The fundamental human movements are often done in regular daily activities, but also can be used to structure an effective workout program. Whether you’re creating your own or getting one from a personal trainer, the following movements are staples and should be included in a successful workout plan.
The Fundamental Human Movement Patterns
Incorporating exercises based on the fundamental human movement patterns is a great way to not only set yourself up for success in progressing your strength, but it also aids in smoother daily activities. This is a sure fire way to have an effective workout, stay safe, and benefit other areas of your life simply from a quick regular workout.
These are the fundamental human movements: hinge, bend the knee, single-leg movements, push, and pull.
Fundamental Human Movement 1: The Hip Hinge
The hip-hinge is essentially pushing the hips back behind you while the back stays straight, core engages and the knees stay slightly bent. A good daily activity example is to think about shutting a door with your backside.
This movement engages the entire posterior chain (back of the body), including the legs, the glutes and the back. It can also be a precursor to other lower body movements to relieve pressure off the knee joints.
The hip hinge is important to use in things such as deadlifts, squats, and even lunges. There are some movements that are more hip-hinge heavy than others, but it is important to know and practice in the majority of lower body movements with it.
Hip hinge focused movements
Deadlift variations
A deadlift is a hip-hinge based movement that works the entire posterior (back of) the body. There are several types of deadlifts, but each variation mostly targets the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. While it may target the lower half of the body, it is considered a compound exercise because it hits many muscles at once.
Some variations of deadlifts include the traditional deadlift, Romanian deadlift, and sumo deadlift. Deadlifts of all types should be regularly incorporated into your routine. They’re a great option for the hip hinge category.
Good-morning variations
A good morning is different from the deadlift in where the load is located. The majority of the weight is on your upper back / behind the neck, a similar start to a back squat. It is primarily a hip movement, like the deadlift, but targets more of just the hamstrings because of the legs being straighter.
Fundamental Human Movement 2: Bend-the-knee
Bend-the-knee movements include squats, lunges, or machine exercises like leg curls or leg extensions. BTK movements often also begin with a hip hinge to keep the weight off the knee joints and keep the work in the muscles. There are several different bend-the-knee movements, all of which have their own set of rules. However, no matter the movement, it’s likely your quadriceps are heavily involved.
Understanding how to properly hinge your hips and bend your knees in a movement such as a squat can be a make-or-break factor in your joint health, muscle strength and daily activity abilities. It is good to incorporate these movements regularly to encourage peak joint & muscle health.
Bend-the-knee focused movements
Squat variations
The squat is one of the most fundamental human movements there is. It is primarily a bend-the-knee
exercise, though it does often begin with a slight hip hinge. The prime movers in this exercise are the quads and glutes. Though it is primarily a lower body exercise, the core should also be engaged to prevent lower back damage.
There are so many ways to squat. Some of my favorite variations are the back squat, front squat, heel-elevated squat and overhead squat.
Machine-center BTK variations
While this plan primarily covers compound movements, if you’re a part of a gym, they likely have machines with machines. There’s nothing wrong with using these- but for your top priority exercises, I would recommend some kind of squat over this.
Regardless, knee flexion and extension both involve a bent knee. Flexion is actively bending your knee, while extension is taking your knee from a bent position to a straight position. Leg press variations are also a great addition to a workout program.
Fundamental human movement 3: Single-leg movements
Single-leg movements are extremely important not only for strength but also for balance, stability, and safety. Incorporating single-leg movements allows isolation of the working side, while simultaneously challenging balance in the non-working side.
Training single-leg movements can also even out the strength in the muscles when you regularly challenge each one separately with the same load. This is great for anyone who is stronger in one limb (which is mostly everyone).
When it comes to the exercises, single-leg movements include both bend the knee and hinging movements.
Single-leg focused movements
Bend-the-knee single leg movements
While there are several lunging variations, a lunge is essentially a single-leg squat. More often than not, the lunge targets the quadriceps and glutes, just like a traditional squat.
Some lunge variations include the static lunge, walking lunge, step up, or Bulgarian split squat.
Hinge single-leg movements
There is also a way to incorporate single-leg hinge movements, which is great to even out the strength of each leg and really target the hamstrings and glutes.
Hinge single-leg movement variations include the one leg deadlift, one leg good morning, b-stance deadlift, or b-stance good morning. If you find your balance very challenged doing one leg movements, start with b-stance or assist yourself holding on to something at first.
Fundamental Human Movement 4: Pulling
Pulling is one of the two upper body based human movement patterns. When it comes to pulling, you are either pulling something towards you or pulling yourself towards something. This is considered a daily activity, imitating movements such as pulling a door open or pulling something down from a cabinet above you.
Pulling primarily works the muscles of the back, biceps and shoulders. Many times, you will hear terms such as “pack the shoulder blades” or “squeeze your shoulder blades together” as cues for pulling movements. This ensures a strong, sturdy starting point that ultimately brings the tension into the latts, shoulders, biceps- or all 3- during a pulling movement.
Also, keep in mind it’s beneficial to complement rows (or pull ups) with bicep curl variations because the biceps are targeted in pull exercises.
Pulling-focused movements
Row variations
A row is a movement where you are pulling weight towards you. There are several variations, whether it’s one arm or both, bent over, upright, from the ground, etc. Rows are super versatile and you can use several forms of resistance as well. They are a great option for the pull category.
Pull up variations
If you made it through middle school, I’m sure you’re at least a little bit familiar with what a pull up is. Though it may be easy to understand, it is definitely not an easy movement.
There are several variations of pull ups and ways to work towards being able to do a pull up. Whether you’re using a band to assist you or you can easily bust out some pull-ups- all of these exercises are bound to challenge you one way or another. Pull up variations are great to include into your workout program.
Fundamental Human Movement 5: Pushing
Pushing is the other fundamental upper body movement pattern. To give you an idea, daily
activities requiring pushing may be vacuuming, pushing a door shut, or pushing something out of
your way. Common push exercises, such as push ups, bench press, or shoulder press, work the
shoulders, chest, and triceps.
Pushing-focused movements
Push up variations
While a push up is a standard movement, there are several variations you can incorporate into your
routine. For beginners, if you can’t do a full or modified knee push up without struggling, begin on the wall. As you get better, you can move closer and closer to the ground- maybe take it to the table next, then a bench, etc.
If you’re really good at push ups, try adding a deficit. This is often done by holding dumbbells or placing your hands on two raised steps so that when you are down low in your pushup you pass your starting point.
Pressing variations
Aside from push ups, there are many other ways to incorporate pushing into your regular exercise routine. Variations of presses exist for the prime movers of pushing muscles. Essentially, you’re just pressing away from your body. Some of these movements include chest press and shoulder press variations.
Fundamental Human Movement 6 & 7: Rotation & Anti-rotation
The last of the fundamental movement patterns mentioned in this e-book has two antagonistic
categories: rotation & anti-rotation. Rotation is exactly what it sounds like- twisting the center of the body to rotate side to side. Anti-rotation is bringing an opposing force on the body that may make it want to twist, but keeping it sturdy and strong. Both of these types of exercises are beneficial for core strength, balance & performance.
While these moves are fundamental and important, I don’t want to focus too much on them as I
do the other ones mentioned above. It is good to use this category as an accessory to incorporate to the middle-end of your workouts rather than first priority. These exercises complement the above ones greatly as well.
Some anti-rotation movements include farmer carries, overhead weighted leg lifts, pall-off presses, plank & side plank variations . Some rotation moves include Russian twists, sledgehammer swings, and wood choppers.
How to create your own gym split with the fundamental movement patterns
Now that you’re familiar with the fundamental human movement patterns, let’s talk about how to incorporate them into a regular workout routine.
Firstly, a gym split is the way exercises are divided throughout your week. There are several types, such as an upper/lower split, compound/accessory split, and more. Regardless of the split you choose, the important thing is to incorporate the fundamental human movements on a regular basis. It’s also important to have a sole focus on where you want to progress each workout (read more on progressive overload here).
The goal is to do some kind of each of these movements (hinge, bend, single leg, push, pull) at a challenging level 1-2 times a week. It’s good to do 2-4 sets. Rep ranges will depend on your access to weight and equipment.
Really, you can split up your workouts however you want. This may depend on your schedule, habits,
preferences, exercise history, and so on. As mentioned earlier, if you do nothing else, prioritize getting in one of each of these movements at a challenging level once per week (2-4 sets).
I personally enjoy programming full-body days 2-3 times a week. This is not only easier to stay consistent with, but allows you to get each fundamental movement in more frequently, refining your technique several times a week.
A great approach is to begin with a specific 2 fundamental human movements at a high intensity/heavy weight. This way, you’re using most of your energy for your hardest set, getting in your fundamental movement at a challenging level, and even if the rest of the workout sucks… you’ve done the important part. You can follow this with accessory movements, cardio and ab work, etc. Here is a simple example below.
Now, you’ve got the tools you need to program your workout plan! Remember to always incorporate and prioritize the fundamental human movements, follow with accessory work, and incorporate progressive overload over time. These tips will have you reaching your goals in no time and leave you with an extremely beneficial workout regimen.
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