Part 3 of 3

Rethinking Movement

This is your reference for today's session — the full map of nine movement patterns, and a short self-assessment for the three we are covering today.

So far — Parts 1 & 2

The reframe and warm-ups, six of the nine patterns — Squat, Horizontal Pull, Vertical Push, Hinge, Horizontal Push and Vertical Pull — and an introduction to isolation work.

Rethinking movement

Today is about seeing strength training as more than just fitness or bodybuilding. It's about approaching strength training as movement under enough load to build the physical capacity that can support the demands of your life and work, not just survive them.

Most of the people I work with don't lack ability, motivation, or even information. These sessions are about synthesising the most useful and relevant information out there into a framework that respects our unique abilities while always being more dependable than motivation.

The framework lets us put data into a system that gives us useful signals back — so we can build on where we are, course-correcting as we go rather than reaching blindly and hoping for the best.

How today works
  1. Recapping the movement reframe
  2. The final three movement patterns — Lunge, Rotation, Carry
  3. Alternatives and further personalisation
The framework
The nine movement patterns
Many people are only confident with two or three of these, while their life demands capacity in all of them. At the other extreme, traditional training that works body-part by body-part rather than by movement pattern can quickly become overwhelming — endless lists of exercises to choose from. Almost all of those exercises fall into the map below: a complete but simple picture of how the body moves under load. The exception is isolation, single-joint movements, which we introduced in Part 2. The three marked Today are the ones we're covering in this session.
1
Squat
The fundamental sit-to-stand pattern. The foundation of lower-body strength and joint health — and one of the most loaded patterns in daily life, whether or not you realise it.
2
Horizontal Pull
Pulling toward the body — rows and their variations. Underused rather than overworked: most people simply lack the strength to draw the shoulder blades back and control them well. Restoring that mobility and strength builds confidence, and balances the stronger pushing muscles.
3
Vertical Push
Pressing overhead. Overhead strength, and the shoulder mobility it depends on, are among the first things to fade through underuse — rarely trained, and often unnoticed as absent until reaching or lifting overhead feels harder than it should.
4
Hinge
Loading and extending at the hip. The pattern behind picking things up from the floor, and the cornerstone of posterior chain strength.
5
Horizontal Push
Pressing away from the body — press-ups, dumbbell and barbell presses, dips and their variations. The chest, shoulder and triceps strength most people have some exposure to, though rarely trained with structure.
6
Vertical Pull
Pulling from overhead — pull-ups, pulldowns and their progressions. Among the most neglected patterns, and one of the most satisfying to build: few things show real strength gain as plainly as a first full pull-up.
7
Lunge Today
Single-leg, one side at a time. The lunge adds lower-body volume and reaches ranges and angles the squat and hinge don't — including moving sideways, as in a lateral lunge.
8
Rotation Today
Turning through the trunk, and resisting turning under load. Rotation is simply another direction to get strong in — one most training ignores entirely.
9
Carry Today
Moving while loaded. Carrying loads the body in a way the other patterns don't — building grip and whole-body strength, and asking you to control weight that shifts and pulls unpredictably as you move. A simple pattern that reaches parts of the body the others can leave behind.
Beyond the framework
Alternatives and personalisation
With all nine patterns covered, the map is complete. From here, we can build the confidence to choose variations of each pattern that suit our bodies, history and goals, adjusting load, difficulty and range of motion as we progress. The framework doesn't change; how we express it does. This is where a series becomes a programme built around you.
Self-assessment
Your movement map
Fill in the Before row now. Come back to the After row at the end of the session.
Lunge
Before
After
Rotation
Before
After
Carry
Before
After

That's the full map. All nine patterns, across three sessions. What comes next is personal — building each pattern into something that fits you.

B.BalancedOS
Get a free profile
We're building an app that takes the same method from today and puts it into a structure you can use independently — your movement patterns, your progressions, tracked over time. We're looking for our first test users, and we'd like to offer a free profile to everyone in today's session.
Free · Beta access
What's next
Anything else you'd like to explore?
Select anything that feels relevant. There's no obligation, and nothing will be assumed — Rachel will follow up personally.
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Stay in touch
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You've now covered all nine patterns — the full map is yours to keep.