Laying the Foundation

Everybody, no matter their circumstance, will come to a point in their training where they have to do slow, meticulous, deep-layer activation exercises.

It’s only natural that in our daily movement patterns (and resting patterns) that we develop imbalances that, when ignored, will pop up in the form of pain with an increasing intensity of exercise.

When you learn about your body - either through working with a personal trainer, or reading articles, or simply tuning into your own exercise experience with intention - the body will start to steer you in the direction that your training or exercise needs to go. I call it the internal compass, and it’s an important skill to tune into this.

For example, some weeks I have boundless energy and an effortlessness in my joints, and my body is asking for higher intensity bouts and more creative movements. Some weeks, my head may be overstimulated and joints cranky, and my body is asking me to hone in on the functionality of my deeper muscles (let’s say breath-driven transverse abdominis work, glute med activations, inner thigh recruitment…) This will smooth out my joints and lead to the stability my body needs to get back into a high-energy, effortless place.

The body makes requests. And if you skip the deep activation work, eventually you’ll be “told”, and maybe not in the nicest way, that you need to circle back and take care of some imbalances before you keep springing forward.

A great program will weave the functional and deep layering work into a fun, progressive and deeply satisfying program. It doesn’t always have to feel boring, repetitive and dull. But one thing is for sure, you can’t build a strong house with integrity on a crackling foundation.

If you have sore hips, lower back pain, knee pain, shoulder or neck pain, chances are good you really need to implement some foundational exercises in your program one way or another. If you have any questions about how to do this so that you may keep progressing pain-free, please contact me anytime.

Behind all of your limb movement is your core function, and behind the core function is your breathing function. Pay attention to complete and intentional breathing in your training, as one quick tip for tying up your biomechanical patterns.