Summary

This conversation explores the concept of functional movement, which focuses on real-life movements and the building blocks of movement. The four basic movements of functional movement are the squat, hinge, push, and pull. Functional movement is observed in babies as they learn to stand, squat, and pull themselves up. Correct movement is essential to prevent injuries and improve strength. Once the basic movement patterns are established, progression to loaded movements can be made. Addressing asymmetries in the body is important for balanced functional movement. The key takeaway is to prioritize progress over perfection in functional movement training.

Chapters

00:00

Introduction to Functional Movement

00:55

The Four Basic Movements

03:22

Functional Movement in Babies

04:02

Examples of Functional Movement

05:15

Importance of Correct Movement

07:33

Progression to Loaded Movements

09:32

Addressing Asymmetries in the Body

10:24

Progress Over Perfection

Mike (00:01.163)

Hi, Coach Mike here from After 40 Reboot Fitness. Today's topic is functional movement. I'm gonna explain it a bit, kind of dive in, not too deep and overwhelm you, but kind of give you, skim the top and give you some ideas of what functional movement is. And I'm gonna let LM start off, so take it away.

Lisa Marie Stearns (00:25.534)

Yeah, well baseline, Mike, functional movement is a group of exercisers and patterns that focus on real life movement. They're not tailored to a specific sport or specifically building muscle or, you know, any type of movement to burn calories. They really are the building blocks of movement. And all the patterns are based off of four basic movements. And those are...

the squat, the hinge, the push, and the pull. Right, so if you think about those, I mean, you can probably come up with an example for each right off the top of your head, right? Most people know what a squat is, but why do we focus on the squat? Well, you know, aside from helping build the muscles in your legs, everybody should be able to bend down and pick something that is moderately heavy up without injuring themselves.

Lisa Marie Stearns (01:27.663)

So that's the squat, pretty basic. The hinge is a little different. The hinge is a movement that originates from your hips. And as I've explained before, when we train this, we tell people to put like a broomstick over their shoulders so they're standing up straight and their shoulders can't roll forward and their back can't dip down. And you lean over, you're hinging from your waist, you're kind of...

sticking your bum out to activate the glutes and then bringing your torso back up straight again. Now why is this important? You think how does that translate to everyday movement? Well the hinge basically is training your glutes. It's training those muscles in your bum to fire. And Mike hears me talk about this all the time but

One of my pet peeves as I watch people age is you know people's pants are hanging off the back of them. It's not because they've lost weight specifically in their bum. It's not because they've lost fat in their bum. It's because they've lost muscle. They've lost their glute muscle. If you go into a grocery store and you see people leaning over a carriage like they can't stand up straight and push the carriage they have to lean forward on it.

That's because they can't stand up straight. Their glutes cannot support their back. And that's what the hinge is training. It's so important. I was telling Mike about my great nieces, your third cousins, Mike. I have three great nieces under the age of two, and two of them just turned one, and they're just learning how to walk on their new legs. And they demonstrate all these patterns.

perfectly, you know. You were saying Mike, like every baby knows how to squat, right? Knows how to squat perfectly when they're learning how to stand up. They are training the hinge when they are standing up holding on to the crib. They're trying to stand up straight and they can't because those neuro patterns haven't happened yet. And obviously pulling themselves up in the crib, pushing themselves up from a sleeping position.

Mike (03:28.322)

Yep, perfectly.

Lisa Marie Stearns (03:50.734)

Babies demonstrate functional movement, right? So I know Mike, you like to use the example of getting up off the ground as a push. Like, what do you mean by that?

Mike (04:02.094)

Well, let's say, let's say you're an elderly person or let's even say you're a 55 year old person and you don't exercise at all and you fall down. How are you going to get up? You got to be able to push yourself up into that position, whether it's sitting. And I know you do a drill with your, with some of your martial arts, where you teach people to get off the floor without using their hands, right? Now that is a trick. And I would consider myself, um, you know, semi-athletic to athletic. And if I don't think about it, I have a hard time with it. And my kids come home from gym class.

a few years ago and like, dad, look at this thing we learned. And I just kind of chuckle, you know, they have to roll over and get up with that. I'm like, oh, that's easy. And then you go to do it and you're like, man, I have something to work on here. Right. So we always have stuff to work on, but that's a huge one getting off the floor because, you know, it's still commercial where the lady falls down and she's got the thing around her neck and, you know, she has to ask for help. Yeah. She can't get up and she did not do functional movement with that woman. So we need to go find her and make sure she gets some help there. But.

Lisa Marie Stearns (04:41.092)

Yeah.

Lisa Marie Stearns (04:49.05)

I've fallen and I can't get up? Yeah, yeah.

Lisa Marie Stearns (04:57.095)

Right.

And the pull can be categorized or exemplified in the same way, right? Like a lot of people, if you can pull yourself, if you have upper body strength to pull yourself up, you can hang on to something and pull yourself up.

Mike (05:05.673)

Exactly.

Mike (05:15.594)

Right, like if you were to fall and you're next to the couch and you get into a seating position, you can pull yourself by using up the, you know, the arm of the couch or something, right? Something that's a little heavier than you. So, you know, I think those movements are important and.

you know, learning them all and doing them all correctly. The hinge is the one tricky one. I mean, we can talk about this for an hour, but the hinge is a really tricky one because you gotta have that low back locked so you're not using your low back at all. And it's all glutes. And even doing something as simple as, you know, we'll do this as an exercise and we'll put one up, but a good morning, right? You can put that stick on your shoulders like you're talking about and then lock the back and then just lean forward. And it's all glutes and hamstrings. It's all glutes and hamstrings. And it's so important to be able to...

Lisa Marie Stearns (05:55.326)

And I will say, you know, to all those people who, um, empty laundry out of front loading washers, uh, empty the dishwasher, you are hinging because most of us aren't squatting, like doing a full squat in front of the washing machine to take the clothes out and transfer them to the dryer. Or most of us aren't squatting all the way down to put the silverware in the drawer in the dishwasher. But if you hinge correctly,

Mike (06:09.678)

Bye.

Lisa Marie Stearns (06:23.558)

which, you know, depends upon you activating your core and kind of sticking your bum out a little bit so your back is protected, that is the hinge. That is the stuff we're talking about because you wanna be able to keep emptying your laundry. You wanna be able to keep emptying the dishwasher. You wanna be able to continue to climb stairs. You wanna be able to walk to the third lacrosse field that your daughter or your grandchild is playing on.

You know, you want to be able to continue to do things with your family and your friends as you age. You don't want to be held back because you don't have the strength and the neural patterns to do it. That's why we're so big on functional movement.

Mike (07:04.166)

That was a good segue. So the neuro patterns, once the neuro patterns are locked in, we can do a correct squat. I can do, it doesn't have to be a push up off the floor, but I could do a countertop push up or a coffee table push up. I could do something where I can pull, whether it's band work or lat pull down at the gym. And then I learned to do that hinge. My back is not curved when I pick up, pick the dishes out of the dishwasher. That was a great example. So now that I have corrected all the movements and I have the patterns firing correctly,

right is it safe to load now is it safe to actually go to the gym and say I'm gonna use a kettlebell I'm gonna use a couple of dumbbells now I can do that the weight I mean I can do the exercise with the weight and now I'm loaded I'm under stress right but I don't want to do that beforehand right now tell me why that why I shouldn't do that

Lisa Marie Stearns (07:48.102)

Yes. First story.

Lisa Marie Stearns (07:53.482)

Well, I mean, you know, bottom line, you never want to add weight to dysfunction, right? I mean, you hear all the time, people throw their backs out and they say, I really wasn't even doing anything, you know? I was just leaning over the passenger side of the car to get something in the well in the middle of the car. And I stood up and went, wow, well, you know, that person didn't hurt their back just then. It was the accumulation of all the...

Mike (07:58.477)

Right.

Mike (08:06.209)

Yeah.

Mike (08:19.018)

Right.

Lisa Marie Stearns (08:22.382)

all the other times beforehand that they may be, you know, bent into the car to pick up grocery bags and didn't bend their knees, didn't engage their glutes. So their back was taking all that pressure. So you never want to load weight to dysfunctional movement because that's how you injure yourself. But once you have those basic patterns down, you know, you can pull down with dumbbells. You can press up with dumbbells.

Mike (08:33.355)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa Marie Stearns (08:48.406)

you progressively make yourself stronger so you can do a pushup off the floor. You know, that's how it goes. Small incremental changes, compounded over time equal big changes, right?

Mike (09:01.194)

Right. Yeah. I mean, it just goes back to the progress over perfection, but the progress has to start with the right movement. Then we can load it. And then maybe you set a goal to say, you know what, I want to be able to lift X off the floor, right? Cause my grandchild now weighs 40 pounds and I can't even pick 10 pound dumbbell off the ground. But you need to be able to get to that point. That's how you hurt your back, right? Trying to pick up that 40 pound kid when you're not even ready to do that. Um, those kinds of things loading, you know, on a, on a body that's symmetrical.

Lisa Marie Stearns (09:16.064)

Right.

Lisa Marie Stearns (09:24.841)

Right.

Mike (09:30.023)

is where you want to be, right?

Lisa Marie Stearns (09:32.526)

Right, and you know, you just said a key word that I wanna touch upon quickly, symmetrical. We all have asymmetries in our bodies. We all have Achilles heels, right? My Achilles heel is my right hip. If something isn't working, if something starts hurting, it's probably because my right hip isn't firing the way it's supposed to be firing, and I have to do a lot of muscle conditioning and a lot of warmup on that hip to make sure I can load a single leg lunge.

You know, I can do super heavy squats all day long. I put that right leg in back to do a single leg lunge. And I know if my Achilles heel is going to act up that day or not, but we all have those things and, but the functional training makes us aware of them and at least gets it a little more on even ground, right? To the best that we can.

Mike (10:24.147)

Right, 100%. And it's this whole thing of just progress over perfection, show up, work on the weaknesses, keep the strengths strong, and then continually improve with the functional movement.

Lisa Marie Stearns (10:33.842)

Yeah, amen.