Fronting the right moves

With so many advance trends in fitness and equipment, it gets harder to know what you should include into your workout routine. While equipment and exercises have changed, movement patterns have not. There are literally thousands of exercises you can learn but really it all comes back to movement patterns. Our muscles do not know exercises, they only know movements they are supposed to do and if they are being stressed they must recruit more muscle fibers to overcome the stress. When designing a programme you must include these movement patterns to have a complete exercise program. Next time you work out, think about exercises that involve movement patterns not muscles that you are trying to work out.

Pull movements: These will involve pulling a weight towards you or pulling your body towards an object. Every time you open a door towards you, the large muscle that runs from your shoulder down to the lower back and arms are the major muscle groups recruited during this movement. A pull up is a great example of an exercise.

Push movements: Push movements involve any exercise where you push something away from you or push your body away from something. Push open a door and you are using this pattern. These exercises will mostly recruit muscles such as the chest area, arms, and many core muscles (tummy). An example of this is a standing chest press.

Bending movements: Bending over is another movement pattern to be trained. Think about how many times a day you bend over to pick something up. Most of us do this poorly and will risk hurting our backs in the process. Bending correctly involves have a slight bend in the knee and a neutral spine as you bend towards the ground to pick up a weight. This will involve posterior chain muscles such as the hamstring group like the bum and butt area. A straight leg dead lift is a great bending exercise.

Squatting movements: This movement is exactly how it sounds. Any type of squat will fall under this category. Squatting involves bending at the knees and hips to either pick up a weight from the ground or lift a weight that is on your back. This will involve all leg muscles as well as core stabilizing muscles, which are the lower back and abdominals.

Rotating movements: Rotating movements are those that twist the torso or the mid-section area of the body. They mostly will involve core muscles but are often paired with other movement patterns to recruit more muscle groups. You can either twist from front to back or vice versa. When you throw something you are using a rotating pattern. A one arm cable press with a rotation is an example of an exercise in this section.

Leg movements: It is very important to train with only one leg at a time. Every step you take you are always on one leg. If you are a running then think how often you have both feet on the ground. Working one leg at a time will also help improve muscle imbalances from one leg to the other. A step up is a great example of an exercise that works this pattern.

These movements are those that we use every day. If you want to improve your daily function you need to be training those patterns. You don’t have to abandon your old routine if you are trying to isolate certain muscle so they look better. You just need to make sure these 6 movements are involved in the process. Photo: www.healthyblackwoman.com