The Movements That Matter

I had a semi-dark period in my training history:

When I got to college and was left on my own (as far as training).

I did what I wanted, and what I wanted was a big bench and lots of "arms." There was a period when I was benching 5 days per week.

Squatting? Nope. I neglected it for a little bit. On a whim I did a 5×5 workout at 275 one day and was sore for a week. I deserved it.

I eventually got back into serious Olympic weightlifting, even if that meant just a lot of squatting and doing pulls in the commercial school gym. But what else is there? Even just lifting for a long time can leave you missing…something.

But what is that something? Is it a bunch of fancy assistance exercises on a bosu ball? Or is there a list of principles that can apply to any trainee?

I think people get so confused with training because there are so many training programs out there. When you're starting or browsing for what to follow, it helps to know what to turn to when you want to start filling in the gaps.

Luckily, there are principles that we can apply.

Original Strength and Basic Movement Patterns.

The Base of the Pyramid

I got the Original Strength book way back in the mid 2010s. It was eye opening.

I learned that all babies start out with the same exact movement patterns without being taught how to do them.

• Deep breathing with the diaphragm (not stress breathing with the shoulders)

• Head control

• Rolling over

• Rocking

• Gait pattern, which for babies is crawling

All babies do this to fight gravity and be able to play like the big kids. It forms a strong strength foundation, which you can discover for yourself if you ever get on the ground and try to crawl for 10 minutes straight.

The fact is this: when we were kids this was the foundation of our strength. If we stray too far away from this foundation as adults, the "top of the pyramid" (aka the workout stuff we want to do) won't be as secure.

This is probably the reason that high school kids or "hybrid" strength athletes like football players, sprinters, throwers, etc seem to be so strong in the weight room without even trying or having that be their main focus.

What's the next level up the pyramid?

Basic movement patterns.

If you're confused, a movement pattern is something that a human can do.

• Squat

• Push

• Pull

• Hinge (pick something up)

• Carry (or gait pattern again)

Humans do this either with other stuff (objects around you) or their own bodies. We all have to pick stuff up, push ourselves off the ground, pull yourself up (maybe), and squat down. If you're not doing those things, just know that your body is designed to do them. You may not need to climb trees, but your body can.

This doesn't include every single exercise you could do, but it covers a pretty big base.

There are two programs that come to mind: Convict Conditioning (for bodyweight) and Starting Strength (for the barbell).

The programs don't have a ton of exercises, but the idea is that since those movement patterns cover a huge range of muscle mass in the body, you'd be well off to start there. In fact, most people should start there because most people are just your average Joe or Jane. They don't want 13 different bicep curl variations, and too many options just leaves you confused.

Looking back at my college-aged self, I realized that despite starting to specialize in Olympic lifting, my environment kept me well rounded. I had to walk everywhere around campus, my friends and I would do tons of pull-ups in every workout, we'd play pickup basketball a few days per week, we'd play intramural sports, etc.

For yourself, think back to when you were on the playground every day or had P.E. or wanted to be outside with your friends. That wasn't just play. It was keeping you strong with the strength you first developed.

Sadly, we then go sedentary, but then try to jump straight to the top of the pyramid. Keep a close watch on your base. The wider the base, the better you can do what you want to do. There's no reason to jump headfirst into something like sprinting or CrossFit or even your old workouts from your 20s. If something feels off, you have some work to do.

So let's do that work.

What Do I Pick?

If you're super confused with all of the conflicting information out there in the fitness world, I got you.

There are 1 million and 1 exercises out there, but there are a few that you should keep in your routine at all times.

Original Strength

I'm going to try to break all of the principles in Original Strength as much as I can. Remember, this is where you started, so it should take some special attention

• Deep breathing with your diaphragm, is the way you're supposed to breathe. It helps you relax (much needed today) but also teaches you how to breathe properly when working out. You just keep your tongue on the top of your mouth, keep your mouth shut and breathe deep into your belly using only your nose. This is a more natural way to train your body to use your nose all of the time instead of trying to rely on mouth tape. Plus if you do engage in harder workouts, even if your mouth has to pop open to breathe, your body will be used to going back to your nose again as you're recovering. Not bad for a few minutes per day.

• Head nodding is a wonderful way to start restoring your posture. Think of people with bad posture or what "aging" typically looks like: someone that can't move their head as well. You just look up and down or side to side, leading with your eyes. You can do these standing up, sitting down, or lying down on your back or belly. This will start getting your neck and upper back some much needed motion if you spend all day staring at screens. Not only that, but the start of your vestibular system (balance/coordination) starts in your head. When you start engaging in this again, your entire body starts to get good information like it used to have when you were a little kid.

• Rolling was the start of our gait pattern. I say that because some babies actually use this to go from one place to the other before they can walk. Rotation is a lost art these days, and this is a great and gentle way to get your spine moving the way it's supposed to. Not only is it good for basic mobility, but if you ever watch someone walk, or especially sprint, you'll see that their torso isn't completely straight. It twists a bit and the limbs help the body resist twisting too much. So if your basic gait pattern relies so much on twisting, then you better make sure your twisting is up to par. All you have to do is lie on the ground and roll yourself over with just one limb at a time (without cheating).

• Rocking comes next. Babies get into this position as they're trying to figure out how to make the next step of crawling. This works both your hips and your shoulders. It's a gateway to pushups and squatting. What's funny is that pushups are hard for kids, but rocking and crawling are easy. This is the way you get strong in the first place. As a bonus, as with the other things it relaxes you as well. Just think about sitting in a rocking chair or rocking a baby back and forth to soothe them to sleep. (Don't worry, you can still use this as a warmup without you falling asleep.)

• Crawling. This is the final stage for a baby before they start to walk. Really, you can include in this step anything from the gait pattern. We're finally able to go where we want to go. If you walking isn't looking too good, then there's no reason to get up and start jogging. If your jog doesn't look good, what would your sprinting look like? The baseline to all of this is the crawl. It teaches your limbs to work opposite arm/opposite leg (which is how you should be walking), and you can't cheat it like you would if you were walking while scrolling on your phone. A few regressions for the crawl if you need them are dead bugs and bird dogs. See what feels like it needs work and work on it.

"So why Original Strength? I already feel good and just want to go workout."

This is the foundation whether you like it or not. If you're a strapping young person, you may not feel like you need it because you're closer to your OS than someone 20 years older than you. Eventually, just sticking with only one training modality could leave your original blueprint feeling fuzzy and dusty. Keep it un-dusty. If all you did was work on this stuff for 10 minutes every few days, it could be eye opening, like seeing if you can crawl for 10 minutes like a baby without stopping.

It's not something to tire you out. It's something to restore you.

Strength After OS

Now we're on to basic strength training. Again, the basic movements humans can do naturally are small.

• Push - pushups, dips, bench, overhead press, handstand pushups

• Pull - chin-up, pull-up, rows

• Hinge - picking stuff up off the floor - deadlift, power clean, power snatch, RDLs

• Squat - back squat, front squat, overhead squat, pistol squat

• Carry - rucking, walking, crawling, farmers carries

Again, for most people, the "programming" should be as simple as possible.

• For the barbell, add weight when possible (this will vary from beginner to advanced so the increase could be each session or even monthly)

• For bodyweight, add reps or a harder progression.

That's it.

As far as organizing stuff, it really just depends on your goals.

If you're lost and choose the barbell, you should probably just stick with something like Starting Strength or StrongLifts 5×5. There will be a lot of squatting, but your legs make up a lot of your body, so it will make you stronger overall.

For bodyweight, pick something like Convict Conditioning, or even ATG since that is geared more towards athleticism (There are a lot of non-major lift exercises in there, but they help you not fall apart. You can even simplify it further.)

Beyond that, do your own research and find a program that you agree with, but without getting too complicated.

Give Your Body What It Already Does

Simplicity always wins.

People want flashy and new because we get bored plus there are so many options out there.

The hard part in training isn't the selection, it's sticking with something so basic for as long as it takes to see results.

These work for most people, because as with any domain, most people are "beginners." I just mean that most people can stick with the basics for a long time and still get 80% of the results as an advanced trainee. If that's the case, then people don't need 5 different pushing variations. This is especially true if you're an adult short on time and want the biggest bang for your buck.

These are the movements that your body is designed to do, so just go do those movements.

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