It's common to complicate exercise with new and complex protocols claiming to provide fast results. However, the basics of exercise are often overlooked. Mastering the six functional movement patterns is crucial for improving everyday function and reducing the risk of injury.

What Are The Functional Movement Patterns?

The functional movement patterns are the foundation of exercise, as they compose all our daily movements. They include the squat, lunge, hinge, core, push, and pull. These movements are essential for developing new neural pathways that become more efficient with practice.

Each movement pattern plays a significant role in everyday life and training them regularly can improve your ability to perform daily tasks.

The Foundation Of Exercise

Utilising the fundamental movement patterns is very important within a training regime.  Each time your body coordinates the muscles to perform one of these movement patterns, you’re in the process of developing new neural pathways. The more you perform the movements, the more ingrained and efficient the pathways become, and the more benefits you receive from them.

SQUAT - The squat is a fundamental movement pattern that involves flexing the hips and knees together, which lowers the center of gravity. This movement engages several key muscle groups, including the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, adductors, and core. By training the squat, you can improve your overall strength and mobility, as well as your ability to perform everyday tasks like getting up from a seated position with greater ease and stability.

HINGE - The hip hinge is another important movement pattern for the lower body. It involves flexing at the hip joint while maintaining a rigid position at the knees, which activates the glutes, hamstrings, and core muscles. One of the most effective exercises for training this movement is the deadlift. Beyond the gym, the hip hinge is a movement you use in everyday life whenever you need to bend over and pick something up from the ground. Developing good hip hinge mechanics can help you move more safely and efficiently both in and out of the gym.

LUNGE - The lunge is a crucial lower-body movement pattern that complements the squat and hinge movements by requiring active stabilization of both the core and the extended leg. During a lunge, you step forward or backward, lowering your body by flexing both the front and back knee, engaging muscles such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and core. This exercise helps to improve your balance, coordination, and mobility. Additionally, the lunge is a movement you use in your daily life when you climb stairs or hike up a mountain. Incorporating lunges into your workout routine can help you build strength and endurance for both fitness and everyday activities.

CORE - Engaging your core is the fourth and final movement pattern that is essential for a well-rounded exercise routine. The core is a complex system of muscles that spans the torso (the area below the arms and above the legs). Its main function is to stabilize the spine during both static and dynamic movements, helping you maintain good posture and prevent injury. Your core muscles play a key role in many daily activities, from lifting heavy objects during yard work or moving to simply maintaining your balance while walking or standing. By training your core, you can improve your overall stability and functional strength, which can translate to better performance in both athletic and everyday pursuits.

PUSH - The push is a fundamental upper body movement pattern that involves pushing a load away from your body or pushing your own body weight away from a surface. This movement activates key muscle groups such as the triceps, shoulders, and chest. Pushing movements are important for building upper body strength and power, and they can be performed using a variety of exercises, such as push-ups, bench presses, and overhead presses. Additionally, pushing movements are a common part of daily life, whether it's pushing open a heavy door or pushing yourself up from a lying position to a standing position. By including push exercises in your workout routine, you can improve your upper body strength and functional ability in everyday activities.

PULL - The pull is another essential upper body movement pattern that involves pulling a load toward your body or pulling your own body weight toward a surface. This movement targets important muscle groups such as the upper back and biceps. Pulling exercises are vital for building upper body strength and muscle balance, and they can be performed using various equipment and techniques, such as pull-ups, rows, and curls. Moreover, the pull pattern is a common movement used in everyday activities, like picking up a heavy bag of groceries or pulling a trash bag out of a can. By incorporating pull exercises into your training routine, you can improve your upper body strength and functional ability, enabling you to perform daily tasks with greater ease and efficiency.

Using The Movement Patterns In Training

To use these movement patterns effectively, it's important to perform them repeatedly. Resistance training, such as weightlifting, is the best way to do this for all patterns except cyclical patterns. Rather than focusing on specific exercises, think in terms of patterns and create workouts based on the six movement patterns, filling in an exercise for each one. By focusing on the basics and mastering the functional movement patterns, you can improve your overall fitness and reduce your risk of injury.

Instead of the traditional exercise-based approach, it can be beneficial to think in patterns. These movements are the basis of many workouts with exercises selected in consideration of the movement they target.