Modernizing Fitness - Creating a stable structure, not just stronger muscles!

Steve Palazzolo
PGA Professional, Philadelphia Section

Dr. Eric Goodman, creator of Foundation Training, surrounded his focus of attention around the posterior chain as it relates to supporting the movement of hinging at the hips. However, it was his ability to recognize that poor movement patterns over time are responsible for injuries and chronic pain. With foundation training at the center, Goodman suggests you can perform better in your activities of interest including yoga, lifting, cardio, etc. Here, Goodman’s overall mission is explained,

'We do not treat injuries. We teach your body, training it to move effectively, powerfully, and in balance so that injuries due to mechanical imbalances and weaknesses fall by the wayside.'

He isn't exactly ignoring the importance to recover from injuries. Goodman needs you to understand that your problem started long before the pain/injury. If we focused on the pain/injury, we would often be ignoring the cause.

Balance occurs in the proper movement as a result of functioning glutes, hamstrings, calves and back muscles. Goodman attributes spine relaxation, lengthening of the hamstrings, and overall function of glutes (how much are they contributing while we walk, run, bend over, lift, etc.) to the strengthening of back muscles. This continues to prove foundation training to be at the center of your focus.

Moving properly more often will result in a lower chance of performing an activity or movement incorrectly, especially at high intensity. This relates directly to one of Goodman’s key pieces of advice as he warns not to treat the pain, but instead, we will treat the CAUSE of the pain as a result of pain’s ability to radiate away from the cause. In order to treat the cause, we treat every portion of the body since we cannot always track the cause of the pain.

This concept results in a fairly new form of physical therapy called 'prehabilitation'. Rehabilitation is the work performed on the region of injury. Prehabilitation is all the work we do on the rest of the body, long after the injury was healed from rehabilitation.

Two things can contribute to the injury(these are slightly different)...

1. improper movement pattern during high intensity causing shock to the injury region (trauma or accident)
2. degradation of muscles, joints, and tissues surrounding the injury as a result of continued improper movement patterns over time.

Now, here’s the key. He did not want to think that the injury was a result of that instantaneous movement pattern during high intensity. This would leave him with fewer reasons for the injury itself. Goodman persisted and worked backwards for a cause resulting in a better understanding that the posterior chain is the most important group of muscles in the core responsible for the prevention of injury. Now that he considers the second option, it led him to better ways to strengthen the area around the injury, specifically in the core. After years of so much focus on the abs, Goodman shifted the focus from

The abs -------> the back of the body (the posterior chain)

This is revolutionary for the longevity of the human body as we were so diligently focused and obsessed with the abs for so many years. We relentlessly searched the internet, looked through magazines, watched television shows, and more in order to find the workouts to achieve that destined 6-pack. For our bodies, this is what was important visually and captured what so many people desired. Nevertheless, Goodman proves to obtain more groundbreaking fitness essentials with the following instruction (without taking away the importance/function of the abdominals)…

For every one workout you do for the front of the body, you should be doing four workouts for the back of the body.

Ratio of workouts --> Front of the body 1 : 4 Back of the body

This modernizes fitness and returns balance to the body.

Now, are you beginning to see this new understanding of anatomy come full circle?

Please, if you need any clarification or have any questions, reply below!