Exercise is important if you want to have energy and compete in this world. I enjoy boxing and wrestling along with bodyweight workouts. Nothing gets you more of a world class elite workout to suck your thumb like a 5 year old than throwing your back out. I do this once a year and my chiropractor recommended reading Foundation.
Why is this important to me?
Everyone I know has lost their back regardless of whether they are a world class athlete or 100lbs overweight. Weak back affects most people. When I was younger, I always had back and neck pain. My neck was giving me headaches and the doctor said it was a degenerative disc. What’s interesting is that I eliminated neck pain with a back bridge exercise that was introduced to me in wrestling and reinforced in Matt Fury’s combat conditioning routine.
Improper movement and movement that occurs from the lower back instead of the hips and legs is the main cause of lower back problems. Foundation addresses these issues and discusses ways to eliminate them.
Foundation is an excellent book that gets to the root of back pain. Testimonials are from professional athletes as well as patients who have undergone back surgery. We are going to discuss the what, why and how to eliminate back pain.
1. What is the cause? Since back pain happens to anyone, including 19-year-old professional athletes or 70-year-old grandmothers, it makes sense to study it. Back pain revolves around improper movement. Eric and Peter have developed a core workout to shift the focus from the abs and front of the body to the posterior and posterior chain. The reason why there is so much back, hip and knee pain is because we load our body incorrectly.
2. Why is this important? The answer to this is obvious, but it seems like everyone has a different answer on how to fix it. If you go to a doctor, they will tell you to ice yourself and take medicine. A chiropractor will adjust it which is effective most of the time if they are good and a message therapist will work the muscles to relax you. All these methods eliminate the symptoms but do not cure the root of the problem. If you don’t change your movement patterns, the lesions will progress and low-grade inflammation will persist.
3. How does it work? Core training is a set of exercises that builds the posterior and posterior chain. I am very excited about this because my hips, legs, and lower back are extremely tight. When I’m hot, I can almost do the splits but my hips are locked like they’re fused together. For every exercise you do for the front of your body, you should do four for your back. This is real because the evaluation of this program for me has shown that I am over built in the front and under built in the back. Foundation trains you to use your most powerful muscles correctly, creating flexibility in the most important areas of your body.
Foundation is a great book that I recommend you read. I have been doing the exercises for a week and already feel the difference. My back is getting better and stronger. One thing that stands out in the book is using a styrofoam roller to loosen up your legs and hips. I have to admit, I didn’t feel like spending $40 bucks for a piece of styrofoam, but this has helped me beyond belief. Here’s the analogy: if you have a rubber band it will stretch to its limit, if you tie knots in the rubber band and try to stretch it, then the elasticity is perhaps only 20% effective. I can tell you that when you start with the roller, it hurts like hell, but the progression is very fast. To get an idea of how good these exercises are, YouTube “Fundamental” and watch one of the 12 minute videos that Eric and Pete give away for free. You will see results.
I hope you found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes a habit. Habits are formed in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is to eliminate your back pain. Foundation will become my pre-workout choice in the future because I know it works. I got my back out and now it’s better and stronger thanks to these routines.
