But if you want to be ready to tackle all the tasks you perform outside your workouts, it helps to perform exercises that resemble those same movements.
That’s why football linemen smash tackling dummies and prizefighters punch heavy bags: You get better at the things you practice. Trainers call this the “SAID” principle, or Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands.
Not an elite athlete? Doesn’t matter. Everyone relies on strength, mobility, and muscle — so even if you climb stairs instead of mountains, chase toddlers instead of tennis balls, or lift grocery bags instead of Olympic bars, you can take advantage of the specificity principle.
Below are 11 exercises that mimic movements you do in everyday life. As it turns out, many of them are exceptional strength and fitness-builders as well — proving that being functional is being fit.
“It doesn’t get more foundational than the squat,” says David Otey, CSCS, author of Men’s Health 90 Day Transformation. “From gaining your first steps as a baby to picking your child up as a parent, squatting is a necessary and often-used pattern for our everyday lives.”
Doing squats regularly with good form (and extra resistance, if you can) helps make the sitting-to-standing transition easier. And that may inspire you to to get up out of your office chair more often to give your body and mind a much-needed break.
Squats may also help you leave the “get-up grunt” behind — that patented sound most people over a certain age make whenever they get up from a chair.
Too easy? Perform the move with a barbell across your shoulders.
In addition to building the entire back of your body — from your hamstrings to your glutes to your lats, traps, and lower back — deadlifts improve strength and mobility that you’ll use when you need to move furniture, perform heavy gardening activities, or even pick up toys after your kid’s epic playdate.
But deadlifting isn’t only about lifting, Otey says: “The deadlift is a key exercise to develop your hip hinging pattern, which is a pivotal movement for optimal hip health.”
Push-ups not only build your chest, arms, shoulders, and abs, but they also make it exponentially easier to get up from the floor — an everyday challenge most of us don’t execute very gracefully. (Just ask anyone who’s ever tried to fish an errant shoe from beneath the bed.)
Push-ups are a winner for your orthopedic health as well. “This move teaches you the shoulder is more than just the ball and socket joint at the top of your arm, but your entire upper region including your shoulder blades,” Otey says.
Learn to move your arm and shoulder blades in tandem, he adds, and your joints will thank you.
Too hard? Perform the move with your hands on an elevated surface.
Carrying anything — kids, groceries, luggage — becomes easier once you master the row. You’ll also build the grip strength you need to open a stubborn pickle-jar lid.
Need one more reason to row? “More people should spend time training their posterior chain to support our very front-sided lifestyles,” Otey says. Add this move to your workout routine, and you’ll improve your posture and help safeguard against shoulder injury.
“Loaded carries are the exercise that best translates to our everyday lives,” Otey says.
After all, hauling groceries and hauling dumbbells are about as similar as two movements can be. And if you’re a frequent traveler, you know the pain of lugging a heavy carry-on from one terminal to another while running to catch a connecting flight.
Farmer’s walks make all of this easier, challenging your grip, core, and postural muscles in the process.
One of the most challenging lower-body tasks we face in everyday life is the simple act of climbing stairs — hence escalators and elevators.
This seemingly simple movement actually requires hip mobility, balance, and coordination, along with strength and stability in the ankles, thighs, hamstrings, and glutes. Miss out on any of these crucial elements, and you risk falling.
Step-ups build strength in your legs and glutes while also helping you safely ascend actual stairs.
Too easy? Hold a pair of dumbbells at your side to make the movement more challenging.
Your shoulders are your most mobile joint, capable of rotating 360 degrees and reaching in front of, across, or behind you with ease.
But mobility is a “use-it-or-lose-it” proposition, so it’s important to practice moving your shoulders freely, and with maximal range, on a regular basis.
The overhead press helps you maintain the ability to reach overhead easily — an underappreciated skill that can help whether you’re grabbing a coffee mug off a high shelf or playing a game of pickup basketball.
In combination with the row and the push-up, full-range overhead presses also help you maintain all-around shoulder mobility, so that everyday moves like putting on your coat and reaching into the back seat of your car become easier.
You know those people who can sit on the floor comfortably? They play with their kids, hang out with their dog, watch TV, or work on their laptops, all without a chair in sight.
Their secret? Healthy hips. When your hips can flex and bend and rotate freely, it’s far easier to get comfortable on the floor — and, indeed, to sit up comfortably on any surface.
Need more reasons to work figure-4 hip stretches into your daily routine? Research suggests improved hip mobility may help to alleviate lower back pain.
The bear crawl reinforces “cross patterning” movement, which is when your right hand moves with your left leg, and vice versa. This an essential component of all forms of locomotion, from walking to full-out sprinting.
If you suffer from back pain or discomfort in your hip or knee when you walk or run, relearning this foundational movement — ingrained in most babies by the time they’re a few months old — can help you move with greater ease and comfort.
It’s also an effective and functional core-builder that works all 360 degrees of your spine-stabilizing muscles.
Too hard? Perform the move with your knees on the floor.
Most people think of “power” as synonymous with “strength,” but it’s not. Strength is the ability to lift something; power is the ability to lift it fast.
If you think you don’t need speed in everyday life, consider how quickly you have to move to prevent yourself from falling completely when you slip or stumble. If you’re an athlete, power training will help you perform your best on the field. If you’re not, it can be the ounce of prevention against the unpredictable in life.
Split jumps are one of the most effective power-builders you can do. You start and end in an athletic stance and improve your ability to accelerate off the ground and, on landing, your ability to decelerate smoothly and softly. A few sets a week, and you’ll be more prepared for whatever life throws at you.
The plank may not look like any of your usual daily tasks, but it’s still a terrifically functional move. Perform it often enough, and you’ll learn to brace your entire core, protecting your spine from excessive twisting, folding, and bending while you go about your daily activities.
The plank is also an effective posture-builder, helping you find your proper alignment and sit up straight with ease.
Too easy? Walk your elbows forward of your shoulders, round your back towards the ceiling, and and squeeze your glutes as hard as you can.
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