I have had lower back pain for 5 years. Just constant aggravation in the lower back. Also have had numbness in my thumb and two forefingers in my left hand. My lower back pain disappeared after just the first two sessions of learning the movements. I bought the disc set and am currently on my 3rd week of practicing the movements. My hand numbness is 60-70% better and expect that it may very well disappear in 2-3 months. I could not be more sold on your exercises and program. By the way the MRIs indicated that I have a bulging disc in my neck and a herniated disc in my lower back.
I have had nagging right sided lower back pain for years. My sacroiliac joint was unstable and I’d "throw it out" routinely. Now, if you've ever had back pain, acute or chronic, you know what I mean when I say that when your back hurts, it ruins everything in your life. Being an athlete with medical training, for years I stubbornly pursued many avenues of treatment, holistic and conventional. I read dozens of research articles on the subject, hunted down and visited numerous specialists in several states, and put myself through thousands of dollars of training including dynamic neuromuscular stabilization (DNS), Barefoot Training Certification, Don Tigney’s work, the Egoscue system and even Postural Restoration Institute (PRI) sequences.
In the late summer of 2013, I had an MRI and CT scan performed. My chiro looked at these and thought my spine looked “pretty bad.” My orthopedic surgeon was more admirably direct and matter-of-fact stating “Your spine looks like sh-t.” Here I was, a lifelong athlete dedicated to the pursuit of fitness and health, and I had somehow torn my own back apart in the process. I got pretty depressed.
Sensing an epiphany, I began doing the Foundation Training exercises... I do not exaggerate when I say that within a few days (< 1 week) I noticed that I wasn't throwing my back out. After a few more days, my back felt abnormal...meaning it didn't hurt. It was so strange (and welcome!) NOT to be experiencing nearly constant pain...
Since I began using the techniques in Foundation Training, I have remained free of the back pain and instability that had plagued me for years before. Interestingly, my left knee, quite commonly a source of pain, also stopped hurting. This latter tidbit may seem odd at first, but the knee’s function is strongly influenced by central (core) body control. I incorporate parts of the system regularly in my daily life…sometimes just a couple of movements and sometimes a whole sequence. For people who have back/hip/neck pain, I strongly recommend Foundation Training because it really hits at the essential components of human movement and function. For people who don’t have pain, I recommend the practice because even if you are pain-free now, you are probably well en route to developing it as pain is a pretty late sign of long-term dysfunction. To clarify, think of a car with bad front end alignment and an abnormally worn front tire. As with our bodies, the tire wear didn’t happen suddenly, but was a result of a long-standing alignment problem.
A little about me: I am an active 50 year old male in the final year of the Human Movement Master's Program at (ATSU), former Marine, currently Firefighter/Paramedic, Tae Kwon Do Black Belt, current Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, Hardstyle Kettlebell Instructor, NASM Personal Trainer with specialization in Performance Enhancement and Corrective Exercise, DNS Sport Levels I & II, FMS I & II, Barefoot Mechanics, and just a nerd in general 🙂
I search for the best of the best when it comes to my fitness and conditioning. I have always been in great shape and take pride in maintaining a certain level of fitness, but in the time I have been working with Peter Park and Eric Goodman, I have reached a new level of endurance, stamina, and strength. The program pushes me without exhausting me, conditions me, and has completely changed the way my body moves and feels.
The human body is designed to thrive against gravity – else we tend to age rapidly and get injured. Foundation Training is the answer to my many years of research on the negative effects of sitting. It is a ticket to discover a more vibrant health life – no matter your age.
Foundation serves as the backbone of not only my workouts but also my lifestyle. At first I thought that it would just make me a better athlete, but after nearly 3 years under my belt, it has done so much more. It just makes you a better functioning human being. I like it so much that everyone around me knows how much I like it because I talk about it all the time. Baseball players sit on airplanes and busses and in dugouts. We have actions that are always one direction. Our backs are a mess, our hips are screwed up and foundation helps to right all those wrongs. Everyone I come into contact with has some issue and I get to share with them the gift of foundation. I know its worked in my life and in my friends life – and I always get a kick when someone I've never talked to about it comes up to me and says “Hey, what’s this I’m hearing about your funny workout you do, can you show me?”
Foundation Training is absolutely perfect for perfect posture in the golf swing. From set-up to finish, these exercises help with strength and conditioning for the complete game. Even with the bending over for putting. I spend a lot of time on the practice green putting and my back used to ache. But now, my back feels stronger and I have more endurance than before. I feel the positive effects of lengthening my spine which is critical because I have had two herniated disk surgeries and am 66 years old. Thank you guys. This is amazing.
I have written to you all before about how Foundation Training has helped me but I keep getting better so I wanted to give you an update. I got the MRI that diagnosed my 9mm herniated disk between L4-L5 and the 3mm herniated disk between L3-L4 that is torn in May of 2013 and was promptly told I needed a multi level lumbar fusion. I was 27 years old looking at losing my job as an RN after only working for one year. I did not feel that surgery was the right choice for me since I had all sensation and motor control. I found a wonderful chiropractor that wasn't afraid to work with me and he told me surgery was not my only option. I was there a lot but he helped me I was able to keep working. I read about Foundation Training in The Wellness Journal in August 2013 and proceeded to go for it after my chiropractor said that the exercises looked great. It got me out of pain quickly and helped me re-learn how to move the way I was always meant to. The exercises braced me for 2 car accidents I experienced in 2014 and helped me recover quickly. I share Foundation Training with anyone I meet who say they have back pain or ask me how my back is doing, I do the Founder exercise while in the Nursing station and have many of my coworkers ask about it so I go through that move with them too. This experience has opened my eyes to the sadly common problem of back pain and I want to give back so I am planning the attend one of the certifications in the Spring of 2015! I have gone from doing a 2 hour FT workout almost everyday in the beginning to about 20 minutes a few times a week because I have so little pain and because I know Foundation Training has truly changed the way my body moves at all times so it is like my whole day is FT exercises. Bending to get dinner out of the oven, picking up my friends kids, sitting at my desk, dressing/ turning patients, walking, hiking, and picking up heavy stuff looks very different now. I use the strong muscles that your program has reconnected me to for my movement and that has gotten out of some serious pain. Thank you so much!
Long time surfer / kitesurfer / stand up boarder, work out every day, well in my 40s. August 2015, my back went out on me for the first time in my life. Stuck on a sofa for several months, couldn't stand, sit, or even lay down on my back, got drugged up pretty bad by doctors without a clue on how to treat a herniated disc (S1 L5). Worst experience in my life, thought my ocean days were over. Deep inside I knew the solution was in moving the right way, but where I live no-one really knows how. So I kept searching the web until I stumbled upon a surfer's website. His workout were too rough for me - I was still hardly able to walk - but he mentioned Foundation Training on his blog, so I checked it out. Seemed soft enough for me to try, so I did, through the short videos. Initially I was hurting when doing the founder, but my gut feeling was to keep trying. Went on to purchase the videos, did the fundamentals day in day out for a full month. It was like a miracle for me. Slowly but surely, the unbearable hip pain that radiated all the way down to my toes began receding. Couldn't believe it. After a month or so, moved on to Daily Workouts. I found them hard, especially the forward fold, I would have never have dared do something like that just 2 weeks earlier. Kept on going. 6 monts after my back went out, and about 2 months after starting the FT program, I was back in the water. Life saver. Now I know back pain is all about posture. Learn the right postures, stretch and strengthen the posterior chain, and keep doing so forever. And you'll be fine again.
~Surfer from Morocco
I hurt my back many years ago by lifting things that were too heavy for me but managed to keep out of pain most of the time through my yoga practice. However after a fairly disastrous hysterectomy in 2015 my back became much weaker through lack of use and then when I started using it again I sat up in bed one morning in Jan 2016 and felt it go completely in the same place as the old injury. I was floored with the pain of what I suspected was herniated disc and couldn't move at first and then only with severe shooting pain down my right leg and particularly in, through and under my right hip joint. I struggled through the year with osteopathy and pain killers but as I teach yoga and play golf I knew I needed to know what was wrong and why it wouldn't heal this time. I finally had a mri scan in September which showed the disc bulging on the right handside. 'Likely to be an ongoing problem' the doctor said. I took this as a personal challenge! Having listening to a book review by Brian Johnson of True to Form and watching Eric's TED talk I bought the FT Connect programme a week before Christmas 2016. I followed it religiously and within 5 days started to feel muscles that had been long forgotten whilst protecting the damaged disc start firing and providing support once more. I couldn't believe it felt so different, so much better than it had for so long. All the training information made perfect sense and I felt empowered to make the right moves to heal myself from within. I have adapted my personal yoga practice to incorporate this. On those few days that I have not fully committed to the workout I noticed a twinge here and there returning. This is why I say that my back and hip pain is now a choice. If I do the exercises everyday I feel great and if I don't it comes back. My choice. Simple!
I have signed up for the training in Florida, as I feel just about everyone could benefit mind and body from holding their own body in this way. Yes this goes well beyond the physical I think expanding the diaphragm in this way improves wellbeing and happiness too.
After 20 years working as a stuntman, going to the gym 5-6 times a week I felt like Hercules, but then my back went. Spent 18 months in bed! Now 5 years later I found myself as a chronic back person. I trained as a structural bodyworker and now I work with people with chronic back pain, but can only work 4 hours a day before the pain stops me.
But 5 weeks ago I found Foundation Training, and now my pain is almost gone! I'm back in the gym with new hope, and a job as a personal trainer! Yesterday I did a 10 min plank! How is that possible in just 5 weeks?? What can I say. Foundation Training safed my life! Getting better day by day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!! From me and my clients!
My hope is one day to come to the states and become a part of the Foundation Training family!