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There are athletic standards for competitors. Be it powerlifters, basketball players, sprinters, etc. Each discipline has a baseline of fitness necessary for its athletes to perform. But what are the baseline standards for the person who isn’t participating in competitive sports or looking to win a gold medal? What moves should we all be able to perform if we want to live a relatively pain-free and healthy lifestyle? I’ve found that the clients capable of at least performing these moves greatly reduce their probability of injury and interact in the world in a pain-free way. These exercises by no means represent a complete functional strength program but they serve as a baseline to decrease the probability of injury. Before we discuss these moves let’s consider a few things.

A few months back I decided I wanted to drop a few pounds. I set my goals, “adjusted my diet” and began the work. Four weeks in and I stepped on the scale. “What, it’s been four weeks and I haven’t lost a pound?” We’ve all been there, beginning a journey with a unique goal in mind only to find little to no change after time has passed. My results, though disappointing, could lead to faulty conclusions. “I’ll never

I recently had a conversation with a freshly converted health enthusiast. Having never worked out, this 3-month desk job novice beamed as he shared with me the “new move” that “kicked his butt”, burpees. I smiled listening to his excitement but inside my heart sank. I could see his slouched shoulders and forward head posture. His goal was to be healthy and more functionally sound. Yet his enthusiasm was not in fixing his shoulders, it was in completing a “hard core” move. Burpees, though