. List the six fundamental movements of major body segments (Unit 4). Give an example exercise for each.

In addition, identify an exercise that combines three or more of the primary movements. List the exercise as
well as the movements involved. How will an understanding of fundamental movements help you in your
future training endeavours?

Human motion wouldn’t be possible without muscle contraction. By contracting muscles movements can
occur in different planes and at different angles.

“Six primary movements occur at the joints between the body segments, and this are:

1. Flexion – decreasing the angle between two bones

2. Extension – increasing the angle between two bones
3. Abduction – movement away from the midline of the body
4. Adduction – movement toward the midline of the body
5. Rotation – internal or external turning about the vertical axis of a bone
6. Circumduction – combination of flexion, abduction, extension, and adduction in sequence.”

Hatfield, F. C., et al. (2016). Fitness: The Complete Guide, Edition 9.0 (pp. 18-19). 1015 Mark Avenue,
Carpinteria, CA 9013: International Sports Sciences Association.

For flexion, an example of exercise is Barbell Biceps Curls. The positive part of the exercise involves
flexing the arm at the elbow joint, bringing the forearm close to the arm, with the biceps brachii muscle
being the prime mover.

An example for extension can be seen in the Leg Extension exercise, where the starting position is with
your legs flexed at the knee joint. To perform the exercise, you need to extend the legs by increasing the
angle at the knee joint, with the help of the quadriceps muscles.

An abduction movement can be well observed when doing Dumbbell Lateral Raise exercise, which
involves moving the arm held straight away from the body on the frontal plane.

Adduction is the opposite of abduction and involves bringing a body segment toward the midline of the
body. An exercise where this movement is made can be Machine Abductions, where the legs come
together.

An exercise where rotation is performed is Seated Dumbbell Curls, at the wrist joint. Starting with the arms
at your sides, with the palms in a neutral position, by contracting the biceps bring up the forearm, position
where the hands rotate and end in a supine position, facing up.

Circumduction movements are easily observed during the warm-up phase, for example when doing
shoulder warm-up exercise by rotating the extended arm and, as the movement description says, outlining
a geometric cone.

An exercise that brings together three primary movements is Arnold Press for shoulders. Starting with the
arms bent in front of you, holding a dumbbell with the palms facing in, perform shoulder flexion and bring
up the dumbbells causing rotation to occur at the wrist joints until you reach up and with the palms facing in
front of you. Come down in a controlled fashion by doing shoulder extension and reversing the movement.
Three types of movements were observed here: flexion, extension and rotation.

Understanding these primary movements will give you a better understanding at how the body works,
which muscles are involved in performing each movement, and providing good workouts that lead to a
balanced physical development.