Movements, not muscles

Train movements, not muscles. 

Or put another way, train movements, and the muscles will follow. This is another one from Dan John. I steal from the best – and like I said, nothing here is new and original. Anyway, this is something that also comes from Paul Chek, he's got some fruity ideas but this is good. The human body has a few basic movements, you can break them down many ways but I like Dan John's. 

• squat
• push
  
• pull
• hip hinge
• loaded carry
• getup

Paul Chek's is similar, but he adds lunge (which we can take as a variation of squat), bend, twist and gait (ie walk/run). How do we become more better faster stronger for everyday life and sports? How do we burn a lot of energy? It's a three-step process.

1. perform the movements correctly, eg squat with knees in line with ankles and back straight is better and harder than a squat with knees caving in and back rounded
2. when performed correctly, next perform them over a wide range of motion, eg squat below parallel is better and harder than a half-squat
3. when performed correctly over a wide range of motion, load the movement, eg barbell squat with 20kg is better and harder than a squat with no weight

So we take those movements and load them up with resistance – our own bodyweight, dumbbells, kettlebells, machines, stones, small children, whatever we have to hand.

But do we load up all of them? No. Someone like Stuart McGill or even our local physiotherapist would tell us that bending or twisting under load will be less than ideal for our backs. Gait? Loading yourself while walking or running is good if you want to join the Army, or go hiking, and it's good for certain back conditions. But for most while not harmful it's not going to be helpful for most beginners in the gym.

That leaves squat, lunge, push and pull. Squat and lunge use pretty much the same muscles, but lunge is a bit more difficult to perform well as it's one-legged. So perhaps squats for complete beginners, progressing to lunges later on, depends on the person's capabilities and goals. Anyway, so we add resistance to the movements squat/lunge, pull and push.

By training movements not muscles, we actually end up training all the muscles. The squat/lunge works quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteals (front and back thighs, arse), the pull works the upper back, biceps and forearms, and the push works the chest, shoulders and triceps. 

And the "core"? What is the "core"? Your postural muscles. Their job? Help you stand up straight. Do you think that if you could stand up straight with 40kg on your back you would have stronger postural muscles than if you couldn't? As my old PT teacher Ian Martin said, every exercise can be, is and should be a "core" exercise. Do all three movements with good posture and bracing, and you will work your abdominals and lower back muscles, too. 

That's your whole body in three movements. Strengthening the legs with the squat/lunge turns out to strengthen your gait, too, while good posture and bracing under load ends up strengthening your bending and twisting. So all 7 movements get stronger. 

Why not train all the muscles with isolation movements? Time and health. If you wanted to work your pectoralis major, anterior deltoid and triceps, you could do dumbbell flyes, dumbbell front raises and tricep kickbacks – or you could just do a bench press. You'd need a bit more rest after sets of bench press compared to the others, but still it'd only take half as long. But maybe you'd like to live in the gym, I don't know. If you do spend all your time on isolation movements, what you find is that because you're working each muscle to its individual maximum, your weak muscles get stronger, but your strong muscles get stronger, too – so the injury-causing imbalances remain.

As I've said before, many aches and pains and injuries come about from muscle imbalances, from one side being stronger than the other. Correct movement in squats, lunges, pushes and pulls will balance the muscles out. Remember that physical training can change how you look, feel and perform. With stronger and more balanced muscles and better posture your looks improve, as do your health and performance. 

For example, your gluteals and hamstrings may be weak from sitting on them all the time, and your quadriceps relatively strong. When you squat, in the top part of the movement it's mostly quadriceps, at the bottom it's mostly gluteals and hamstrings. This is why so many people half-squat, they get halfway down and realise if they keep going it'll be hard to get up. But having weak gluteals and hamstrings means more work for the lower back day-to-day, thus pain and general misery. By squatting correctly, you will strengthen your gluteals and hamstrings, bring the muscles into balance and support your back, have a nicer bum, and feel much better.

Possibly not a beginner exercise

As strength & conditioning coach Markos puts it, in every session we need to do a deep knee-bend, put something heavy overhead and pick something something heavy up off the ground. This does not necessarily mean the powerlifting trio of squat, bench press and deadlift. But if in your day-to-day life you do those seven basic movements - and everyone does unless they've let themselves get weak - then you need to have them strong, which means squatting, lunging, pushing and pulling in the gym. That's what people do in sessions with me, and it works.