Fundamental Movement Skills: The Six Core Patterns for Health and Performance

What are the common six 6 fundamental movement skills?

The six common fundamental movement skills—Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, Lunge, and Gait (Locomotion/Carry)—form the bedrock of human movement, crucial for everything from daily activities to peak athletic performance.

Understanding Fundamental Movement Skills

Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) are the basic, transferable motor patterns that serve as the building blocks for more complex movements, sports, and physical activities. Mastering these skills is not just for athletes; it's essential for maintaining functional independence, preventing injuries, and enhancing overall quality of life throughout the lifespan. These six movements are universally recognized because they reflect the primary ways our bodies interact with gravity and external loads, whether we're standing up from a chair, lifting an object, or moving through space.

The Six Core Fundamental Movement Skills

Each of these movements engages multiple joints and muscle groups in a coordinated fashion, reflecting the integrated nature of human anatomy and biomechanics.

1. Squat

The squat is a foundational lower body movement characterized by lowering the hips from a standing position, bending at the knees and hips, and then returning to standing. It's a bilateral, symmetrical movement that loads the body vertically.

• Importance: Essential for daily activities like sitting, standing, and lifting objects from the ground. It builds strength, mobility, and stability in the hips, knees, and ankles, while also strengthening the core and back.
• Examples: Bodyweight squats, goblet squats, back squats, front squats.

2. Hinge

The hinge movement primarily involves bending at the hip joint while maintaining a relatively straight, neutral spine. The glutes and hamstrings are the primary movers, driving the hip extension. Unlike a squat, the knees have minimal forward travel.

• Importance: Crucial for safely lifting objects from the floor, jumping, and powerful athletic movements. It strengthens the entire posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae), which is vital for posture, power, and injury prevention.
• Examples: Deadlifts (conventional, sumo, Romanian), good mornings, kettlebell swings.

3. Push

Pushing movements involve extending a limb or the entire body to move an object or oneself away from the body. These can be horizontal or vertical.

• Importance: Fundamental for activities like opening doors, pushing a stroller, throwing, or defending oneself. It develops strength in the chest, shoulders, triceps, and core.
• Examples: Push-ups, overhead press, bench press, triceps extensions.

4. Pull

Pulling movements involve flexing a limb or the entire body to move an object or oneself towards the body. Like pushing, these can be horizontal or vertical.

• Importance: Essential for tasks such as opening a car door, climbing, carrying groceries, or performing gymnastic movements. It strengthens the back muscles (lats, rhomboids, traps), biceps, and forearms, contributing to balanced upper body development and improved posture.
• Examples: Rows (dumbbell, barbell, cable), pull-ups, lat pulldowns, bicep curls.

5. Lunge

The lunge is a unilateral (single-leg) movement where one leg steps forward, backward, or sideways, lowering the hips until both knees are bent at approximately 90 degrees, then returning to the starting position.

• Importance: Develops unilateral leg strength, balance, coordination, and hip mobility. It mimics walking, running, and climbing stairs, making it highly functional for daily life and sports that require single-leg stability.
• Examples: Forward lunges, reverse lunges, lateral lunges, walking lunges, split squats.

6. Gait (Locomotion/Carry)

Gait refers to the manner or style of walking or running, encompassing the coordinated movement of the entire body to move from one place to another. This category also implicitly includes the ability to maintain posture and control while moving or carrying external loads.

• Importance: The most fundamental form of human locomotion, essential for independent living, sports, and all forms of physical activity. It requires coordination, balance, rhythm, and the ability to stabilize the core while the limbs are in motion or under load.
• Examples: Walking, running, sprinting, farmer's carries, loaded carries.

Why Master These Skills?

Mastering these six fundamental movement skills offers profound benefits:

• Foundation for Advanced Movements: They are the prerequisites for learning more complex exercises, sports-specific techniques, and athletic maneuvers.
• Injury Prevention: Efficient movement patterns reduce stress on joints and tissues, minimizing the risk of overuse injuries and acute traumas.
• Improved Daily Function: Enhances the ease and safety of everyday tasks, from lifting children to carrying groceries.
• Enhanced Athletic Performance: A strong command of these basics translates directly into greater power, speed, agility, and endurance in any sport or physical challenge.
• Lifelong Physical Activity: Competence and confidence in movement encourage a more active lifestyle, promoting long-term health and well-being.

Integrating Fundamental Movements into Your Training

To effectively develop these skills, focus on:

• Form Over Weight: Prioritize perfect technique with lighter loads before adding significant resistance. Incorrect form can lead to imbalances and injury.
• Progressive Overload: Gradually increase the challenge by adding weight, repetitions, sets, or decreasing rest times as your strength and proficiency improve.
• Consistency: Regular practice is key to solidifying movement patterns and building strength.
• Professional Guidance: Consider working with a qualified personal trainer or exercise physiologist to assess your current movement patterns and receive personalized coaching.

Conclusion

The six fundamental movement skills—Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, Lunge, and Gait—are the bedrock of human physical capability. By understanding and diligently practicing these core patterns, individuals can unlock their full physical potential, enhance their quality of life, and build a resilient foundation for a lifetime of movement and health. Mastering these movements is not just about exercising; it's about reclaiming and optimizing the innate human ability to move effectively and efficiently.