Fitness coach Jeff Cavaliere is a firm believer in the ‘use it or lose it’ mentality. In a July 16 YouTube video, he broke down seven movements that can improve balance, coordination, and strength as we age.
Jeff Cavaliere is an authority in the fitness industry, thanks to decades of experience inside the gym. He boasts over 14.3 million YouTube subscribers and offers science-based content, from dieting programs to tailor-made workouts.
Age catches up to us all, but Cavaliere believes that preserving specific movement patterns can have a dramatic impact on quality of life.
“There are seven primitive movement patterns that are requirements for human function. And the catch, most of us can’t even do them as we continue to age because we stop doing the things that test them.”
Jeff Cavaliere Shares 7 Primitive Moves to Improve Balance, Coordination, and Strength
Find the exercises from the video below:
- Chimp Squat (Squatting)
- Draw Bridges (Hinging)
- Relay (Walking)
- Solar Twist (Rotating)
- Sweeping Lunge (Lunging)
- Tracker Push-up (Pushing)
- Clark Kent (Pulling)
Chimp Squat (Squatting)
The chimp squat challenges hip mobility and reinforces a lifter’s ability to move through a deep squat.
“Get into a wider than shoulder-width foot placement, and all you’re going to do is basically perform a sumo squat, which we know is good for stretching out the adductors and of course, getting into a deep flexion at the hip.”
“When we’re down here, though, I want you to be able to shift over, hands make contact with the ground, and then lean into that lead foot.”
Draw Bridges (Hinging)
Next, Cavaliere moved on with a hinging pattern, which he explained is one of the most common movements lost with age.
“If there’s one that is lost more than anything else, it’s our ability to actually hinge directly from the hips. This is going to do it for you almost automatically. You want to take a very wide stance. What this does is it forces you when you move your hips backwards to actually create the hinge right at the hip.”
Relay (Walking)
Cavaliere shared that the relay helps with walking mechanics and single-leg stability.
“In this starting position here, I focus on the movement of the right leg. This is going to be my forward lunging or static lunging leg. We drop the leg back and move the arm back. This arm will naturally drive backwards. Come back up again and come down.”
Solar Twist (Rotating)
For rotation, he demonstrated the solar twist for spinal mobility.
“The arms are going to be disassociated from the hips. We want spinal rotation as much as we can get. We’re going to swing down, pivot off the back foot, and swivel past the knee, and I’m going to try to reach as far as I can back in this direction, back towards the floor of my other hand. Arms go up and open up as much as you can, twist, rotate, go back down.”
Sweeping Lunge (Lunging)
The sweeping lunge can help build lower-body mobility and strength:
“I’m up on my toes, and this other leg is out in front of me, straight if you can, for as much as you can, stress that hamstring and get some stretch in there. My hands are in contact with the ground. All I’m going to do is put this foot down here, let my hands slide, and let this sweep right in with me as I then slide over to that side.”
Tracker Push-up (Pushing)
Cavaliere used a push-up variation that targets the upper and lower body while also strengthening the rotator cuffs.
“We incorporate some lower-body mobility into the exercise, and we reinforce the depth of the push-up to really make sure that we’re getting good shoulder mobility too.”
“You come down to the ground, your goal is to have your cheek make contact with the ground in this sort of tracking position, the hunter, right? The lower body is going to participate too by basically driving your knee up at the same time,” Jeff Cavaliere shared.
Clark Kent (Pulling)
To complete the routine, he walked through the Clark Kent to train pulling strength.
“It’s a great exercise for reinforcing, not only pulling strength, but also rotator cuff strength.”
“The elbows are going to come in contact with the ground. Your hands are going to be across your chest, and I want you to pretend you’re opening the shirt up like Superman would. When you do that, your elbows should create enough lift to get your back off the ground. All of your spine should feel like it should lift off the ground.”
Cavaliere shared that these movement patterns tend to get forgotten about as we age. For better mobility, coordination, balance, and strength, he recommends practicing these essential exercises regularly.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Shares His Secret Weapon for Fixing Muscle Cramps in Seconds
