Functional movement is a critical part of any exercise regiment.
Every exercise performed, comes from a foundational movement pattern to keep the body in alignment to make sure you are training your body for longevity. What use is a hard crazy workout, if it is only causing damage on the only body you have?
Today we will explore these 6 functional movement patterns.
- Squat
- Hinge
- Lunge
- Plank
- Push/Pull
- Carry
The most important thing to know is not every exercise is made for every body.
This all depends on your own body’s history such as age, skill level, injury history, and your composition. IF you are performing the wrong variation of squat or lunge for instance, you could be putting your body at risk, which you may not feel in your 20s or 30s, however, in your 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond, we could have a problem with more than just aches and pains.
For two decades, I have taught women to love their bodies and exercise should make them feel joy. And I want nothing less than that for you. Remember, your thoughts create your feelings, your feeling create your actions, and your actions create your habits, and your habits create your lifestyle. When exercising, I cannot stress enough, you should be your biggest cheerleader by telling yourself positive thoughts.
Let’s get in to these movement patterns:
- Squat: The goal is to perform a squat or variation that will give you the most benefits while decreasing risk of injury. By mastering the simplest variation, you can then increase your own body’s strength to the next variation and more.
Starting with your feet Hip Distance or more apart, pressing your whole foot into the floor, sit your bottom down as if you were to sit in a chair. While your range of motion may allow you to go past your knees, please keep in mind that performing a proper squat does not always mean “ass to grass.” We want form first, then range of motion, then we can add speed, jumps and more variations to increase the level of difficulty. As you lift up back to a standing position, engaged the core, glutes, and quads to strengthen the body.
- Hinge: The purpose of this exercise is to strengthen the back, core, glutes, and hamstrings. The hinge will help you strengthen your back side, so you can reach down and pick up something that feel on the floor when you are 80, and not fall over OR have pain.
Start by standing tall, shoulders down, and back flat with your core engaged. Soften your knees, and sit your hips back slightly, bending from the hips, hinge down so your chest is parallel to the floor while keeping your back flat. As you lift back up to standing, keep your core engaged and use your hamstrings and glutes to lift you back up.
- Lunge: We LOVE to Hate Lunges, and yet, these are great for strengthening our legs and knees for longevity.
Start by standing up tall, then step your left foot behind you, bending the right knee. The knee should be behind your toes, and your back left knee when bent should be in line with your left hip, and shoulder, which creates the perfect alignment. Alternate sides. Chest up and eyes looking forward. Remember, your chest will go where your eyes are looking.
- Plank: For the sake of the next exercises, we will go over a plank. Start on all fours, making sure your wrists are under your shoulders, with your chest in the middle. Stepping your feet back, so you are in a traditional plank.
There should be a straight line from the top of your crown, through your spin, and down the back of your legs out through your heels. A modification is on your knees or on all fours. Check out the video to see how Pat walks me through this.
- Push and Pull: Starting in the plank, lower your chest to the ground by bending your elbows, letting your chest come down to the floor, almost touching. Push the floor away from you by straightening your elbows and keeping your core engaged.
For the PULL, we are going to start in that standing hinge position (see exercise #2) using a light weight, or a resistance band, pull the weight slowly up to your bellybutton and engage the core while squeezing your back. Elbows can brush up along your rib cage OR keep them wide to target different muscles in your back.
- Carry: Mommy, you need to perfect this one, especially if you just had a baby. We want to keep your back and core strong. For the carry, start by standing up nice and tall, shoulders down, bending from the knees, drop your hips down picking up the weight, then lifting with your core and leg muscles.
When you slow down and perfect your form for these foundational exercises, you will find that not only will you feel better when you exercise, you will SEE and FEEL the results faster.
As always, reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns.
