Part One: Lower body Emphasis
Our bodies follow certain movement patterns during each and every activity we do throughout the day. These movement patterns are best known as our six foundational movement patterns. It is important that we train following these patterns to help prevent injuries from happening, and possibly chronic pain from developing. Not only can we mitigate the risk of injury by training in these patterns with loads of weight added, but we also get all of the other reaping benefits of resistance training(stress/anxiety reduction, fat loss, higher cardiovascular threshold, etc.). Training these patterns with added loads will also make following these patterns during daily activities much easier.
The first movement pattern to cover is the squat. This pattern is a knee-dominant movement. The easiest thing to think of when it comes to the squat pattern is sitting and standing. Most humans (special needs/paraplegic aside) sit and stand throughout every day. So why not get really strong doing that? A very simple way to start adding some resistance to this pattern is a kettlebell goblet box squat. This will light up your core. Linking everything together from the shoulders down to your hips, creating pillar stability so you can safely load this variation with some heavyweight ensuring that we are getting stronger and more resilient within this movement pattern.
The second movement pattern to go over is the hinge. Unlike the squat, this is a posterior chain and hip accentuated movement pattern. An easy daily activity to compare this to would be bending over to pick something up off of the ground. The best way to load this for strength development would be any deadlift variation that you can control, and own that specific variation’s range of motion. Some variations may include the following; trap bar deadlift, kettlebell deadlift, Romanian deadlift, and barbell deadlifts. All of these variations can be modified for different populations (I.E. place weights on an elevated surface). Proper breathing and bracing techniques are key here to keep the spine as neutral as possible to safely execute this movement pattern.
The third and last lower body movement pattern to discuss is the lunge (unilateral/single-leg exercises). This can simply be pictured as any single-leg exercise. Our daily lives require us to be on one leg quite often. One of the first things that come to mind for me is walking up and down stairs. That requires adequate amounts of leg strength to be able to drive yourself upstairs on one leg. It also demands the ability to absorb forces properly coming downstairs. This is a big reason why we want to train on one leg. These exercises consist of split squats, lunges, and step-ups. These exercises have many different variations so it is easy to plug and play with any population. There are single-leg machines that you can use as well. This would require a commercial gym membership though.
Our bodies follow certain movement patterns during each and every activity we do throughout the day. It is important that we get extremely efficient at moving within these patterns. “Movement quality is the foundation that all training effects depend on”(6 FOUNDATIONAL MOVEMENTS EVERY PERSON ON EARTH NEEDS TO MASTER). Not only do we need to move efficiently, but we need to be strong and resilient as well. The best way to bulletproof your body from pain and injuries is to keep joints stable, bones dense, and muscles, ligaments, and tendons strong. Learning how to perform these movement patterns correctly with added resistance will keep you moving pain-free! When following these practices you will notice the daily activities that require you to use these movement patterns will become much easier. Not to mention, being able to enjoy living a long, happy, pain-free life!
Written by: Josh Molli
References:
6 FOUNDATIONAL MOVEMENTS EVERY PERSON ON EARTH NEEDS TO MASTER By Dr. John Rusin
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