Imagine hitting that home run, spiking the volleyball over the net, or sprinting towards the finish line. Have you ever wondered what’s going on behind the scenes of these powerful sporting movements? If you look closely, you’ll discover that every sport revolves around precise, sport-specific movement patterns that athletes practice tirelessly.
Understanding these patterns can give us a deeper insight into the training methods of athletes and the artistry behind every sporting action. So, if you’re intrigued to dive into the world of athletic movements – whether you’re an athlete, a coach, or a fan – this exploration of key sporting movement patterns is designed just for you. We’ll jump into 12 fundamental patterns, explaining how each one underpins many sports and is crucial for bodybuilding too.
Although there are thousands of different strength training exercises, a large majority can be categorized into the 12 fundamental movement patterns, with many even being a combination of multiple of those patterns.
Fundamental sporting movement patterns
Here are the 12 fundamental sports movements you should know about.
Horizontal Push
When you imagine throwing a punch or pushing a door open, you’re thinking of a horizontal push. This pattern involves moving resistance away from the body in a horizontal plane. In sports, think of a basketball player passing the ball or a boxer delivering a powerful punch, or imagine a rugby player pushing an opponent. In bodybuilding, exercises like the bench press or standing cable chest press fall under this pattern. Horizontal push movements primarily work the chest, shoulders, and triceps.
However, the way in which you train a pushing action in the gym (for example in a bench press) does not really replicate the way you may push in sport, where your push may be combined with a rotation. As such, it may make sense to train the two together so that you do not neglect the muscles that fight to control torque.
Vertical Push
The vertical push involves moving resistance upwards, away from the body. A tennis player serving a ball, a football player throwing a long-distance pass, or a basketball player shooting the ball toward the basket perfectly illustrates this pattern. Overhead press and push press in strength training are examples of this movement. Vertical push movements primarily work the shoulders and triceps.
Vertical Pull
A reversal of the motion, the vertical pull moves resistance downwards towards the body. This movement pattern is evident in sports such as climbing or when gymnasts pull their bodies upward on the rings. In strength training, exercises such as pull-ups and lat pull-downs align with this pattern. Vertical pull primarily works the back and biceps.
Horizontal Pull
Contrary to the horizontal push, the horizontal pull involves pulling resistance towards the body in a horizontal plane. You might see this in rowing or while reeling in a big fish during a fishing contest! In bodybuilding, bent-over rows, and seated cable rows are perfect examples. Horizontal pull primarily works the back and biceps.
Rotational and Diagonal Movements
This is a fundamental sporting movement pattern but is often neglected in training. These movements engage your body in a twisting motion or a combination of several directions. Tennis swings, baseball hits, or even the swing of a golf club are classic examples. Exercises such as cable woodchops or medicine ball rotational throws mimic this pattern. These movements primarily work the core and are crucial in sports like baseball or golf where the athlete swings a bat or club.
There are two types of rotation that need targeted training. In trunk rotation, you rotate your shoulders through your trunk with little or no movement of your hips; an example is golf. In full pillar rotation, you rotate your body about your foot; a good example is tennis.
Anti-Rotation
This pattern involves resisting the rotational force, often crucial for stability in sports. Think about a wrestler maintaining their stance or a sprinter keeping their gaze straight ahead. Pallof press or bird dog in strength training emphasize this movement. Anti-rotation movements primarily work the core and are important in sports where maintaining stability and balance is key.
Knee Dominant Movements (Squat)
Knee dominant movements, best known as squats, engage the frontal leg muscles, mainly the quadriceps. They are common in sports where jumping or sprinting is involved like basketball or track and field. Exercises mimicking this pattern include back squats, front squats, and lunges.
Squats can occur in exaggerated or less exaggerated forms, on one or two legs, to accelerate or decelerate the body or to bring about a change of direction. Squatting is also a core component of triple extension (see below), so training this movement is vital to the development of peak performance.
Triple Extension
Triple extension refers to the simultaneous extension of the hips, knees, and ankles and is frequently used in explosive sports movements like jumping or sprinting. Clean and jerk or snatches in weightlifting epitomize this pattern in strength training.
In some sports, you will see this triple extension take place off two legs and in others, just one. In either case, it is usually executed explosively. Athletes also use the single-leg triple extension in a much less exaggerated, reactive fashion, when changing direction.
Hip Hinge
The hip hinge involves flexion and extension at the hips and is key in movements that require powerful glutes and hamstrings engagement (posterior chain). Deadlifts in weightlifting and batter swinging in baseball are perfect examples. These movements are seen in sports like weightlifting where the athlete needs to lift heavy weights from the ground.
Hip Dominant
Similar to knee-dominant movements, hip-dominant movements focus on the posterior leg muscles, mainly the hamstrings and glutes. Hip-dominant movements involve moving the hips while keeping the knees relatively stationary. These movements are common in everyday life, such as sitting and standing, and in sports activities like kicking a ball. In the gym, exercises such as hip thrusts, Romanian deadlifts, and glute bridges typify this pattern.
Weight shifting, acceleration, and deceleration
Weight shifting is a key skill in sports such as boxing, golf, and fencing. Acceleration and deceleration – getting the body moving and changing direction as quickly as possible (or “cutting”) – are key to activities such as sprinting, jumping, throwing, and lifting. While many athletes will consciously train their ability to accelerate, they will neglect their ability to decelerate. It is also common to see athletes struggle with deceleration as they enter a “cut”; injuries are a real risk at this point.
Locomotion
Finally, locomotion consists of cyclical movements like walking, running, lunging, or ballistic, explosive movements like jumping. In other words, locomotion refers to movements that involve moving the body from one place to another. Common in virtually every sport and vital for everyday function, most sports demand efficient and powerful locomotion patterns, which can be developed through specific strength training exercises such as farmer carries, lunges, and marches.
The overlap of fundamental movements in various sports
In the world of sports, each activity demands its unique set of movement patterns. Yet, there’s a profound overlap across sports when it comes to fundamental movements. For instance, the ‘vertical push’ pattern is a critical move in basketball for shooting hoops, but it’s also applied in weightlifting during a barbell push press.
Similarly, the ‘rotational’ movement is essential for golf swings, baseball pitches, and even martial arts. The ‘knee dominant’ movements, commonly seen as squats, are the heart of a powerlifter’s routine, yet also underpin the move of a basketball player on a layup. The ‘triple extension’ is seen in the explosive jump of volleyball players, the stride of sprinters, and the lift in Olympic weightlifting.
The ‘hip hinge’ of a gymnastics front scale and a powerlifting deadlift show that even sports of considerably different categorizations can share the same fundamental movements. Remember, these basic movement patterns are crucial across all sports and can be enhanced through specialized strength training exercises.
Closing thoughts: Sport-specific movement patterns
It is widely accepted today that athletes need to engage in some form of strength training to enhance their sporting performance. However, the needs of a rugby player are obviously different from those of a swimmer, and a cyclist will not benefit from a program designed for a baseball player. The key point is that strength training for athletes must be specific to the demands of their sport. Although many fundamental sporting movement patterns are common to many sports, strength training always needs to mirror these sport-specific movement patterns to be truly effective. That way, every exercise counts, every muscle works in harmony, and every athlete stands a better chance of realizing their potential on the field, the court, the track, or in the pool.
