Walking, carrying groceries, pushing a cart, stepping over objects, sitting down for dinner, bending down to ties your shoes—these are some of the basic ways our bodies move every single day. Being able to perform these movements easily as we age is truly worth prioritizing.
Yet, not everyone consistently practices these basics anymore.
Somewhere in the world, there’s a person who has probably sprained their back trying to bend down to pick up something. Somebody else has started relying on a walking stick after a fall, losing confidence to move independently.
As fundamental as these movements seem, following an intentional exercise practice is the only way you get to build strength and keep these skills sharp.
Someday when you need to push your wandering washing machine back in its place, you will thank yourself for learning these fundamental movements.
The Core Categories
Exercises designed around fundamental movement patterns usually fall into these categories:
- Locomotion: Walking, running, or carrying loads-like hauling shopping bags home.
- Squat: Lowering and rising, as in standing from a chair (or that public-toilet hover).
- Lunge: Single-leg squat for stepping over obstacles.
- Hip hinge: Bending at the hips to grab your bag off the floor.
- Push: Pressing away, like shutting a heavy door.
- Pull: Drawing toward you, such as tugging a stuck drawer.
- Rotation and anti-rotation: Twisting safely or bracing against turns.
This list might vary depending on who you ask, but these movements are considered foundational because your body uses them daily.
There’s plenty written about these basic patterns, so I won’t repeat it all here. I may explore each in more detail in future posts.
Skills Before Strength
If your movement practice feels cluttered, or you don’t know where to start, focus on skill building first—and on fundamental movements specifically.
Learning these patterns isn’t about mechanically bobbing up and down. It’s about cultivating proper form and awareness of what works best for you.
Learning to properly hinge at the hip is more important than aiming to beat a record for how much weight you can load on to your deadlift (a type of hip hinge exercise).
For example, one client couldn’t do a regular bodyweight squat with knees hip-width apart and feet forward. Through trial and error, she found a squat form that works for her. She focused on perfecting form without weights first and then gradually added load.
Eventually, adding external weights to these movements is important to build strength and mirror everyday life tasks.
One way to develop an essential movement practice is to learn and practice these fundamental human movements. The principles you master here transfer across many disciplines.