The Motor Unit

This one’s a continuation of my previous post on foundational movement patterns and I’m talking about the hip rotational and loaded carry patterns, and they are as functional as they get.

The hip rotation movement generates a lot of power when you apply it in an athletic scenario. Think about the batsman in a cricket game driving the bat to hit a sixer or a combat athlete delivering a knockout punch/kick. The rotation at the hips is what drives them to generate the power to deliver the sixer or the knockout. Sadly, we tend to overlook this pattern in our training program. I have been guilty of this too before I understood training by movement patterns.

Training this needn’t be intimidating. As with all movement pattern exercises, the exercises that train hip rotations scale from simple to really complex movements and can be programmed to the individual’s skill level with the pattern. The simpler exercises are rotational planks, Russian twists (with or without weights), and medicine ball trunk rotations. These movements are a good starting point to strengthen your hip rotational movement pattern.

As one progresses in strength, one could think about including more explosive variations like the medicine ball rotational throws, rotational kettlebell swings/cleans, and rotational landmine presses (this particular exercise is one of my favorites given my history in combat athletics).

I like to program one of these exercises during the block targeting the trunk musculature during one of the conditioning days right after the conditioning exercise is done for the day. Depending on the client’s experience and goals, I might even program the foundational movement patterns discussed in my previous post in such a way that a rotational component is added to the pattern (like rotational Romanian deadlifts or single-arm rotational inverted rows).

The loaded carry is a very simple movement pattern. You just walk around with a weight like a kettlebell or a dumbbell in your hand(s) for a set time or distance. The biggest benefit of this exercise is that it is a strength and conditioning exercise rolled into one. You strengthen your forearm gripping muscles and deep trunk/core musculature when you walk around with weights in your hands because these muscles work to stabilize your body during the movement. Different variations place different levels of demand on these involved muscles. For example, walking around with a heavy dumbbell in just one hand will demand more stabilization from your trunk musculature and the front rack carry will place more demand on your upper and lower back muscles.

When it comes to the conditioning aspect, the loaded carry trains your muscles to use oxygen more effectively, which enables you to build total body endurance.

This movement is extremely functional because it translates to our daily life. We walk around with grocery bags sometimes and at other times, we have to carry other heavy stuff to help out at our homes or work. When you go around carrying heavy stuff, it’s just a matter of time before you feel like you need to catch your breath. This is because your muscles haven’t trained enough to use oxygen efficiently so that you can go around carrying weights for a long period.

Considering this pattern’s utility in conditioning and the demand on trunk musculature, I like to program it similar to the hip rotations during the conditioning days. The routine would look like 10 to 20 sets with a 

work-to-rest ratio of 1 to 1. So that’d mean, let’s say, 30 to 45 seconds of work and 30 to 45 seconds of rest for 10 to 20 sets.

If this interests you, you’ve got questions, or you’d like to work with me do drop a comment below or reach out to me through Gmail at [email protected].