Transcription
Whether you're experiencing pain in your back, hips, knees, or anywhere else in your body, you must stop treating the symptoms. Things like stretching, foam rolling, massage, physios, pills, and surgeries are not the answer to your problem. Movement is. And in this video, I am not going to give you a quick fix. I am going to give you the five fundamental movements that I use to eliminate pain in my own body as well as hundreds of my students around the world.
So, let's start with the one that you've probably lost completely. Number one, the deep squat hold. This isn't a leg day squat. This is your resting position. Every child can do this, but most adults lose it before 25. Deep squatting decompresses your spine, opens your hips, stretches your lower back, trains your knees, and reactivates your pelvic floor. If your hips feel tight, if you get low back pain, if your knees crack, then this is where we start. The secret, you don't have to hold it perfectly. You just have to sit in it daily. Let gravity teach your body what it forgot. This is supposed to be a resting position. This is not an exercise. Your ancestors did this all the time, all day, every day. And you should be integrating this into your daily life. So whether you're reading, whether you're watching TV, whether you're scrolling the internet, you want to build up time in this position throughout the day. You don't have to sit as perfectly as I am right now. What you can do is regress the movement by elevating your heels, holding on to something for support, moving through those positions, and over time as you get more experience, as your mobility improves, as the mechanics improve, this will become a natural resting position for you that you are going to do all the time everywhere. I would strongly suggest that you start with 5 minutes a day of squatting and accumulate time throughout the day until you get to a point where you're squatting for 30 minutes a day plus.
Number two is the passive hang. Now, this is the shoulder rehab that you were never taught. Hanging decompresses the spine, resets the shoulder mechanics, strengthens your grip, and improves posture from the ground up. Most people live in internal rotation, meaning hunched forward. Hanging gives your scapula a chance to slide. It gives your thoracic spine more space to breathe. Now, grip strength is one of the highest predictors of mortality. And yet, nobody hangs. So, you need to start with dead hangs. Let your breath soften the tension. What you want to do is accumulate time in this position just like as you do in a squat. If you find it difficult to hang or if your grip gives way then what you can do is use chalk or you can use your feet to assist you whether that's on a box or on the floor. But the point is that you need to decompress your spine completely relax inside of your shoulder blades and allow everything to be pulled down by gravity. I would accumulate time throughout the day where you get to a point you do 5 minutes throughout the day and do this consecutively over the course of 30 days. You're going to notice significant improvement in your shoulders, in your breath, in your spine, in your thoracic. There are many variations of a hang that you can do. And once you become more experienced, you'll be able to play with one arm hangs. You'll be able to play with more dynamic hangs. You'll be able to move through the hangs, and you're going to notice just how much your upper body strength and grip improves.
Number three is the Jefferson curl. Now, you were probably told to never round your spine, and that's completely wrong. The Jefferson curl isn't dangerous, it's necessary. This exercise trains segmental spinal flexion under load, and it teaches your nervous system to stop bracing out of fear. Back pain often isn't from injury. It's from stiffness, fragility, and poor motor control. And you need to earn access to your hamstrings and spine again. So, this is how you're going to do it. You're going to start the Jefferson curl just utilizing your body weight. So, learning how to flex that spine, how to articulate each vertebrae at a time until you feel in complete control that you can begin to add some load to it. Even when you do add load, you're going to start nice and slowly. Get a 10 kilo dumbbell. Progress that over time. You can play with different variations such as Jefferson curls in a squat, one arm Jefferson curls, Jefferson curls with hamstring extensions, and much much more. The point is you need to get comfortable and overcome that fear of flexing your spine. and you are going to see what a bulletproof spine you're going to achieve over probably 30 to 60 days of doing this consistently.
Number four is 9090 hip rotation. Now, the hips are compressed 24/7 cuz all we do is sit and we hardly ever train them correctly. So, you don't need more hamstring stretches. You need hip rotation. Most people lack internal rotation which is crucial for knee health, squat depth, and gate mechanics. The 9090 position teaches your feur to rotate inside the socket. And again, this isn't passive stretching. This is joint strength. If your knees hurt, your hips are usually the source. You're going to start off really light because probably your knees will hurt. Your hips will not have a lot of range of motion. So, you can start by sitting on the floor using your hands to assist and moving through the position slowly and carefully. Over time, as you become more comfortable, as your knees get stronger, as your hips become more mobile, you will be able to get more range to the point where you'll be able to do this without hands. Obviously, along with your squat and along with doing other exercises that strengthen and stabilize your hips and knees, these positions will improve. But the point is, you have to do them daily and you have to put intention into your mobility work. So, progressively overload it instead of just stretching.
And number five is thoracic mobility. Now, most lower back pain is really upper back stiffness. Your thoracic spine is meant to flex, extend, and rotate, but modern life has locked it up from phones, laptops, and chairs. Thoracic extensions and thoracic mobility is going to restore posture, breathe space into your rib cage, and allow shoulder function to return. You're going to feel taller, you'll breathe deeper, and your overhead press will improve. Most shoulder issues stem from poor thoracic mobility and control. Scapular issues are going to result from poor thoracic mobility and a lot of other issues as well. So, your best bet is to improve your thoracic mobility by using exercises such as weighted pullovers, thoracic extensions, thoracic rotations, and slowly overloading this over time.
So, you see, you don't need 30 different mobility drills. You need a few non-negotiables done with consistency, intention, and most of all, progression. These five movements are not optional. They are fundamental. When you lose them, your body starts to hurt. When you reclaim them, your pain often disappears. And it's not magic. It's not therapy. It's movement, but movement that is done right. So, you're going to do these daily for the rest of your life. I promise you, no matter how you are feeling in your body now, whether you feel broken, injured, whether you feel like you're too old, whether you feel like you don't have any time, I have seen it all. And I have helped people from all walks of life. Simple movements work, but you have to master them. You have to put in that work. You need to make movement a part of your everyday life. And these five movements are so simple to do. You don't need a lot of equipment. You don't need much space. You don't need a gym. You can do it right from your home. I have students who are in their 70s, who are complete beginners, who have come from spinal fusions and and metal rod knees and all kinds of injuries. I work with professional athletes. All of these people are fixing their bodies through utilizing fundamental movements. If you want to improve your quality of life, not just now, but for the future as well, start to do these daily. And if you want the full system, if you want to eliminate pain, master your movement, and finally feel like your body is yours again, my full program is linked below. Like this video if it made something click. Comment below which of these five movements are you missing and subscribe if you're done with broken fitness systems and ready to move like a human.