Foundation: Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain, and Move with Confidence

by Eric Goodman

The butt, hip, hamstring, back, and spine muscles are meant to generate more force than any other part of your body. We believe that for every exercise you do for the front of your body, you should do at least four for the back, because those muscles will provide you with powerful, pain-free movement.

What Foundation training uniquely does, in the most simplified terms, is strengthen and train the many small muscles of the spine to brace the entire lower spine while the hips pivot.

If you flatten the lordotic curve of the lower back, known as hypolordosis, your glutes cannot be activated fully, and your lower back has to absorb more pressure and weight than it is designed to do, resulting in back pain.

Flexibility and forward bending should come from gross joint movements at the hips and not from the spine.

Most people are trained to contract the hamstrings from a seated, flexed spine position, which simply does not do justice to the power of these muscles. Trying to strengthen these important muscles on a leg curling machine at the gym is asking for trouble, as that isolates muscles meant to work with others as a group. Foundation training is about integrated movement.

Foundation training, unlike conventional resistance training, is based on holding challenging postures that promote a unique combination of strength and flexibility.

We recommend that you do the exercises for the basic workout for 15 to 20 minutes at least three days a week.