Horizontal pushing targets the chest and triceps while vertical pushing targets the shoulders and triceps.
Both types of pushing require strong shoulders for stability and strength. If you don’t have strong shoulders, I suggest training shoulders twice a week on your push days to help build them up more.
The Squat
The Squat is one of the seven functional movements that is used by everyone, from a baby to an elderly person. You perform the squat movement on a daily basis through sitting. It is the only movement that strengthens the entire lower body including the quads, hamstrings, glutes and hip flexors. These include exercises such as goblet squat, back squat, front squat, overhead squats.
If you want to grow your glutes more, the best exercises fall under the The Lunge and The Hinge movement patterns.
Functional Movement In The Lunge
The Lunge is one of the seven functional movements that the body performs on a daily basis. They work your entire leg and target your leg muscles from a variety of angles as you move from one direction to another. These include exercises such as step ups, lunges, and Bulgarian split squats.
They aren’t a main lift and can take a back seat in most programming. If you are aiming to build lower body strength, you need to be doing unilateral (single-leg movements) frequently. It’s a reactive action that you do anytime that you move.
One of the reasons most people stay clear of them is because of balance and lack of strength on one side. The goal is to build your confidence in this movement so you can start strengthening your legs and glutes.
The Hip Hinge
The Hip Hinge is one of the seven functional movements that the body performs on a daily basis. It is also one of the most effective ways of building lower body strength. It is a staple in deadlifts and any activity that has explosive movements like lifting and sprinting. These include deadlifts, hip thrusts, glute bridges, kettlebell swings etc.
One of the most common mistakes for a lot of people is learning how to move their hips without flexing their lower back and causing a lower back injury. Once you have mastered this, you can reduce or prevent lower back pain, tightness, and flare ups.
The Rotation
For the rotation, these include movements such as twisting your core, turning to talk to someone behind you or lunging to throw a ball. These are common examples for the rotation, yet it is a movement pattern that most people forget to train in the gym.
This can be broken down into two part: the rotational and the anti-rotational. The rotational which includes exercises that allow the body to rotate (plank pull throughs) while the anti-rotational is resisting the rotation (the pallof press).
If you want to build a strong core, make sure that you are adding movements that target both the rotational and the anti-rotational.
The Gait As A Functional Movement
This is the most functional and practical movement out of them all. We all do this unconsciously and that is walking. The Gait helps improves our body posture and core engagement through walking, farmer walks/carries, jogging, sprinting or doing sled pushes.
When you carry a box or a child on one side of your body, the weight doesn’t bring down because the core on the opposite side of your body is resisting it. Training the gait improves stability and strength in every day life.
These exercises include overhead carry, one-sided farmers walk and double-sided farmers walk.
So now you know every movement pattern that should be included in your training programme to build a balanced and efficient body. It makes more sense knowing why you what you do in the gym opposed to just training without intention. If you enjoyed this post and want a break down of all the movements, let me know in the comments. Don’t forget to subscribe and join the blog squad for more powerlifting, health & wellness and style.
Until next time,
Folakemi
