The Totality of Human Movement

When it comes to exercise application, there are 3-5 basic categories of movement. We can compound them or subdivide them. But skeletal movement as a whole has a very defined and finite classification of fourteen actions: flexion, extension, rotation (medial or lateral), abduction, adduction, circumduction, inversion, eversion, protraction, retraction, elevation, depression, supination, and pronation. That’s it. Total. And even these fourteen are really just the more specific qualifications of “up, down, away, toward.”

That’s all there ever was. When Spartan hoplites were training themselves 2500 years ago, this was it. The new fad around the corner? Still this is it. When Egyptian and Sumerian warriors were training 4500 years ago, this was it. When a new fitness franchise pops up next week, this will still be it. When the first yoga texts were being penned 1500 years ago, this was it. When the robots take over 15 years from now, this will still be it.

The human body will only ever move the way it always has. Don’t get distracted. Get skilled at strength in positions which improve your life. Don’t waste time on gimmicks which purport to be a new method of human movement. If your grip, back/core and hips cannot produce the mobility and force required to do basic tasks of life and until the end of your life, what are we even doing?

Can you get on and off the floor with ease? Can you grip and pick up heavy objects? Can you rotate under duress? Can you load the body with a resistance beyond itself and maintain unperturbed effort? No? Then fix it. Yes? Then great.

That’s all you need; and it leads to all you want as well. Be strong. Move well. Don’t get caught up in the 750,000 alternative variant exercises and their accompanying marketing.