Move or Die!!!

Well, I don't want to be melodramtic....

People are always trying to overthink fitness.  I guess if you are an elite athlete you need to spend time (or at least pay someone to) thinking about "how's" and "why's", but for 99% of the population they need to just get moving.  Human movement is pretty simple, it can be broken down into the following patterns:

• Push away from you (ex. bench press, push up)
• Pull towards you (ex. dumbbell row, seated row)
• Push above you (ex. shoulder press, push press)
• Pull down (ex. lat pull down, pull up)
• Bend over (ex. dead lift, hip extension on stability ball)
• Squat down (ex. squat, split squat)
• Twist (ex. cable chop, land mine rotation)
• Locomotion (ex. run, swim, bike)

Of course there are many vairations of how to perform these different patterns.  You could use: machines, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, bands, cables, medicine balls, TRX, bodyweight, etc.  Arms and legs can be worked independelty of each other (squat vs lunge) or you can work in different planes of motion (I'll address this another time).  You could also change your body position to achieve these patterns (think push up vs bench press). 

The bottom line is this,...MOVE!  It doesn't matter how you do it or what mode you choose.  No matter what equipment you have available you can always build a program that will give you well balance results.