don't do anything new · Movement Mastery Lab

don't do anything new

I tried 12 different things for my hips and my back before I understood what I was doing wrong. One physio told me to stop training. Another left me on read after I sent him my MRI scans.

It took me years to see what all 12 had in common: every single one worked on the place where the pain showed up. The tight spots got stretched, the weak spots got strengthened and the sore spots got released.

Cool, it worked, for a day or two - those muscles genuinely were tight and sore. Then the pain came back, because whatever made them tight was still running every time I trained.

That "whatever" lives in the movements you already do. If the deep muscles that hold your spine stopped doing their share years ago, your lower back covers for them in every rep all day, every day. The next thing you try lands on top of the same pattern and wears off exactly like everything before it did.

So the useful question was never "what should I add?" It's "what is my body doing in the movements I already make?"

Here's how you can check it this week: pick one exercise from your training and do it at half speed. Slow enough that you can feel what's actually happening. A foot you can't feel the floor through. Ribs that flare the moment you push. A pelvis that moves when it should hold still. Speed hides all of it - slow it down and the pattern has nowhere to go.

(If you're on the Back Pain Protocol, you're already doing it hehe)

Comment what you noticed - which movement fell apart or what you couldn't feel at all. That's usually the pattern pointing at itself.

P.S. I filmed myself running this exact check across five movements - standing, deep core, bending forward, hip extension, rotation - if you want to train along… linked below

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don't do anything new