Top 5 Athletic movements Everyone should include in their workouts

As many begin to get older, they reduce the number of athletic movements being performed in their workouts. They stop sprinting, they stop jumping, and they stop play all together. The risk versus reward does change as age progresses and while reducing the likelihood of injury is important in a workout session, neglecting athletic-based movements altogether is not the answer.

When considering physical attributes such as speed and power there is a use it or lose it principle. These attributes are maintained for extremely short periods of time, having the smallest residual training effect. Meaning these qualities will disappear first if not maintained with at least a minor focus on them during training.

You don’t have to be an elite athlete or even a weekend warrior to train for athleticism. The benefits from this training will lead to positive effects on body composition, total body strength, and overall health and longevity. Functional training has become a popular subject over the past few years and regardless of how “functional” is being defined, there is no debating that becoming more athletic will lead to you able to function higher and be your best possible version.

Here are the five basic movements EVERYONE should have included in their workouts.

- Throwing

- Jumping

- Sprinting

- Carrying

- Crawling

Now before diving in headfirst and going to perform these exercises because you read about them on the internet, you need context. You may never be able to perform these movements to match your previous abilities, or even close to that extent. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other variations to perform as substitutes that still provide similar benefits. You want to ensure that you are slowly progressing into these activities. Especially the higher speed, ballistic-like actions such as jumping, throwing, and sprinting, these are movements that are easily measurable, and you will see a significant drop from previous years. Though these activities are the most important because they are performed at those high speeds and that cannot be replicated in traditional strength training. Even the most explosive barbell lifts don’t compare to the speeds and force being produced by these violent, athletic movements.

Incorporating these movements also doesn’t need to be an expense for the rest of your workout as you can easily complete most of them within the warmup or early in the workout. The earlier the better. Since these are high central nervous system demanding movements they should be performed before fatigue begins to occur. Quality is the top priory with these exercises and performing just a few sets of each per week goes a long way in helping rebuild and maintain athleticism.

Throwing:

Starting with throws because they are the easiest to implement. Medicine balls are common in most gyms, but you can also use a light sandbag if needed to perform these movements. Depending on the throw it can be an upper or lower body emphasis, but it typically requires total body synchronization to successfully perform. Throwing is a ballistic action so it will be performed at extremely high speeds although it requires less stress on the body compared to jumping or sprinting.

Throwing also allows movement to be performed in the transverse plane with rotational variations. This is an entire plane of movements that gets often neglected. Throwing things are also fun, and sometimes that is another training quality that is often forgotten.

When performing throwing exercises consider the total volume being performed. This will keep an appropriate workload. Also, ensure quality and rest when executing the throws.

I would recommend starting within 6–10 x 2–5 putting the volume between 12–30 throws. Remember these exercises need to be performed with maximum power, so take full rest between sets if needed or around 45–90 seconds, depending on the number of throws performed.

Jumping:

Jumping is obviously more physically stressful on the body compared to the throws but can be easily managed. Jumping will build lower body power, but more importantly, will begin increasing the ability to accept high levels of force through landing. The forces withstood from the jumping occurs during the landing, opposed to the take-off of the jump itself.

Limiting the landing height is recommended to begin. Box jumps are fantastic for this as the height of the landing will lower, creating a more tolerable landing. When selecting the box height for the jumps use a box that is 70–80% in height compared to the highest possible box jump. This can be estimated since there is a great risk with finding the highest box jump.

Performing weighted jumps can also have a similar effect, limiting the speed, and the height of the jump. When selecting a weight for the jumps it may be surprising how light they will be performed. Typically recommending anywhere between 10–30% of the 1 rep max or around a quarter of one’s body weight as a good starting spot. This will allow enough just enough weight to be a challenge, but still, allow for enough speed and power met.

Jumps should not be performed under fatigue. At least if you are trying to create anything besides conditioning. Performing sets of 5 reps or less is an appropriate starting place. Jumping exercises will be performed similarly to the throws. Focusing on high-quality reps performed as opposed to the amount of work done.

Sprinting:

Sprinting is the most violent, high, force, neurologically demanding movement that could ever be performed. It is critical not to rush into sprinting, especially following a long period of inactivity. That is a recipe for a hamstring pull waiting to happen. In fact, I rarely recommend flat land sprints over 10 yards for most people not competing in athletics. That’s considered even with all of the benefits. The risks are just not worth the rewards for many.

Performing sprint variations that limit or prevent maximum velocity to be met is going to be the key. This will still allow for many of the positive benefits to be met, but also decrease the likelihood of an injury occurring. I said decrease and not eliminate, use your best judgment and when uncertain it is probably better to be safer than sorry.

Hill sprints are a great start. The incline of the hill will force a maximum sprint effort, but also not allow maximum velocity to be reached due to the mechanics of the hill sprint. Some other examples that would have a similar effect would be sprinting with a sled, either by pushing or pulling. The resistance of the sled will not allow those top speeds to be reached where hamstring injuries typically occur. With the sled, there is an added strength benefit depending on the weight.

When beginning to sprint without restrictions, I would recommend easing into shorter sprints, 10 yards or less, and then incorporate in buildup sprints. This allows the speed to slowly increase keeping more appropriate zones.

Even if you plan to never sprint again, at least by choice, the pros are hard not to consider, and just incorporating a few sets of short bursts or sled sprints on an additional day will lead to remarkable body composition changes.

The recommended volume for sprinting is more difficult to judge. It honestly just depends on the individual, but some guidelines to consider would be to keep the sprints shorter in distance, 5–20 yards. And when progressing sprints consider progressing one variable at a time. If one aspect becomes more difficult then another needs to become less difficult. Increasing speed by using less weight on a sled, will be adjusted by shortening the distance sprinted. If the distance sprinted increased, then perform first either on a hill or with resistance first creating speed restrictions.

Loaded Carries:

Loaded carries are a must within anyone’s program. They are extremely versatile and can be used to build strength, as well as increase conditioning and overall work capacity. Carries can also be performed in several different ways from the traditional farmers carry, to the overhead position, using different implements, and any combination. The possibilities are certainly not limited.

Carries can also break up the monotony of training. Instead of performing the standard 3x10 carries can be performed in a variety of methods. Performing for speed, trying to complete the distance as quickly as possible. Focus on maximum strength trying to use the heaviest weight possible over a set distance. Or even by total distance or time, a grueling experience everyone should do at least once.

I typically recommend placing carries at the end of a workout session as a finisher, but they can be implemented however they may seem fit.

Crawls:

Crawling creates free-flowing, fluid movement. Something as humans we’re designed to perform yet has moved away. I love lifting weights, it is by far my favorite activity, but the barbell doesn’t easily allow for free expression of movement.

Crawling will develop stability, and mobility throughout the entire body, especially helping strengthen the shoulders and trunk. It will also help develop mobility through the hips, from being forced to stay low to the ground in many crawling exercises. Something so simple will help develop strength in which you’ve never experienced before from being in positions never been in before.

The easiest way to program crawling is to set a distance to be covered. Performing 2–3 sets of 10–20-yards. Crawls can be progressed by executing a more complex crawl. An example of this would be going from a forward bear crawl to a lateral bear crawl.

I’ve seen some very impressive crawls being performed for time, with resistance and under a bunch of other circumstances, but remember we are implementing crawling to become better overall movers and provide an activity that we are limited on, we are not really trying to become better at crawling itself, rather the byproduct it offers.

You don’t have to have aspirations to be an athlete to train like one. Incorporating these 5 different movement categories into any workout program will lead to positive effects in strength, body composition, mobility, and a better quality of life. Proceed with some caution and keep things appropriate and you will slowly begin regaining the speed and power qualities that have degraded over the years.