Squat, Hinge, Push, Pull, Carry: The Five Movements That Build Every Strong Woman.

Five movements is the whole library

When clients ask me what they should train, I always answer the same way: squat, hinge, push, pull, carry. Five movement patterns. Every exercise that matters falls into one of those buckets. Master them and you have an entire library of strength to draw from for the rest of your life.

I'll walk you through each one — what it is, what it builds, the simplest version to start with, and the one cue that fixes most form problems I see.

1. SQUAT — The king of legs

What it is: Hips drop down and back, knees track over toes, you stand up. Goblet squat, back squat, front squat, split squat — all variations of the same pattern.

What it builds: Quads, glutes, hamstrings, core, posture, the entire ability to get off a couch when you're seventy.

Where to start: Goblet squat with a single dumbbell or kettlebell held at chest height. Three sets of eight, twice a week, for two weeks. Then add weight.

The cue that fixes everything: "Spread the floor with your feet." Most squat problems are knees caving in. That cue locks the hips and stops it.

The squat is non-negotiable. If you have a knee or hip issue we'll regress to a box squat or a partial range, but we're not skipping it. Every woman I've ever coached has improved her quality of life by getting better at squatting.

2. HINGE — The most under-trained movement in women's fitness

What it is: Hips push back, chest stays tall, you lower a weight along your shins and stand back up. Deadlift, Romanian deadlift, kettlebell swing, good morning — all hinges.

What it builds: Posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, lower back). Translation: the entire backside of you that makes posture work, hips work, and back pain disappear.

Where to start: Romanian deadlift with two dumbbells. Three sets of eight, focusing on feeling your hamstrings stretch on the way down. If you can't feel your hamstrings, you're squatting — not hinging.

The cue that fixes everything: "Push the wall behind you with your butt." Almost every bad hinge becomes a good one with this one cue.

Most women I see are quad-dominant and glute-weak. The hinge family of lifts fixes that. Six weeks of consistent hinging will change the way your jeans fit more than any cardio program.

3. PUSH — Upper body, frontside

What it is: Anything where you press a weight away from you. Push-ups, bench press, overhead press, dumbbell press, dips.

What it builds: Chest, shoulders, triceps, the visible "tone" most women say they want in the upper body. Also: the ability to push a stroller up a curb without your shoulder complaining.

Where to start: Incline push-ups against a bench. Three sets of as-many-as-possible, twice a week. As you get stronger, walk the bench lower until you're on the floor. Then add weight via dumbbell press.

The cue that fixes everything: "Squeeze the floor through your hands." This creates full-body tension and makes every push variation feel stronger.

The push is the lift most beginner women undertrain because it's the one that feels intimidating. Don't skip it. Six months of progressive pushing changes the shape of your shoulders and the way you carry yourself in a room.

4. PULL — Upper body, backside

What it is: Anything where you pull a weight toward you or pull yourself toward a bar. Rows, lat pulldowns, pull-ups, face pulls.

What it builds: Back, biceps, rear delts, posture. If you spend any time at a desk or a phone, your pulls need to outnumber your pushes — by a lot.

Where to start: Single-arm dumbbell row, three sets of ten per arm. Brace your free hand on a bench, hinge forward, pull the weight to your hip — not your shoulder.

The cue that fixes everything: "Pull with your elbow, not your hand." Imagine your hand is just a hook. The work happens at the elbow.

The pull is the lift I program more than any other for desk-job women. Most posture problems are pull-deficit problems in disguise. Fix the pull, fix the slouch, fix the headaches.

5. CARRY — The lift that builds everything quietly

What it is: You pick up something heavy and walk with it. Farmer's carry, suitcase carry, overhead carry, sled push.

What it builds: Grip strength, core stability, conditioning, posture, trap and shoulder strength, and a level of toughness no other lift teaches.

Where to start: Two dumbbells, walk for 30 yards, set them down, repeat for 4 rounds. Use a weight that makes the last 10 yards hard.

The cue that fixes everything: "Stand tall, ribs down." Most carries fail because people let their ribs flare out and their hips tilt. Tall and braced is the whole game.

Carries are the most underrated lift in modern fitness. They build real-world strength that transfers to everything: groceries, kids, suitcases, hauling kayaks to the water. If I could only program one lift for the rest of my life, it would be the farmer's carry.

How to put it together

If you're starting from zero, here's the simplest possible program built from those five movements:

Day 1 (Monday): Goblet squat 3×8 · Romanian deadlift 3×8 · Push-up variation 3×AMRAP · Single-arm row 3×10 per arm · Farmer's carry 4 rounds × 30 yards

Day 2 (Wednesday): Same lifts, slightly different rep scheme — 4×5 on the squat and hinge, 4×8 on the press and row.

Day 3 (Friday): Same library, light day. 3×6 on everything. Focus on form, not load.

That's a complete weekly program. It hits all five patterns. It builds every muscle group that matters. It takes about 45 minutes per session. And it works for 90% of the clients I coach — beginner through intermediate — with nothing more than a set of adjustable dumbbells.

You don't need more than this for the first six months. You probably don't need much more for the first six years.

The point

Fitness is not a question of finding the right secret. It's a question of doing the obvious things, on the right schedule, for longer than feels reasonable. These five movements are the obvious things. They are the basics I keep talking about. They are the spine of every program I write.

If you want help building them into a real twelve-week structure — with the form checks, the accountability, and the weekly adjustments — that's what Signal and Operator exist for. But the lifts are the lifts. You can start tomorrow, in your garage, with two dumbbells and forty-five minutes.

Pick squat, hinge, push, pull, carry. Do them. Don't stop. That's the whole job.

Talk soon. — Coach B