18 month ago, I asked my therapist if there was any new program to "cure" my back problems. I knew she had a very bad back and she said she had "cured" her back problems with Foundation Training. I asked if she meant "cured", or just better. She replied is was "cured"... I went home and started the course and in 5 weeks my back pain went away (including spasms). In 7 weeks my knee pain went away, and in 9 weeks my neck was considerably better. Now we are recommending that golfers try this wonderful posterior chain builder. It reactivates the glutes which are the foundation for ball striking. The other obvious benefit is looser hamstrings for flexibility and an increased shoulder turn. I wish this program had been around 30 years ago.
Using the hips to hinge, paying special attention to the head/neck relationship, developing the core strength of the posterior chain vs. limb strength or ab strength I’d heard all this before, thirty years before and have had decades of personal experience with the various systems out there that attempt to focus on these concepts. So I put the book down, ignored the DVD and didn’t try Foundation Training. (Hint, this was a mistake, don’t do this.) Fortunately I was offered a couple of sessions with a Foundation Training expert trained by Dr. Goodman to learn about the work directly and I grudgingly went along with it just to check out what the buzz was around Foundation Training. Literally two minutes into the exercises I realized something special was going on here. Dr. Goodman has taken a very well-worn path and blazed a completely new trail which is impossible to appreciate or understand until you get your first two minutes of Foundation Training and the light bulb goes on. Foundation Training is like powerlifting or Olympic weight training for your deep postural muscles. As we sit a lot, collapsed, and work on computers these deep postural muscles degrade and weaken to the point they can no longer function and hold us up. Even the “fit” among us, professional athletes, tend toward developing poor movement patterns from the years of sitting we all do that then translate into their sport whether it be basketball or cycling. Breaking these postural movement patterns is virtually impossible using most all of the existing systems. Yoga increases flexibility and strength, weight training increases muscle strength, the Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais make us aware of poor movement patterns, but Dr. Goodman has developed the unthinkable – one single set of exercises that quickly, almost miraculously create profound muscle strength and flexibility at the same time in just the areas we are weakest and tightest from our modern lifestyle habits.
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.
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 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.
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 heard a pop in my groin after shooting a goal in a college water polo match in 1977. 35 years of low back pain and two weeks before my wedding last year I had a laminectomy. I had given up some sports and desperately hung on to others. While x country skiing in Central Wisconsin, my buddy says "you have to check out Foundation Training." I now enjoy work and play like a child. For the first time in years I can put my pants on pain free. How good is that.
I thought my lower back would be my Achilles’ heel forever. Foundation Training took that thought out of the equation. I feel strong and flexible, and my posture is better than it has ever been. This stuff is just plain good for you.
As a motocross racer, Foundation Training has allowed me to move more efficiently and effectively on my motorbike. The Foundation Training movements will increase the longevity of my career because they are great for prevention and treatment of many injuries (not just back injuries). On top of that, they will improve my performance because I will be better able to create power using my posterior chain. After reading the book and watching the new DVD, I believe so strongly in the principles of Foundation Training that I just had to express my gratitude through this testimonial.
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!