When you first learned about math, were you surprised by how often you see it in real life? Math has always been a key component of almost everything; time, prices, travel, regardless of how well you understand it. Understanding the “noble” functions of math- addition, multiplication, and division- makes life much easier; movement is the same!
Exercises benefit everyday life by mimicking how humans are designed to function to both strength and mobility within these patterns. Think all the ways your body functions while climbing the stairs, shopping, and doing laundry. Virtually every exercise is based on one of the main patterns of human movement. The four fundament functions are squat, hinge, push, and pull. Think of mastering these as learning the basics of math. It can also be argued that lunging, rotating, and carrying are also movement essentials, especially when considering the transferability of workouts to life. To continue the analogy, these could be square roots, exponents, or averages. “Functional training” has recently become a popular style of training, but really, all competent forms of training are functional to some capacity. Buddhism emphasizes the concept that all things are interdependent. This is true for these movements, as no muscle acts alone and each movement has overlap with the others. Additionally, many individual muscles work for more than one movement, several exercise variations and within many areas of life. Therefore, improving the strength, mobility, and stability of these will improve your function in everyday activities and lay the foundation for continuing to progress your fitness! To best explain the function of the movements, below are descriptions, the muscles involved, and examples of exercises and daily applications for each.
Squat:
- This is probably the most natural movement and is most apparent in everyday tasks. Think of sitting back into a chair, bending at the knees and hips to lower into a seated position. Aim to bend the knees to almost a 90-degree angle, then extend (straighten) hips and knees to lift to a standing position.
- Quadriceps (thighs), glutes (buns)
- Hamstrings (back of the thighs), core, hip adductors (sides of your hips)
- Goblet squat, back squat, leg press, split squat
- Enhance core and knee stability as well as ankle mobility
- climbing stairs, getting out of a car
Hinge:
- Hips work like a door hinge. This movement involves a straight back, while the hips move backward and the chest leans forward until the hamstrings are stretched. Then contract the same muscles to return to a standing position.
- Gluteus maximus (buns) and hamstrings (back of the thighs)
- Lower back, latissimus dorsi (sides of your back)
- Deadlift, kettlebell swing
- Lifting a laundry basket, loading your car, picking up a child
Pull
- Using your upper body to pull toward your body or your body toward something, vertically or horizontally. Bending at the elbows and shoulders, and squeezing shoulder blades together.
- Latissimus dorsi, rhombus (both are the major muscles of the back)
- Exercises:Horizontal: bent over row, seated row, single arm row
- Vertical: lat pulldown, pullup,
- Applications: opening doors, pulling yourself up to a counter, and improving posture
- Push: Use the upper body to vertically or horizontally push away from your body, or push your body away, extending at the elbow and shoulder joints. Shoulder blades ideally stay flat against your back, not flaring out.
- Chest, shoulders, tricep, core, and forearm
- Chest: push up, bench press, pec fly, dips
- Shoulders: overhead press, Arnold press, lateral raise
- Opening doors, loading the overhead compartment, and shoving
Others
- Lunge: Stepping one foot to the front into a split stance, bend at the knees and hips to lower body, while keeping torso mostly upright. Gluteals, quadriceps, hamstrings
- Walking lunge, reverse lunge, side lunge
- Taking a knee to propose, gardening, tying your shoelaces
Rotate/Anti-rotate:
- Twist at the waist to face shoulders and upper body in different directions, while keeping hips stable or vice versa.
- Core/ abdominals- not just the “six pack” but the entire torso
- Bird dogs, pallof press, russian twist, woodchops
- Chopping wood, twisting to reach the backseat of your car. swinging a baseball bat,
Locomotion:
- This rivals the squat for the most evident in daily life. It includes all motions that mimic walking gait and is basically any way to get from point A to point B.
- Exercises: farmers carry, suitcase carry, walking/running/jumping
- Application: walking, running, climbing stairs, carrying groceries, moving furniture, pulling a wagon
