The Founder Exercise from Foundation Training

One exercise that I do nightly that I have  found to work my core is The Founder from the innovative book Foundation: Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain, and Move with Confidence by Dr. Eric Goodman and Peter Park. The core, according to the book is just not the front of the body, but rather the back. I have had the DVD that goes along with the book since January and it has a lot of information and routines. I haven't even watched the whole thing yet, as I am still doing the basic exercises. This is a very different and unusual strengthening routine. I really like it. I showed the book to a physical therapist last fall and she thought it looked like a very good program. You can get the DVD, book, or digital downloads at the Foundation Training website.

Foundation training shifts the focus from the front of your body to the back. By strengthening the full posterior chain and correcting poor movement patterns, you will maximize power, flexibility, and endurance and say goodbye to back pain.

 I saw this quote on the Foundation Facebook page today and thought it sums up The Founder quite well.

I used to think of the Founder as an exercise for strengthening the body. I now recognize this exercise as the pathway to awakening the otherwise dormant, primitive neural pathways of original human movement.

There is more to the Foundation program than The Founder, but that is all I have been concentrating on lately. When my muscles are stiff or getting out of alignment and in particular when  my left lower back feels tight, I do The Founder to great success.  If you want to try it or the other basic Foundation exercises, check out these videos.

Here is a video on how to do a perfect founder.



Here is an early video that shows The Founder and other Foundation exercises as demonstrated by Peter Park, Lance Armstrong's strength and conditioning coach, and Dr. Eric Goodman.



 If you can access this Facebook page, you can see a video of actor Jeff Bridges working on The Founder. You can get some tips on using the arms to work the back in this video.
This video shows some common mistakes when doing the Founder.

 

This video answers some question on Foundation training including neck position in the founder.

 

Here is an older video showing an early Foundation routine. They have changed things a bit since this video.
 

Here is the DVD and book trailer.