My favorite health & fitness guru of all time is Paul Chek. He’s the founder of the CHEK Institute, a therapist, a coach, a father, a husband, a certified shaman, and more. He does medicine journeys, helps people heal themselves from the inside-out, and likes to stack rocks in his rock garden. He’s 58 years old and still does heavy deadlifts and one-arm pull ups. He has some deep insight into human experience and what it means to really live and love. If you want to hear him in a podcast, he has his own (Living 4D) and he’s a guest many times on the Aubrey Marcus Podcast and the Kyle Kingsbury Podcast (formerly called the Onnit Podcast).

Paul’s most famous work is his 2004 book titled How to Eat, Move, and be Healthy! It’s still in print, now in it’s second addition. This book is the health & wellness Bible, only it’s not full of general dogmas but specific, individualized program planning and execution strategies. I’ve been following the principles within this book for years with great success. As the result of this book, right now I’m in the best physical shape of my life.

Alongside dietary guidelines and lifestyle design protocols is a movement section. Here, Paul walks you through his trademark movement system called the Primal Patterns®. This system claims that no matter the exercises, there’s basically 7 patterns the human body can (and should) move. These 7 patterns are: Squat, Lunge, Bend, Push, Pull, Twist, and Gait (the movement associated with walking). These 7 movement patterns should be the basis of every training program—macrocycles and microcycles alike.

During the fall semester I lift with the track team two times a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. The lifts have been solid so far and I’m happy with my progress; however, I’m still trying to do some resistance training 4 days a week, leaving two lifts up to me and my programming. For these individual lifts I’ve been designing them with Primal Patterns in mind. I try to hit most of the primal patterns in a single session, ensuring my whole body is activated and staying balanced.

Here’s an example of my lift earlier this week and how the exercises match the Primal Patters:

• Warmup Series
  • SL RDL into Curtsy Lunge (Bend + Lunge)
  • SL Tuck Jump (Squat)
  • Handstand Hop into Sit Through (Push + Twist)

• Strength Series
  • Back Load Reverse Lunge (Lunge)
  • Wide Grip Pull Ups (Pull)
  • OH Floor Press (Push)
  • Cable Rotations (Twist)
  • Step Ups (Lunge + Squat)
  • Calf Raises (Push + Squat)

I highly recommend this style of training. It leaves no stones unturned and keeps your body loose but toned. It’s important to ensure your lifts support your whole body, not isolated systems. After all, our ancestors weren’t doing biceps curls. While there is a time and place for curls, the bulk of our movements should be moving in patterns our bodies were designed to move in.

Please look into Paul Chek, his Chek Institute, and his Living 4D Podcast. I can’t express how much I’ve learned from him (for free) on the internet. He and his teachings have truly changed the trajectory of my life. I hope they change yours, too.