The Eight Movement Patterns and Filling Gaps with Isolation Exercises

Nick's eight patterns are jumping and landing, throwing and striking, locomotion, rotation, pushing, pulling, hip hinging and knee bending. The first four are the main athletic movements behind most sports, and the last four are the main lifting movements. Pushing and pulling are split into horizontal and vertical or diagonal versions, and hinges and knee bends can be done on one or two legs. Patterns can be dropped when an injury rules them out. Squats and lunges sit together under knee bending so that no single lift becomes the standard, since hip anatomy varies and not everyone suits a deep barbell squat. Each week he covers every lifting pattern, picking from a menu of top compound movements. Step two fills gaps with isolation and core work. A dumbbell curl loads only part of elbow flexion, and a deadlift loads the hamstrings and glutes mainly in lengthened positions, so he adds exercises such as hip bridges, hip thrusts or leg curls that load the shortened range. He offers free downloadable exercise charts.