Build a strength workout anywhere with these five movements
“Carry me!” she entreated, with a voice so sweet and face so angelic it was hard to refuse. Even though my legs felt like lead and my strength completely sapped from a day of fitness teaching and toddler wrangling, I groaned, bent down low and cried out with a loud voice, “All aboard!” Surprised, she gleefully galloped over, gave me her imaginary ticket to punch, strapped her seatbelt arms around my neck, and I pushed the old train of my body off the floor and up the stairs.
It was a wild ride. There were alligators in the hallway river I had to jump over, doorway tunnels I had to duck through, and robbers we had to beat in a tooth-brushing race. We made it just in the nick of time, and I threw her off my back and onto her bed. I pulled the covers over her and kissed her goodnight.
Somehow, I got my strength back.
“The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.” Psalm 28:7
Even when it feels like I am bone-tired, when I choose God’s joyful idea of play over rule-driven performance, joy always leads the way and fills me with unexplained energy.
Everyone needs to keep their muscles strong, whether that’s for a physically demanding job or simply to keep our posture straight against the forces of age, gravity, and forward-facing technology. And as the well-roundedness of kids and their natural inclinations to play demonstrates, we don’t necessarily need a gym to strength train. We can create our own strength routine anywhere! All it takes are these five major movement patterns, load, and repetition.
Here are the 5 major motor patterns that move our bodies:
Hinge
“Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” Psalm 116:2
Because God bends down to be near to us, we can hip hinge in humility and rise up in strength. Hinging at the hips strengthens our glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps, allowing us to pick up toys, clean up litter, and tend the ground.
Hinge movements include but are not limited to: deadlifts, kettlebell swings, and glute bridges.
Push
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” Philippians 3:12
We can, as Philippians says, practice pressing on and persevering by pushing forward or pressing up. Pushing with our arms strengthens our chest and tricep muscles, and it allows us to push heavy furniture into a new spot, press ourselves off the ground, or throw your kid in the pool when they shout, “higher!”.
Push movements include but are not limited to: push-ups, presses, and medicine ball chest passes.
Pull
“He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip.” Psalm 40:2 MSG
The pulling motion reminds us how God pulls us out of deep places, encourages us to pull heaven down, and draw love in. Strengthening our back and bicep muscles, pulling allows us to row in a boat, swim in the water, pull ropes and pulleys, draw someone in close to dance, fire up a lawn mower. A strong back also helps counteract a collapsed chest from tech-neck, keeping our body upright.
Pull movements include but are not limited to: seated rows, bent-over flys, climbing, and lat pull-downs.
Squat
“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelation 3:21
The squatting motion is an ancient motion of rest and relief. When we squat, we train rest, the ability to use your body as its own support. As we descend into a squat position, we activity participate with Jesus’ position of resting at the right hand of God the Father. The squat allows us to do so many things: prepare for a jump shot, rest without a chair, even birth a child!
Squat movements include but are not limited to: goblet squats, box squats, Bulgarian squats, and functional lunges.
Pillar
“May our sons flourish in their youth like well-nurtured plants. May our daughters be like graceful pillars, carved to beautify a palace.” Psalm 144:12 NLT
What does a pillar do? It connects a strong foundation to a protective roof. It creates space in between for life. What does our core do? It keeps our top and bottom half together, while making space for our essential internal organs, allowing for movement of the whole body. Pillar exercises strengthen your core muscles and keep you centered for all of your body’s movements.
Pillar movements include but are not limited to: Overhead carries, farmer carries, get-ups, planks, bear crawls, and lateral tosses.
F.I.T.T Princple
When we balance out our body with these four types of movements, we will have overall strength, be less prone to muscle imbalances, and have less weakness and tightness.
We need a framework for these movements to make a strength routine, so let’s use the FITT principle: Frequency, Intensity, Type, and Time.
Frequency: For a well-balanced body, resistance training for the total body needs to happen at least twice a week (working the same muscle groups on nonconsecutive days).
Intensity: Challenge yourself. If you’re just starting, do about 10-12 repetitions. If you can do 2 more repetitions, add some weight. If you want to build strength, lower the amount of repetitions to a range of around 4-6 and increase the weight. The more weight you use, the more you’ll need to rest in between. Aim to do at least 3 sets or rounds in a session.
Time: As long as you need to perform safe, full-range movements with adequate rest.
Type: Incorporate the 5 movement patterns
Add a dimension of power into these movements, and you’ve got yourself a full strength and cardio routine, improving both the musculoskeletal system as well as the cardiovascular system. Adding power into what you already have would include jump squats, sprint carries, sled pushes, ball slams, anything that adds a layer of speed onto the strength exercises and gets your heart pumping faster.
Workout in real life
Playing with Kids
Hinge: Have a toy clean-up competition and see how many toys you can each pick up in 5 minutes.
Push: Lay on your back, hold your child, and press them up and kiss their cheek as they come down. Repeat 10 times.
Pull: Give them a blanket ride by having them sit on a blanket and pull them across the wood floor for 5 laps around the house, pulling the blanket close to you in intervals so you get that scapular squeeze.
Squat: Hold them tight and squat until their feet touch the ground, then blastoff! Shoot them up into the air! Repeat 10 times.
Pillar: With a child doing a secure piggyback ride, bend at the waist in a circle and pretend you’re in a tornado.
Repeat three times, or however long they want to play with you!
Kasey Shuler is the author of Move for Joy and several Bible studies, including The Lord’s Prayer: A 12-Week Journal, Rest and Rise, and Love Beyond Looks. Working with clients as an ACSM personal trainer and Revelation Wellness fitness instructor, Kasey’s mission is to help go-getters discover how God is with us, body and spirit. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Athens, Georgia, and would love to connect with you at kaseybshuler.com or on Instagram.
Workout with us in this #wednesdayworkout! For more workouts like this, visit RevWell TV!
Ron’s Foundations – “Progression of Movement”
In this video you will learn the basic foundations of movements used throughout RevWellTV. We will start from the basic movements and move into how to progress the movements as you get stronger. We want you to move your body in confidence which will help prevent injury.
A fresh sense of hope
Participate in this mind, body, and faith online event on September 26th or watch the replay within 72 hours!
You’ll experience dynamic speakers, live workouts, and powerful worship!
Register today! Group pricing available.
7 Responses
Wellness
I’M A DESK WORKER WITH ALREADY NOT SO GREAT POSTURE. WOULD LOVE TO SEE A VIDEO OF QUICK EXERCISES THAT CAN BE DONE IN THE OFFICE TO HELP WITH OUR ISSUES WITH SITTING AT A DESK ALL DAY. MAYBE YOU ALREADY HAVE DONE THAT AND I HAVE NOT RUN ACORSS IT YET.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND GOD BLESS!
Matt
This is a great idea, Matt! We haven’t created anything like this yet. Watch the blog for it sometime soon!
This is wonderful thank you for sharing! Going through Platoon 25 now so I love the examples of movements connected to Scripture! Thank you Kasey and revwell!
Yes! We hoped this would be a useful tool for all our instructors in training!
This is really great info! Is there any way to get it in a printable infographic?
That is a wonderful idea, Gina! I’ll see if we can make an infographic!