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Pathway
Beginner
45 min read

Locate and name

A six-step entry route for anyone unsure where to start. It begins with the whole body, works down to a muscle, then to the joint it crosses, and back up to the movement.
The difficulty when opening an anatomy site is not finding information: it is knowing where to put it. An isolated muscle name is useless until you know where it sits, what it crosses, and what it produces.
This pathway offers the reverse order of a textbook. It starts with the overview, works down to a part, then to what that part moves, and finally back up to the complete movement.

What this pathway lets you understand

By the end, three things should be in place. Where the major muscle groups sit on a standing body. What a muscle crosses, and why that determines its action. And why a joint is not described as a motor but as a trade-off.
This is not an anatomy course. It is a way of filing what you read next.

Level, prerequisites and reading time

No prerequisites. The pathway is written for a first reading, and each page stands on its own — the order proposed helps, it is not compulsory.
Allow around forty-five minutes for the whole thing, taking time to look at the scenes. Each page states its own reading time.

The steps of the pathway

The six steps, in order

0 of 6 steps completed
  • See the whole body
    Open the body map and locate the twelve priority muscle groups, in anterior then posterior view.
    5 min read
  • A surface muscle
    The quadriceps: four heads, a single insertion, and one head that crosses two joints instead of one.
    8 min read
  • A muscle you cannot see
    The iliopsoas, the only muscle linking the spine to the femur. It shows that what matters is not always visible.
    9 min read
  • The joint they cross
    The hip: a sphere set deep in its socket, locked by three ligaments that tighten when standing.
    8 min read
  • The joint next door
    The knee, exactly the reverse: two poorly matched surfaces, held by menisci and ligaments.
    9 min read
  • The complete movement
    The squat, where these parts work together: phases, joints moved, and how the work is shared.
    8 min read

What to take away

A muscle is described by what it links. Its two attachments and the joints it crosses are enough to predict its action: that is why the pages in the Body pillar always begin with origin and insertion rather than with function.
Certainty level · Established
A muscle's action follows from its path relative to the joints it crosses.
This is the basic principle of functional anatomy, used the same way by descriptive anatomy and by kinesiology. It applies well to muscles with a simple path; for broad sheets, whose fibres do not all share one orientation, the action varies with the part considered and with the joint angle.
Standring S (2020) · Neumann DA (2016)
A joint is not described the same way. There is no "function" to extract, but a trade-off to read: the more a joint is fitted together, the better it holds and the less it moves. The hip and the knee place that slider at two opposite points, and the shoulder pushes it to the far end.
Key point
The thread to keep
A muscle produces. A joint permits and limits. A movement is the meeting of the two, under an external constraint.
The site's three pillars are built on that distinction: Body describes the parts, Movement describes their coordination, Adaptation describes what changes when you repeat.

Checking what stuck

Check my understanding

Why does rectus femoris, a head of the quadriceps, also act on the hip?
What distinguishes the hip from the knee in terms of stability?
What can you conclude from pain located where a ligament described on this site sits?
Choose an answer

Sources

Sources for this pathway

  • Standring S (2020). Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice, 42nd edition. Elsevier.
  • Neumann DA (2016). Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System: Foundations for Rehabilitation, 3rd edition. Elsevier.

Read next

  • Anatomy of a movement
    Six steps to break a movement down: the pattern it follows, the joints it moves, the muscles that produce and those that restrain, and what body proportions change about it.
    Described without a scene
  • The shoulder
    The most mobile joint in the body, and the one that holds least by its shape. A wide head resting on a shallow socket, retained by soft tissue.
    With a 3D scene
  • Rotator cuff
    Four short muscles link the shoulder blade to the upper arm and hold the head of the humerus against its socket. They orient the shoulder more than they move it.
    With a 3D scene
Put it into practice in Shapier

Train the squat

Learning the squat step by step happens in Shapier; Body Lab only explains which parts this movement brings together.
Train the squat
Body Lab explains; Shapier lets you act and track.

Available offline

Offline download is available in the mobile app.

Trust and method

Author
equipe-editoriale-shapier
Editorial review
Thanh Chau
Scientific review
Pending
Published on
August 2, 2026
Reviewed on August 2, 2026
Next review due August 2, 2027
Limits of this page
  • The pathway describes a reference anatomy, the one found in textbooks: muscle size, attachment orientation and joint shape vary between people.
  • No step allows an individual situation to be assessed: the pathway is for locating and naming, not for judging a pain or an execution.
  • The 3D models show simplified volumes and represent neither cartilage, nor fascia, nor nerves.
Sources
  • Standring S (2020). Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice, 42nd edition. Elsevier.
  • Neumann DA (2016). Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System: Foundations for Rehabilitation, 3rd edition. Elsevier.
Educational content. Body Lab does not diagnose and does not replace professional advice.
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