Throughout the day you move a lot. Doesn't matter who you are, you move even if you hate exercise. Which doesn't make sense to me. 🙂
These are 5 Primary Movements that you perform as your move throughout your day.
1. Pushing
Pushing can occur in four different directions. This includes;
- Forward – A fitness exercise would be a push-up for instance. Regular everyday activity would be pushing a door open.
- Overhead – An overhead shoulder press is an excellent example. Putting an item on shelf.
- Lateral – Lifting a torso when lying on your side or pushing open double-sliding doors.
- Downward – Performing dips pushing yourself up or getting out of a chair or swimming pool.
2. Pulling
Pulling exercises include the classic pull-up or a bent-over row. Pulling can also be when you are picking something up off the floor or just opening a door.
3. Bend-and-Lift (Squat)
Bend-and-Lift is best described as squatting, since that is what it is. A squat is performed many times throughout the day as you sit down, stand-up, or squat to lift something off the floor.
4. Single-Leg (Lunge)
Single-leg movements are essentially a lunge. This is an important movement for properly walking. If you couldn't balance and lunge slightly walking would be difficult. A lunge movement is also performed when a person steps forward and will reach down to pick-up something off the floor.
5. Rotational (Spiral)
Rotation occurs throughout the day as you move. This could be the rotation of the thoracic spine when walking. It can also occur when you reach across the body to pick-up something and move it to the other side.
5 Primary Fitness Movements
These 5 primary movements are important to think about if you perform any type of fitness activity or are designing a program for yourself.
Most squatting, pushing, and pulling exercises can be done unilaterally or bilaterally. This means you can train one-side of the body or the other. Many movements and exercises incorporate several of these primary movements. Squatting, pushing, and pulling have some element of a rotational movement and stability in exercises. For instance picking something up off the floor is a pulling motion, a bend-and-lift (squat), and perhaps a slightly rotational movement to get that hard to reach pen. Movements are often dynamic.
It is important to get all of theses movements in a fitness program to develop proper mobility and stability in your kinetic chain. Proper range of motion (ROM) should always be performed while doing any of the 5 major fitness movements. In addition to maintaining a good center of gravity (COG). This will yield the best results and reduce the risk of injury.
Do you find yourself performing one of these actions a lot more throughout your day? Why is that? Perhaps think about what could you do to train the other movements more?
