Squat / Hinge / Push / Pull Quadrents

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Dan John has spent his life with one foot in the world of lifting and throwing, and the other foot in academia. An All-American discus thrower, Dan has also competed at the highest levels of Olympic lifting, Highland Games and the Weight Pentathlon, an event in which he holds the American record.
Dan spends his work life blending weekly workshops and lectures with full-time writing, and is also an online religious studies instructor for Columbia College of Missouri. As a Fulbright Scholar, he toured the Middle East exploring the foundations of religious education systems. Dan is also a Senior Lecturer for St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London.
His books, on weightlifting, include Intervention, Never Let Go, Mass Made Simple and Easy Strength, written with Pavel Tsatsouline as well as From Dad, To Grad. He and Josh Hillis co-authored “Fat Loss Happens on Monday.”
In 2015, Dan wrote Can You Go? on his approach to assessments and basic training. In addition, Before We Go, another compilation akin to Never Let Go became an Amazon Bestseller.
In early 2017, Dan’s book, Now What?, his approach to Performance and dealing with “life,” became a Bestseller on Amazon. Hardstyle Kettlebell Challenge became available in September 2017, too.

[@day1strength917]

This is absolutely genius. It's interesting to think about this in relation to Dan's quadrants for athletes. So I'm a Q3 athlete that favors Pull/Hinge.

[@tobiasloudil576]

Judo ist a pull and squat-sport. You pull him to break his balance and then you squat him to put him on the ground..

[@kristianris976]

I think the hinge is more dominant depending on your style of judo.

[@turkishgetup3924]

As a youth climbing coach I've kind of kicked similar ideas around in my head. I divide climbers into either smooth or explosive. The kids that are smooth pull and squat well and move like a bead of water on glass. The explosive kids are pull/hinge and throw themselves up the wall. It's like pulling teeth to get any of them to do presses. The most complete kid I have is a 120 lb girl who does OL 4 days a week, and climbs 4-5 days a week.

[@farhanhussain_]

Pull Hinge pattern for me. Always excelled in chin up and deadlift but squats always feel unstable. I am focusing more on overhead pressing these days. I believe that these dominance are based on limb lengths. People with longer femur than back often struggle with squat pattern whereas longer back than femur means stable squats. Long arms help a lot with Deadlift and upper body pulling.

[@nathanbateman4255]

Hey! A little late, but I'm pretty sure I'm a Pull/Squatter. Especially at the higher rep ranges for the squat. I remember hitting a 4rm with 135 extra pounds with pull ups when I was 17 years old, and was also squatting 405 for sets of 10. Meanwhile, my bench was only three plates at the time and my deadlift was only around the mid 400s. I can deadlift pretty well, but it takes a LOT out of me so I usually stick to Stiff Legged/Snatch Grip variations to keep the load relatively low compared to competition style. Strength isn't my top priority anymore and my OHP (220) is quite good and my bench is okay (325), but my numbers on the pull up (90lbs extra for sets of 10, unweighted for 30+) and squat (355lbs for 25 reps, 405 for 10) are far better despite not even focusing on strength.

[@drpt26]

I tend to gravitate more to the pull and hinge movements but I also see press and squat as awesome movements.

[@brettcollierfoster]

Hey Dan, first, great conceptual model. Second, for pull/squatters climbers makes perfect sense... but I think wrestlers/grapplers might even work better as that archetype. Controlling the opponent is all upper body pulling and having a good "squeeze." Mix that with a powerful squat base for both holding ones own space and shooting/penetrating the opponents space and you have a solid wrestling structure.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Excellent point, thank you

[@iandvern29]

The most interesting 6 minutes that I've listened to for a long while.

[@imambaybars3405]

Wow great concept, never thought about it like this before, so I guess I'm a pull/hinge like Pavel, I love pull-ups, deadlifts and ballistic kettlebell hinge movements, I'm alright at push/press, and I suck at squats no matter what. I'd love to see how the loaded carry works with this system.

[@ryanwilliams9984]

Thought I was a squat/puller when I was younger. Turns out after I learned to hinge properly in my 20s, I favor that movement for everyday life and sport (grappling). Now I just goblet squat for mobility, but want to work on my press in the long term. Really like these broader concept videos. Thanks, Dan!

[@kevinsirr4416]

This 4 box system immediately made me think about body comp / body type. I'm sure Dan John has already thought about this but... ¹ Use this system to determine a movement starting point for individuals of a certain body type. ² Use this system for an individuals desired body comp. He made a very interesting point about sport developing body type or body type gravitating towards sport.

[@robindavis7023]

Great Video! I fall into the press/hinge dominant.

[@maxttelloc5253]

Pull-Hinge for life! Can’t squat to save my life (embarrassingly so), but pulls always good for level and same for hinge (DL).

[@user-dx4pv7vs8t]

respect dan john from south korea

[@ajgriffeth7899]

Really like the whiteboard format.

[@freddym6643]

Pull/Squat, golf maybe? You're pulling the arms down while rotating, which is lat driven, while pushing off the ground with the legs. Given the direction, rotation, and the jumping pattern in the leg(s) I'd say that's more like a squat than a hinge.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

I asked around about this. Golfers are very funny about lifting advice.

[@lb3598]

Last year my strength training consisted mainly of deadlift, overhead press and chin-ups. Sometimes easy strength style, grease-the-groove style, sometimes with no programme at all. Still I made huge progress in the OHP and very good progress in the DL, but my chin-ups still are terribly weak. Now I know why ;)

[@bababoey1433]

Pull-Squats just came/come easy to me, both from a technicality when I started lifting and performance. And there's a big carryover from squat to hinge, with performance being extremely. No rockclimber tho

[@RobBerks]

Very interesting! Great to know what you’re thinking about regarding your future of work Dan! Hinge - pull all day 👍🏻

[@_fanter]

I'm not quite up to Dan's general standards yet, but I do find that squatting and pressing just "feel better" for me. I know I can improve my hinging and pulling, but I like this idea that I shouldn't be scared of what I know I can do well. As I continue to build a training lifestyle, I'll be keeping this idea in mind.

[@jeffglueck3385]

Thank you for the content! I love pressing, deadlifts, and swings. Hate back squats, which means I should probably do more squatting. I find I enjoy goblet or rack squats than back squats, but I am following your hypertrophy/recovery program and forcing myself to learn and grind through the back squats. 😊

[@Maasd4m]

I was never good in press moves. And Shoulders are my main problem, so many injures. In the same time I am on with pull ups and such moves, feel my back muscles really well. Not sure about squat and hinge, but I think hinge is better for me cuz of long legs. And I like swings much more then goblet squat for example. So I think I am Pull-Hinge boy.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

So think about your workouts and adapt. It’s a good thing to think through.

[@papercat5192]

does this mean we should focus on what we're naturally good at? Or should we be trying to balance it out across the quadrants?

[@qoop1200]

I'm a hinge pull. Love the 5 fundamental movements as a way to see the forest through the trees for program design. It's the primary lens I use. This quadrant thinking is super interesting. The implications are different for the different fitness goals but this does seem like a way to optimize program design for individual athletes relative to those goals. Another broad category like this that comes to mind is grind vs. ballistic. I was never drawn to power-lifting, but was immediately drawn to kettlebell ballistics and I enjoy them much more, besides kneeling press for the hip stretch I do no grinds. I'm only training to enjoy my workouts and stay healthy but I don't notice any lack of ability from not training grinds. I can still grind in life if I need to. Thanks for working out loud!

[@michiel5160]

The grind vs explosive makes me think of Christian Thibaudeau's neurotyping. I have never used kettlebells, but also like ballistic stuff more.

[@jzt26]

Ive always had near elite numbers on chin ups (5x90lbs @210lbs) with clean form, but ive always been horrible at benching no matter how hard i tried. Never got close to 3 plates. Same for squat vs deadlift. Great at deadlifts and squats feel incredibly awkward.

[@KBNZ83]

I favour pull hinge but I’m absolutely terrible at weightlifting movements. I’ve always thought the squatters were better at these lifts. I’ve usually found the better squatters had longer torsos, shorter femurs. I’ve got long arms and legs,and deadlifts and all their variations have always been my go to lifts. I’ve even noticed a big difference between how some people respond to chin ups and pull ups. People find out easier to add weight to one over the other. I would have assumed that chin ups would be king for everyone. Though this did seem to correlate with those with a good swimming background. Couldn’t tell you if this is a nature or nurture correlation.

[@drunknnirish]

I am for sure a hinge press. I hate pulling and while I do love squatting I am clearly not built for it. I think I could be happy for the rest of my life doing nothing but presses and deadlifts in fact that is what I am currently doing on my training.

[@michiel5160]

I am definitely a hinger. However, I can't figure out if I was made for pulling or pushing. My overhead press is ok and I like them, my dip is terrible and bench press hurts my shoulders. I don't like pull ups too much, but do ok. I do enjoy rowing.

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

Thank you.

[@alexchaney5582]

A lot of wrestlers are pull + squatters.

[@gregorymathans8148]

Pull+squat=wrestler?

[@Mandimmion]

Very interesting and thank you for the video as well as all of the others which I have consumed eagerly during the lockdowns here in the UK. I do believe that our bone structure has a large part to play in the movements that come naturally to us. A barrel chested indivdual with short arms, finds bench pressing much more comfortable than the narrow shouldered who has longer limbs. Potentially changes in our mobility and flexibility as we progress through life can affect these too: I have always found the Squat and Pull to be areas in which I have felt strong and for which the movements came easily. I was however lucky enough to be taught how to deadilft correctly in my 20's and for a few years, this would become my best lift and felt very easy. After some years away from that type of training and a lot more of my working life which involved driving, the deadlift has become much more awkward. Dan says that 'Little Dan' should still train the movements that he was weaker in, but that the push and hinge would give him the most bang for his buck in terms of performance improvement. Should we therefore work the weaker quadrants but spend the majority of time on our strong points or would this create too much of an imbalance?

[@TimUckun]

Shouldn't we be attacking our weak points? If we are a push squat person maybe we should be doing more pulls and hinges?

[@aarons9879]

The way I'm understanding this, you just want to get stronger. If you struggle with your squat, pushing it might not improve your sport performance. So it is important to cover the movements, but not all of them are important to push. Granted if you need to have a good squat and hinge you will need to push both.

[@ajw9533]

Would rowers be pull-squatters?

[@cake2244]

How would one systematically test this? I could imagine focusing on one movement (or quadrant) for 2-4 week spurts while maintaining the other movements, but would testing be done on the field of play or does the carry/long jump test generalize well enough? Also, I'm a pull squat breastroker and I bet that's the case with many others too

[@PhiyackYuh]

I love my pull ups and split squat. What am i then?

[@dsalt69]

Squat, pull. Did you even pay attention?

[@jayhem_klee]

Hey Dan, great video. Would rowers qualify for the pull/squat quadrant ?

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

This is a year old...wow. It could, yes.

[@AaaAa-kd5qr]

pieeeerwszy !

[@fatandy63]

As a Neanderthal God created me for heavy carries full stop. Push Pull Squat Hinge I work at on the Muhammad Ali principle of work my weaknesses. Heavy carry. I’m in my wheelhouse

[@rj5822]

Wendler’s 5/3/1?

[@DanJohnStrengthCoach]

This is a question?