Lance Armstrong is a phenomenal athlete, the dude does everything to get his body in the best shape (though some times not all of those things may be totally legal in his sport)

Whether you respect him or not due to the tactics for getting to an elite level, one thing you have to respect is his exercise routines, the time and effort he puts into getting into amazing shape, and the feats he's been able to accomplish over the last 10+ years.

A few months ago I met the creator of Lance Armstrong's low back workout, Dr. Eric Goodman, who named the strengthening exercises "Foundation". I  was able to sit down and have an hour long conversation about the strategies he uses with Lance and some of the other clients he works with (many pro athletes as well). He explained to me about the posterior chain of muscles (muscles from our back to our hamstrings to our calves) weakening due to our daily activities and how this leads to back pain. I've just started recently doing these exercises myself, and I wanted to share them with you and my patients. They are best explained in his book called Foundation: Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain, and Move with Confidence. More information can be found on their website - www.foundationroots.com

I'm looking forward to exploring these exercises and see how they help with my own core strength, and the outcomes with my patients. I have started teaching these to my patients this week... and I shall share the success stories with you as they come in.

Check out the video links and link to amazon for the book if you're interested. As always, let me know what you think!

I had an incredibly productive weekend. I feel invigorated, and want to keep it rolling. I then got an email from Dr. Ben Altadonna introducing me to this article this morning, and I feel that it is right in line to what I am trying to accomplish. If it's worth reading for me, I assume it'll be worth reading for all you guys, so I thought I'd share it.

Top 10 motivation boosters and procrastination killers

A brief summary:

1. Pick Good Sounds
2. Use Minor Distractions to Fend Off Big Distractions
3. Set a Timer and Crank Until It Beeps
4. Move and Breathe Like You're Excited
5. Make Your To-Do List Doable
6. Don't Check Email for the First Hour of Work
7. Create a Fake Constraint
8. Move Quickly on New Skills and Great Ideas
9. Have a Status Board (of Some Kind)
10. Understand and Overcome Your Fear of Failure

Take a look, it's good stuff. Let me know what you're thinking of accomplishing, and how some of these things may help. I like the idea of creating fake constraint - limit the possible choices so I stop deciding what I might do and just do it. Nice!

Be well (and produce),

Dr. Max