The

Over-40 Man’s Comeback Guide

All Gain No Pain
Rebuild Your Body After Pain, Injury, or Physical Therapy

Bill Hartman, PT
 Kindle Edition
Copyright 2017, William Hartman

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Published by Personal Record Press LLC
Indianapolis, Indiana
Edited by Zac Cupples
www.zaccupples.com
Formatted by Debbie Lum
debbie@debbiestevenlum.com
Cover by Ginaona
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 Table of Contents
Foreword
The All Gain, No Pain Introduction
SECTION 1: The No Pain, No Gain Myth: Clearing Up The Confusion
1. Bad Advice Got You Here
2. This is Your Caveman Brain on Stress… Any Questions?
3. Our Bodies Have A Lot in Common… Common Patterns That Is
4. If You Keep Breathing Like That Your Body Will Stay That Way
5. Understanding How Pain Works and Why You May Still Hurt?
6. The Wrong Tool for the Job: Stretching Failures and Strength Isn’t the
Problem
SECTION 2: The No Pain Principles: Building Resilience
7. The No Pain Principles: Rebuilding Resilience
8. No Pain Principle #1: Know Thyself (Your Self-Assessment)
9. No Pain Principle #2: Better Breathing = Better Movement
10. No Pain Principle #3: Push the Reset Button
11. No Pain Principle #4: Use Supportive Nutrition to Stay Lean and Pain-Free
12. No Pain Principle #5: Rebuild Capacity
13. No Pain Principle #6: Self-Manage Your Stress, Health, and Movement
SECTION 3: The All Gain Principles: Building Resistance
14. How to Build Resistance: The All Gain Principles
15. All Gain Principle #1: Maintain Your Foundation of Resilience
16. All Gain Principle #2: Appreciate Muscle
17. All Gain Principle #3: Manage Intensity to Manage Stress
18. All Gain Principle #4: Emphasize Your Primary Exercises to Maximize
Return on Investment
19. All Gain Principle #5: Modify Exercises to Maintain Intensity and Avoid
Pain
20. All Gain Principle #6: Measure and Manage Progress
Conclusion: What do I do now?
Appendices
Appendix 1: Understand the All Gain, No Pain Program
Appendix 2: How to warm up for strength training and setting your repetition
maximum for Primary Exercises
Appendix 3: The All Gain, No Pain Exercise Menu
Appendix 4: Methods for Rebuilding Capacity
References
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Would you do me a favor?
 Foreword
“Good morning!”
He had that shit-eating grin on his face. The type of smile you see when your
parents found out something you didn’t want them to know. That smile you saw
right before your untimely demise.
I knew damn well what that smile meant.
Back then I was Bill’s student. A quiet, shy, and uncertain kid. After doing a deal
with the Mafia to find his email, offering up my future first born to learn from
him, and signing a blood oath, I somehow convinced Bill to accept me as his
physical therapy intern.
This was like meeting a rock star! Bill was all over Men’s Health magazine, T-
Nation—the type of stuff young bucks like me were reading to get ahead of the
curve. The last thing I wanted to do was let the guy down.
Then I overslept.
Stressed, frantic, and brushing only my front teeth, I made it to the clinic 30
minutes late. Only to be absolutely destroyed by that smile—a look that will
forever be burned into my brain.
I apologized, he mildly scolded me, and we moved on.
Working with Bill was an amazing opportunity for me. Day-in and day-out I’d
see him help individuals who were in pain—we are talking years of pain—
become pain-free in a matter of moments. He was changing lives and helping
people both return to both work and high level performance.
Whenever we had a lull, Bill would either grab his Lacrosse ball or do some type
of mobility exercise. The guy was in pain, and was doing whatever he could to
provide some relief.
After barely passing his clinical, I would periodically come back to visit Bill and
see what he was up to. Each time I returned he had re-invented himself. Fine-
tuned his process. Mastered his craft. Found better ways to reduce his client’s
pain so they could get their lives back on track.
Yet he still hurt.
I’ll never forget that day I met Bill up at a continuing education course. It had
been a little while since I last saw Bill, and I barely recognized the guy. He was
lean. Like, really lean. I’m talking 6-pack abs, veins on veins, absolutely
shredded lean. At 50-years old no doubt.
The coolest thing? He was in a lot less pain.
He rebuilt his body, reclaimed his health, and most importantly, restored control.
Control for a time I’m sure he felt lost.
As incredible as Bill’s transformation was, I’ve continued to see him do this over
and over and over again with clients who have been in pain.
Bill is simply one of the smartest and hardest-working individuals I know, and to
see this continual evolution and drive to help people is inspiring. It is this drive
that instilled greater confidence in my life, pushed me to write, fueled my
discipline at continual self-improvement, and landed me an opportunity to work
with the high performers in the NBA.
The fact that the man who I look up to more than anyone, the man who adopted
me as his son, is asking me of all people to write a foreword for his book, is
surreal. It feels like that moment in Star Wars where Obi Wan gave Luke his first
lightsaber. Ready to carry the torch of the Jedi for the future.
Though let’s be real, I’d totally be turning to the Dark Side. Black is a much
more slimming color.
Unlike Obi Wan, this Jedi master still has a lot of life left in him, and I am
beyond excited for you to be learning how he helps people in pain stop
surviving, and start thriving.
And there is no better time.
Chronic pain is a widespread epidemic. In the United States alone, 25.3 million
adults suffer from daily pain, with 23.4 million reporting that pain as severe1 .
This is a problem that costs the United States economy $635 billion dollars per
year2 .
The things people do to become pain-free are numerous. Many times, these
treatments are passive—massage, injections, icy hot, ultrasound, magnets—
intending to provide some semblance of relief.
Too bad this stuff doesn’t work.
When comparing passive treatments to active approaches, such as exercise, there
is no contest. Exercise wins, time after time3 . Both aerobic exercise and weight
training have been shown to help increase pain tolerance and brain function4 - 5 .
In fact, a lack of exercise may be the primary cause of most chronic diseases, as
well as the cure6 .
But how can I start exercising when I’m in agony just sitting here? How can I
reap the benefits when my back hurts just looking at weights? You want me to
walk for how long?!?
There exists no one better to answer these questions other than Bill Hartman.
If movement is the solution, then All Gain, No Pain is the guide.
In this book, you will find strategies to restructure your life in such a manner
that reduces pain, improves fitness and health, and builds you to better withstand
life’s stressors. Simply stated, you’ll be able to live the life you thought was once
gone.
Bill has spent countless hours researching and experimenting with various
methods; figuring out what methods work, and which one’s do not. He’s
eliminated the unnecessary and ineffective strategies that many people try and
fail with, while providing you strictly the essentials. The stuff that works.
His No Pain Principles will aid your quest in pain freedom, and his All Gain
Principles will build the fitness necessary to keep persistent pain at bay. As for
those movements that bother you in the gym? Bill has designed wonderful
workarounds that can still drastically improve your fitness.
What makes this book different than the rest is that it comes from an author who
has dealt with chronic pain himself. Bill understands the trials and tribulations
you have and will go through. There simply is no better guide out there for your
journey to rediscovering you.
And I must say, the strategies outlined in All Gain, No Pain flat-out work. As I
was reading and editing this book, I adapted many of the principles myself. Over
the course of three months, I dropped 25 pounds and was below 10% body fat
for the first time in my life. Moreover, I’ve established rituals and habits that
have increased my work output, energy levels, and overall satisfaction with life.
You may have come to this book because you are in pain, but I promise you will
leave with so much more.
If you stick with the principles, you’ll get results. You’ll look better, feel better,
and move better. Most importantly, you’ll be you again. Not the old you. Not the
you in pain.
But the best version of you.
Zac Cupples, former NBA Physical Therapist and Strength Coach
1) http://www.jpain.org/article/S1526-5900(15)00679-3/pdf
2)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK91497/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK91497.pdf
3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3036018/
4) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3578581/
5) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4965462/
6) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4241367/pdf/nihms-
603913.pdf

The All Gain, No Pain Introduction

From my notebook…

As I was discharging a patient from physical therapy today, I got “the question”
again.
“What can I do now?”
This was followed by the second most common discharge day question.
“Is it okay to get back to going to the gym?”
My answer is typically yes. It’s important to resume your exercise program once
you’re capable of doing so. In fact, I make an effort to find ways for patients to
continue to exercise even while participating in physical therapy with me.
Exercise primes the brain for learning. Coming back from an injury or pain is
more often about learning or relearning to vary movement. But the “what” and
“how” of exercise can be rather complex depending on a patient’s exercise
history and goals. Not everyone’s “get back to the gym” program looks the
same.
Determining the ideal program often presents a challenge. The potential answers
to such questions of “What can I do now?” or “What should I do now?” aren’t
all that simple. It takes more than a couple of exercise tips or a brief comment
filled with sage advice. Just as physical therapy is a process, so is one’s
comeback to rebuild a fit, pain-free body of which you can be proud.
As we get older there’s no question it seems harder and harder to stay in shape.
Not only is it harder to retain muscle, but workouts in the gym just aren’t
satisfying when you’re limited by your aches and pains from a misspent youth of
sports and heavy strength training.
A National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases survey
between 2009 and 2010 showed that more than two in three adults are
considered to be overweight or obese. More than one in three adults are
considered to be obese. One in 20 adults is considered to have extreme obesity.
If you’re concerned that the statistics are somewhat dated, I can assure you that
my observations and experience in the fitness indicate that it’s not getting any
better.
If you look at general health consequences and disease states, 100 million
Americans suffer from chronic pain. In comparison to other health related
conditions, 25 million Americans suffer from diabetes. 16 million Americans
suffer from heart disease. About 12 million Americans suffer from cancer.
We know that exercise is an important component of health, weight control, and
body composition (your muscle to fat ratio). We also know that exercise and
movement are key element in controlling and resolving all pain syndromes.
Based on the above statistics, it’s clear that were not doing a very good job of
keeping the muscle we desire, losing the fat we don’t want, or alleviating pain
that steals our quality of life. The problems persist and the questions remain, but
the answers have been neither clear nor effective—until now.
All Gain, No Pain is my answer to “the question.”
I have designed All Gain, No Pain to provide not just an exercise program but a
lifestyle adjustment. Not only will you move and feel better, but you’ll gain a
lifestyle that will allow you to maximize your quality of life, your self-
satisfaction, and restore the control that you may have lost after reaching your
fourth decade of life.
I know because I see it every day in my physical therapy practice, and I live the
results myself. Every month a new group of 40-somethings change their lives for
the better by reclaiming their bodies. Following the principles of All Gain, No
Pain my clients experience a renewed vigor associated with satisfying, workouts
resulting in bodies that are fit looking, purposeful, and pain-free.
As I write this I have just passed my 51st birthday. I’m also in the second-best
shape of my life (it’s hard to beat my early 20’s). This is after multiple joint
surgeries and periods of discomfort associated with the remnants of a misspent
youth of collegiate sports and 30 years of heavy strength training. That gives
you, the 40-something, as much as a 10-year advantage over me.
Many programs promising relief from pain and discomfort, while promising a
better body are merely copycat programs you could find in any popular fitness
magazine. While their intent is honorable, these programs were not specifically
designed with you in mind. I understand what it’s like to live with day-to-day
discomfort that limits your efforts in transforming your body back into
something with which you can take pride. I know where you’re coming from
because I’m there too.
Making a comeback to the gym and changing your body after pain or injury is a
complex process. It cannot be achieved with some random bodybuilding
program and hope for the best. All Gain, No Pain is a unique approach that
influences many aspects of your daily behaviors and habits allowing you to
regain your ability to move comfortably and effectively. In doing so, you will not
only restore your health and rejuvenate your enthusiasm for life and physical
activity, but you will also regain the confidence in your ability to literally
reconstruct your body.

The All Gain, No Pain Approach

In the last 30 years, my patients, athletes, and fitness clients have taught me
many things. They have shown me that there are key factors that limit our ability
to manage our health, to move well, and to alter our bodies for the better. I’ve
distilled the essential physiological influences and lifestyle habits that truly
restore pain-free movement into a system that will ultimately impact your
overall health and physical appearance.
All Gain, No Pain is based on the same principles that I use with my clients at
IFAST (Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training), my facility in Indianapolis,
Indiana, as well as those that have come to me from all over the United States
and other countries: Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Spain,
and the United Kingdom (the internet has made the world a much smaller place).
All Gain, No Pain represents your personal reboot based on the best of
rehabilitation and fitness science. It is a step-by-step process specifically
designed to take advantage of how your brain and body adapt to and manage the
stresses of life and physical activity. Instead of pain limiting your quality of life,
you will reconstruct your body and mind to recapture the active lifestyle that you
desire.
 All Gain, No Pain Client Perspectives
“Not all PT’s are created equal. I came to see Bill to address issues with some
back discomfort I was having. The therapy sessions turned out to be much more.
The progressions Bill runs you through are all designed to reset your body to
function in the most optimal way possible. You learn very quickly how breathing
plays such an integral role in addressing proper functional movement and injury
prevention. As a golfer, I felt my swing was restricted. So, one of the unexpected
benefits I noticed is how much easier it is to generate vertical force while posting
into my left side. Translated that means more power being generated. I mean it
when I say not all PT’s are created equal. Bill is one of the best. I encourage
everyone who suffers from discomfort or if you are an athlete wanting to gain a
competitive edge, Bill is the man to see.”
—Terry A.
“While working out at our previous gym, I was methodically spoon-fed the
cross-fit Kool-Aid and one day my back went to hell. Spasms as tense as a whore
in church. The regular med doctor’s diagnosis after an X-Ray, MRI, and a grand
and a half, was that I had three buldged discs (one extra from last MRI),
degenerative discs, and my back was in bad shape. Research, drugs and a shit
ton of phone calls around the city landed me a guy that owns a crossfit gym on
the NW side of Indy asking if I knew of a guy named Bill Hartman at a place
called IFAST. . .fast forward to appointment. . . Bill moved my arms and legs,
bending me every which way to see what the body told him. He mentioned my
back was not the issue and my hips were the culprit for the pain. HIPS!!! This
made me feel like an 80-year-old with osteoporosis. Bill said he could put me
back together and he came through on his methods.
My limitations began with “back problems,” but were really my hips and a lack
of oblique muscle control. The 2 months of injury set me back tremendously, but
Bill and his team at IFAST put together a digestible/doable workout every 4
weeks that has progressed for the past year and half to my current state. My back
problems are non-existent and I finally feel like a normal person again. One of
the new interns mentioned that my workout was one of the hardest he had seen
anyone do. He asked if I was training for something specific. I told him, “I’m
training for life.” Being able to move furniture, sprint down the block, or make a
sudden move to catch something falling off the counter are all things that don’t
set me back for a week if I pull a muscle.
Working out and staying strong has always been a priority since college and
especially since I had back surgery 13 years ago. The seasons and the pounds
have come and gone, but I must say that I have never had this kind of success in
the gym in my entire life. The trainers at IFAST know how to stay ahead of an
injury with resets and on the spot assessments. If an injury persists, Bill works
his magic voodoo and POOF, new reset, pain dissipation and back in the gym.
The hardest/easiest part about working out is making a plan and making it a
priority. I have written in every gym day and every event that I have for the next
3 months in my planner. Only emergencies take precedent. [ **side note** It’s
the first time in our marriage where all the sand is calm and the storms are brief
and light. 12 years for those counting.] The life timing works out very well, but
also, the pain reduction is life changing, so the need for a life change is
warranted. ONE CAVEAT!! If your significant other is not 100%. . .100% on
board with a life change, especially in the kitchen, your success will be either a
roller coaster or a dismal flop.
CONSISTENT commitment from day to day helps breed personal success from
month to month. All of a sudden, your clothes fit better, you notice muscle
shadows when looking in the mirror (and, every man’s dream, your junk looks
bigger!!!). Bottom line : I got my ass to the gym and have made it a priority to
get lean and jacked.”
—Dave S.
“Before meeting Bill back in 2009, I had read somewhere that Bill is the ‘best
kept secret in the fitness industry’. Years later, I can say this: ‘In the fitness
industry, Bill is THE best!’. Bill’s prowess in diagnosing and correcting
imbalances, deficiencies and weaknesses is unparalleled. As a strength coach, he
takes a genuine interest in the well-being, and progress of all his athletes and
clients. When I first got assessed by him, I couldn’t even lift up my right hand to
comb my hair because of my shoulder issues, and I couldn’t get anywhere close
to parallel in squat. Bill regularly performs assessments on all his clients and
modifies the programming to help with any weaknesses. With his programming
and correctives, my shoulder is healthy, my squat movement has greatly
improved and I am now a competitive weightlifter. Not many strength coaches
can take a broken-down guy and turn him into an Olympic style weightlifter. The
best thing about Bill, in my opinion, is that he is always learning, and improving
his skill. To me, he is one of the most intelligent and dedicated coaches out there.
What he does for his athletes and clients is magic, pure magic.”
—Tariq Q.
 Dayton, OH

What the Professionals Say

“In my nearly 40 years of coaching in the strength and conditioning industry, I
have never met anyone that is more passionate about learning and extending the
limits of Physical Therapy as Bill Hartman. He continues to study the sciences
as they relate to treating his patients from reducing or eliminating pain entirely
to not just treating a symptom but digging deeper to the root cause of a problem
or injury. Not only that, but because he has such great understanding of how the
brain and the body work together he is also has a tremendous knowledge of how
to train for high level sports performance and general fitness for all populations.
One other thing I would like to add, is that Bill has the capacity to break things
down so that anyone can understand what he is trying to explain and I can’t say
that about a lot of so called experts. I cannot recommend Bill Hartman highly
enough.”
—Grant “Rufus” Gardis
USA Weightlifting Coach, Indianapolis, IN
“Bill Hartman has been integral in helping me recover from injuries sustained
from multiple car wrecks over the last several years. Bill has also taught me how
to breathe properly, and taught me how to brace properly when lifting through
circumferential expansion. This has not only been helpful to me as I return to
heavy lifting, but it’s helped me keep my clients safe while getting them extremely
strong. I am very lucky to have Bill as a resource and friend.”
—Jim Laird
Owner Gym Laird, Lexington, KY
“After interning with Bill Hartman, it is safe to say he was and continues to be
the most influential person in my approach as a clinician and coach. His
knowledge in the field is unparalleled, and is very much the result of years of
experience and focused learning. Take one look at Bill’s library and you realize
the man has read everything. The difference is that Bill assimilates all relevant
information into a unified process. You will learn more in one day with Bill
Hartman than most will learn in a lifetime.”
—Zac Cupples, PT, DPT
Former NBA Strength and Conditioning Coach

Section 1
The No Pain, No Gain Myth: Clearing Up The Confusion
 1
Bad Advice Got You Here
Key Points
The Past: the failure of bodybuilding programs
The present: it’s all about intensity and more is better
Social media: everyone making more progress than me
Nutrition confusion: the diet of the week club
Stress Management: You know you need to reduce stress, but how?
Before moving forward in your quest to overcome pain and recapture our
personal fitness, we have to understand where we are today. How did we get
here?
Maybe you’re like me. You grew up an athlete played any number of sports.
Your commitment to getting better led to seeking any available method available
to gain an edge.
Back when I was young skull full of mush, there was no Googling how to
become a better athlete. My Internet back then was the magazine rack at the
local drugstore.
Every month I would anxiously await the latest issue of the next muscle
magazine. It was the only available source that I had available the promised me
enhanced physical qualities to improve my athleticism. After all, the athletes that
I saw on TV possessed larger-than-life muscular physiques. “If it looks right, it
flies right.” If I could at least look like them, then surely, I would be able to
perform like them.
To a degree, my thought process was correct. I certainly did get stronger, and I
did gain some muscle. I can’t say that it made me a great athlete. I was good
enough to play some small college football as well as throw the javelin at the
Division I level, but I was never what you would call great.
My introduction with exercise was also influenced by the 1980s, when
personalities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone dominated the
media in movies. Their physiques represented what we considered the ideal male
physique at the time. I quickly realized very that I probably wasn’t going to ever
become the athlete I desired. That’s when I was bitten by the bodybuilding bug,
and my quest for massive muscles began. In hindsight, there were certainly
significant benefits to my experiences. I learned a lot, but I also paid a price in
the long term.
Bad advice from the past: the more muscle the better
On the outside, it seems that maximizing muscle mass via the latest
bodybuilding program is a good solution to looking and feeling better. It’s
important to realize, however, that the heavily-muscled physique on most
bodybuilding websites are not typically based on reality. The time investment
and the sacrifice of overall health, including the health of your joints, is also
contrary to the goals of looking and feeling better.
Throughout the 1980s, I followed the muscle magazine programs promising to
result in a massive physique. Unfortunately, my small-town mentality failed to
accept that these physiques were often coupled with the unmentioned benefits of
chemical enhancement. The exaggerated physiques that I grew up admiring are
now just a small sect of the “fitness” industry. Unfortunately, many of the old
“muscle building principles” are still pervasive in books and on websites
targeting guys looking to get healthy, fit, and muscular.
Strength is certainly important and can be a factor in how you move and feel.
However, maximizing muscle mass and strength has significant potential
consequences on overall health. The heavily-muscled physiques certainly appear
healthy on the outside, but the dues paid on the inside are not worth the price.
These programs are not individualized to your needs. They are based on
generalized principles applied to a very large population. The few success stories
are highlighted to represent the so-called effectiveness of these programs. High-
volume, high intensity programs may also eventually result in more pain and
more problems even though their intent may truly be noble in regards to
improving your health.
Bad Advice from the present: the more intensity the better
What we consider ideal has certainly evolved from the Schwarzenegger-esque
physiques of the 1980s although massive muscles are still pervasive as the ideal.
In an attempt to get away from the concept of just looking good, the industry is
no longer a one trick pony of muscle at all costs. Instead, massive muscles
coupled with perceived athleticism are propagated by poorly programmed
“cross-training.”
Attempting to be great at all things physical, most participants fail. Only those
with the greatest genetic potential and tolerance for such intensity prevail. The
trickle-down effect from this attitude is a change in perspective. Instead of
exercising to improve health and fitness, merely completing an impossibly
difficult workout is the goal.
Newly indoctrinated fitness enthusiasts are often challenged to perform
exercises and activities for which they are physically unqualified and
unprepared. The unfortunate result is a continuous case of one-upmanship and
the constant testing of one’s intestinal fortitude, literally and figuratively. A
noble pursuit that unfortunately may lead to pain and injury.
Whereas in the past the goal was “more muscle is better,” now the goal has
become more “intensity is better.” This evolution has not demonstrated an
enhancement of long-term health, and the expectations of the naïve fitness
public’s expectations remain based on unrealistic expectations.
Bad advice from social media: everyone making more progress than me
Our ability to communicate instantaneously through social media has given
everyone a voice. In doing so, individuals regularly seek out validation and
support of their efforts. I applaud these people making necessary lifestyle
changes to achieve whatever their goals may be. Unfortunately, this platform
presents a skewed perception of the norm.
Rarely seen are the struggles of countless individuals striving to make the
changes you are about to make. We are only shown the successes. Never the
process and never the failures on the way to success. It’s no wonder that there’s
so much confusion as to what is appropriate to alleviate pain, gain appreciable
muscle, and reduce body fat to promote health and vigor.
As the saying goes, there are many roads that lead to Rome. Our human
complexity offers many paths to a similar outcome. How does one determine the
best course of action?
Should I do yoga?
Should I lift heavy weights?
Should lift light weights?
Do I have to run to get in shape?
We need to do cross training?
Is stretching enough?
Is the latest fitness class the best way to get in shape?
The reality is that there are very specific guidelines and principles that are
common to all programs that must be followed in order to successfully move,
look, and feel better. All Gain, No Pain teaches you how your body responds to
exercise to eliminate the confusion and guide you toward your personal success.
Bad Nutrition Advice: joining the diet of the week club
If there is one aspect of a healthy and pain-free lifestyle that leads to confusion
and impacts your results more, it has to be what we should eat. Truth be told,
when it comes to looking and feeling better, nutrition is likely top priority over
every other program aspect.
The problem is that there are seemingly way too many potential options that can
achieve a similar result. Your question then becomes which diet or nutritional
program is the best.
Is it the Paleo Diet?
Is it Sugar busters?
Is it low-carb or high carb?
His high-fat better or is low-fat better?
What about the Mediterranean Diet?
What about Weight Watchers?
Is eating vegan healthier?
Does the ice cream diet really work? (I may have to look into this one!)
It’s not a question of which diet is best. Rather, your goal is to establish a plan of
supportive nutrition to enhance health, physical appearance, and manage of
discomfort. That is, a nutrition plan that supplies the body with energy and
supports its function and health. Proper nutrition guides the body chemistry that
can influence the bodily wear and tear that we can experience on a daily basis.
While All Gain, No Pain is not a diet book, but by the time you finish reading,
you will have the tools to construct your own supportive nutrition plan. A plan
that will help you move better, feel better, and move better. As a physical
therapist and strength and conditioning coach, I have a basic understanding of
how nutrition impacts the body and performance. However, to assure that your
All Gain, No Pain Program is successful, I have enlisted the assistance of the
foremost nutrition expert in the United States, Dr. Mike Roussell, author of The
Metashred Diet .
“Dr. Mike” is my go-to expert in regards to everything nutrition. He is best
known as the “behind-the-scenes secret weapon” for many A-list celebrities and
professional athletes looking to get in shape or raise their performance to another
level. What many don’t know of is his extensive work with sufferers of various
metabolic disorders and diseases. There’s no one that I trust more in regards to
nutrition than Dr. Mike. That is why I hired him myself when I undertook the
challenge to transform my body for my 50th birthday. Without Dr. Mike’s help, I
would never have been able to make the changes that I did and manage my own
chronic pain in the process.
We will expand on the All Gain, No Pain nutrition principles in chapter 11.
Bad Advice about Stress Management: You need to reduce stress (but
how?)
This section should truly be entitled “No real advice about reducing stress”
because that’s what you typically get. Even your doctor can only offer vague,
generic advice when you question him or her for answers after being told to
reduce your stress. Stress affects your brain and every system in your body.
Therefore, stress affects every aspect of your health. Stress changes the way you
perceive the world. It can make pain worse, and it can limit the way you move.
Section one of All Gain, No Pain provides the what’s, how’s, and why’s of stress
and its impact. Section two provides the answers to effectively combating the
effects of stress. Finally, Section three, explains how you’ll build resistance
against stress to further minimize its impact on your health, movement, and
quality of life.
More is not necessarily better. It’s not about following a program that’s designed
to maximize muscle size. It’s not about just working harder. All Gain, No Pain is
about seeking the optimum. What do YOU need to successfully reclaim control
of your life and recapture the healthy and mobile body that you’ve lost along the
way.
Review
Bad advice: more muscle is better
Good advice: appreciate muscle
Appreciate muscle for what it provides. Muscles are the movers of the body. You
need strength and muscle to perform the activities that we desire. Additional
muscle places demand on your physical resources that may be better directed
towards reducing the negative impact of daily stressors. This shift could improve
your health and ability to live a quality physical lifestyle.
Bad Advice: More intensity is better
Good advice: modulating exercise intensity is better
Intermittent stress makes you stronger. Working to our daily maximum, whether
it be with our job or your workouts, results in wear and tear on your internal
systems, joints, and muscles. Learn how manage intensity. Use it to your
advantage. You will eventually reduce or even alleviate painful conditions and
have greater success in achieving a healthy and better body.
Bad advice: pay attention to everyone else
Good advice: focus on yourself
You only have control over you. No one thinks like you do, and no one has the
experiences that you do. How you got to where you are now is different from
everyone else. You will progress at your own rate, and in that regard, we are all
different. Comparisons to others are unnecessary and unproductive. Keep the
focus on what you can control… yourself.
Bad Advice: This diet is better than that one
Good Advice: follow principles that support your goals
Nutrition remains one of the most confusing topics in regards to improving
health, fitness, and managing pain. There’s not one diet that fits all. There are
specific aspects of nutrition that need to be included in your personal nutrition
plan to support reduced body fat, muscle gain, and management of pain. I’ll
deftly provide those essentials in chapter 11.

Take Action
Get a notebook right now and write down your story. Write it in long hand.
Where have you been?
What have you tried in the past?
What do you want to achieve with your All Gain, No Pain Program? Describe
your destination. If you had unlimited time and resources, what will your life be
like when you’re successful?
Lastly and most importantly, write down why you’re starting All Gain, No Pain .
Be specific. Do it right now.
 2
This is Your Caveman Brain on Stress… Any Questions?
Key Points
Understanding your caveman brain
Vigilance is best
Your stress gauge determines how well you move
Stress today is different than caveman stress
Understanding your caveman brain
In the last few years, I’ve become fascinated by how the brain affects every
aspect of our lives. There’s a lot that we don’t understand about the brain. It is
arguably the most complex entity in existence with more connections than there
are stars in the universe.
There’s also a lot that we do understand.
Our brains are a gift from your primitive ancestors. Our ancestors experienced a
variety of environments, and as they adapted to them, their brains changed too.
The newest part of your brain, the cortex, makes us human and puts us at the top
of Earth’s hierarchy. Instead of discarding older parts, the newest parts are
merely stacked on top of what you could affectionately call our caveman brain.
The way we think and move is therefore dependent on the exposures, memories,
and experiences of your earliest prehistoric relatives.
Our stress response is no exception to that rule. Consider the lifestyle of your
average caveman forefather.
He wakes and throws another log in the fire to keep the family warm as he
begins his hunt for the day’s food. Hunting is physically and psychologically
demanding. Heart rate escalates, muscles go on overdrive, and sweat begins to
pour. He may cover several miles on the hunt producing thousands of calories of
energy.
Vigilance is Best
While he hunts, our caveman cousin must remain alert. At any time, a larger
animal may consider him tonight’s dinner. Pupils expand to enhance vision.
Hearing sensitivity intensifies. Two of many safeguards to protect his life. These
strategies remain part of your modern-day stress response.
Now, imagine our hunter walking by a large bush, and the bush rattles. He has
two possible options. Is it the wind disturbing the branches, or a saber-toothed
tiger waiting to pounce? Which option provides the greatest advantage of
survival? As the saying goes it’s better to be safe than sorry. Assuming the latter
demonstrates a protective negativity bias; one that to this day is present in our
own brains.
This negativity bias protects us against threats just like our prehistoric
forefathers—even imagined ones.1 Expect the worst. Live another day. We don’t
run from sabretooth tigers all that often anymore, but your negativity bias affects
every aspect of your behavior.
Our stress gauge determines how well we move

Our nervous system responds like a stress gauge. This gauge represents what is
called the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is made up
of two complementary systems. One system increases energy output, vigilance,
and protective reactions. This is the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) or the
“Flight or Fight” side of the gauge. The other system promotes rest, recovery,
and healing. This is the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) or the “Rest and
Digest” side of the gauge.
It is the perfect design for a prehistoric lifestyle faced with intermittent stressors.
Experience an overt stressor, shift the gauge toward the SNS. When the stressor
ends, shift the gauge toward the PNS.
After hours or searching, our hunter spots a mammoth in the distance. His gauge
shifts towards “flight or fight” to allow great physicality and vigilance. After a
great chase, he returns to the safety and comfort of the family cave to enjoy the
day’s meal. Shifting back to a calm and rested state.
Stress today is different than caveman stress
Fast-forward to your modern lifestyle. Instead of intermittent stressors, we now
experience a perpetual state of medium stress and occasional extreme stress
followed by brief periods of lower stress. We have demanding jobs, relationship
woes, managing the kids’ activities, traffic jams, mortgages, bills, taxes, and the
list goes on and on. Instead of moving our gauge from one stress to the other,
you stay chronically shifted toward “flight or fight.”
Chronic stress makes humans more rigid and less adaptable to change.2 , 3 In
some people, it shows up as high blood pressure. In others, chronic illness. It
affects every system in our body and not just your internal systems. It even
affects how we move.
Too much time on the sympathetic side of the stress gauge reduces your
movement repertoire.4 Whereas once it was easy to bend forward and touch your
toes, it is now an arduous task. Aches and pains arise from increased muscle
tension and joint pressure. To avoid pain, you move less; giving up even more
movement capability. An endless cycle of stress, protection, and movement
rigidity persists.
Your once active lifestyle becomes reduced. Chronic aches and pains increase.
Your lost physical capabilities prevent effective exercise and dissatisfaction in
your appearance follows. Thankfully, this process is reversible with the right
strategy.
All Gain, No Pain is that strategy.
In chapter 3, I’ll explain how your body responds to your caveman brain under
the influence of stress. You’ll also see how it impacts our internal systems which
influences how you move and may experience pain.
Review
We still have the same caveman brain of your primitive ancestors.
Our caveman brain protects us against threats and assures our survival.
Primitive stressors were distinct and overt followed by periods of rest and
recovery.
Modern lifestyles exist in a world of chronic stress that promotes a perpetual
state of “flight or fight.”
This chronic “flight or fight” state promotes the rigidity of all your internal
systems and movement.
Chronic stress may result in reduced movement, increased pain, and sacrificed
activity.

Take Action
Take out your All Gain, No Pain notebook.
Make a list of all the things in your life that place demands on your time and
may increase your stress levels. Don’t censor yourself. Write it all down.
Make a second list of all the things you do for yourself to restore and replenish
your energy and vitality. Include your favorite activities that you would do more
often if you had time.
Knowledge is power.
 3
Our Bodies Have A Lot in Common… Common Patterns That Is
Key Points
Healthy bodies alternate and shift resources
Stress simplifies the body for safety
Stress can reduce our ability to move well
We have common human stress patterns
Healthy bodies shift resources
I always know when my wife is stressed out. Like a bad poker player, she has a
“tell” where she unconsciously rubs that spot where her neck meets her shoulder.
Hers is on the left side by the way.
You’ve probably got a significant other or friends that behaves similarly. You
may not be sure why, but you can see when they are feeling stressed. Their body
language gives them away.
Our bodies are very complex. While it is one big “piece,” it is made up of many
parts and many systems. There’s a digestive system to digest food, a respiratory
system for breathing, a cardiovascular system to pump blood throughout the
body, and an immune system to protect you against infection. All of these
systems work in a coordinated manner to help you survive anything that may put
your health at risk.
It’s actually quite fascinating how these systems interact. It’s like a highly-
coordinated dance troupe with each member executing its role in a performance.
Depending on circumstances, each system contributes at different times and to
different degrees.
For instance, our digestive systems are not always turned on. It stays turned off
until we have consumed a meal. This is a very efficient way to both conserve
energy and to shift resources to other areas of the body, like blood to the muscles
for exercise. Now you know why Mom was so adamant about you not
swimming for at least 30 minutes after a big meal. She may not have understood
the science, but she knew that too much activity too soon would impair digestion
and result in an upset stomach. This example is just one of the ways our bodily
systems coordinately alternates back and forth or on and off.
All of your systems alternate in some way. We breathe more through one nostril
for a while and then we switch and breathe more through the other nostril for a
while. Our brains switch back and forth between its two sides throughout the
day. Our blood pressure increases during physical or psychological stress and
decreases when we are calm and relaxed. Even our body chemistry tends to shift
from side to side and on and off.5
If we eat a lot of carbohydrates, our blood sugar increases. Our pancreas secretes
insulin into the bloodstream to normalize blood sugar. Once blood sugar is back
to normal, our pancreas reduces its activity.
Our ability to shift resources throughout the body, and turn systems on and off at
the right times represents good general health. The capabilities represent the
capacity to adapt to different stressful situations.
Your movement system is no different. Consider walking. As you move, one
side of our body advances forward as the other side of the body remains behind
in preparation for the next step. We swing the opposite arm and leg to propel
yourself forward in a highly coordinated reciprocal gait.

As long as your abilities meet the demands of the world that we live in, all of
your systems tend to function quite well. Normally the brain and body are quite
effective at coordinating all of your systems, including your 630 muscles and
230 joints. These tissues provide a broad repertoire of coordinated activities such
as exercising, playing sports, or just walking around the house.
However, if we face a stressful situation, your brain may think it needs to protect
itself from danger. It will simplify all systems. All nonessential systems will turn
off to conserve resources as the body readies for defense against the perceived
threat.
 Stress simplifies the body for safety
Suppose you’re taking a leisurely walk through the woods. You’re are calm and
relaxed and enjoying the scenes that nature provides. Suddenly you see a bear
off in the distance. It starts walking towards you. Your brain begins to react
before you even think about it. At this moment, you don’t need to digest any
food so digestion turns off. You may even experience an involuntary reaction to
empty your bladder and your bowels (Ew!). At this point, it would just be extra
weight that would slow you from your escape from the bear. Sex is far from your
thoughts, so your reproductive system shuts off. Fighting off bacteria and disease
is not important in this moment so your immune system shuts off as well. All of
these resources shift into survival mode. 6
In preparation for your escape, your brain sends blood to your muscles and
increases muscle tension in order to run away. To assure a quick supply of
oxygen to your muscles, breathing quickens and your heart races. Your brain
also ramps up the output from your nervous system to increase your strength
above your normal levels. The brain has weighed the risks and is now biasing
you towards your highest level of performance to save your life.
You are now in the midst of “flight or fight” just like your caveman ancestor.
The stress response is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS) which
is in charge of all the body’s automatic responses. When you’re stressed, the
ANS takes care of increasing your blood pressure, speeding up your heart beat,
and breathing faster. No thinking required.
The stress response will continue until you reach safety.6 In our current example,
suppose you’re able to outrun the bear and make it safely to your car. As you
drive away your brain recognizes the threat is over and your systems begin to
return to normal. Breathing slows. Heart rate drops. Blood pressure lowers.
Stress hormone levels decline.
While you may not have had the experience of running away from a bear, you
certainly had the experience of somebody jumping out from behind a corner and
scaring you. This is a demonstration of how your stress response works. You can
feel the momentary pounding heart in your chest, the arching of your back, and
perhaps screaming out your favorite expletive. This is representative of an acute
stress response. We can also look at this as our “on switch.”
Clearly our stress response “on switch” is very helpful in extreme situations, but
what happens when things aren’t so extreme. Recall from Chapter 2 that we’ve
created a world of chronic stressors. It turns out that all of our stressors, although
not life-threatening, will initiate our “flight or fight” response to varying
degrees. Keep in mind that all of our systems will respond similarly as if we
were running from the bear.
Some people wonder why they have ongoing digestive issues, constipation, or
diarrhea. Others may wonder why they continuously feel like they’re anxious,
depressed, or have trouble focusing on the task at hand. It may simply be an
inability to self-regulate the stress response.
Stress can reduce our ability to move well
Recall that movement may become restricted to run away from (“Flight”) or
defend against (“Fight”) danger. This shift simplifies movement to allow greater
strength, speed, and efficiency. The same thing happens when you’re chronically
stressed. Interestingly, protective movement restrictions are predictable and
measurable just like all other aspects of the stress response. It may also explain
why we all experience the nagging aches and pains that restrict our activities or
result in injury.
All of your joints have very specific ways that they move in our three-
dimensional world. We are capable of 244 movement options with infinite
combinations. This movement is what creates either the incredible flexibility of
an Olympic gymnast to the extreme control of an archer or target shooter.
We certainly don’t need the extreme flexibility of a gymnast to remain healthy.
More is not always better. However, we do need to maintain our ability to
produce efficient movement on both sides of the body when the need arises. If
you’re capable, you’ll tend to avoid more life limiting aches and pains that are so
common amongst us, the over 40 crowd.
We have a common human stress pattern
Human movement science recognizes a number of common human movement
patterns. One of specific interest was identified by J. Gordon Zink, DO, an
osteopathic physician. Zink deduced that his patients who were capable of a
reciprocal side-to-side movement pattern tended to be healthier. Patients who
were biased to one side and limited in this pattern tended to suffer more illness
or movement-related pain.7

Zink’s biased pattern favors a pelvis that turns more to the right and a ribcage
that turns in opposition and “flares out to the left” resulting in the left arm
appearing to be shorter. This also results in impairment of normal breathing and
an increase energy demand just to satisfy the brain’s need for oxygen. 8

This same biased pattern has been corroborated by other practitioners as well
with Wesley Dunnington, DO, going as far as calling this our “musculoskeletal
stress pattern.” 4 , 9 , 10 It turns out that this predictable asymmetrical pattern may
be caused by a number of possibilities including asymmetries in our internal
organ positions, differences in the two sides of our brains and balance system,
and possibly how we were positioned in the womb before birth. 11
Regardless, stress then prevents the healthy reciprocal pattern on each side of the
body through the pelvis, spine, and ribcage. This also affects the position of our
shoulders and hips that use the trunk as their anchor which, in turn, prevents the
arms and legs from rotating or twisting. This reduced movement repertoire
increases pressure or tension certain areas of the body.
Let me give you an example of how this may result in a painful experience.
Suppose you were seated on a very hard chair with instructions that if you move
even the slightest amount something bad would happen. Obviously, the longer
you sit in this one spot, the more uncomfortable the pressure is on your buttocks
and lower back. We’ve all experienced this at one time or another. Typically, you
would fidget in your seat to change the pressure on your buttocks to reduce the
discomfort. But what if you couldn’t fidget? What if you couldn’t stand up?
Eventually, the pain would become unbearable. It’s not that your buttocks are
damaged or broken. It’s merely the result of being unable to change where the
pressure rests.
Many times, our aches and pains are the result of a similar phenomenon. Stress
alters our ability to move and even breathe efficiently. This results in increased
pressure, tension, or load on joints or muscles. In many cases, if we can “turn
off” undesired muscle activity and breath effectively, movement is restored and
pain can resolve.
Faking Good Movement
Sometimes we find a way to move around the restrictions in the body allowing
movement to occur where it shouldn’t. This compensatory movement occurs by
progressively loosening joint structures such as the ligaments in the shoulders
and hips. The overstretching of ligaments can alter the way that joints move and
potentially result in progressive wear-and-tear that may eventually become an
injury or pain. 9
All Gain, No Pain will help you identify if your movement is restricted by
common patterning, and if your available movement is efficient and effective
movement. With this information, we will guide your exercise program to
remain strong, mobile, and pain-free.
Review
In a healthy state, all of our body systems tend to alternate from side-to-side or
turn on and off.
The stress response may restrict movement that may result in ill health, the
reduction of our movement repertoire, and pain.
Restricted movement from our normal human “stress pattern” appear to be
predictable and measurable such as.
Our common aches and pains may simply be the result of a loss of the body to
move pressures within itself to maintain good reciprocating movement
capabilities.

Take Action
Take out your notebook.
Make a list of your current aches or pains that attract your attention.
What movements always seem to feel tight or restricted?
This will be your check off list as you progress through All Gain, No Pain and
rebuild your fit, pain-free body.
 4
If You Keep Breathing Like That Your Body Will Stay That Way
Key Points
Breathing makes your stress pattern “stick”
How breathing works
How you breathe affects our ability to move—Hyperventilation
How you breathe affects our ability to move—Hyperinflation
Breathing Makes Your Stress Pattern “Stick”
I remember a terrifying moment from my childhood like it was yesterday.
Mom (ironing a shirt): “Bill, it’s time for your nap.”
Me (whining): “But cartoons are on soon. I can’t miss them!”
Mom (sternly): “You won’t miss all of them. You need to go take you nap…
NOW.”
Clearly, Mom underestimated the importance of afternoon cartoons to a 5-year-
old. I had an agenda and needed a better strategy than whining.
I plastered on my best “sad face” complete with puppy-dog eyes, an exaggerated
frown, and a puffed out lower lip that looked like I got punched by Muhammed
Ali. Not saying a word, I held my expression until Mom caught a glance of the
poor little child before her.
Mom: “You know, if you keep making that face, it will stay that way.”
Panic struck and I rushed to the bathroom. I pulled my stool up to the vanity, put
my hands on the sink, and leaned in close; nose to the mirror to get a dreadful
look at my “stuck” face.
Relief rushed over me when I realized that I had successfully averted going
through life looking like a sad circus clown with bad jab defense. I rechecked
my face once more before stepping down off the stool and heading to bed.
Breathing works just like holding your “sad face” too long. If you keep
breathing like that, your body will stay that way.
In the previous chapter, you learned that we all have a stress pattern that turns
our pelvis to the right and our ribcage back to the left. This allows more air to
enter the left lung compared to the right every time you breathe. Air takes up
space inside the ribcage that will literally block movement. As a typical
breathing human, you’re then reinforcing your stress pattern about 20,000 times
a day. Anything done this often makes it your norm in no time.

In other words, if stress put you in the pattern, breathing makes the pattern
“stick.”9 , 12
Keep in mind that just as there is not one ideal way to move neither is there one
ideal way to breathe. It is the ability to breathe many different ways allows the
broadest possible movement repertoire.
Becoming an expert in the mechanical aspects of breathing is certainly not a
requirement for a fit, pain-free body. However, a basic understanding of
breathing allows us to make sense of how we move or don’t move. So, let’s take
a brief look at how breathing works.
How breathing works
The Lungs
We have a lung on each side of the body that allows us to trade the oxygen we
inhale for the carbon dioxide we exhale. Inhalation occurs when we expand the
lungs to draw air inward. To exhale the process is reversed.
Not only does our stress pattern make it easier to fill the left lung with air;
Gravity makes the lower part of the lung easier to fill than the top. This unequal
air pressure inside the body adds another potential movement restriction.
The Muscles
Our primary breathing muscle is the diaphragm. Its movement expands and
contracts the lungs to breathe. The diaphragm does most of the work for normal
resting breathing. It is only during exercise or other physically demanding
activities where additional accessory muscles become much more active.

Literally any muscle attached to the rib cage becomes a breathing muscle when
oxygen demands are high. This design assures our ability to breathe during any
number of strenuous activities. Given a choice between breathing enough and
moving well, breathing always wins. This also impacts our ability to move when
muscles that are typical movers become breathers.
When movers become breathers
Our latissimus dorsi muscles, or “lats,” attach to the back side of our ribcage
and our shoulder. They help us to pull things downward or lift our body to do a
chin-up. If breathing demand increases sufficiently, the lats will assist with
inhalation . 12 . This increased lat activity for breathing may, in turn, restrict
your ability to reach overhead.
The Bones
Normal breathing mechanics involve movement of the ribs. The ribs move
outward to expand the upper rib cage from front to back during inhalation and in
reverse during exhalation.
The lower rib cage, on the other hand, expands in a “bucket handle” movement.
In this case, the ribs swing upward and outward to expand the rib cage side-to-
side during inhalation and in reverse during exhalation.

How breathing changes under stress—Hyperventilation

On average, we breathe about 12 times per minute. However, stress can increase
that rate to over 20 breaths per minute. While this change is normal during heavy
exercise, poor stress management may cause an increase under normal resting
conditions.
This elevated breathing rate is called hyperventilation. You may have seen this
or even experienced it yourself. Under acute stress, we exhale too much carbon
dioxide (CO2) by breathing too frequently. We actually need to retain some CO2
for normal function. If CO2 levels drop too much, the nervous system becomes
overly excited. Muscle tension increases restricting blood flow to the body and
the brain. Low carbon dioxide also reduces our pain threshold.9 , 12 Movement
may then be perceived as painful even though it’s well within our capabilities.
When chronically stressed, the relatively low CO2 level becomes our new
normal.12 The accompanying increased muscle tension may make movement
more difficult or even painful.

We cannot stretch or strengthen our way out of this situation. Our first line of
attack is normalizing our breathing pattern. This reduces the impact of our
default “flight or fight” response even during situations of chronic stress. I’ll
discuss your strategies against hyperventilation in Chapter 9.
How you breathe affects our ability to move—Hyperinflation
Hyperventilation results from breathing rapidly. Hyperinflation results from
inhaling repeatedly without fully exhaling. Recall how the lower lung fills much
more easily than the upper lung. Our bodies then accommodate this breathing
pattern. With each breath, our ribcage shifts forward, our back arches, and our
pelvis tilts forward. This is much like the position that you would assume to take
the biggest breath possible.

This position reduces the normal recoil of the ribcage and how much we exhale;
an action done by the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. Since we must exhale
to stay alive, we may depend on frequent yawning or a heavy sigh. Many people
think that they yawn frequently throughout the day because they are tired, when
in reality they’re likely hyperinflated.

Excessive air in rib cage takes up space. If we cannot exhale, this air will likely
prevent our ability to move in certain directions. Imagine holding a large
exercise ball in front of you. Now try to bend forward. The air in the exercise
ball blocks your ability to bend. A hyperinflated ribcage causes the same
problem.
Many people believe that they can’t touch their toes due to “tight hamstrings.”
The reality is that their hyperinflated state tilts the pelvis forward and stretches
the hamstrings before they even attempt to bend forward. This position makes it
impossible to bend farther.
The hyperinflated forward shift in the body also reduces our ability to move
side-to-side and turn or twist. If such movement is limited, we tend to put
pressure on the same joints and keep tension on the same muscles. Over time,
this pressure or tension may result in pain at rest or with movement.
It’s important to remember that this type of pain is not necessarily associated
with damage or changes in the body.13 A lack of airflow is merely limiting your
ability to move effectively. This pain may just be your brain’s way of telling you
that you need to be able to move more. If hyperinflation is limiting movement,
the pain will persist.
All Gain, No Pain strategies combat both hyperventilation and hyperinflation;
allowing a greater movement repertoire and alleviating common aches and
pains. We’ll get to those in section 2. First, it’s important for you to understand
how science thinks that pain works in the body and the brain. Understanding
pain gives you power to control it and eventually eliminate it as you progress
toward ideal health, better movement, and a body you can be proud of.
Review
Breathing is movement and movement is breathing.
Stress alters how your lungs, muscles, and bones move air in and out of the
body.
Stress makes us breathe more rapidly resulting in hyperventilation.
Hyperinflation prevents normal exhalation and traps air inside the body
preventing our ability to bend, twist, reach, and move comfortably.
Altered breathing results in increased pressure on joints and tension on muscles
that may result in pain.

Take Action
Take this little test.
Start a timer on your smart phone and see how many normal breaths you take in
a minute.
Was it more than 12?
Did you have to cheat and intentionally slow your breathing?
How long can you exhale after a normal breath?
Shoot for a 10-second exhale and see how difficult it is.
 5
Understanding How Pain Works and Why You May Still Hurt?
Key Points
Pain knowledge is power
Pain is an output of the brain
Pain is warning signal
Pain does not always mean you are injured
Pain is learned and can get worse for no apparent reason
Pain should be respected
Pain can be overcome through movement
Pain knowledge is power
We all may think that we understand pain. It only requires a simple childhood
memory of falling off your bike or the first time you touch a hot stove. We
immediately associate pain with the bumps and bruises from falling down or by
putting our hands where they don’t belong.
It turns out that pain is a much more complex phenomenon than we ever
thought. Over the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve learned a great deal about how pain
works. While there are still many unanswered questions, our current
understanding has helped us to realize how much our beliefs, knowledge, and
experiences influence how or why we feel pain.
The point of this chapter is not to turn you into a pain scientist. These concepts
are deep and sometimes difficult to understand. My hope is that you’ll gain a
greater understanding of how pain works in the brain and body. Awareness of
this newfound knowledge alone, by how the brain influences pain, gives you
greater control of whether over whether or not you experience pain.
Spoiler alert! It doesn’t work the way you were raised to believe.
Pain is an output of the brain
Let’s start with a question. Of the 46 miles of nerves in the body, how many of
them do you think sense pain?
The answer is actually none.13 , 14
This may be hard to grasp at first. We certainly have nerves that sense things like
pressure when someone pokes you in the arm, a light caress from your
significant other, and the temperature of a hot shower, but the reality is that we
have no nerves that actually sense pain.
Instead, we have nerves that contribute to the experience of pain called
nociceptors . These sensors provide the brain with information about things that
may be important or harmful. So, in other words, they don’t sense pain.
So, if pain doesn’t exist in or is sensed by the nerves in the body, where does it
come from?
Pain actually constructed by our brain based on a number of factors.
Think of the brain as this big information processing center. All the information
that comes in through our senses goes to the brain. Nociceptors provide
information about what’s going on in the body. The eyes, ears, and other sensors
provide information about the outside world. The brain then has to consider all
of this information it’s receiving before it spits out the appropriate behavior.
Suppose you’re back in the woods again, and you step on a tree root and sprain
your ankle. At the same time, you notice our friend the bear off in the distance
walking toward you. Your brain is processing all of this information
simultaneously. The sprained ankle under normal circumstances would be
painful. In this situation however, your brain may deem your escape to be more
important than sensing pain in your ankle.
Your brain won’t produce pain so you can run away from the bear to safety.
Once safe, the brain may remind you that you’ve actually sprained your ankle by
letting your experience the pain. Had you sprained your ankle in your backyard,
in a nonthreatening setting, you’re more likely to have experienced the acute
pain immediately.
To make a long story short, pain is produced by the brain. It exists for a specific
purpose and that purpose is protection. The brain uses pain to make you aware of
sensations or situations that MAY be threatening to you and your health.
Pain is warning signal
The best explanation I’ve seen to simplify how pain works comes from Adriaan
Louw in his book Therapeutic Neuroscience Education and.14 Louw compares
how pain works in your body and brain to a burglar alarm in your house. If
someone tries to break into your house, the alarm goes off. The alarm warns you
of danger. Pain works the same way. It warns you that something MAY be
dangerous or threatening.

The brain receives information from all the senses and the body. If it thinks that
you need protection, feeling pain may be what prevents you from doing
something that may result in injury or put your health at risk.
Ever have the flu?
The flu is one of those painful experiences that just about everyone has at some
point in their life. Everything hurts. Your joints ache, your muscles are sore, and
even your hair and teeth hurt. Everyone blames the flu virus for these horrible
symptoms, but that’s not really true. Blame your brain. As your immune system
goes into overdrive to fight off the flu virus, the brain recognizes it and initiates
a strategy to shift energy and bodily resources to defeat the virus.
How does the brain stop you from using up valuable energy needed to fight the
virus? It keeps you from even wanting to move. Thus, you feel extreme fatigue
and your body aches all over every time you try to move. Problem solved.
Pain does not necessarily mean you’re injured
Most of the time, we associate pain with injury. You sprain an ankle, twist a
knee, tweak a back, or burn your hand; pain comes with it. These situations are
rather obvious. This leads to the assumption that if you’re feeling pain, there
must be an injury or some form of damage to your body. The fascinating thing
about pain is that your brain may decide that you should feel pain even when
you’re not injured.15 Just in case.
Case in point. Have you ever “rolled” your ankle playing basketball? Initially,
there’s some pain. But in just a few minutes you “walk it off” and return to the
game without another thought of it.
Remember our previous hard chair example? Sit on a hard chair long enough
and your buttocks will get sore. Is your butt broken or damaged? Of course not.
It’s just that there’s too much pressure in one place for too long. Maybe the
pressure has reduced the blood flow to your butt enough for a signal to be sent to
your brain to let you know it’s time to get up, move around or at least fidget a
bit. Regardless, you get up, move around, and no more pain!
Don’t forget how the body reacts to stress and limits your movement as
explained in chapter 3. Too much tension or pressure anywhere in the body may
result in pain simply from the inability to move an area well enough.
Pain can be learned and can get worse for no apparent reason
Most tissues and body parts heal quite well within three or four months. Some
areas like spinal discs are exceptions and may take 6-12 months (but they do
heal!).
Cut your skin and need stitches. You’ll heal quite well in 10-14 days
Break a bone. It heals in 6-8 weeks.
Surgically repair a tendon and you’re back in the gym in about 4 months.
Sometimes the stress associated with injury can prolong the pain even after
you’re healed. Memories are powerful. Suppose your brain remembers how
much your back hurt when you tried to move the furniture by yourself. Bending
and lifting may remain painful for no reason other than the brain remembers the
last time you did that and chooses to protect you.16
Interestingly, stress won’t cause pain, but stress can make pain seem worse.17
Circulating stress hormones can increase the sensitivity of nerves and make them
more likely to send signals.13 Think of it like your skin when it is sunburned.
Normally, your skin doesn’t hurt when you touch it. Get a nasty sunburn and
your skin can be so sensitive that even the touch of your clothes can be painful.
Fear may increase the likelihood of having pain. Pain is, well, painful and
unpleasant. Just by being told by your doctor that your back is damaged, your
brain may have you experience pain when you bend over to put on your socks
even if there’s no reason for your back to hurt.18
Pain should be respected
You may be asking yourself that if pain exists in the brain, should I just ignore it
and work though pain associated with movement?
It depends on which type of pain we are talking about.
When you exercise vigorously, it tends to be uncomfortable. Pedal a bike hard
enough, lift weights for enough repetitions, or sprint to your maximum, and you
may experience discomfort that makes you want to stop exercising.
However, as soon as you discontinue the activity, the discomfort quickly tends to
ebb away quickly. This pain is confined to the hardest working muscles or
associated with breathing deep and fast enough to meet the needs of your
activity levels. This discomfort is generalized and not narrowed to a small area.
This “pain” is associated with fatigue and is normal.
Pain that is localized to a specific joint, tendon, or a focal point that limits your
ability to move normally is a bit different. This pain tends to be described as
sharp, shooting, achy, or even throbbing. It persists long after you stop an
activity or it recurs each time you perform a specific movement, such as getting
shoulder pain when you raise your arm.
Both types of pain should be respected, of course, but the latter type may
possibly be related to a true injury. Longer lasting pain associated with swelling,
redness, sensitivity to touch, or travels down the arms or legs should be
evaluated by a medical professional. In fact, when in doubt, regardless of the
type of pain you may experience, get it checked. Better safe than sorry.
The solution to painful movement maybe simply be… movement
It seems counterintuitive that the solution to painful movement is to move. I’m
sure you’ve tried that already. There are certainly circumstances where working
through painful movement is not recommended.
This is wonderful to recognize. Many have been told that their pain is the result
of some physical change, or worse, the medical community can’t find any reason
for your pain. The reality is that they just may need BETTER movement.
What about my X-ray, MRI, or other tests?
Joints, tendons, ligaments, and spinal discs can change over time and contribute
to feeling pain. More and more, the medical literature shows us that many of
these changes are merely the result of the normal aging process. They merely
incidental findings and don’t promote pain. 19 This is not an excuse for ignoring
such finding, but neither is it a death sentence.
Consider what you’ve learned so far.
The brain responds to stress in specific ways.
The body responds to the brain experiencing stress in specific ways.
The body may limit its movement repertoire as protection from stressors.
Limited movement may result in tension and pressure on certain areas of the
body.
Prolonged pressure and tension on certain areas of the body may result in pain.
This cycle can continue unabated.

How do you break the cycle?

Generally speaking, to return to an effective and satisfying exercise program,
you first need to know what your needs really are. Then you need to be able to
eliminate the cause of your limited movement. Finally, you need to break the
barriers that are truly limiting you from writing your comeback story and get you
back to enjoying exercise again.
All Gain, No Pain helps you determine how your movement may be limited and
how to begin to restore it. Before we get there, it’s important that you become
familiar with some often-misused strategies that are often sold as the fix for
common aches and pains. You cannot afford to be wasting your time on
ineffective methods.
Review
Pain exists in and emerges from the brain when it thinks that experiencing pain
is beneficial to your health and survival.
Pain is a warning signal, like a burglar alarm, and should be respected. The
burglar alarm’s sensitivity can be turned up by stress or turned down by effective
movement strategies.
The intensity of pain is not always an accurate prediction of the extent of an
injury and may simply be learned by accident.
Quite often the solution to painful movement is to move, but it’s important to
understand your specific needs and effective strategies to restore comfortable
movement.

Take Action
Take out your notebook and answer these questions.
What have I been told by my doctor or health professional?
What are my beliefs about my history of pain or injury?
Knowing what I now know about pain, how does this change things?
 6
The Wrong Tool for the Job: Stretching Failures and Strength
Isn’t the Problem
Key Points
Ineffective strategies with good intent
Misconception #1: You need to stretch tight muscles
Misconception #2: You have pain because you’re weak
Misconception #3: There is a best way to sit, to stand, and to move
Ineffective strategies with good intent
Back in the late 1960’s, my brother had been watching a TV show about World
War II soldiers called Combat! . One episode involved a team of paratroopers
strapping their parachute packs upon their backs and jumping from a plane
behind enemy lines. Caught up in the excitement, my brother was determined to
emulate the American soldiers and test his own mettle.
Procuring a backpack from the family camping gear, he carefully and
deliberately packed his parachute; a bedsheet from the upstairs linen closet. With
no plane in sight, he somehow needed enough height so he could “hit the silk”
like his brave and gritty TV comrades. As only a child could reason, surely the
bed would propel him to the skies to then drift gently and safely to the ground
under the power of his “chute.”
Taking a diagonal path across the bed to gain the necessary momentum, he took
one bounce, two bounces, and then on the third—he was airborne!
He quickly pulled his shoestring “rip cord” only to realize that his parachute did
not open! Struck with a moment of panic his brow went smack into the corner of
his dresser.
To this day, my brother blames his scar on the mechanical equipment failure, as
his back-up parachute did not open either.
While my brother’s intent was genuine and admirable, he simply used an
ineffective strategy and the wrong tool for the job. We are often similar with our
own efforts in dealing with pain or following an exercise program toward a
specific goal.
Good intent, ineffective strategy.
The rehab and fitness realms are rife with ineffective strategies arising from
misperceptions that the body is somehow a mechanical machine. Actually, the
human body is far more complex than even the most complicated machines. Our
bodies are adaptive and can change in response to many different stimuli.
However, there many false assumptions as to how these changes actually take
place.
I’ll explain three larger misconceptions that are still deeply rooted in the fitness
and rehabilitation fields. I’ll also briefly discuss a much more effective All Gain,
No Pain strategy.
Misconception #1: You need to stretch tight muscles
We’ve all experienced muscular tightness or tension that limits our movement.
The general assumption is that a muscle somehow lacks sufficient length to
allow normal motion. Strategies and solutions targeted at yanking, pulling, and
stretching muscles in hopes to add length may provide moments of relief but fail
in the long term. The reality is that most muscles already have sufficient length
to access virtually any normal human movement imaginable. It is a rare occasion
that muscles adapt and actually lose length.
Muscles are actually attached to wires (nerves) that connect to a computer (the
brain) that decides the active length of the muscles. So, when we complain of
tight muscles, it may simply be that the brain determines that restricting
movement is the best course of action under the immediate circumstances.
Remember from chapter 3 that our perceptions and stress levels can increase
muscle tension and limit movement options.
Therefore, attempting to add muscle length via common stretching methods can
become an exercise in futility. If the brain decides that the muscles need to
remain under tension, then they will stay tight no matter how much your stretch.
That’s not to say that there are never beneficial effects to stretching muscles and
joints. I’m merely stating that restoring comfortable and effective movement is
much more complex than pulling on muscles as if they were rubber bands or
pieces of leather.
Here’s how stretching basically works.
Most people are familiar with static stretching either as an athlete when they
were in school or attending a yoga class. We move a muscle to its supposed
length where we feel a little discomfort and hold it there for a prescribed amount
of time. With enough repetitions over a period of days and weeks, we start to
notice we can stretch farther than we were initially able to. The assumption is
that we somehow made the muscles longer to allow this to occur.

However, the muscles don’t actually get longer. Instead, we develop a greater
stretch tolerance. In other words, you increased your pain tolerance, which
allows you to move through the larger motion.20
In rare cases, this form of stretching may be beneficial to improving movement.
However, the effects of stretching may be limited due a concept called the SAID
Principle. The S-A-I-D stands for Specific Adaptations to Imposed Demands.
This principle informs us that the improvements experienced with static
stretching will only be revealed when performing movements like static
stretching. It is then less likely that this type of stretching will impact movement
throughout the day or during exercise.21
The All Gain, No Pain program will provide you with a more effective solution
to overcoming any muscle tightness resulting in the lasting effects of
comfortable movement.
Misconception #2: You have pain because you’re weak
In cases where movement may be limited, or even painful, many sense a lack of
sufficient strength to move effectively. This deficit leads to the belief that simply
increasing muscle strength is the solution to moving more comfortably. This
belief is not entirely accurate.
Stress-induced muscle tension alters the position of all our body’s joints. Our
resting muscle length is thus determined by joint position. Some muscles are
positioned shorter, and other muscles are positioned longer, than their optimal
length required to demonstrate their true strength. There is nothing wrong with
the muscles themselves, they are merely incapable of demonstrating their
strength because they are out of position.22 Altered position limits your typical
movement repertoire and can result in discomfort.
The All Gain, No Pain program restores your mobility by regaining control of
joint position. Strength and comfort often improve instantly.
Misconception #3: There is a best way to sit, to stand, and to move
Experts in popular magazines and on websites often espouse opinions that there
is one best way for everyone to move. This often results in frustration and
potentially more discomfort as you consciously attempt to “fix” your movement
or postures to meet their standard.
Humans just don’t work that way. We were not meant to be like statues. Instead,
we are dynamic and mobile creatures. Concepts like movement and posture are
complex, and cannot be “fixed” through conscious attention to a supposed
singular optimum. As I frequently tell my clients, “there is not one way, there are
many” in regard to postures or movements.
Our movements are certainly constrained by our anatomy. Joints are only
designed to move in certain ways. Muscles have specific “jobs” to do depending
on the task at hand. Your brain and body work together and determine the best
movement under the circumstances to remain safe and effective. Your goal is to
assure that you are capable of accessing the desired movement for which the
situation calls.23
The All Gain, No Pain program is not an attempt to fit you into some sort of
ideal package of postures and movements. It is designed to regain your lost
movement repertoire and alleviate tightness and discomfort that often interferes
with your ability to move well and exercise comfortably.
As we wrap up this section, you are now armed with a greater understanding of
how movement occurs and why you may be experiencing discomfort and
movement limitations. In the next section, you’ll be introduced to the No Pain
Principles. You’ll start building a personalized program to overcome your
limitations and get back to a satisfying and effective exercise program.
Review
What you feel as tight muscles is not a lack of length. Muscles may simply be
active or in a stretched position resulting in restricted movement.
Stress may result in defensive or protective muscle tension. This results in the
inability to demonstrate your normal strength. You’re not weak. You’re just not
controlling the position as well as you could.
There’s not a best way to move or an ideal or “good” posture. Your goal is to
reestablish your full movement repertoire to gain access to the best movement
for the task at hand. This is what allows you to return to a very satisfying and
successful exercise program.

Take Action
Get your notebook.
Take a few moments to review your notes from Section 1 of All Gain, No Pain .
Do you see how much of your progress will be under your control?
Jot down any questions you may still have as there is more understanding to be
gained in Section 2 as you begin to learn the No Pain Principles.
 Section 2

The No Pain Principles: Building Resilience
 7
The No Pain Principles: Rebuilding Resilience
Key Points
No Pain Principle #1: Know Thyself
No Pain Principle #2: Breathe effectively
No Pain Principle #3: Rebuild Your Movement Repertoire
No Pain Principle #4: Rebuild Your Capacity
No Pain Principle #5: Use Supportive Nutrition to Stay Lean and Pain-Free
No Pain Principle #6: Take Control Through Self-Regulation
Webster’s dictionary defines resilience as the ability to become strong, healthy,
and more successful again after something bad happens. It’s also the ability of
something to return to its original shape after it is pulled, stretched, pressed,
bent, etc. When we consider The No Pain Principles these definitions fit our
purpose well.
An injury or a layoff from sports or the gym inevitably results in a loss in
physical qualities that made movement easier and exercise enjoyable.
Thankfully, in many cases, we can recoup these qualities and regain our
resilience .
We can divide resilience into three components: variability, adaptability, and
recoverability. These are the foundation upon which you will regain the ability to
move well and improve your resistance to the physical and psychological
challenges of exercise and daily activities.
Variability represents our ability to change. Lost variability in any system affects
our ability to stay healthy. For instance, high blood pressure represents a lack of
variability or, perhaps a better descriptor is its opposite, rigidity in the
cardiovascular system. Instead of blood pressure fluctuating with activity and
rest, it remains high all the time.
Rigidity in our movement system may bring about discomfort or pain. Humans
are designed to be movers, and how well we move on the outside may very well
represent how healthy we are on the inside. Therefore, our first goal with All
Gain, No Pain is to “unlock” our system and restore your movement variability.
Adaptability represents your ability to adjust to new conditions or new demands.
According to guidelines established by Zac Cupples, DPT, PT, once capable of
effective movement, your goal is to enhance your capacity, strength, and power.
Capacity development allows you to resist fatigue. Fatigue alters our movement
and increases the difficulty of any task.
Strength enhances ease of movement and our tolerance to all stressors.
Power may be our most coveted ability. It improves our ability to move
efficiently, decisively, and quickly. Power reestablishes athleticism and also adds
a protective effect against potential injury.
Recoverability represents your ability to consistently restore energy, rebuild your
body, and rebound from stress. Low energy levels reduce motivation and healthy
decision making. Energy restoration requires effective rest and sleep strategies.
Proper nutrition program not only supports muscle growth and reduced body fat,
but it also protects your body against degeneration and disease.
Resilience makes it easier to bounce back when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
The No Pain Principles lay the groundwork for rebuilding resilience . We will
touch briefly on each of the principles in this chapter and expand them in much
greater detail in chapters of their own.
No Pain Principle #1: Know Thyself
To get to point B, you must determine your point A. Your self-assessment of
movement, breathing, endurance, supportive nutrition, and recoverability
establishes your point A. There is no right or wrong. No best or worst. There is
no comparison to others. Just where you are now, and where you will be going.
The information gathered about yourself determines your course of action and
the appropriate All Gain, No Pain exercise program.
No Pain Principle #2: Better Breathing = Better Movement
You’ve already learned that reactions to stress alter the way that we breathe and.
Consider the fact that you breathe 20,000 times a day. Repetition is learning, and
if you breathe in a certain way, in a certain posture, you will continue to do so.
Breathing is movement and movement is breathing.
Your All Gain, No Pain program breaks the cycle of limited breathing options
that may be restricting your ability to move effectively and comfortably.
No Pain Principle #3: Push the Reset Button
To move effectively and comfortably you must progress with increasingly more
complex movements. Breathing retraining is foundational, but you must
superimpose effective, dynamic movement on top of an effective breathing
pattern.
All Gain, No Pain movement exercises that I call “resets” restore effective
breathing and enhance your control of movement in a variety of postures and
positions. You’ll soon find your “tightness” or barriers to movement quickly
eliminated.
No Pain Principle #4: Rebuild Your Capacity
Fatigue makes the simplest tasks more difficult.
Reestablishing capacity, or what you may call endurance, gives the brain a
stronger sense of your capabilities. As endurance improves, you’ll enjoy a more
vigorous exercise program less discomfort associated with getting “stuck” in
your human stress pattern. Secondarily, expanding your capacity improves
overall health and your ability to manage stress. This value cannot be overstated.
No Pain Principle #5: Use Supportive Nutrition to Stay Lean and Pain-Free
Nutrition is one of the most confusing and complicated aspects of optimizing
health and influencing physical appearance. Certainly, we want to move well and
feel good, but we want to look good too. No exercise program can overcome
poor nutrition.
The All Gain, No Pain Nutrition supports good general health but also supports
quality muscle mass and reduced body fat. Additionally, by controlling blood
sugar and inflammation, discomfort and pain can improve.
No Pain Principle #6: Take Control Through Self-Regulation
How we experience our world and how we react to it influences every system of
our body, including the movement system. High stress can steal our adaptability,
reduce movement variability, and negatively affect our general health.
Thankfully, research shows that we can alter daily stress and take control of our
movement and health.
All Gain, No Pain self-regulation and exercise strategies establish a powerful
behavioral framework. Energy improves and happiness increases as does your
ability to exercise effectively.
At times, we’ve relinquished control of our health. Movement declines.
Appearance suffers. Exercise becomes too painful. Becoming resilient means
being successful… Again. Following these No Pain Principles represents the
foundation upon which you will rebuild your body and your overall health.
Review
To become resilient you must reestablish variability, adaptability, and
recoverability.
You must know your starting point to close the gap between where you are today
and where you want to be in the near future.
Breathing is movement and movement is breathing. Nothing is more impactful
to support your movement, health, and physical appearance.
Following effective strategies saves you time and prevents setbacks that impede
your progress.
Rebuilding capacity reduces effort and supports every aspect of your comeback
story to rebuild your body and your health.
Nothing impacts your physical appearance and movement capabilities more than
nutrition.
How you see the world and your behavior influences every aspect of your All
Gain, No Pain program. While it may be tempting to ignore this concept, your
success depends on.
 8
No Pain Principle #1: Know Thyself (Your Self-Assessment)
Key Points
Establish your starting point
Assess your breathing
Assess your movement
Assess your resting heart rate
Establish your nutritional profile
Assess your sleep quality
Terry was frustrated with his workouts. As we sat in my office, he explained his
current list of physical complaints that was preventing him from seeing any
measureable improvements. He’d been working out religiously for months with
little return on his efforts other than some new aches and pains. Every time he
started a new program promising him a more muscular, leaner physique, he’d
quickly succumb to discomfort that stole his motivation. He would take time to
“heal up” and then begin again only to experience the same progress-halting
aches and pains.
This is a common mistake when it comes to starting a new exercise program.
Enthusiasm takes over, and we dive right into the program riding the wave of
novelty and excitement. I’m like that myself and often need a reminder that to
get where I want to go, I first need to understand where I am. I need a starting
point.
If the goal is to look, move, and feel better, we need to know our starting point to
determine the necessary steps to reach it. The following self-tests will establish
your baseline, allowing better selection of the All Gain, No Pain Program that
will take you where you want to go. All Gain, No Pain takes all of your tests into
consideration and does not weight one test’s importance in isolation.
What you need to complete the tests

Your notebook to document any details of your results for later

comparison
Your smartphone to use as a timer and to take photos and videos of
your test results
Create a file on your computer to save your test results by date for
 later comparisons
If you have any trouble executing the tests, you can find more information at
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .

Resilience Tests
These tests provide information in regard to behaviors that will support your
physical efforts and your recoverability as discussed in Chapter 7.
Resting Heart Rate
Why is this test important : Resting heart rate represents a general assessment
of your fitness level and your ability to adapt to and recover from stress or
exercise. It also factors into determining how intensely you should be exercising.
What does it test : Resting heart rate provides a measure of how fast your heart
beats at rest. This may provide information in regard to the influence of the
“flight or fight” response. As your fitness levels improve, you should note a
decrease in your resting heart rate.
Your Goal: A resting heart rate below 60 beats per minute.24
Performance Note:
I recommend that you purchase a heart rate monitor with a chest strap to make
your measurements easy and accurate for testing and for exercise.
The Polar H7 Bluetooth Heart Rate Sensor and Fitness Tracker is an excellent
product that is easy to apply and use.
If you choose not to use a heart rate monitor, you can simply take your pulse the
old-fashioned way. To do so, find your radial pulse on the palm side of your
wrist as indicated below.
Resting Heart Rate Test
Purpose: The Resting Heart Rate Test provides a baseline measure of fitness
Set-up

Turn your right palm upward

Place the pads of your left index and middle fingers on the thumb
side of your wrist
Performance

Locate your pulse on the palm side of your wrist

Using the timer on your smart phone (or equivalent) count your heart
beats for 20 seconds
Multiply the number of heart beats counted in 20 seconds times 3 to
determine your resting heart rate
Coaching Cues

Breath normally throughout the measurement

Press lightly in the wrist with the pads of your fingers to find the
pulse

Nutritional Profile
Why is this important: Nutrition provides energy and resources to support
health and physical activity as well as the desired level of muscle mass.
What does it test: Our Nutritional Profile provides a representation of our
eating behaviors that lead to successful supportive nutrition.
Your goal: Change one behavior at a time until your meet the standard.

Sleep Quality Assessment

Why is this important: Sleep hygiene is one of the simplest, most powerful and
impactful elements of healthy behavior. Unfortunately, it remains one of the
most underappreciated and overlooked aspects of stress management and a
healthy lifestyle. A number of behaviors can positively or negatively impact your
sleep quality and a few simple changes can make all the difference in your
health, movement quality, and physique. We’ll look at sleep and its impact on
the All Gain, No Pain program more in Chapter 15.
What does it test: Our Sleep Quality Assessment provides a representation of
our sleep behaviors that lead to successful sleep hygiene to enhance resilience .
Your goal: Adapt one behavior at a time to change your answers from No to
Yes.

Breathing assessment
To move well we must breathe well. The inability to bend, twist, squat, or
perform any movement that requires you to hold your breath will either limit
your ability to move or cause you to compensate in some way that may put you
at risk for injury. These reasons are why we look at breathing.
Remember to document your results in your notebook and use your smartphone
for easy recording and timing.
Breath Hold Test
Why is this test important: As we breathe, our body takes the oxygen from the
air and trades it with carbon dioxide (CO2). What you may not know is that we
need to retain a small percentage of that CO2. Without it, we can’t optimize the
acid-base balance of the blood, called pH. CO2 below optimal levels causes pH
to rise. This can set off a cascade of events that negatively affect every body
system. CO2 in the blood is also necessary to be able to pull oxygen from the
blood stream and pass it on to every cell in your body.
Hyperventilation, even at low levels, results in exhaling too much CO2. This
state can narrow blood vessels, reducing blood flow to your body and brain.
Nerves can become hypersensitive (increasing potential for feeling pain),
muscles can seem weak, and you may even experience confusion or increased
anxiety.12
What does it test: The Breath Holding Test will tell you if you’re doing a good
job at retaining a healthy CO2 level. As you periodically revisit this test, you’ll
notice improved ability to hold your breath, indicating better tolerance of CO2
accumulation in your body.
Your Goal: To hold the breath COMFORTABLY for 30 seconds after full
exhalation is completed.
Breath Holding Test
Purpose: The Breath Holding Test is designed to determine how well you
tolerate the accumulation of carbon dioxide in your blood. Sufficient tolerance
of carbon dioxide assures that you can deliver oxygen to all parts of your body
including your brain and helps to optimize muscle tension.
Set-up

You need a stopwatch or the timer on your smartphone to count

seconds
Lie on your back with your knees bent and arms comfortably by your
side
Performance

Take a normal breath in through your nose and pinch your nostrils
closed
Exhale all the air from your lungs that you can
Hold your breath with empty lungs and start the timer
Continue to hold your breath until your feel the need to breathe in
Stop the timer when your start to breath in
Record your breath hold time
Coaching Cues

Take a normal breath in before exhaling

 Do not take a large breath before exhaling
You may find that you cough a great deal on the first few attempts at
exhaling and breath hold. This is normal.
Breathe in at the first signs of discomfort with breath holding

Exhalation Rib Mobility Test

Why is this test important: Hyperinflation can cause you to overfill the lower
front aspect of your rib cage with air. Over time, the muscles that help you
expand the ribs can cause stiffening of the rib cage and limit your ability to
exhale effectively. This also limits how the entire body can move.25 , 26
What does it test: The Exhalation Rib Mobility Test will determine if your
ribcage is mobile enough to achieve an effective exhalation.
Your Goal: A successful test is indicated by your ability to exhale enough to
bring the ribcage down toward the floor until the lower ribs are level with the
abdominal muscles. Your torso will appear to be cylindrical. If the lower ribs
remain prominent, you most likely lack some ribcage mobility and this may
result in impaired movement.
Exhalation Rib Mobility Test

Purpose: The Exhalation Rib Mobility Test assesses the mobility of your
ribcage.
Set-up

Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent

Place your hands on either side of your ribcage with your hands
covering the lower ribs
Performance

Take a normal inhalation in through the nose

 Exhale fully through the mouth
Follow the movement of the ribs with your hands until you have
fully exhaled
Coaching Cues

Take a normal breath in before exhaling

Do not take a large breath before exhaling
Do not push with the hands. Just follow the ribs downward.
Do not lift the head or shoulders from the floor

The Supine Rib Angle test

Why is this test important: The infrasternal angle is the angle formed by the
two sides of the lower ribcage as they come together below your sternum (breast
bone). This angle provides information as to what strategy may be best to
improve your breathing pattern and restore comfortable, purposeful movement.
What does it test: The width of the angle formed provides information
regarding how your diaphragm, abdominal muscles, and accessory breathing
muscles are used.
Your Goal: Achieve an angle of about 90 degrees with normal, restful
breathing. An angle that is too narrow (less than 90 degrees) or too wide (greater
than 90 degrees) may indicate a need to improve how your muscles help you
move air in and out of the body to support effective, pain-free exercise.
Supine Rib Angle Test

Purpose: The Supine Rib Angle Test provides information as to how your
diaphragm, abdominal muscles, and accessory breathing muscles help you move
air in and out of the body
Set-up

Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent

 Place your hands on either side of your ribs with your hands along
the lower ribcage
Performance

Breathe normally throughout the test

Place your fingers along lower ribs as where they angle upward
toward the sternum (breast bone)
Estimate the angle formed by the ribs and record your result
Coaching Cues

Breath normally at all times

Do not take a large breath or “suck in your belly”
Gently apply pressure along the lower ribs to find the angle
Do not intentionally alter your rib position via forced breathing

The Seated Diaphragm Test

Why is this test important: The diaphragm is your most important breathing
muscle. Stress-related posturing or restricted movement can limit the
diaphragm’s ability to move air in and out of the body.27 If this occurs, your brain
and body will rely on accessory muscles to breathe. This may further limit your
movement options.
What does it test: The Seated Diaphragm Test assesses your ability to position
the diaphragm for breathing in an upright posture.
Your Goal: A successful test is indicated by your ability to expand the back of
the lower ribcage in an outward direction.
The Seated Diaphragm Test
Purpose: The Seated Diaphragm Test will assess your ability to position and
utilize the diaphragm muscle effectively for breathing
Set-up

Sit upright in a chair with our back unsupported, feet on the floor,
and knees bent 90 degrees
Place your thumbs on either side of the lower back just below the last
rib in the soft muscular area above the pelvic bones
Performance

Take a normal inhalation in through the nose

Exhale fully through the mouth until you have fully exhaled
Apply a gentle inward pressure on the muscular area where your
thumbs are resting
Take a normal inhalation in through the nose
If you feel the soft area under your thumbs become firm and push
our thumbs out of the lower back, you have successfully completed
the test. Indicate your result on your self-assessment
If you did not feel your thumb getting pushed out of the lower back
on inhalation, indicate your result and terminate the test
Coaching Cues

Take normal breaths in during the test

Apply a gentle but firm pressure with your thumbs throughout the
test
Do not bend forward during the test

Toe Touch Test

Why is this test important: The toe touch test is often utilized as a general
measure of hamstring length or flexibility. Touching the toes is actually much
more complex than simply a measure of how far the hamstrings can stretch. All
the muscles on the back side of the body influence your ability to bend forward.
Your toe touch result is correlated with your other tests, and is an easy, daily
self-test of progress.
What does it test: This test provides information regarding both your ability to
expand the upper back as you breathe and move your pelvis as you bend. It may
also indicate that you have developed compensatory mobility to get around a
movement limitation.
Your Goal: Successful completion is indicated by touching the toes of the right
foot and then the left foot while you take a breath in the bent over position. If
you cannot reach your toes while keeping the knees straight, estimate and record
the distance from finger tips to toes for future comparison. If you must lift
upward to take a breath in, indicate the change and use the maximum distance
from your toes as your measure. If you can easily reach beyond the toes, indicate
that as well.
Use your smartphone camera to make recording your results easier.
Toe Touch Test

Purpose: The Toe Touch Test is used to assess your ability to bend forward,
expand the upper back, move the pelvis, and determine the muscle activity on
the back side of the body.
Set-up

Stand with your feet hip width apart and toes pointed straight ahead
Cross one hand over the other with finger tips together
Performance

Keeping the knees perfectly straight, bend forward and reach for
your right toes.
Take a normal breath in through your nose and out your mouth
Record your ability to reach to the right toes as you inhale
Return to standing upright
 Keeping the knees perfectly straight, bend forward and reach for
your left toes.
Take a normal breath in through your nose and out your mouth
Record your ability to reach to the left toes as you inhale
Coaching Cues

Take a normal breath in through the nose

Record the distance you can reach down your shin if you cannot
reach your toes
Maintain perfectly straight knees throughout the test
If you have pain during the test, indicate it on your assessment

Movement Tests
The following tests expand on your movement baseline (aka your Point A). You
will periodically revisit these tests to measure your progress as you move more
freely and comfortably.
Foot Placement for Movement Tests
In the tests where the feet are placed flat on the floor, use the following
instructions for proper foot placement. Maintaining foot position will avoid
unconscious “cheating” of the test associated with compensating through the
feet.
— Place your feet evenly on the floor
— On one side at a time, roll the heel of the foot outward and inward to feel
outside and inside edges of the heel bone
— Slowly reduce how much you rock inward and outward until your find the
center of the heel bone on the floor
— Hold that position
— Repeat this process on the other side
— Sense slightly more weight on your heels than your toes, but keep your toes
on the floor at all times and equal weight on your big toe and little toe
throughout the test.
— Keep your feet centered throughout the test
Toe Touch to Squat
Why is this test important: Stress can drive the body into a state of increased
muscle tone that will tilt the pelvis forward and arch the back resulting in limited
movement. This is representative of your “on-switch.”
What does it test: “Folding” your body in the opposite direction in a squat and
continuing to breathe with ease indicates your ability to self-regulate and
produce comfortable, effective, purposeful movement. For many, this may be the
most telling of all your movement tests. Essentially what we are attempting to do
with your squat test is to determine how well you can flip your “off-switch”.
Your goal: A successful test equals lowering your hips into a squat to at least the
level of the knee. Many of us who sit for extended periods of time may find this
difficult and hover above the desired squat depth initially.
Toe Touch to Squat Test

Purpose: The Toe Touch Test is used to assess your ability to bend forward,
expand the upper back, move the pelvis, and mobility of the hips, knees, and
ankles.
Set-up

Stand with your feet hip width apart and toes pointed straight ahead
Performance

Bend forward and touch the toes of both feet with your fingertips.
You may bend your knees.
Keeping your heels on the ground and knees in line with the hips,
lower your hips downward into a squat position
Document whether your hips drop below the level of the knee
Coaching Cues
 Avoid holding your breath
Keep the knees in line with the toes and hips at all times
Keep your heels on the floor

Standing Rotation Test

Why is this test important: Undesired muscle tension can limit our ability to
bend as in a toe touch or a squat, but it may also rob us of the ability to turn and
twist our body.
What does it test: The Standing Rotation test will assess your ability to turn
from side-to-side.
Your goal: A successful test entails turning your hips 45 degrees, your shoulders
90, and your head to turn 90 degrees. You may find greater comfort turning one
way than the other or that both sides feel the same.
Standing Rotation Test

Purpose: The Standing Rotation Test is to assesses your ability to turn your body
equally from side-to-side.
Set-up

In your bare feet, stand with your heels and toes touching together
Find the center of both heels and maintain that position throughout
the test
Relax your arm at your sides
Performance

Keeping your heels centered and arms relaxed, turn your hips,
shoulders, and head to the right as far as you can comfortably as if to
look at someone behind you
Return to the starting position
 Repeat the test to the left
Save your photos or video to record your result as being equal or
unequal indicating the side of greatest limitation in pelvis turn,
shoulder turn, and head turn
Coaching Cues

Keep your heels centered throughout the test

Keep your arm relaxed at all times
Do not force your turns into painful motions
Don’t forget to turn the hips, shoulders, and head

Seated Hip Shift

Why is this test important: Effective movement requires the ability to shift our
weight evenly from one leg to the other. Undesired muscle tension may limit
mobility of the pelvis and ability to move the hips equally.
What does it test: The Seated Hip Shift test assesses your ability to shift your
hips from side-to-side.
Your goal: A successful test is indicated by shifting your hips to create a
difference of 3-5 inches in the position of the knees equally on both sides.
Performance Note:
You’ll want to use a chair that allows your back to rest comfortably against the
seatback. As you perform the test, you should feel the contact of your back
change with the hip shift. As the right hip and knee go forward, you’ll feel less
of your right lower back on the chair and more left lower back contact the
seatback and vice versa.
Seated Hip Shift Test

Purpose: The Seated Hip Shift Test assesses your ability to shift your weight
evenly from side-to-side when seated..
Set-up

In your bare feet, sit with both heels on the floor and your back
resting comfortably against the back of the chair
Hips and knees should be bent approximately 90 degrees each
Find the center of both heels and maintain that position throughout
the test
Place a ball or a towel roll (or the equivalent) of about 4-6” in
diameter between your knees
Performance

Keeping your heels centered at all times, shift your right knee
forward and allow the left knee to shift backward
Attend to how far and how easily you can shift in this manner
Return to the starting position
Again, keeping your heels centered at all times, repeat the test this
time shifting the left knee forward and allowing the right knee to
shift backward
Attend to how far and how easily you can shift in this manner
Repeat the test several times to assure an accurate measure
Save your photos or video to record your result as equal or unequal
indicating the side of greatest limitation or difficulty shifting
Coaching Cues

Keep your heels centered throughout the test

Do not force into painful motions
Do not tense the lower back and let it follow the hips in a relaxed
manner
Do not turn or twist the upper body to exaggerate the test in any way

Seated Trunk Rotation Test

Why is this test important: The ability of the ribcage to turn from side-to-side
affects how the shoulders are positioned, and therefore, affects how the entire
arm moves. In the Standing Rotation Test, the pelvis and shoulders were turning
in the same direction which may make it appear easier to turn the ribcage.
What does it test: The Seated Trunk Rotation Test will assess how well you can
turn the ribcage while the pelvis is restricted from moving.
Your goal: A successful test indicates the ability to turn between 30-40 degrees
both to the right and to the left.
Seated Trunk Rotation Test

Purpose: The Seated Trunk Rotation Test is to assess your ability to turn your
ribcage with the shoulders from side-to-side.
Set-up

In your bare feet, sit on the front half of a chair with both heels on
the floor
You should feel your “sit bones” in contact with the chair
Find the center of both heels and maintain that position throughout
the test
Place a ball or a towel roll (or the equivalent) of about 4-6” in
diameter between your knees
Place a broomstick or the equivalent across the front of the shoulders
with your arms crossed
Performance

Keeping your heels centered at all times and holding the stick stable
across the front of your shoulders, turn the shoulders as far as you
can to the right
Attend to how far and how easily you can turn in this manner
 Return to the starting position
Again, keeping your heels centered at all times and holding the stick
stable across the front of your shoulders, turn the shoulders as far as
you can to the left
Attend to how far and how easily you can turn in this manner
Repeat the test several times to assure an accurate measure
Save your photos or video to record your result as equal or unequal
indicating the side of greatest limitation or difficulty shifting
Coaching Cues

Keep your heels centered throughout the test

Do not force into painful motions
Stay centered with weight equally on your “sit bones” and do not
allow the hips to turn or shift your weight to either side
Do not lean forward or back in an attempt to increase your shoulder
turn

Supine Overhead Reach Test

Why is this test important: Reaching overhead may be restricted or painful in
those of us who may have stiffer ribcages or an altered breathing pattern.26
What does it test: The Supine Overhead Reach Test assesses shoulder motion
based on your ability to reach overhead comfortably.
Your goal: A successful test result is indicated by the ability to reach
comfortably overhead to the level of the arm to the ear when viewed from the
side. The lower back should be in contact with the floor at all times. To avoid
“cheating,” perform a full exhale to avoid arching the back or lifting the ribcage
to substitute for restricted shoulder motion.
Supine Overhead Reach Test
Purpose: The Supine Overhead Reach Test is to assess your ability to reach
overhead comfortably.
Set-up

Lie on your back with your lower legs resting on a chair

Your hips and knees should be bent approximately 90 degrees each
Rest your arms comfortably by your sides and palms facing inward
Performance

Take a normal breath in through your nose

Exhale fully through your mouth to bring the ribcage downward and
to feel your lower back make contact on the floor
Keeping your lower back on the floor and ribs in the exhaled
position, reach directly overhead with both arms as far as you can
reach comfortably
Relax to the starting position and breathe in
Save your photos or video to record your result also making note of
any differences between left and right sides
Coaching Cues

Exhale fully and do not breathe in until you complete the test
Keep your lower back down on the floor
Do not reach into pain

Supine Shoulder Rotation

Why is this test important: Restricted by mobility of the ribcage and altered
breathing patterns may restrict our ability to position and rotate the shoulder.9
What does it test: The Supine Shoulder Rotation Test assesses your ability to
position the shoulders and rotate the arms for daily activities and exercise.
Your goal: A successful test result will produce an arc of approximately 160-
180 degrees of total shoulder rotation. As you rotate the shoulder to place the
back of your hand on the floor, the shoulder will rotate 90 degrees. As you rotate
the shoulder to place the palm of your hand on the floor, the shoulder will rotate
approximately 70-90 degrees.
Supine Shoulder Rotation Test

Purpose: The Supine Shoulder Rotation Test is to assess your ability to rotate the
shoulder comfortably
Set-up

Lie on your back with your lower legs resting on a chair

Your hips and knees should be bent approximately 90 degrees each
Rest your arms straight out to your sides perpendicular to your body
Bend your elbows to 90 degrees with your palms facing the direction
of your feet
Feel your shoulder blade make contact on the floor
Performance

Take a normal breath in through your nose

Exhale fully through your mouth to bring the ribcage downward and
to feel your lower back make contact on the floor
Keeping your back and shoulder blade on the floor and elbow bent
90 degrees, rotate the left arm upward toward the floor and attempt
to lay the back of your left hand on the floor
Note and estimate the degrees of shoulder rotation (touching the
floor = 90 degrees)
 Return to the starting position
Keeping your back and shoulder blade on the floor and elbow bent
90 degrees, rotate the left arm downward toward the floor and
attempt to lay the palm of your left hand on the floor
Note and estimate the degrees of shoulder rotation (touching the
floor = 90 degrees)
Repeat the test for the right shoulder
Save your photos or video to record your result also making note of
the achieved motion and any differences between left and right sides
Coaching Cues

Exhale fully as you perform the test

Keep your lower back and shoulder blade on the floor throughout the
test
Do not rotate the shoulder into pain

Active Straight Leg Raise Test

Why is this test important: The diaphragm and abdominal muscles have dual
duties in regard to breathing and controlling the position of the trunk and hips
during physical activity.28 Undesired muscle tension may limit our ability to
move and breath simultaneously resulting in undesired breath holding and
further movement limitations.
What does it test: The Active Straight Leg Raise Test assesses your hip
mobility as well as your ability to breathe and control the position of the ribcage
and pelvis during a low to moderate muscular challenge.
Your goal: A successful test is considered the ability to one leg at a time to at
least 70 degrees from the floor.
Performance Note:
If you were unable to effectively achieve the desired outcome on the
Exhalation Rib Mobility Test, there is no need to perform the Active Straight
Leg Raise Test. In this case, indicate that you did not perform the test at this
time, but once you are able to pass the Exhalation Rib Mobility Test, be sure to
perform this test.
Active Straight Leg Raise Test

Purpose: The Active Straight Leg Raise Test is to assess hip mobility and your
ability to control the position of ribcage and pelvis during a muscular challenge
Set-up

Lie on your back with your legs straight

Rest your arms at your sides on the floor
Performance

Take a normal breath in through your nose

Exhale fully through your mouth to bring the ribcage downward and
to feel your lower back make contact on the floor
Breathe normally throughout the test while keeping your lower back
on the floor
Keeping your back on the floor and keeping both knees straight, raise
your right leg off the floor as high as you are capable while keeping
the right knee straight
Note and estimate the degrees of leg raise (Straight up = 90 degrees)
Return to the starting position
Keeping your back on the floor and keeping both knees straight, raise
your left leg off the floor as high as you are capable while keeping
the left knee straight
Note and estimate the degrees of leg raise (Straight up = 90 degrees)
Save your photos or video to record your result also making note of
the achieved motion and any differences between left and right sides
Coaching Cues

Exhale fully and breathe normally throughout the test

Keep your lower back on the floor
Do not move into pain
Keep both knees straight at all times during the test
You should now have a sense of your starting point in your quest to improve
your movement, resolve pain, and rebuild the body you desire. It’s important to
remember that it doesn’t matter from where you start. The important concept to
grasp is to start and work to improve every day. Let the All Gain, No Pain
Program lead you.
If you haven’t done so already, go to www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-
membership and join the community now and take advantage of the support
team and the other members of the community.

Take Action
Document all of your test results in your notebook.
Store your test result photos and videos for future comparisons.
Dig into Chapter 9 for a deeper look at the impact of breathing on movement
and your health.
 9
No Pain Principle #2: Better Breathing = Better Movement
Key Points
The way you breathe has consequences
Become a better exhaler
The power of the pause
Abs move air for better movement
The Way You Breathe has Consequences
“Chronic pain, suffering, and disease are caused by a lack of oxygen at the cell
level.”
—Arthur C. Guyton, MD
The Textbook on Medical Physiology
Breathing represents the foundation upon which we build control of our brain,
body, and overall health. Yet, short of developing Ondine’s Curse, a horrible
condition requiring constant awareness of breathing just to stay alive, we give
breathing only the occasional conscious thought.
A calming deep breath before an important speech. A stabilizing deep breathing
before a heavy lift in the gym. A heavy sigh as we accept the consequences of
the day.
Breathing is a primary component of countless exercise systems designed to
promote muscle control and stress reduction. All Gain, No Pain follows in the
footsteps of these programs that have existed for literally thousands of years.
Adaptable breathing manages muscle tension and restores effective, pain-free
movement. The mere act of exhaling shifts us from a movement-limiting “flight
or fight” state to one of mobility and restoration.
As we saw in chapter 4, hyperventilation also has consequences that affect every
system in the body. For example, the reduction of CO2 in the blood results in
symptoms such as muscle tension or spasm, dizziness, fatigue, chest pain, panic,
anxiety, stomach cramps, reduced blood flow, and magnification of existing
pain.29
All Gain, No Pain takes full advantage of breathing’s effects on every bodily
system but most notably your movement system. While chapter 4 gave you a
sense of breathing mechanics, consider this your “how to breathe” chapter. A
step-by-step process to establish new breathing patterns that we will use
throughout your program.
Although we’ll emphasize specific aspects of breathing, our aim is not limiting
ourselves to one ideal way of breathing. We should have many. Effective
breathing satisfies our desire for air and allows access to our full movement
repertoire. It “turns off” undesired and limiting muscle tension associated with
our stress response. Our master “off switch” rests on your ability to exhale.
Becoming a Better Exhaler
We all tend to be world-class inhalers. Not only does this overfill are lungs and
restrict our ability to move, but it also stimulates our nervous system to maintain
energy output and increase our postural tone in preparation to defend us against
threats, real or imagined.
To begin training an effective exhalation, will assume the same position that we
did for the Supine Overhead Reach Test in chapter 8, then just follow these
instructions

Lie on your back with your hips and knees bent and your lower legs
resting on a chair.
Place both hands on either side of your lower rib cage.
Take a normal breath in through your nose and blow ALL of your air
out through your mouth. To assure that you exhale fully, at the end of
your exhale, attempted to sigh the remaining air out of your lungs as
if to fog up the world’s largest window with your remaining breath.
Follow this exhalation through your mouth with a normal inhalation
through your nose.
Repeat this process with the emphasis on the prolonged exhalation
for 3 to 5 breaths.
 Follow the rib cage with your hands to assure that the ribs move
downward and inward as fully as possible.
Don’t be surprised if you experience the urge to cough as you reach a full
exhalation. This is quite common and can indicative of you achieving a position
of exhalation that you rarely experience. As you get used to more complete
exhalation, this urge to cough will resolve.
It may take practice to achieve a truly complete exhalation and some frustration
is normal. A complete exhale combines the inability to breathe out more air and
a cylindrical shape of the rib cage and abdominal area.
The Power of the Pause
Higher breathing frequency and lower CO2 blood levels increase nervous
system activity and undesired muscle tension. A pause at the end of the exhale
promotes a build-up of CO2 in the blood, restoring normal levels.12
This may be uncomfortable at first as increasing CO2 is the primary driver of
inhalation. Avoid the strong urgency to breathe in quickly and negate the benefit
of the pause. Challenge yourself to wait at least five seconds. With practice that
you’ll extend your pause to a rather significant duration in no time. Modify our
instructions for the breathing exercise above to the following:

Take a normal, quiet breath in through your nose and blow ALL of
your air out through your mouth. To assure that you exhale fully, at
the end of your exhale, attempted to sigh the remaining air out of
your lungs as if to fog up the world’s largest window with your
remaining breath.
Pause and hold your breath for a count of 5
Follow this pause with a normal inhalation through your nose.
Go to www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership for a tutorial on how to
perform this breathing pattern as it will be applied throughout the All Gain, No
Pain Program.
Abs Move Air for Better Movement
The influences of gravity and our anatomy establish a path of least resistance of
airflow to the lower front of the lungs and ribcage. Your ability to exhale
effectively is dependent on your ability to expel the air from this area.
It is the abdominal muscles that strongly influence how well you move air out of
the lungs and ribcage. As you complete the exhale and the ribs move downward
and inward, you’ll feel the abdominal muscles become active and firm. Relaxing
the abdominal muscles gives up control of lower ribcage, and it refills with air
upon the next inhalation.
The abdominal muscle should be active to control the rib cage but not restrictive
to inhalation. Without control of the lower rib cage, the upper and back portions
of the rib cage cannot expand with air. This may limit your ability to reach fully
overhead (airflow to the upper ribcage is required) or bend forward (airflow to
the back of the ribcage is required) without compensating around a limitation.
This potentially results in an undesired adaptation in your muscles and joints and
possibly leads to painful movement.
To optimally activate the abdominal muscles as you breathe, we’ll further
modify the instructions in the breathing retraining exercise to the following:

Take a normal breath in through your nose and blow ALL of your air
out through your mouth. To assure that you exhale fully, at the end of
your exhale, attempted to sigh the remaining air out of your lungs as
if to fog up the world’s largest window with your remaining breath.
As you blow out all the air from your lungs, you should be able to
feel your lower back contact the floor as the abdominal muscles
become more active.
Pause and hold your breath for a count of 5
Follow this pause with a normal inhalation through your nose while
you maintain your lower back in contact with the floor.
The chest and abdominal area expand simultaneously and evenly during a
successful inhalation. You may find that the amount of inhaled air feels
somewhat restricted at first. This is quite common and improves with time and
practice. This type of breathing sets the foundation of your ability to alter the air
pressure and achieve comfortable movement during exercise.
It’s important to reiterate that there is not one best way to breathe just as there is
not one best way to move. The goal is to restore and access your full movement
capabilities. This breathing activity is merely the first step to break you out of
limiting patterns of posture and movement.
The principles of full exhalation involving lower ribs moving in downward and
inward, a pause at the end of exhalation, and an inhalation with active abdominal
muscles will be carried forward to a number of the exercises and activities in the
All Gain, No Pain Program. This type of breathing pattern is to be used as
indicated in the exercises and activities to follow and is not representative of
how you should be breathing at all times. Normal resting breathing is done by
breathing in a relaxed manner in and out through the nose.
Review
Restoring variability in breathing can reduce and control undesired muscle
tension that interrupts moving well.
Better breathing begins with an effective exhalation with the abdominal muscles
actively pulling the lower ribs downward and inward.
A pause after exhalation and before inhalation normalizes CO2 levels in your
blood stream and feeds back to the nervous system to help reduce undesired
muscle tension.
Successful inhalation promotes simultaneous expansion of the chest and
abdomen and helps move air to all areas of the lung and ribcage.

Take Action
Take a few moments to become aware of your breathing.
Don’t make any efforts to change how you breathe at first. Simply feel how your
abdomen, chest, and ribs move.
Where do you expand when you breathe?
How much effort does it take?
Are you breathing through your nose or mouth?
Now review and complete the described breathing exercise above.
How do you breathe afterward?
 10
No Pain Principle #3: Push the Reset Button
Key Points
What does patterned movement look like?
Turning off muscles that are limiting movement
Turning on muscles that promote movement
Pushing the Daily Reset Button
“I haven’t been able to touch my toes in years, but okay, I’ll try.”
Andy is an avid runner, who had recently turned 42, and works a high stress job
with lots of car and airplane travel. He came to see me after his plantar fasciitis
and lower back pain had brought his weekly mileage down to two short runs of
just a couple miles each. This is practically nothing for a guy who’d completed a
number of full and half marathons in recent years. Obviously, he was frustrated
and itching to get back to running pain-free.
Sure enough, Andy bent forward and reached to about mid shin where his
movement came to an abrupt halt.
“That’s about it,” he said. “Man, do my hamstrings feel tight. I think I’m just
getting old.”
“Sorry, but you’re not allowed to use that excuse here,” I said. “I have a feeling
you’re going to be pleasantly surprised once we’re finished today.”
“Well, if you think you can stretch out my hamstrings, it’s a lost cause,” Andy
offered. “I stretch them like crazy every day, and they just don’t stretch out.”
I finished Andy’s movement assessment and ran him through a couple of simple
exercises that included altering his breathing pattern (see Chapter 9!).
Andy stood up with an interesting look on his face. “Hey, that pressure in my
lower back is gone.”
“Try your toe touch test again,” I said.
After a quick eye-roll of doubt, Andy bent forward and much to his surprise, he
easily touched his toes. As he stood up, his eye-roll was replaced by huge smile.
Recall from Chapter 3 how the brain and body respond to stress. The complex
body defaults to a defensive pattern of posture and movement. This pattern
makes the body easier to control but limits our total movement repertoire. Over
time and repeated stress, our system learns this patterned state as normal. Not
only is movement more difficult; it may also become painful.
What do the patterns look like?
When stressed, the body simplifies movement by shifting our center of gravity
forward from the center of our feet. Muscle activity on the backside of the body
increases tilting our pelvis forward and arching our back. The rib cage becomes
flattened on the back side and prominent or “flared” on the front side.

Our center of gravity shifts more weight to one leg.4 , 7 , 30 This patterning
restricts side-to-side movement. Protective patterning also influences movement
of every joint in our neck, arms, and legs.
Your self-assessment in chapter 8 identifies how you may be challenged by
patterned movement. It also determines key All Gain, No Pain activities to
“unlock” your personal movement repertoire and prepare your body for vigorous
exercise.
“Turning off” muscles that are limiting movement
Reducing undesired muscle tension is the first step to restoring our movement
capacity. Patterned, limited movement is produced unconsciously by the stress
and threat detection systems in the brain. Thankfully, conscious effort controls
and alleviates this muscle activity. Chapter 9 explained how breathing affects
movement, but we still have to consider the muscles that move us.
Muscles work in coordinated groups, or synergies, to produce movement. If we
reach forward, the muscles of the trunk support the shoulder, shoulder muscles
elevate the arm, and arm muscles straighten the arm to reach.
Muscles on either side of a joint must work in a coordinated fashion. To bend
your elbow, your biceps shortens, and the triceps, the muscle directly opposing
the biceps, “relaxes.” To straighten the elbow, the triceps shortens and the biceps
must “relax.” (I put quotes around “relax” because the muscles don’t actually
relax, but rather, they alter their type of contraction to allow lengthening
movement to occur.)
To simplify things, we’ll say that the shortening muscle is “on” and the
lengthening muscle is “off.”
We’ll use both synergies and antagonistic muscle activity to expand our
movement capacity. Table 10.1 provides examples of muscles we want to “turn
on” and “turn off” to “unlock” limiting patterns.

Here is an example exercise we may use to “turn off” the muscles indicated in
Table 10.1 . As part of your All Gain, No Pain program, we’ll call these Resets .
Think of it as “resetting” your system much like refreshing your computer.
Pullover with Hamstrings

Set-up

Position yourself on your back, hips and knees bent 90 degrees, and
heels placed on a bench
Grasp a light weight with both hands and press it directly above the
chest with arms straight
Performance
 Pull down with the heels and slightly lift your tailbone to flatten your
back to the floor
Exhale fully as you reach toward the ceiling maximally with the
kettlebell
Reach back overhead until the arms are at a 45-degree angle from the
floor
Hold this position as you take 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth with emphasis on a complete exhalation;
pulling the ribs down and inward
Return to the starting position
Perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Attempt to reach farther with each exhale

After the first exhale, maintain the ribs pulled downward and inward
and breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Feel the hamstrings and abdominal muscles working throughout the
exercise

“Turning on” muscles that promote movement

Muscles that have been “turned off” for a long time may be difficult to “turn
on.” In this case, we still need to learn to increase their activity to restore
comfortable, effective movement.
Here is an example exercise to “turn on” muscles to promote side-to-side
movement.
Half Kneeling Cable Chop
Set-up

Assume a half kneeling position on the floor with the right knee up
and left knee down on the floor
The front foot should be flat on the floor and the rear foot will rest
with the ball of the foot on the floor
The knees will be bent approximately 90 degrees
Performance

Reach up to the right and grasp the cable with both hands
Pull the cable down and across the body to the left hip as you exhale
fully feeling the ribs pull downward and inward
Keep the arms long in the downward chop position and abdominal
muscles active as you breathe in
Exhale fully again and return to the starting position by reaching up
and to the right
This represents one complete repetition
Coaching Cues

Keep arms long and straight as you breathe in the chop position
After the first exhalation, keep the ribs down and in and breathe
against active abdominal muscles
Feel the abdominals working throughout the exercise
 Pushing the Daily Reset Button
Our patterned movement is no different than having our cup of coffee every
morning. It’s not our fault. Repetition ingrains patterns in our system. In this
case, we learned to limit movement as protection against something
psychologically or physically stressful.
We can also “unlearn” the limiting patterns and reclaim control of your body. To
accelerate regaining movement options and keep them pain-free, you’ll use a
concept I call Daily Resets .
Daily Resets are simple exercises providing the needed repetition to reprogram
our system. They calm our stress response and reinforce freedom of movement.
In just a few minutes a day, we’ll increase control and expand our movement
repertoire.
Here’s an example of a Daily Reset that you may use as part of your All Gain,
No Pain Program.
Lazy Bear

Set-up

Position yourself in all fours on the floor

Hands should be directly below the shoulders and knees directly
below the hips
Head should rest in a neutral position with the ear in line with
shoulders in line with hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor until
you feel a stretch between the shoulder blades
 Tuck under your tailbone to round the lower back slightly
Hold this position as you take 3-5 quiet breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Relax and breath normally for a few seconds
Repeat and perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Push away from the floor on the exhale

After the first exhale, keep the ribs downward and inward as you
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Resets prepare us for a great workout by reducing the predictable limitations of
our patterned movement. Daily Reset “homework” manage our day-to-day
response to stress and prevent our limiting patterns from becoming our norm.
In combination with the other components of your All Gain, No Pain Program,
you’ll arrest the cycle of limited movement and establish the movement
foundation upon which you’ll be ready to build more muscle, strength,
endurance, and health.
Review
Limiting patterns of posture and movement are predictable and controllable.
They are also “learned” but changeable to allow a full repertoire of pain-free
movement.
Our self-assessment from Chapter 8 will help you identify what type of pattern
may be limiting your ability to move effectively and comfortably.
Resets “turn off” undesired muscle activity that will limit your movement
options and “turn on” muscles that promote better movement options for a great
workout.
Daily Resets reinforce your ability to control stress, posture, and movement
throughout the day.

Take Action
Do a quick self-test.
Touch your toes, squat, or turn your shoulders from side-to-side to get a feel for
how you move.
Now, try the Lazy Bear exercise described above. Use the breathing technique
from Chapter 9 and emphasize long, complete exhales and quiet (not big)
inhales.
Recheck your movement.
Can you feel the difference?
 11
No Pain Principle #4: Use Supportive Nutrition to Stay Lean and
Pain-Free
Key Points
Anchor Your Plate with Protein
Eat Vegetables at Every Meal
Eat Impact Carbohydrates Based on Movement and Metabolism
Be a Supplement Specialist, Not Generalist
Prepare, Don’t React
Introducing Dr. Mike Roussell…
Making a comeback to the gym after a long layoff or a stint in physical therapy
after an injury can lead to a great deal of confusion as to where to start.
All Gain, No Pain provides clarity with exercise plans, yet figuring out a
supportive nutrition plan can be an incredibly murky endeavor.
When it came time for my own personal transformation and how to manage my
own chronic pain, I hired a coach to guide my supportive nutrition program. And
I also happened to hire the best in the business, Dr. Mike Roussell.
“Dr. Mike” is an adjunct professor at Penn State University, nutritionist for many
famous people and athletes, and author of The 6 Pillars of Nutrition—A Simple
Diet Solution for Permanent Weight Loss, Better Health, and a Longer Life and
The MetaShred Diet, which was the foundation for my own personal
transformation; a transformation featured in Men’s Health Magazine.
There’s simply no one more qualified to develop a successful nutrition program
to keep you pain-free and rebuild the body you can be proud of. You can find
more from Dr. Mike at www.MikeRoussell.com .

All Gain, No Pain Nutrition

Mike Roussell, PhD
“That’s it?”
My new client looked at me in with an air of disbelief from the shear simplicity
of my recommendations.
“Yes,” I said. “Do those 3 things every day for the next month. Let’s check in on
your progress in two weeks, and we’ll meet 2 weeks after that to assess what our
next steps need to be if you aren’t seeing the results you want.”
“I need to swap out the cold pressed juice for 2 scrambled eggs + 2 scrambled
egg whites and a glass of plain kefir, stop taking the coconut oil for my skin and
instead take 3 capsules of fish oil?”
She was probably thinking, “is this guy for real?”
After a 60-minute intensive nutrition workup disguised as a pleasant
conversation, my new client struggling with unexpected weight gain only needed
to change two things to lose the weight and curb the food cravings that plagued
her later in the day.
2 weeks later I got an email from the client saying that she had lost 4lbs since we
spoke (halfway to her goal). Another email 2 weeks after that said that she’d lost
another 2lbs and things were going so well that we didn’t need to meet again.
The moral to this story is that your nutrition plan doesn’t need to be complicated
to work. It just needs to address the areas preventing you from reaching your
goals.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition is very simple—develop and execute a nutrition
program that allows you to gain or hold ground on rebuilding a pain-free body to
be proud of.
I have yet to sit down with a client that has never lost weight before. They come
to me because those pounds keep coming back, and they have to keep losing the
same 10lbs year after year. Add in the fact that the methods they used to lose
weight in their 20s don’t work in their 40s (am I right?).
My goal is to help you lose the 5, 10, or 25+ pounds that you want to lose and
then NEVER have to lose that weight again. With that in mind, I want to share
with you the 5 Principles of All Gain, No Pain Nutrition, and how to apply these
principles day in and day out.
Read this entire chapter through before taking action, so you’ll have a better
understanding of what you’ll be doing moving forward. This process takes
patience, but it is the same framework that I used with Bill for his physical
transformation leading up to his 50th birthday. It has also allowed him to
maintain his weight loss and pain reduction to this day.
With this in mind, let’s get into the principles.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principles

Anchor Your Plate with Protein

Eat Vegetables at Every Meal
Eat Impact Carbohydrates Based on Movement and Metabolism
Be a Supplement Specialist, Not Generalist
Prepare, Don’t React
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle #1: Anchor Your Plate with Protein
When you are over 40, looking to lose fat while building muscle—protein is
your biggest ally.
The amino acids found in protein are used as the building blocks for muscle, but
also serve many other important functions. For example, the amino acid leucine,
abundant in your favorite cut of steak or a succulent salmon fillet, is responsible
to ‘turning on’ your body’s ability to repair and build muscle.
Research shows us that eating 30 grams of protein spaced several hours apart (at
breakfast, lunch, and dinner) is ideal for supporting your body’s ability to grow
and repair muscle. This equates to a serving about the size of your smart phone.
By the way, If you are eating plant-derived proteins (like beans or grains) you
will need to eat more than 30g to get the same effect.
Why Anchor with Protein?
Putting protein sources at the center stage of your plate ensures that you get in
the protein that your body needs to reach your goals.
Consider these two strategies:

1. Start with 2 grilled chicken thighs as your protein anchor. Then you
add some broccoli and pasta.
2. Start with a bowl full of pasta and then add broccoli and chicken.
By starting first with the chicken thighs, you are going to end up with a meal
that will have more protein, more vegetables, and less pasta (a more optimal All
Gain, No Pain meal) than if you started building your meal with a bowl of pasta
first.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle #2: Eat Vegetables at Every Meal
If ‘smaller dogs live longer’ is the unofficial mantra of All Gain, No Pain , then
vegetables are the unofficial food group. Vegetables increase the overall nutrition
of your diet by providing antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber; while
simultaneously aiding protein in promoting satiety and fullness.
Dr. Barbara Rolls, a distinguish professor of nutrition at Penn State University
and eating behavior researcher, has consistently shown that the more vegetables
a person eats at a meal, the less calories they will eat.
The calorie controlling magic that vegetables possess isn’t actually magic, but
instead a multi-pronged approach on your physiology that helps you curb calorie
intake.
Here’s how it works:
Your body doesn’t count the calories you eat. Research shows that how much
you eat is based more on the weight of the food that you are eating.
Vegetables do not contain a lot of calories, but they do contain a lot of water.
Water weighs a lot. When you eat vegetables, you are eating a larger weight of
food for less calories.
That said, you can’t use the Great Depression hunger curbing trick of drinking a
large glass of water to become full. Water content alone doesn’t explain the
satiating effect of vegetables. This brings us to reason number 2 why vegetables
can help curb appetite.
When you are about to eat a meal with the plate is overflowing with food (even
if that food is mainly vegetables and thus not a lot of calories), visually your
brain will register that you are about to consume a large amount of food. Now,
the water hidden inside the vegetables tricks your body into a false sense of
satiety, which makes you feel full.
After you eat all your vegetables, the bulk of the vegetables stretch your stomach
sending signals that you should stop eating. Vegetable fiber also slows the rate in
which food leaves the stomach giving your body time to take stock of all the
nutrients it has consumed so that it can signal your brain and properly regulate
your appetite.
Scientists call the things that I just described as satiety signals.
Dr. Rolls once reflected to me in an interview that vegetables reliably produce a
sequence of satiety signals , but it is up to you to listen to them and adjust your
eating accordingly.
In other words, her research shows that eating a salad before a meal can decrease
your total calorie intake for that meal by 10-12% but if you choose not to listen
to your body you can easily eat 50 or 100% more calories at that meal.
Now that you understand the power of vegetables, let’s discuss the vegetables
that you should be eating.
Green Leafy Vegetables —Lettuce, spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, etc. These
kinds of vegetables are a staple because you can eat a large amount of them
without a lot of calories due to their high water content.
Prepare green leafy vegetables in a way that is in line with your appetite at the
moment. If you are very hungry, then a salad with lettuce or arugula is a good
choice. If you are not as hungry, sautéed spinach reduces the bulk by releasing
its water content as you cook it. Lettuces are great from a bulk perspective but
don’t contain high amounts of vitamins and minerals. Consider adding nutrient
dense vegetables like tomatoes and peppers which also makes for a better tasting
meal.
Cruciferous Vegetables —broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale,
cauliflower, etc. are a great family of vegetables. They contain antioxidants that
can help reduce cancer causing processes.
If cruciferous vegetables give you gas, then I recommend a daily cup of kefir or
a probiotic to promote healthy gut bacteria. Healthy gut bacteria help digest
oligosaccharides in the vegetables that our body’s normally have difficulty
digesting, and give beans their “magical fruit” fame. A more immediate solution
is the supplement Bean-o, a digestive enzyme that your body needs to
breakdown oligosaccharides.
All Other Vegetables —Squash, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, parsnips, carrots,
mushrooms. You should never feel like you have to eat the same thing day in and
day out with all the possible vegetable choices. Grocery stores are pre-cutting,
dicing, and/or spiralizing vegetables; making it very quick and easy for you to
get a variety of vegetables into your diet.
Potatoes and Processed Corn (think tortillas and polenta) don’t really count as
vegetables—they fall more into the category of Impact Carbs which we’ll
discuss later in this chapter.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle #3: Eat Impact Carbohydrates Based on
Movement and Metabolism
There is a lot of confusing information about carbohydrates, types of
carbohydrates, and how many carbohydrates you should eat to live a healthy,
lean life. Many of clients don’t even realize that many of the foods they are
eating contain carbohydrates. All the foods in Principle #2 contain carbohydrates
that are generally lower in total carbohydrates, higher in fiber, and lower in total
calories. Let’s compare them to other carbohydrate foods.
Impact Carbs
Impact Carbohydrates (Impact Carbs for short) are higher carbohydrate and
calorie-containing foods with a lower fiber content and compared to our
Principle #2 foods. This structure has a much higher Impact on raising blood
sugar levels after eating them. Higher blood sugar post-exercise can aid in
muscle growth, but eaten at less than ideal times can negatively impact our
health and well-being. Impact Carbs include pastas, rice, grains, breads, quinoa,
oats, potatoes (regular or sweet).
Refined vs. Unrefined Carbohydrates
You can further slice Impact Carbs into refined and unrefined versions. Overly
refined or processed foods and foods with significant amounts of added sugars
from your diet are considered “Excessive Impact Carbs.” They don’t have a
major place in the All Gain, No Pain Nutrition plan. Save these foods for times
where you want to briefly step off the All Gain, No Pain train, enjoy them, and
then promptly returned to All Gain, No Pain living.
Why Do Impact Carbs Matter?
The type, amount, and timing of Impact Carbs matters because of how these
carbohydrates influence blood sugar levels. When it comes to blood sugar, your
body likes to keep it in a set range. When you eat carbohydrate-containing foods,
your body will break those carbohydrates down, causing blood sugar to rise.
Impact Carbs (rice, oats, pasta) generally make your blood sugar rise faster and
to a greater degree than non-impact carbs (spinach, broccoli, tomato, etc.). Your
body responds to this rise in blood sugar by releasing the hormone insulin.
Insulin’s job is to get your blood sugar levels back into the acceptable range. It
does this by storing some sugar in muscle but also fat cells.
Old, Fat, and Tired—Not a Good Look
As we get older, become more sedentary, get less sleep, or accumulate more
stress, our body becomes less responsive to insulin. This leads to sustained high
blood sugar levels and higher than normal levels of insulin (as your body
releases more and more insulin in an effort to get your body to respond to it).
Both chronically elevated insulin and blood sugar put you on the road to poor
health, increased body weight, and elevated levels of systemic inflammation.
How do Impact Carbs Fit in the All Gain, No Pain Lifestyle?
Now you don’t need to swear off carbs because they are bad and make you sick .
The key is to manage the type and amount of carbohydrates that are right for
your body. To lose weight, you may restrict carbohydrates by placing a greater
emphasis on vegetables and eating less Impact Carbs . As you shift to the
maintenance of your new body weight, you may find that you can now tolerate
more Impact Carbs without the negative consequences of weight gain. Many
factors determine carbohydrate tolerance, and the amount you may eat will
change over time. The more sleep you get, the leaner you are, and the more
active you are, the more Impact Carbs you can eat.
Exercise as Your Secret Weapon
You might be thinking being rested, lean, and active sounds great, but that is not
my life right now. What can I do?
I have a great resource for you—exercise.
Exercise is a powerful metabolic drug, and you don’t need to run a marathon or
win a powerlifting meet to tout its drug-like powers. You can get started by just
going for a walk after dinner!
Recall that insulin calls upon muscle and fat cells to take up excessive sugar in
your bloodstream to normalize blood sugar. Exercise literally causes more sugar
transporters to flood to the surface of your muscle cells, so that it can pull more
sugar from your bloodstream and into your muscles.
Consider this a way to hack your body so that you can preferentially shuttle
sugar into your muscle cells, instead of your fat cells. Research shows that when
you’re just starting out, simply walking gives you the boost you need. As you
gain fitness, your All Gain, No Pain Program will help stimulate this drug-like
effect of exercise.
Meal Limits for Easy Carb/Calorie Control
When starting out your All Gain, No Pain program, you will be eating protein
and vegetables at every meal. I recommend that you add Impact Carbs to the
first meal that you eat after your workout. How big is a serving of Impact Carbs
? Aim for an amount that you could fix if you were to cup your hand, like a
bowl.
On days that you don’t workout, you can have those Impact Carbs at breakfast
only or not at all. If you are heavily focused on losing weight, you should avoid
Impact Carbs on days that you don’t exercise until you get closer to your goal
weight.
Save higher Impact Carb days for the days when you expend more energy, and
your body is better equipped to use and process those carbohydrates.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle #4: Be a Supplement Specialist, Not a
Generalist
When it comes to supplementation there appears to be two camps. There’s the
“eat real food to get your nutrients crowd” who are against any dietary
supplementation, and the “over-supplementers” who take upwards of 40 pills a
day (not joking!) in an attempt to supplement for everything.
I think that your health is best served if you fall somewhere in the middle.
Becoming a supplement specialist involves supplementing your diet with
compounds in amounts that you could not get in your regular diet.
Antioxidants are a good example of when being a supplement specialist is
advantageous. Most people that supplement with antioxidants don’t know why
they are doing it, and they are doing it in a way that isn’t helping (and may be
hurting them).
The Greens Supplement Failure
One of the most popular antioxidant supplements on the market are called
“greens” supplements. Greens supplements are a powdered conglomeration of
freeze dried fruits and vegetable concentrations that you mix up in water and
drink (or choke down depending on the brand you use).
Here’s the thing about this hundred-million-dollar earning category of
supplements….
There is no real data to suggest that they do anything for you. Crazy, right?
If anything, going crazy with these greens powders might actually take away
from your work in the gym and excessive antioxidants can preemptively reduce
inflammation which prevents your body’s own repair mechanisms from kicking in
and thus inhibiting the natural process of muscle recovery, adaption, and
growth.
Let’s ditch the tubs of magic powders that feel like they should be good for you,
and focus on specific supplements and dosages that can have a positive impact
on your health.
Here are some recommendations to help get you started.
Multivitamin/mineral = Insurance
Multivitamins/mineral supplements have gotten a bad rap over the last several
years with seemingly endless headlines touting the futility of their use due to
scientific studies showing no effects in reducing rates of mortality.
You can’t take multivitamin/mineral supplement and expect it to extend your
life. What you can expect is that it is your insurance policy against day-to-day
nutrient inadequacies, as your nutritional needs vary from day to day.
I recommend a simple daily multivitamin to both create a buffer between the
vitamins and minerals that you need and eat each day. Simple but valuable to
support your body’s high-performance.
Fish Oil = Anti-Inflammatory and Heart Health
The omega-3 fats found in fish oil, EPA and DHA, serve as the raw materials for
powerful hormone-like compounds in our bodies call eicosanoids. Eicosanoids
are master regulators of the body’s inflammatory balance (learn more in Chapter
13). EPA and DHA can also optimize the electrochemistry of your heart;
reducing your heart rate while also helping your heart persevere following a
heart attack.
1000mg of combined EPA and DHA each day is a good dose to start. Depending
on your metabolic profile, something to discuss with your doctor, moving up to
2,500mg per day might be the way to go.
Curcumin = Anti-Inflammatory
Curcumin is an extract from turmeric that has a strong research backing as a
powerful anti-inflammatory agent in your body.
Don’t try to get curcumin via eating turmeric. Instead, opt for controlling the
dose and consistency with a 500-1000mg of supplemental meriva curcumin each
day. Make sure to take it with food as fat helps with absorption.
Spearmint Extract = Better Brain
Spearmint extract is a perfect example of the difference between being a
supplement specialist vs. generalist. Spearmint has long been used in functional
and traditional medicinal circles for promoting alertness and mental clarity.
When scientist began zeroing in on what drives those effects, they found that
extracting antioxidants from a strain of the spearmint plant led to increased
focus, attention, and memory.
I have formulated a supplement called Cerevan that contains a clinically studied
dose of this specific strain of spearmint extract, which research shows will
improve your working memory, sustained focus, short term memory, and overall
brain health. Two capsules of Cerevan each day is the recommended dose.
Vitamin D = Heart Health, Blood Sugar Control, and Anti-Cancer
Vitamin D has really grown in popularity, as research has started to discover
more and more ways that insufficient vitamin D negatively impacts our health.
When I was getting my formal nutrition education, vitamin D was touted as
being important for your bone health and as something that you could get from
the sunlight. We now appreciate that vitamin D plays a major role in many areas
of health—from our heart to blood sugar control; even reducing risk of some
cancers.
With the increasing amount of time we spend indoors and/or with covered skin
when outdoors, our ability to soak up the needed sunrays for our skin to convert
sunlight to vitamin D is diminished. I recommend that you supplement with
3,000 IU of vitamin D each day (with food) and then based on vitamin D blood
tests increase or decrease your dose from there.
Probiotic = Better Insides and Better Overall Health
Maintaining a healthy mix of bacteria in your digestive tract is very important
for your overall immune function, inflammatory balance, body weight, blood
sugar control, and overall health.
Unfortunately, the population of bacteria in your digestive tract is very dynamic
and responsive to many environmental factors, ranging from the foods you are
eating to the stress you are experiencing. This makes daily curation of good
bacteria very important.
How can you give your body a dose of good bacteria day in and day out? For
many people, supplementation is the most effect answer. Taking a probiotic
supplement 5-15 billion CFUs is a good place to start.
A daily glass of kefir circumvents the need to supplement with probiotics. Other
fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut are also good way to supply your
body with good bacteria, but the consistency of intake and your ability to
quantify the number of probiotics that you are getting these foods make them
more of a bonus than a first line strategy for gut health.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle #5: Prepare, Don’t React
If you are going to wholeheartedly embrace one principle in this nutrition
chapter, make it this one! Your level of daily preparation to eat according to
your nutrition plan is the number one predictor of your nutritional success.
When you prepare your meals, or predetermine your order at your favorite
restaurant, it takes you out of decision mode and into execution mode.
Always be in execution mode.
Decisions are influenced by fatigue, temptation, and social pressure (conscious
or unconscious). These three factors sabotage your diet by relying heavily on our
limited commodities of self-control and willpower. That’s never a good long-
term plan for diet success.
How to THRIVE in execution mode.

1. Pre-Plan Your Diet: Plan your diet for the week on Sunday or plan
each day the night before.
2. Post Your Plan: Bill sticks his nutrition plan to his refrigerator. I
keep mine in my pocket. Have your nutrition plan handy so you
always know what you are doing next.
3. Prepare Protein Ahead of Time: Having access to quality protein is
generally the biggest obstacle for people in preparing an optimal
meal. Beef, chicken, pork, fish, etc. take time and effort to cook and
prepare. Portion and cook ahead of time guarantees nutritional
success.
4. Have a Backup Plan: I call these ‘Nutrition Audibles.’ Things rarely
 work as planned—your diet is no different. Having pre-planned
alternate meal options, or Nutrition Audibles, keeps you in execution
mode and not decision mode.

Have two Nutrition Audibles —one for home, one for work. Pick 2-3
restaurants that are near or deliver. Next pick 1-2 meals that you can order
at each of those places that are in line with your All Gain, No Pain
Nutrition. Then if you find yourself at work but forgot your lunch, no
need to freak out or order pizza—just order a meal from your audible list.

Review
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle 1 Summary
Anchor your plate with 1-2 smart phone-sized portions of protein, and then build
the rest of your meal around it.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle 2 Summary
Take advantage of vegetables’ satiating effects; allowing you to eat a larger
volume of food while actually consuming less calories. 1-3 cups of vegetables at
each meal is your goal.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle 3 Summary
The leaner and more active you are, the more carbohydrates your body can use
without gaining body fat. As you become more active and leaner, adjust your
carbohydrate intake to meet the newer you. Optimizing your carbohydrate intake
is key for long, healthy, pain-free living.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle 4 Summary
Whatever you add to your daily supplement stack , be deliberate and specific
with the supplements you choose, the reason why you are taking them, and the
dose that you take. These are three key components to using supplement to level
up your All Gain, No Pain Lifestyle.
All Gain, No Pain Nutrition Principle 5 Summary
The goal is to execute your nutrition plan regardless of what life throws at you.
Make time each week and each day to position yourself for success with your
diet, which will lead to long-term changes in your body. Eat the meal that you’ve
decided upon (i.e. execution mode). Avoid being influenced by factors like
stress, social content, and sleepiness (decision mode) that result in food choices
not in line with the All Gain, No Pain Nutrition principles. Prepare, don’t react.

Take Action
Take out your notebook:
You might already be executing on 2 or 3 of the principles—good. Write down
which ones. Reinforce them and be consistent.
Which principles are you familiar with but don’t execute consistently? Identify
and write these principles down.
Focus on one principle at a time. Solidify your new behavior before moving on.
It will take about 2 weeks to adopt your All Gain, No Pain Nutrition principle of
focus before it’s time to move on to the next one. This prevents wasting time
losing the same weight again and again.
 12
No Pain Principle #5: Rebuild Capacity
Key Points
Stress is bad… and Good!
Why increased capacity makes everything easier
Exercising to increase capacity favorably influences your stress response
Capacity improves your ability to move well
How All Gain, No Pain improves oxygen use in the muscles
Stress is Bad… and Good!
“All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a
thing not a poison.”

—Paracelsus

Just about anything in the wrong amount is lethal. Drinking too much water or
breathing too much oxygen can kill you.
There’s the story of Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who developed
immunity by consuming nonlethal does of poison as protection against potential
assassination. So profound is this story that the practice was termed
Mithridatism. Some snake handlers still use this process to successfully become
immune to the venomous bites of their pets.
So far, I’ve painted a picture of stress as some terrible thing that not only alters
the way we move but is also detrimental to our health. Certainly, if stress is
allowed to reach a state of constant unrelenting chronicity, this is true. Our body
and brain just aren’t designed to manage such situations. Every system suffers
wear-n-tear including our movement system.
What are we to do when stress is getting the best of us?
The first piece of advice we get is the “well, you need to reduce your stress”
comment followed by… nothing.
Ever notice that you rarely get much in the ways of HOW to reduce your stress
levels? Well, don’t worry. We’re going to cover that in Chapter 13.
What’s the second recommendation you get?
Typically, the answer is you need to get more exercise.
But wait a minute. Exercise is just more stress, isn’t it?
It places demands on our movement. It increases our demands for energy. It even
raises levels of the same hormones that increase with our stress response.
How can this be true that ADDING stress can REDUCE stress?
It’s because there are two types of stress. Stress that is imposed upon us carries
with it negative health consequences. When we control the where, when, and
how of exercise, it doesn’t have the same impact as stress from unfortunate
circumstances.31 , 32
The real magic of exercise is what happens afterward. As we recover from the
acute challenge of exercise, all of your systems gain strength and become more
resilient. Exercise mobilizes energy, makes our brain work more efficiently, and
actually enhances our ability to learn new things. And just like Mithridatism,
exercise can protect us and ward off the negative effects of chronic stress.
While all forms of exercise have benefits, this chapter focuses on rebuilding
your foundation of aerobic capacity. You may be familiar with the concept of
endurance which brings pictures of marathon runners to mind, but aerobic
capacity is much more than that. After restoring your movement repertoire, your
ability to produce energy aerobically is the next crucial step to assuring success
with your All Gain, No Pain Program.
Humans produce energy three ways. We have a very small amount of energy
ready to go at a moment’s notice (The Phosphagen System). We can burn
carbohydrates quickly over the short term (The Glycolytic System). And we can
burn carbohydrates and fats with oxygen to make energy aerobically (The
Oxidative System). Making energy aerobically is more complicated than the
other systems, but it creates a WHOLE LOT MORE ENERGY than the other
systems. More aerobic energy equals more work without getting tired and
handling more stress before it affects us.
Why Increased Capacity Makes Everything Easier
Remember that one of the consequences of hyperventilation make it more
difficult to deliver oxygen to the body (See Chapter 4). By default, we then rely
heavily on burning our carbohydrate stores for energy, which causes us to fatigue
very quickly. Our brain responds by stealing our desire to move and
compounding our stress response. An endless cycle of stress, reduced
movement, followed by more stress and limited movement follows.
Rebuilding capacity assures adequate energy to meet our activity and exercise
needs. Physical activity becomes less difficult and limits the impact of our stress
response. We’re less likely to default to a limited movement repertoire, and
better yet, less likely to experience pain.
Exercising to increase capacity favorably influences our stress response
The act of performing aerobic exercise directly influences your stress response.
As a side effect of our increasing heart rate during exercise, our heart secretes a
hormone called atrial natrieuretic peptide (ANP).33 When this hormone reaches
the brain, it directly reduces the impact of the stress response. Additionally,
aerobic exercise promotes reduced tension in your muscles, which further
reduces the influence of the stress response.34
Each time we recover from capacity-based exercise sessions, our heart becomes
more efficient at pumping blood. Consequently, our resting heart rate lowers,
representing increased aerobic capacity and stress tolerance.
Capacity improves your ability to move well
Controlling stress-related, patterned movement is all about learning. Our
movement system must be re-educated to access new movements, and increasing
aerobic capacity makes brain cells more energy efficient and accelerates our
ability to learn movements.
Aerobic exercise increases production of a molecule called Brain-Derived
Neurotrophic Factor 35 in the hippocampus, the area of the brain that influences
learning and memory. This stimulates the development of new neurons in the
brain and helps maintain the health of existing neurons.34 More neurons equal
more useful connections between neurons which, in turn, promotes easier and
faster learning. All of this from some simple aerobic exercise!
How All Gain, No Pain improves oxygen use in the muscles
Producing energy aerobically requires oxygen. The foundation of the All Gain,
No Pain Program to improve your capacity relies on a two-pronged approach to
get oxygen to where it is needed most, the muscles.
Firstly, we need to supply as much oxygen to the muscles as possible. Secondly,
once it’s delivered, the muscles need to pull the oxygen from the blood.
The job of supplying oxygen falls to the lungs, heart, and blood vessels.
Developing an effective breathing pattern as taught in Chapter 9 assures the
ability to get oxygen into the blood stream. Once it arrives at the muscles, it is
exchanged with CO2 (remember the breath hold after exhalation?).
Exercise methods placing moderate demands on the heart over periods of time
stretch the heart muscle, which improves the heart’s ability to circulate blood. All
Gain, No Pain then expands the muscle’s ability to utilize oxygen as they pull
the needed oxygen from the blood. These methods will be explained in detail in
Appendix 4 and on www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
We’ll also see more about how capacity development fits into your overall All
Gain, No Pain Program structure in Appendix 1.
Review
Not all stress is bad stress. Exercise is an essential “good” stress.
Increasing your capacity by improving aerobic energy production improves your
resistance to stress and your resilience against it.
Improving capacity improves your ability to move comfortably and effectively
by enhancing your brain’s ability to learn more easily.
All Gain, No Pain enhances your ability to deliver essential oxygen to the
muscles and their ability to utilize it for energy production.

Take Action
Take out your notebook.
Make note of when you feel a lack of energy.
Do you wake up tired in the morning?
Is there a lull in your energy midmorning?
Do you crash in the late afternoon?
Do you lose energy and motivation in the evening?
After following your All Gain, No Pain Program for a month, recheck your
answers to these questions. Are they different?
 13
No Pain Principle #6: Self-Manage Your Stress, Health, and
Movement
Key Points
Self-management is essential for health and pain-free movement
Sleep is the foundation of health and stress management
Meditation is good for your brain and your body
Your rituals give you power over stress
“We must either wear out or rust out every one of us. My choice is to wear out.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
Self-management is essential for health and pain-free movement
Mike is a busy guy.
A former college athlete, Mike took his intensity from the playing field to
building his business to a very successful level. He was already working out
regularly but was accumulating a number of nagging injuries that he couldn’t
shake off like he used to. He also mentioned that just didn’t feel healthy. His
recent doctor visit indicated that his blood pressure was climbing and blood tests
also showed increased markers of stress and inflammation.
He wanted to get his workouts on track to resolve the pain in his shoulders, hips,
and knees and to drop the body fat that resulted in a growing waistline. He
wanted to feel healthy again.
I looked over his workout journal and identified a few small tweaks that would
certainly impact his success. However, his overall approach wasn’t all that bad.
As we started discussing his lifestyle, the impact on how he was feeling seemed
more understandable.
First and foremost, his sleep was erratic. Most nights he was only getting
between five and six hours of sleep and then he tried to make up for it on
weekends by sleeping in. He was compensating by adding in coffee and other
caffeinated drinks into the afternoons when he felt a lull in his energy levels.
This, of course, pushed back his bed time as he worked into the evenings.
He was also feeling a lot more stress at work and at home. Tired from his
workday, he was arguing with his wife more often. He knew he wasn’t angry
with her; it was just a reaction to the amount of fatigue and pressure he was
feeling. Overall, he felt that he wasn’t in control of his life as much as he was
before. His work was more like, well work, than the motivating challenge it used
to be. So too was the fate of his workouts.
Mike didn’t need a new workout as much as he needed strategies to manage
himself just like he managed his business. We all face challenges from time to
time that make us feel out of control and stressed out. Recall from Chapter 12
that stress has less impact on our health when we control the where, when and
how.31
The goal of this chapter is to explain the three most powerful non-exercise
strategies that we can apply to our own lives to manage stress, recapture our
health, and exercise enjoyably.
Key Definitions for Self-Management
What is oxidative stress?
Oxidative stress is when free radicals, by-products from carbohydrate and fat
energy production, are excessively produced. If you’ve watched a green banana
ripen or sliced an apple and moments later witnessed it turn brown, then you’ve
seen oxidative stress. The same process that occurs in our bodies.
Some oxidative stress actually keeps us healthy. Too much is like accumulating
“rust” from the inside out. 36 We can’t prevent all of the oxidative stress in our
lives, but by adopting All Gain, No Pain behaviors, we minimize the over-
production of free radicals that impact on our health.
What is systemic inflammation?
Cut our skin and the area becomes red, swollen, and sensitive to the touch. This
is our immune system at work protecting us from infection and promoting a
healing response. This local immune reaction is a good thing.
Smoking, lack of exercise, poor diet, high stress, and other behavioral factors
also promote an immune response. The difference in these circumstances is that
the response is less obvious and more widespread throughout the body. Diseases
like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease appear to have connection to this low-
grade, widespread inflammation. 37 There may also be a connection between this
type of inflammation and chronic aches and pains that make movement and
exercise difficult. 17
Sleep is the foundation of health and stress management
If you could only have one strategy to fight the effects of oxidative stress and
systemic inflammation, better sleep ranks number one. Even short-term sleep
deprivation increases immune system activity that may promote body-wide
inflammation.38 It also shifts us toward “flight or fight” making stress levels
increase and reducing our ability to control inflammation. Stress hormones, like
cortisol, increase fatigue and the burning of sugar for energy which, in turn,
increases more oxidative stress.39
While some conditions may affect our ability to sleep well, sleep quality is
strongly affected by our behaviors. By following some basic principles, you’ll
sleep better, move better, and get healthier.40
Basic Principles of Better Sleep:
Be religious in your adherence to your sleep hygiene.
Sleeping well cannot be done once in a while and reap its benefits. Commit
yourself to following these guidelines every night. Consistency is the key.
Sleep only as much as you need
More is not necessarily always better. It is possible to oversleep and make the
rest of day a battle of fatigue and sleepiness. Get up at the same time of day and
go to bed at the same time of night every night including weekends. [Check out
How to determine your perfect amount of sleep at the end of this section]
Associate bed with sleep and not being awake
There’s only two reasons for being in bed; sleep and sex. Avoid reading, surfing
the internet, or watching TV while in bed. Do all that before you’re ready to go
to sleep.
Avoid intensive exercise before bed
Exercise stimulates your “flight or fight” system and may make it harder to fall
asleep or sleep deeply. Give yourself about two to four hours to calm down
before planning to go to sleep after a hard workout.
Avoid stimulants like nicotine and caffeine before bed
This is obvious, but any form of tobacco or caffeine may cause stimulation and
prevent falling asleep quickly. Cut off your stimulant intake by early afternoon to
avoid interrupting your sleep hygiene plan. If you’re still a smoker, it’s probably
time to quit.
Avoid worries before bed
Take a few moments before bed to write down a “brain dump” to get repetitive
thoughts, concerns, and to-dos out of your head to avoid ruminating thoughts
while trying to fall asleep.
If you can’t fall asleep in 30 minutes get up
Staying in bed when you can’t sleep not only creates the association with being
awake in bed but leads to frustration and greater difficulty falling asleep. Get up
and read, meditate, or just practice some progressive relaxation. When you begin
to feel sleepy, head back to bed.
Create a good sleep environment
Keep your room slightly cool (60-68 degrees Fahrenheit appears to be best) and
as dark as you can get it. Keep your hands and feet warm. Some people like total
silence and some prefer some “white noise” to promote sleep. I personally just
use an oscillating fan to block out any random sounds in the night.
Avoid alcohol before bed
Drinking before bed may make you fall asleep faster, but you’ll sacrifice
essential REM sleep (Rapid Eye-Movement sleep). Healthy sleep should be
about 25% REM sleep. Alcohol also disturbs circadian rhythms that not only
control sleep and wake cycles but promote proper hormone release throughout a
24-hour period. 40
Get regular sunlight exposure
Sunlight helps keep your circadian rhythm, your internal biological clock, on
track for a normal 24-hour cycle promoting optimal metabolism and better sleep.
Aim for 20-30 minutes of sunlight as early in the morning as possible.
Avoid blue light before bed
Natural sunlight and most forms of artificial light including computer screens
and cell phones contain blue light. The blue light portion of the visible light
spectrum is believed to influence your circadian rhythm and let you know that
it’s daytime. Once it gets dark, the lack of light lets the brain know that it’s time
to get ready to sleep. If you spend time in front of small screens, watch TV, or
spend time in a well-lighted room, you may prevent the natural hormonal release
that can help you fall asleep faster. If you must work on your computer before
bed, consider installing an app called f.lux that will filter out the blue light from
your computer screen as the sun sets. If you are an Apple user, the night shift
setting works similarly to f.lux.
How to determine your perfect amount of sleep 40
Enforce an absolute wake time. Do not change it no matter what regardless of
the day of the week including weekends.
Don’t go to bed until your feel tired.
Eventually you’ll get sleepier earlier.
Do not nap during the day.
Over a period of days, you’ll establish your optimal bed time.
You may find that you battle some sleepiness during the day initially, but it will
be worth it when you finally establish your perfect amount of sleep.
Meditation is good for your brain and your body
As a close second to better sleep, I would rank meditation as the second best
behavioral strategy to quell body-wide inflammation and oxidative stress.41 A
desirable by-product includes more comfortable movement as you improve your
ability to manage stress.
Mention meditation to most people who’ve never experienced its benefits, and
they picture robe-clad gurus sitting upon a mountaintop mumbling some
unintelligible chant. Our goal is not necessarily some form of deep
enlightenment, although we may gain some personal insight. The intent of
mindful meditation is to learn self-regulation (no robe required!). Self-regulation
is basically just learning to better control our thoughts, feelings, and emotions in
times where our default protective mechanisms may interrupt our ability to
succeed in any particular environment.42
Unchecked negativity and defense only makes us better at feeling bad and
allows our “flight or fight” to rule when it isn’t necessary. If you’re trying to
escape from a burning building, by all means, kick “flight or fight” into
overdrive and get yourself to safety. If the guy ahead of you at the grocery store
is taking extra time to pay with a check when you’re in a hurry, it’s perhaps best
to recognize that it’s not the end of the world. A negative reaction isn’t of benefit
in any way.
Each time our default negativity bias take over, all our body systems react
accordingly. Muscle tension increases, heart rate rises, and we begin to breathe
faster. Left unchecked, we learn to keep these reactions “turned on,” regardless
of the cause. Before you know it, your body is now getting tense at any
unpleasant circumstance, be it bumper-to-bumper traffic or having too high of a
ratio of duds to fluffies in your popcorn.
Each time we resist negativity, we get better at self-management. We avoid
restrictive muscle tension that impacts our ability to move well in other positive
circumstances, such as exercise.
Mindfulness is merely practice in the three components of self-regulation:
Attention control, emotional regulation, and self-awareness. Improvement in all
three aspects eventually leads to positive changes in the brain which, in turn,
impact your ability to move comfortably and effectively.
Meditation, Stress Control, and Movement
Controlling our attention increases the size of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) at
the front of the brain. The PFC is where we think and set goals. Meditation
increases the white matter around the nerves that run from the PFC to the
limbic system, the emotional center of the brain. More white matter
strengthens communication between the PFC and the limbic system. The
bigger PFC’s enhanced control over our emotions may reduce or even prevent
our default stress response, and the corresponding muscle tension.
Meditation also increases the size of your insular cortex, which coordinates
your senses, emotions, movement, and pain intensity. In other words,
increasing self-awareness improves our ability to learn how to move
comfortably .41 , 43
If you’re not familiar with mindfulness practice, I suggest learning the easy way.
Download apps from either www.Headspace.com or www.calm.com . I’ve been
using Headspace for quite some time, and it is an essential part of my day.
Your rituals give you power over stress
One of the greatest stressors that we all experience is the sense that we lack
control. A lack of control at work or at home makes us feel like we’re stuck in a
riptide; getting pulled in too many directions. A 2016 study from Indiana
University showed that those with high-demand but low control jobs had a 15%
increased chance of dying compared to low demand jobs. Those jobs that were
high-demand, but had high control, had a 34% decreased odds of dying
compared to low demand jobs.44
How do we gain this sense of control and reduce the stress that impacts our
health and movement?
The answer lies in rituals.
Rituals are a pre-planned, executable series of events that can support goals, be
it health improvement or producing valuable work.45 Starting the day with a
successful ritual can breed further success.
You most likely already have a ritual of sorts in regard to your day, but you may
not be aware of it. Your first cup of coffee and the morning news. Walking the
dog. Throwing a load of clothes in the laundry, or kissing your significant other
goodbye as you walk out the door.
We all tend to fall into patterns and habits. In his book On Intelligence, Jeff
Hawkins mentions that even how you shower and dress tends to be somewhat
ritualized.46 These patterns and rituals require little thought and get us through
the mundane tasks that are necessary to complete or maintain different aspects of
our lifestyle.
Your brain likes consistent patterns because they reduce energy demands and
conserves resources that can be used elsewhere. Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Mark
Zuckerberg and many others have been or are reported to wear basically the
same type of clothes every day. Doing so reduces decision fatigue and conserves
brain energy. It also reduces stress.
I’ve come rather late to this party, but I’ve now structured my morning ritual to
accomplish more on a day-to-day basis. As the self-help books say, success is a
habit.
Here’s my morning ritual.
1. Wake at 4:45 am
I’ve been doing my ritual with variations and modifications for so long that I
typically wake before my alarm clock goes off. Each time I do this, I celebrate
my victory which further reinforces my ease of waking each morning. I’ve also
been better at hitting my bed time of 9:30pm consistently which makes a huge
difference in how rested I’ve been. The consistency in my rituals has allowed me
to set personal records for deep sleep and REM sleep and get better rest.
Sleep Tracking Product Recommendation
I use a product called OURA Ring to monitor and measure my sleep quality.
Wake Up Product Recommendation
One of the keys to beating the alarm clock, especially when I wake up in the
dark, is my Phillips Wake Up Light. Basically, this thing simulates a sunrise
and stimulates a gentle, progressive wake up. I truly think it would be harder
to get up without it.
2. Weigh-in and Waist Measurement
I’ve been working at staying as lean as possible while still enjoying life. I’ve
maintained very low body fat for quite some time after losing about 37 pounds
for my 50th birthday, and I’m trying to hit a specific weight to be maintained for
life (fingers crossed) at a specific waist measurement. These are my measures
from which I make my caloric adjustments over the week.
3. Hydration and Cerevan supplementation
I wake thirsty from overnight dehydration. I put 5 grams of branch-chain amino
acid powder in my water for taste (fruit punch flavor) and then take a
supplement called Cerevan. Cerevan is a brain supplement developed by Dr.
Mike Roussell (see Chapter 11) that I’ve been using for some time. It improves
focus and multi-tasking without any stimulant ingredients. It takes about 2 hours
to feel the Cerevan kick in. I time this to coincide with my writing as this is
when I tend to get most distracted and my mind wanders a bit.
You can get to Cerevan via www.billhartman.net .
4. Meditation
I can count the number of times I’ve missed meditating this past year on one
hand, mostly due to travel. Attention, self-regulation, reduced oxidative stress,
and inflammation control remain the goals here. This is tough to measure
directly, but I’ve certainly been more productive since I’ve started.
5. Journal entry
I’ve been using The Five-Minute Journal to write in daily using a morning and
an evening journal entry system. It’s something that my wife and I are doing
together (although we don’t read each other’s journals). It sets up what I expect
for the day and reminds me of what’s important. I also express a few words for
self-motivation purposes. At night, I can evaluate how I did and what I need to
change for the next day. I’ve used a Moleskine notebook in the past and wrote a
bit more per entry, but I like that The Five-Minute Journal is targeted and
concise and takes less time (thus the name, eh?).
6. Morning Reading
My morning reading is technical. This may be journal articles or chapters of a
textbook. I’ve learned that I’m not a good technical reader at night. Doing my
technical reading when I’m fresh has helped with retention a great deal. I’ve
moved my less technical reading to the evenings. This is less demanding and
helps be wind down as well as getting away from the computer screen. Even
though I have a blue light filter on my computer, I’ve been trying to get away
from it more.
7. My cup of Neuro Coffee
Neuro Coffee is a coffee that has been shown in peer-reviewed research to
increase the BDNF I mentioned in Chapter 12, just like exercise. It’s become the
favorite part of my morning ritual. I’ve been trying to decide if this is what truly
gets me out of bed in the morning. Never having been a coffee drinker, it
confounds me a bit. I’m enjoying it way too much. Strangely, I’ve had situations
where Neuro Coffee was unavailable (vacation/travel), and I’ve tried other
coffee. Still tastes like dirt.
Neuro Coffee at this time supports my learning process. A little caffeine +
BDNF aids in solidifying what I’ve learned in my reading.
You can get to Neuro Coffee via www.billhartman.net and get a discount on your
first purchase.
8. Morning Mini-Mobility
I solve problems and make more creative connections during light mobility
activities and long-duration aerobic exercise (and audiobooks). I’ve added this
not only to promote some creativity before writing but to work on a couple of
movement issues I’m working on. You’ll read more about mini-mobility sessions
later in Chapter 17. Each exposure enhances movement and comfort. I’ll work
on several movements throughout the day as well. If I can get some creativity
out of it, all the better. Don’t forget to breathe through such activities. Breathing
is movement.
9. Writing
By now, Cerevan is kicking in and creativity has been stimulated. Time to write.
It may be a blog post, a larger project I’m working on (like this book), or just a
brain dump to get some ideas out of my head. I’ve been hitting no less than
1,000 words a day.
10. Off to IFAST to train.
The last part of my morning ritual is done at my gym, IFAST (Indianapolis
Fitness and Sports Training). Mondays and Fridays are intensive training days.
Tuesdays and Saturdays are moderate to easy days. On off days, I still do a little
mobility work, but generally, I just get more writing finished. You’ll learn more
about how to set up your workouts in later chapters.
Find what works for you as there is no right or wrong. You have my permission
to borrow any part of my morning ritual as your guide. Find a way to start your
day with self-regulation, awareness, and confidence. The morning doesn’t have
to be source of stress. It can be a source of success.
Review
Movement can be limited by how you manage your response to stress. Your
health and pain-free movement is also impacted by oxidative stress and systemic
inflammation.
Oxidative stress and body-wide inflammation are the sources of many chronic
diseases, and left unchecked can influence your movement and overall health.
Thankfully, they are strongly impacted by your behavior.
Improved sleep hygiene is the foundation of successful stress management and
self-regulation.
Mindfulness training, or meditation, restores your ability to be attentive,
focused, and to control unnecessary emotion that may initiate your stress
response. Better self-regulation ultimately results in better control of unfavorable
muscle tension.
Building rituals into your lifestyle establishes control that reduces stress and
promotes behaviors that support day-to-day success.

Take Action
Grab your notebook.
Make notes on how you can improve your sleep starting tonight.
Start with small changes like setting a wake-up time and sticking to it.
Make easy changes to your sleep hygiene plan. Once you’ve locked in the new
behaviors, add another one.
Go to www.Headspace.com . Download the app and try the free sessions.
Make notes on how you can start your day with success.
What can you do to create daily rituals to support your goals?
 Section 3

The All Gain Principles: Building Resistance
 14

How to Build Resistance : The All Gain Principles

Key Points
All Gain Principle #1: Establish and Maintain your Foundation of Resilience
All Gain Principle #2: Appreciate Muscle
All Gain Principle #3: Manage Intensity
All Gain Principle #4: Emphasize your Primary Exercises
All Gain Principle #5: Modify Exercises to avoid pain and maintain intensity
All Gain Principle #6: Monitor Your Progress
Just as we defined resilience in the no pain principles, Webster provides us an
excellent definition of resistance to lead into the All Gain Principles. Resistance
is defined as the refusal to accept or comply with something; the attempt to
prevent something by action or argument. I think this is an excellent
representation of one of our goals as we age. We can’t stop the aging process,
but we can refuse to submit to some of its consequences.
We can remain mobile and strong throughout our lives. We need not gain the
typical “X” pounds of fat per year that is considered the norm. Rather, we’ll
enhance our physical appearance through improved muscularity and reduced
body fat. The All Gain Principles to follow will raise our tolerance in the battle
against daily stressors, and restore the vigor we thought lost to increasing age.
As I did with the No Pain Principles, I’ll briefly outline the All Gain Principles
and then expand on each of them in their own chapters.
All Gain Principle #1: Establish and Maintain your Foundation of Resilience
It may seem unnecessary to begin the All Gain Principles with a reiteration of
the preceding section, but it is that important that the No Pain Principles become
locked in as daily and weekly behaviors. The foundation that they provide in
managing stress is essential for progress. It is only in recovery that energy,
muscle mass, and body composition can be enhanced.
If you can’t bounce back after experiencing a stressor, the “All Gain” portion of
the All Gain, No Pain Program does not exist.
All Gain Principle #2: Appreciate Muscle
It is essential that we maintain and enhance our muscle mass as we age. Heart
health is obviously important. Brain health is too. Neither exists without the
ability to move. We tend to move less as we age and limit our physical
challenges, thus the commonplace and “expected” deterioration seen in our ever-
aging population. This does not have to be the norm.
Strategies to maintain and even gain muscle both enhances our physicality and
protects against stress. How we organize our efforts to maintain and gain muscle,
feel better, and move better also rely how we manage the next principle.
All Gain Principle #3: Manage Intensity
Intensity is our friend. It enhances muscle mass and our ability to produce and
utilize energy. Properly applied, intensity protects us against stress. However,
intensity itself is a stressor, and therefore, must be managed. Too much intensity
consumes our body’s resources, impairing our ability to recover. The result is
decline, discomfort, and destruction rather than progress, enjoyment, and well-
being.
All Gain, No Pain is not short on intensity. It is one of the more satisfying
aspects in your return to regular exercise. To challenge yourself and succeed,
however, requires management that you’ll learn in Chapter 17.
All Gain Principle #4: Emphasize your Primary Exercises
Effort is everything. Your brain is primed and your body is prepared to do its
best work early on in your workout. The first thing you do in a workout typically
receives the greatest focus and effort. Your All Gain, No Pain Program design
takes advantage of this fact to assure maximum progress.
Each part of the All Gain, No Pain Program enhances your body’s appearance
and capabilities based on a hierarchy of priorities. By placing your highest
priority activities early in the program, you’ll be assured to maintain quality of
effort where you need it most. Appendix 1 will expand on how to structure your
workout to optimize your efforts.
All Gain Principle #5: Modify Exercises to Avoid Pain and Maintain
Intensity
By the time we’ve turned 40, we’ve done some living. We all experience some
aches and pains from our misspent youth that must be considered when we talk
about working hard in the gym again. All Gain, No Pain will recover a great deal
of seemingly lost movement, but we also want to maintain muscle, increase
strength, and lose body fat.
The All Gain, No Pain Program alternatives to potentially limited or painful
movements will allow you to keep intensity high and discomfort low; allowing
you to still reach your goals.
All Gain Principle #6: Monitor Your Progress
That which gets measured, gets managed. As you work through your All Gain,
No Pain Program, properly documenting your efforts and gains will keep you
focused on your goals. Without proper monitoring, our efforts turn into a
progressive deterioration of attention, motivation, and focus.
All Gain, No Pain will show how to establish key performance indicators and
avoid set-backs in our pursuit to regain not only lost mobility, but a body to be
proud of.
Building Resistance reduces the impact of stress on every aspect of the human
system. Just like a small dose of poison can make us resistant to its effects, the
All Gain Principles protect against stressors that threaten our health and
movement.
Review
Build resistance to minimize the impact of daily and weekly stressors.
Appreciate muscle. It will enhance every aspect of your life. Your movement,
brain, and health depend on it.
Intensity without control is a fast road back to where you started. Intensity is
paramount, but it must be managed for the best possible outcome.
That which is most important must be done when energy and effort are at their
peak. All Gain, No Pain Program design takes full advantage of this concept.
There’s always a way to keep effort high even when dealing with a history of
aches and pains.
Measure and track your progress. You’ll remain adaptable and maintain progress
toward your goals.

Take Action
Before you go to Chapter 15 to delve deeper into your first All Gain Principle,
jump to Appendix 1 to review the general structure of your All Gain, No Pain
program.
This will enhance your understanding as we expand on each component of the
program in subsequent chapters.
 15
All Gain Principle #1: Maintain Your Foundation of Resilience
Key Points
More resistance can’t make up for a lack of resilience
Be honest with your self-assessment
Make small consistent changes in your behaviors
Check your progress on behavioral change weekly
Edward was a client who I would consider typical for us in the over-40 category.
He owned a very large business with multiple locations throughout the country.
This set-up required frequent travel and an ever-changing schedule. He described
his personal stress levels as variable depending on how business was going.
He used his workouts as a form of stress management and to maintain his self-
satisfaction with his physical appearance. In his younger years, he was a regular
exerciser throughout his adult life but was limited to some degree by recurrent
hip pain. He felt that his nutrition program was good enough to support his goals
of lowering his body fat but his results weren’t showing it. He was frustrated and
unhappy as he perceived his effort level was high but his outcome was
unsatisfying.
Edward was like most of us. He was highly motivated to succeed and developed
an effective “on switch.” He was never at a lack to push himself harder in the
gym. “More is better” was easy.
What Edward lacked was an “off switch.” He tried to overcome his lack of
progress with more resistance, and in the process, had neglected the essential
supportive elements of establishing a foundation of Resilience first.
All Gain, No Pain Secret
You will NEVER make the progress you desire compensating for a lack of
Resilience by increasing Resistance.
As in any case, I had Edward simply take two steps back (more like 10 actually)
and had him go through his self-assessment to determine his new starting point.
Here’s the results of his breathing, movement, and heart rate self-assessment
(see Chapter 8 for explanation of the tests).
Edward’s results show a significant amount of breathing and movement
limitations as well as an elevated resting heart rate. These findings may be
indicative of elevated stress from his work, workouts, or most likely both. It’s
important not to be judgmental at this point and look at self-assessment results
for what they are; the starting point.
We then looked at his sleep quality.

There was irregularity in Edward’s sleep hygiene as well. A great deal stemmed
from his inconsistency with his bed time and consuming caffeine later in the day.
He exercised later in the day as well and would periodically consume caffeinated
“energy drinks.” When he stayed up late, he would get hungry and snack.
Snacking added unplanned calories to his daily intake, and limited his fat loss.
He only napped occasionally on weekends which did not appear to compensate
for poor sleep during the work week.
We then looked at his supportive nutrition. His first response was that he felt he
was doing well but further investigation resulted in the following:
It was easy to see that Edward’s perception of how well he was doing with his
nutrition was somewhat off track.
After his self-assessment, Edward, while disappointment in himself, expressed a
high-level of motivation to make sweeping changes to his lifestyle and program.
He enthusiastically listed out how he was ready to hit all of the standards in his
self-assessment over the next week.
I immediately cautioned Edward to temper his eagerness a bit. It is quite
common when starting a new project, a new workout program, or a new diet, to
completely overhaul our lives to meet our goals. While excitement initiates a
strong start, it often leads to failure and a regression back to old, ineffective
habits.
We are all not so different from Edward and make the same mistakes. Here are
three of the biggest lifestyle change mistakes people make, followed by their
solutions.
Mistake #1: Lacking awareness of yourself and your reality
Initially, Edward expressed confidence in his supportive behaviors, thus his
frustration with his lack of progress. We all have periods in our lives where we
feel the same way. We “feel” like we’re doing everything correctly, and then
become angry when we still don’t move well or achieve the body we want.
Unfortunately, how we “feel” only masks our reality. We’ve established both
good and less than desirable behaviors. The result is a lack of progress and
success.
Solution #1: Be honest with your self-assessment
The power of self-assessment is to see ourselves for where we are in the
moment. We measure ourselves compared to a standard, which guides behavior
selection that helps us reach our goals.
It may be painful to see ourselves as we truly are—Persevere. It is only our
starting point. Get excited that we now have the necessary information to move
forward with confidence. We’ll know exactly how and where to make changes
for success.
Mistake #2: Trying to change everything all at once
The “slap in the face” from reality can cause a powerful surge of emotion to
drive us to change our lifestyle for the better. We may be so driven that we vow
to change everything the very next day. Initially we do well with your new
healthy behaviors. But riding the wave of excitement doesn’t last. Within a short
period of time, we experience what is called “decision fatigue.”
Every decision we make places demands on the brain. Choosing what clothes to
wear, food to eat, or work to do draws on our brain’s energy reserves. By the end
of the day, our energy may be too low to fight off the urge to skip a workout or
eat something that’s not part of our nutrition plan.47
Trying to change too many things at once will ultimately lead to failure.
Solution #2: Make small consistent changes in your behavior
Recall from Chapter 13 that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is where decisions are
made. This area of our brain draws a great deal of energy to handle its daily
duties. Initially, we rely on the PFC to motivate us and drive our decisions to
change behaviors. As energy wanes, decision fatigue sets in, lowering the desire
and motivation to stick to your new lifestyle.
Making small, measurable changes in behavior reduces the energy demands on
the PFC. Through repeated efforts, our new behaviors become automatic and
require less energy. This frees up new energy for adopting the next new
behavior.
Driving a car as an example of adopting new behaviors
Remember when you first learned to drive a car? Hands positioned at “10 and
2.” Eyes fixed on the road. Trying to remember to check your mirrors and read
signs while keeping the car safely in your lane. That was your PFC at work
learning a new task or behavior.
Now, it takes only occasional effort and attention to drive your car as driving is
run by the less energy hungry, automatic centers of your brain.
Mistake #3: Not tracking your behavior
Even if we follow through on solution #2, we may still find ourselves “spinning
your wheels” and stagnating our progress. Each new behavior augments the
next. Neglecting to assess how our behavior has changed, even if it has changed
for the better, will delay our advancement toward our desired outcome.
Solution #3: Regularly reevaluate your behaviors and modify as you
progress
There is no single solution to a complex problem like changing our lifestyle for
the better. We need enough time to make changes “stick,” but waiting too long
wastes valuable time. Occasionally, we may experience a set-back. To stay on
track with changes, check key behaviors every one to two weeks. Sooner than a
week, and behavioral change may not be locked in. Wait longer than 2 weeks,
and we’ll delay the potential to add a new behavior that could have accelerated
our progress.
Keep things simple but impactful. Prioritizing key behaviors provide the fastest
and biggest results, motivating us to stay on target. Always start with building
Resilience in the following priorities: 1) improving sleep, 2) supportive nutrition,
3) Effective breathing, 4) building capacity.
So How Did Edward Do?
In Edward’s case, changing key behaviors comfortably lead to a cascade of
favorable changes. For instance, he reduced his afternoon caffeine intake, so he
could go to bed sooner, thus reducing the excess calories that slowed his
progress. One behavior change resulted a broad impact overall.
We also increased his focus on his exhalation during his resets. By achieving an
effective exhalation, Edward directly reduced the muscle tension on the back
side of his body that prevented his ability to bend and squat. This also improved
his ability to rest successfully and lowered his resting heart rate.
In a matter of two weeks, Edward had implemented and established these simple
behaviors and did not intentionally change anything else. His results were
certainly favorable. He had lost 4 pounds and reported feeling better overall.
He also reported eating fast food only once the previous week and was getting
protein in each of his meals. Two behaviors that we did not include but simply
better decisions that were carried over from the effect of three small changes. By
gaining Resilience , Edward assured that his body had the resources he needed to
move toward the outcome he desired, all without changing his exercise program.
Most of us trying to regain comfortable movement and better bodies think that
the hardest part of “All Gain” is the tough, gritty, physical work. Upping the
intensity and ramping up the “on switch” is easy. However, intensity coupled
with a lack of Resilience leads to frustration, lost mobility, pain and reduced
quality of life.
There is a better way.
We still need effort and intensity to stimulate the changes we seek. Just like
establishing behaviors to build Resilience , we must also manage intensity. Well-
managed intensity can make us greater than we were, whereas unbridled
intensity will progressively destroy us. I’ll show you how to find the sweet spot
in Chapter 16.
Review
Be honest with your self-assessment. What you measure, you can manage.
Make small, measurable changes in behaviors that enhance Resiliency and may
favorably influence other aspects of your life.
Reevaluate your behaviors regularly to promote your ability to adapt to change
and ensure the fastest progress.
Raising intensity is easy. More intensity without a foundation of Resilience will
prevent progress and potentially result in limited movement.

Take Action
Get your notebook.
Write down one new behavior to implement to improve your sleep.
Write down one new behavior to improve your daily supportive nutrition.
Write down how you’ll increase focus on your breathing (Resets? Meditation?).
Write down which days you’ll focus on building your capacity (see appendix 1
for ideas).
Implement your new behaviors starting now.
 16
All Gain Principle #2: Appreciate Muscle
Key Points
Appreciate and value muscle… but not too much
Manage muscle to manage stress
Manage intensity and frequency to manage stress
Confession time. I’m a Neanderthalic-recoverin’, Arnold Schwarzenegger-
loving, protein shake guzzlin’, Gold’s Gym tank top wearing muscle-head.

Your author circa 1991

I grew up in the 80’s. The only sources of training information were the muscle
magazines at the newsstand. Every month I would seek out the next issue of any
magazine with “Muscle” in the title that would inspire the next ounce of
progress. The more muscle the better. The goal was to be better than the other
guys in the gym. I tolerated more pain. I trained more often. I was meticulous
my diet and supplementation.
I did okay for a guy that never went the steroid route. I wasn’t great, but I stood
out from the crowd. I know what it’s like to squat 500 pounds. I built myself up
to a fairly lean and muscular 230+ pounds. I sacrificed relationships and time.
Time that I could have spent more effectively building my brain than my body.
However, for a short period of time, my satisfaction for turning a few heads
sufficed and drove me for more.
I also paid a price. I learned to train beyond my body’s ability to recover and
repair itself. I ignored the consequences of poorly-structured, extreme training
programs in the quest for the “perfect” body. As I sit here, I feel quite good
really. However, I also have suffered through agonizing joint pain, and my
shoulders can now predict the weather better than our local forecaster.
I learned the dark side of intensity applied to gain extreme muscle mass. In
doing so, I’ve also gained insight and wisdom that few possess in regards to
using intensity wisely, and without destroying yourself.
Appreciate and value muscle… but not too much
Muscle is precious. It provides advantages for movement, longevity, and quality
of life. However, I would caution you against joining the “more muscle at all
costs” perspective. We only need enough muscle to do the things we want to do
and enjoy. How much that is, I cannot tell you. I can only offer you one simple
mantra:
Smaller dogs live longer.
Large breeds like a Great Dane tend to live for only about 5-8 years, whereas
their smaller ankle-biting relatives have an average life expectancy of 14 years!
Science isn’t exactly sure why this difference exists, but it appears to be related
to the free radical production (aka oxidative stress as mentioned in Chapter 13)
associated with growth. A Great Dane will increase its weight by 100 times in its
first year of life alone.
Now, you may be saying, “Well, sure, but those are dogs.”
Yes, but a similar relationship may also exist in humans. A 2014 article in the
Journal of Scientific Research & Reports by Thomas T. Samaras indicated that
shorter, smaller humans lived longer than their taller, bigger counterparts when
following an equivalent healthy lifestyle.48 If these findings are accurate, perhaps
seeking maximum degrees of muscle mass should not be the ultimate goal.
However, carrying some muscle has benefits beyond the attractive appearance.
Based on a 2008 study in Free Radical Biology & Medicine, it appears that
measured doses of intensity in the quest for muscle may enhance our ability to
better manage the damaging oxidative stress associated with exercise.36
Intelligent approaches to exercise actually increase enzymes in our muscles to
fight off undesired free radicals and oxidative stress. The authors referred to this
as the “double-edged sword” of physical exercise.
Frequent, high stress activity may lead to increased damage to your cells and
body from oxidative stress. Whereas strategic application of intensity enhances
our ability to manage oxidative stress and promote health. Since oxidative stress
is associated with accelerated aging, strategic application of effort may also be a
part of our prescription for longevity.
Manage muscle to manage stress
Muscle also provides us a management “tool” for maintaining optimal levels of
blood sugar. Humans have an optimal range in which blood sugar must be
maintained to keep it from becoming destructive. A “sweet spot” if you will. Our
muscles provide a very powerful influence on maintaining our “sweet spot.”
When more active, we use stored sugar in the muscles, called glycogen, for
energy. After fatiguing and energy depleting exercise, the body’s top priority is
to restore our glycogen levels; pulling sugar from the blood to replenish it.49 In
this way, our muscles provide a “sink” to pull excess sugar out of the blood and
into the muscle, avoiding a negative impact health.
Picture the muscles as a sponge full of water. Every time you exercise, you
squeeze the water (use stored glycogen) out of the sponge (aka the muscles). As
you recover from exercise through rest and optimal nutrition, you refill your
sponge (muscles) with water(glycogen) to help maintain healthy levels of blood
sugar. Sounds great, right?
Does this mean that the bigger our muscles are, the better off we are?
Muscle is certainly a good thing to have. How much is enough is a tough
question to answer. Muscles grow in response to increased stress, such as lifting
weights. We also know that we potentially increase oxidative stress and
inflammation by chasing “more is better” in regard to muscle. The key then, is
keeping the quantity and frequency of stress on the muscles within our adaptive
capabilities.
As long as programs are progressive and optimize frequency of exposure to
allow for recovery and adaptation of your protective systems, body can keep
pace and systems grow stronger. All good things for both acute health and
longevity.
The goal with All Gain, No Pain is to maximize the more favorable aspects of
exercise to enhance health, move comfortably, and reclaim a body to be proud
of. Efficiency and efficacy are of the utmost importance. You may also find that
as your brain and body learn to manage all stressors that you’ll intuitively know
when it’s best to challenge yourself and when to back off. This will be discussed
further in Chapter 17.
Review
Intensity can be your friend or your foe depending on how you apply it.
Appreciate muscle for what it provides in regards to movement, blood sugar
management, added Resistance and Resilience to stress, and physical
appearance.
The stress associated with intense exercise, when properly applied, is a good
thing and makes all of your systems stronger to optimize health.
Taken to the extreme, chasing maximum muscle mass becomes questionable as
to whether we are enhancing health or promoting undesired negative
consequences.

Take Action
Find a quiet space to think or meditate for a moment.
Picture in your mind how you’ll see your physical self after achieving your
goals.
Make the picture a more muscular and leaner you as clearly as you can.
Take out your notebook.
Write a paragraph to define what you saw in your mind.
Mark this page in your notebook to read every Monday morning.
 17
All Gain Principle #3: Manage Intensity to Manage Stress
Key Points
Understanding your stress bucket
Managing your stress bucket
Daily strategies to reduce stress and help refill your stress bucket
Understanding your stress bucket
Drew is a mid-level executive in a small marketing firm who came to see me
after he began working out at a cross-training gym nearby. He enjoyed the idea
of pushing himself every workout. Recently, his shoulder started aching, and he
had to stop running and jumping because his Achilles tendon started to hurt. He
was pretty frustrated because he had to back off on his workouts because of the
pain.
“How are you sleeping?” I asked.
“Not well,” Drew offered. “I took on a new client recently and my workload
increased dramatically, so sleep has been hard to come by. It’s gotten even worse
because now my shoulder keeps me awake at night too.”
“How often are you working out?”
“I was working out three times a week, but my energy started to decline and my
weights started dropping off, so I increased to five times a week a few weeks ago
to try to keep up.”
“When did your shoulder and Achilles start to bother you?”
“They were a little sore since I started working out again, but I just wrote that off
as typical workout soreness. They got really bad when I increased to five days a
week.”
“Sounds like you’re not managing your stress bucket very well. I think we can
help you with that.”
Your comeback from injury or pain to an enjoyable exercise program and a body
you can be proud of is a management process. One of the best analogies
describing this concept is the stress vulnerability bucket. This concept was
originally developed by Drs. Alison Brabban and Douglas Turkington50 , but I’ve
modified it to fit our needs (see Figure 17.1).

Figure 17.1
The size of our stress bucket represents our stress tolerance before the negative
consequences of ill health, physical decline, limited movement, or pain impact
our lifestyle. When the stress bucket is full, we have maximum resources
available to meet our daily challenges. We look good, feel good, and move well.
When physical, psychological, and emotional demands drain resources from our
bucket, our health declines.
The brain and body are continually monitoring your personal stress bucket
expenditures in comparison to your ability to recoup resources that may
ultimately reduce pain and enhance health and movement. More often than not,
our choices force us to endure stressors that result in diminishing resources that
impact our Resistance to stress AND our Resilience in recovery from it.
Progress, or lack thereof, depends on the balance of inflows and outflows of
stress.
Managing your stress bucket
Successful stress management involves both refilling and increasing the size of
our stress bucket. Our first step is to build Resilience by focusing on behaviors
that refill the bucket—The No Pain Principles. In doing so, we’ll experience
greater energy, improved mental focus, and better movement; all qualities that
will quickly return us to a productive exercise program.
Once our bucket is full, we can build Resistance by focusing on behaviors that
influence the size of our stress bucket—The All Gain Principles. A bigger bucket
makes workouts more challenging and satisfying as we regain movement and
athleticism.
Your exercise program is one of the primary influences on your ability to
manage total stress. Though because workouts are also a stressor, an exercise
program that is too intense for your capabilities can have you ending up just like
Drew.
Much like testing the temperature of the water with your toes before jumping
into a cold pool, we need to learn how your body responds to your exercise
program. Strategically applying intensity allows you to absorb all impactful
stressors intermittently rather than trying to manage an overwhelming, constant
overload.
All Gain, No Pain manages your frequency of high intensity stress by building in
an effort buffer. By prudently administering intensity, you’ll continue to remain
Resilient as you build your stress tolerance; making your stress bucket larger.
Daily strategies to reduce stress refill your stress bucket
Intensity is “easy.” This stems from the common perspective with emphasis
placed on working “harder” to achieve a goal or to complete a task. Work harder
on your homework to get better grades. Work harder at your job to get a
promotion. Rarely, if ever, has someone espoused the value of getting more sleep
or proper nutrition to achieve either of the above examples. Why should it apply
to our pursuit of feeling, moving, and looking better?
When we work harder in the gym, we can see the fruits of our labor. We can lift
more weight. We can do more reps. It’s measurable and motivating. It’s
necessary for progress. Uncontrolled and unmanaged, it’s also a fast track to
halting our gains by emptying our stress bucket.
To avoid plateaus in our progress, we will manage stress from intensity by
implementing two simple strategies: Daily Resets and Mini-Mobilities.
Our Daily Resets, discussed in Chapter 10, help us “turn off” muscles that limit
comfortable movement and “turn on” muscles that enhance your ability to move
better. These “turned on” muscles also keep your nervous system stimulated,
which slows your ability to refill your stress bucket. Being consistent with your
Daily Resets not only boosts your ability to refill your stress bucket and maintain
comfortable movement, but also help you think clearly and maintain focus.
Mini-Mobilities are brief, simple activities that emphasize parts of the body that
can get a little achy, sore, or tight from increased intensity. By frequently moving
these areas, you can reduce pain and muscle tension to accelerate gains in
movement and comfort.
Here’s a quick example
Hooklying Windshield Wiper

Set-up

Lie on your back with your knees bent 90 degrees and heels on the
floor
Spread your feet wider than your hips
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction to flatten your back to

the floor and raise your tailbone slightly
Keeping your weight even on your hips move your knees inward as
far as you can without pain as you exhale
Move your knees outward as you inhale
Perform 5-10 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the

exercise
Move smoothly inward and outward and avoid painful ranges of
motion
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Regaining and reinforcing comfortable movement is more about learning or
relearning how we move. Performing your mini-mobilities three to five times a
day provides repetition of good movement and awareness that our brain values
in just a few seconds at a time. They also break the cycle of inactivity that can
reinforce restricted mobility associated with prolonged sitting or standing and
work environments that may increase physical loads and drain our stress bucket.
Your level of success with your All Gain, No Pain Program hinges on stress
bucket management. Establishing Resilient behaviors to refill and restore your
personal stress bucket are the foundation of your program. Intermittently add
challenges that stress systems to rebuild and expand the capacity of your bucket
to enhance Resistance and minimize future stress.
Review
Our personal stress bucket represents your ability to control and manage your
responses to stressors that impact your ability to move effectively and enjoy
physical activity.
Establish and emphasize behaviors that refill your personal stress bucket on a
daily basis. Without sufficient Resilience , you’re more likely experience a
plateau that will limit progress.
Intermittent intensity grows and rebuilds the capacity of our personal stress
bucket to minimize future stress. Without sufficient Resistance , cumulative
stress restricts your ability to regain comfortable, pain-free movement and
change your body for the better.
Daily Resets and Mini-Mobilities are key strategies to help reduce stress that can
accumulate during the day reduce our ability to refill your personal stress bucket.

Take Action
Take out your notebook.
Draw out your personal stress bucket.
List your current behaviors that fill your stress bucket.
List your current behaviors that drain your stress bucket.
How full is your stress bucket?
 18
All Gain Principle #4: Emphasize Your Primary Exercises to
Maximize Return on Investment
Key Points
The muscle building benefits of Primary Exercises
How to avoid the pitfalls associated with the Primary Exercises
How to manage the frequency of the Primary Exercises
How to buffer the intensity of the Primary Exercises
Chris wanted to put on some muscle. Not crazy bodybuilder muscles but enough
to look like he was strong and fit.
He had given his quest great effort. Like so many that I see in my office, he
reached an impasse associated with joint pains and stagnation. Thankfully, Chris’
accountant brain had meticulously documented his entire process, and he
provided me with his workout journal to assist in the diagnosis of his limited
progress.
His journal was filled with countless programs designed with the intent of
adding muscle to his lanky frame. He was hitting the gym every day for as much
as two hours at a time, and wasn’t progressing due to no shortage of
determination, that was for sure. His hopping from program to program in a
confusion of exercises was, however, adding more drains to his stress bucket;
diluting his efforts. Instead of creating more muscle, he was only succeeding at
creating fatigue. To use an accounting term, Chris was not getting the desired
return on his investment.
The answer for Chris was simple. Instead of trying to utilize every program and
combinations of exercises, focus on one. So, I introduced him to the All Gain
Principles and an emphasis on Primary Exercises.
The muscle building benefits of Primary Exercises
Primary Exercises are the “big” and more complex exercises that are associated
with greater efforts, more intensity, and heavier loads like deadlifts and presses.
With proper application and appropriate emphasis, your Primary Exercises come
with a promise of greater resistance to stress, increased strength, and bigger
muscles. However, if improperly implemented, they can be a detriment to your
health and movement. If you need a refresher on the dark side of “doing more,”
reread chapter 1.
Most strength training exercises will build some muscle. Equipment matters
little, and as long as a muscle is taxed sufficiently with enough work, and we
then supply our body with the required nutrition, muscles grow regardless of
your age.51
Many programs offering the promise of increased muscle size also emphasize
long strength training sessions with as many as four to six workouts per week.
Your goal with All Gain, No Pain is to get the biggest return on your time
investment.
Primary Exercises rely on two training principles common to most strength
training literature. The first is the overload principle. Simply stated, the overload
principle says that to get muscle to grow, you must do more work than the
muscle is accustomed to. Lift more weight, the muscle grows. Lift the same
weight more times, the muscle grows.
The second principle is called the Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands
Principle, or the SAID Principle. This states that the way we apply an overload
stress will promote a change in the muscle that is specific to that stress. If you
run long distances, the muscles get better at producing long-term energy. Lift
enough weight and muscles get bigger and stronger. You’ll be emphasizing the
latter in your All Gain, No Pain strength training program.
Benefit #1: Primary Exercises are performed at the ideal time
Our brain and body are bit like an old car on a cold morning. They take a bit of
warming up with our Reset and Readiness Exercises reach peak efficiency. Once
achieved, all systems are “go,” and our internal battery is fully primed for the
most challenging part of your workout.
Early in our workout when energy is high and fatigue is low is the ideal time to
maximize the effect of the Primary Exercises.52 , 53
Benefit #2: Primary Exercises use more muscle
Applying the SAID Principle to your Primary Exercises reinforces the need to
lift moderately-heavy weights to gain and maintain muscle mass.54 The Primary
Exercises emphasize high-leverage movements that use multiple joints and
muscle groups. The more muscle involved in an exercise, the bigger the return
on investment.
While each component of the All Gain, No Pain Program is necessary to look
and feel better, if you only had time for one exercise, we could make excellent
muscular gains with only the Primary Exercises.
Benefit #3: Primary Exercises increase the size of your personal stress bucket
Just as the SAID Principle results in growth of our muscles, using heavier
weights increases the size of our personal stress bucket. Growing our stress
bucket increases Resistance and reduces the impact of other daily stressors. This
means better health, movement, and stress management.
Benefit #4: Primary Exercises teach us how to manage muscle tension
Stress-induced muscle tension with exercise is a normal and necessary
occurrence. It only becomes a problem when we can’t manage it. Primary
Exercises “turn on” our stress response to lift a weight safely and effectively.55
As we recover from a heavy set, we learn to “turn off” the stress response during
recovery and the excess muscle tension with it.
Every time we successfully self-regulate our “on-off switch,” we better manage
muscle tension in the future regardless of the circumstance.
How to avoid the pitfalls associated with the Primary Exercises
It’s important to identify potential risks associated with performing Primary
Exercises. When applied with due diligence, we reap the benefits and gain
immunity to the effects of stress and discomfort. If applied carelessly, we
become entrenched in a pattern of posture and movement that may result in
discomfort or pain. Here are the most common pitfalls associated with
performing the Primary Exercises and Safe Strategies to keep you healthy.
Pitfall #1: Sacrificing technique to lift heavier weights.
Safe Strategy #1: Technique first; weights after.
Primary Exercises require coordination, balance, and postural control.
Motivation and the desire for progress entices the drive to lift heavier weights
that challenge safety. Follow the technical instructions for Primary Exercises to
the best of your ability at all times. The goal is All Gain, No Pain . Safety
ALWAYS come first. NEVER sacrifice exercise technique to lift more weight.
Pitfall #2: Not emphasizing a foundation of Resilience.
Safe Strategy #2: Implement the No Pain Principles first.
Primary Exercises represent the most impactful stressor in the entire program.
Ineffective self-regulation of muscle tension that results in discomfort or pain
disqualifies you from performing Primary Exercises. Avoid performing the
Primary exercises if:

You have not consistently and effectively implemented the No Pain

Principles into your daily lifestyle.
You experience pain anywhere in your body during or after the
performance of any Primary Exercise.
Pitfall #3: Forcing your body into limited joint motions.
Safe Strategy #3: Modify exercises to protect against discomfort and to
maintain intensity.
Primary Exercises require full and comfortable active movement of your joints.
If you lack the joint movement required, you are not qualified for that Primary
Exercise. Chapter 21 will show you how to perform Modified Exercises to build
more muscle in spite of limited movement or discomfort.
How to manage the frequency of the Primary Exercises
Too much stress, too frequently, may result in our inability to manage muscle
tension and discomfort. Because they are a form of stress, manage the Primary
Exercises with the following strategies.
Frequency Strategy #1: Exercise Major Muscle Groups No More than One
Time per Week
Primary exercises will be divided into three groups: Pushing exercises, Pulling
Exercises, and Lower Body Exercises. Muscles will be generally grouped by
how they work together to perform the Primary Exercises.
You’ll perform workouts emphasizing one of the major muscle groups on
rotational basis each time you hit the gym for a workout. For instance, workout 1
will emphasize lower body. Workout 2 will emphasize pushing muscles.
Workout 3 will emphasize pulling muscles. Workout 4 will return to lower body
emphasis and so on.
Frequency Strategy #2: Perform Primary Exercises Every Three to Four Days
to start
Many strength training programs recommend exercising with the same Primary
Exercises two or three times per week. Distributing the sets over the week may
look something like this:

Experience with physical therapy patients or general fitness clients making their
comeback to the gym indicates that they are more successful when concentrating
on one Primary Exercise once every three to four days. That may look like this:

Reduced frequency allows greater control over total stress resulting in favorable
strength and muscle gains. Strength training research supports equivalent
muscular growth with programs utilizing a “concentrated” loading approach of
doing more work for a specific muscle group on one day per week compared to
distributing the work over three days a week. The concentrated loading group
also spent less total time in the gym.56
Frequency Strategy #3: Modify frequency based on age, exercise history, and
No Pain Principles
Empirical evidence indicates that how frequently we can tolerate Primary
Exercises and make significant improvement depends on the following
considerations:
 Your age

My younger clients tend to naturally possess a greater level of resilience

than my over-40 clientele thus allowing a higher frequency of exposure to
Primary Exercises.

Your exercise history

If you have exercised vigorously for many years, especially in regard to

strength training, you’ll have developed greater resistance , and therefore,
greater tolerance of Primary Exercises.

Your application of No Pain Principles

Consistent application of the No Pain Principles raises Resilience and

capacity to refill our stress bucket. The greater your experience with the
All Gain, No Pain Program, you may find that you can gradually reduce
days between the Primary Exercises to two to three and make faster
progress.

How to buffer the intensity of the Primary Exercises

One of the keys to building stronger, bigger muscle is exposing them to
sufficient exercise volume. Exercise volume of Primary Exercises is calculated
by the following simple formula:

Research indicates that muscle growth can occur at any level of intensity (Load),
but it may be optimal to emphasize weights that you could lift with good
technique for between six and 12 reps.54 All Gain, No Pain also builds in a
buffering system to accumulate enough volume for muscle gains while
protecting against negative implications of exercise stress.
The weight used for Primary Exercises is always indicated by referencing your
repetition maximum, or RM. For instance, a weight that allows a maximum of
six repetitions to be completed is your 6-repetition maximum, or 6 RM. You’ll
use the indicated “RM” for each set of the Primary Exercise but instead of trying
to complete the same number of repetitions as you did on the first set, you’ll
“leave a couple reps in the tank.” This means you’ll stop the set two reps shy of
your repetition maximum. Here’s an example.
Primary Exercise: Deadlift
Prescribed repetition maximum weight in the workout: 6 repetition maximum
After preparing for a great workout with your Reset and Readiness Exercises,
you’ll begin the strength training portion of your All Gain, No Pain Program
with deadlifts. You’ll follow the protocol for “How to warm up for strength
training and setting your repetition maximum for Primary Exercises” in
Appendix 2.
Following the warmup protocol, you’ve determined that your deadlift 6 RM for
today is 200 pounds.

You’ll take your prescribed rest period and then perform your second set. This
time you’ll use 200 pounds as before, but you’ll only perform 4 reps. This two
rep difference is your buffer against working too hard too soon. You’ll then use a
system called Auto-Regulation to determine how many sets to do for that day.
How to use Auto-Regulation to determine exercise volume
No matter how perfect we are with the No Pain Principles, some nights we
don’t sleep well or things we can’t control drain your personal stress bucket.
Some days we may conquer the world, and other days we’re much less
ambitious. All Gain, No Pain accounts for these ups and downs by using the
concept of Auto-Regulation.
Auto-Regulatory training manages the total stress load on your brain and
body by setting the “load” and “set” parameters of your Exercise Volume
equation every time you perform your Primary Exercises. The weight lifted
and sets performed for the exercise vary according to how you feel. Some days
you’ll lift heavier weights and do more sets, thus more exercise volume for a
greater total stress load. Some days your weights will be less heavy, and you’ll
do fewer sets to reduce the total stress load. The goal is always to optimize
stress to match your stress bucket capabilities. 57
You’ll stop the exercise when you can no longer maintain your level of effort
based on your “buffer.” Here’s an example.
Primary Exercise: Deadlift
Prescribed repetition maximum weight in the workout: 6 repetition maximum
Maximum weight lifted for 6 repetitions: 200 pounds
Number of reps per set based on buffer: 4 repetitions
Number of sets prescribed by the program: at least 3 and no more than 8 sets
Set 1: 6 reps at 200 pounds
Set 2: 4 reps at 200 pounds
Set 3: 4 reps at 200 pounds
Set 4: 4 reps at 200 pounds
Set 5: 4 reps at 200 pounds
Set 6: 3 reps at 200 pounds
Finished and move on to next exercise
Primary Exercises are the cornerstone of the “Gain” in your All Gain, No Pain
program. Because everyone is unique in their personal comeback, try to establish
a trend of progress, not merely lift more weight. Some days the weights will feel
easy to lift, and others, that same weight may feel more difficult. Maintain a
long-term perspective. Done correctly, your All Gain, No Pain Program keeps
you on track to build muscle, enhance health, and restore comfortable, effective
movement.
You’ll find the full list of Primary Exercises with their technical instructions in
Appendix 3.
Review
Establish a trend of progress by properly implementing the SAID Principle and
the Overload Principle.
Earn your execution of the Primary Exercises by first building your foundation
of Resilience through habitual application of the No Pain Principles.
Emphasize the technique of the Primary Exercises over the addition of more
weight.
Perform Primary Exercises every three to four days emphasizing one major
muscle group per workout.
Train each major muscle group no more than once per week and auto-regulate
total exercise volume to optimize progress and control total stress.

Take Action
Take out your notebook.
Determine which days per week that will be your more intensive exercises days.
Start with scheduling your Primary exercises 4 days apart. For instance, if you
perform a Primary Exercise on Monday, your next intensive exercise day will be
Friday.
Commit to that schedule for your initial All Gain, No Pain Program.
 19
All Gain Principle #5: Modify Exercises to Maintain Intensity and
Avoid Pain
Key Points
Modify the “Big” exercises to avoid pain
Follow the All Gain, No Pain Statute of Workout Limitations
A client named Don recently came to see me because he was having some hip
pain that he couldn’t seem to shake. Don stood out from my typical clientele for
several reasons, but mostly because his physique was that of an NFL running
back. Quite impressive for a guy of 49-years old (and the fact that his handshake
nearly crushed my hand).
As he described his hip pain to me, our conversation went something like this.
Don: “Every time I back squat, I get the horrible stabbing pain in the crease of
my right hip.”
Bill: “Does it hurt when you front squat?”
Don: “Now that you mention it, no, not really.”
Bill: “So why are you back squatting?”
Don: “Because I can use about 150 more pounds on my back squat and I love
lifting the heavier weight. I gotta keep my quads growing, ya know.”
Bill: “I get it.” [while shaking my head in the affirmative, knowing full well
what he meant as I recounted my own history of exercising through pain]
Further investigation resulted in identifying an injury history extending back a
couple of decades. Here’s Don’s short list of injuries.
Hip impingement (the reason he came to see me)
Torn quadriceps (thigh muscle)
Torn quadriceps tendon and repair surgery
Three knee surgeries
Torn pectoralis major not repaired (chest muscle)
Chronic back pain
Hamstring strain
Elbow pain (aka tennis elbow… although Don doesn’t play tennis)
These injuries were old and well-healed but Don was still having daily pain and
limited movement in just about every joint in his body. As he said, “I’m old now
so it’s just expected that I should have pain when I work out, right?”
This is commonly referred to as a “meathead” mentality. Nothing matters but
getting the satisfaction from your workout and maintaining the look of a well-
developed physique. I don’t say this to belittle Don or put him down for any
reason. To paraphrase comedian Jeff Foxworthy, you shouldn’t make fun of
meatheads unless you are one…and I well, “are” one. I completely understood
where Don was coming from.
I followed the same Meathead Mantra that Don followed which goes something
like, “It’s more important to look good, than to feel good.” Closely followed by
the corollary, “As long as I look big and muscular in my casket.”
But as a reformed “meathead” and physical therapist, I now had insight that
allowed me to understand and solve Don’s mindset and approach. Instead of a
self-destructive program, we could provide him with satisfying workouts and
ongoing results—all without constant pain and restricted movement.
Modify the “Big” exercises to avoid pain
The first course of action with Don was restoring comfortable movement and
reducing his daily pain by following the No Pain Principles from Section 2.
Within a week’s time, Don reported a resolution of his hip pain and expanded
pain-free movement repertoire that he never expected was possible at his age.
Next, we made changes to his “big” exercises allowing him to keep his exercise
intensity high and his workouts satisfying. As a model, I refer to a concept
originally expressed by Dr. Mel Siff that he referred to as the “Statute of Fitness
Limitations.”58
The Statute of Fitness Limitations provides a guideline for altering exercises to
protect against pain relative to your personal movement capabilities and exercise
tolerance.
I’ve modified the Statute to serve the needs of the All Gain, No Pain Program,
but the premise remains consistent with the original intent. Here’s the ground
rules I established for Don:
The All Gain, No Pain Statute of Workout Limitations

Limit weight to allow pain-free movement

 Vary the exercise pattern to allow pain-free execution
Limit the speed of movement to pain-free rates of movement
Limit the joint motion of an exercise to pain-free ranges
Modify the rest periods between sets of exercises to alter
intensiveness
Include Readiness and Supplemental Exercises to overcome our
stress pattern
Let’s go into detail with each Statute.
Statute #1: Limit weight to allow pain-free movement
While it made rational sense to make him feel better, Don wasn’t thrilled with
the idea of reducing the amount of weight he would lift in any of his exercises.
Anything less than his personal record lift, and his “musclehead” mind games
told him he was weak. What Don learned was that by implementing the
remaining statutes, he would actually maintain his intensity, stimulate muscle
growth, and still provide the mental and physical challenges he desired.
Statute #2: Vary the exercise pattern to allow pain-free execution
Many times, one variation of an exercise may be limiting and painful and
another may be totally pain-free. There are many ways to perform specific
patterns of exercises. For instance, the barbell bench press, dumbbell bench
press, inclined bench press, machine chest press, cable press, and push-up are all
cousins in the pressing category.
A simple switch from a barbell bench press to a dumbbell bench press can often
alleviate shoulder pain. The same may be true when comparing execution of a
push-up on the floor to a suspension trainer push-up.

Don was forcing himself into pain when performing his back squat because he
could lift more weight in comparison to his pain-free front squat.
By changing to the front squat, he immediately eliminated a painful pattern of
movement. To compensate for the reduced front squat weight, Don implement
the next Statute and changed his perspective on how to stimulate his muscles to
grow and keep his workouts satisfying.
Statute #3: Limit the speed of movement to pain-free rates of movement
Changing the speed of movement of an exercise changes how our body will try
to adapt to that exercise. Moving quickly shifts more stress to our tendons to
complete the exercise. This is a good thing to do if we’re trying to improve
running speed in a sprinter or jump height in a basketball player. If we’re trying
to build muscle, we want the muscle to do more work.
As I watched Don front squat, he was moving quickly into the squat and
bouncing up from the bottom. It was at this point that I taught Don about how to
use tempo to increase emphasis on his muscles and less on his tendons
(remember all the tendon injuries?).
I instructed Don to lower into his front squat on an even count of 3 seconds and
then push up from the bottom to the squat to stand on a one count. After just one
set, he told me, “It didn’t hurt at all, and I’ve never felt my quads work so hard
in my life!” Don adapted this strategy to a 3-0-1 tempo of lowering the weight
on a 3-count and lifting it on a 1-count on most of his exercises. He reported
immediate success in performing the exercises without pain and feeling the
muscle working much harder.
Statute #4: Limit the joint motion of an exercise to pain-free ranges of motion
Sometimes only a portion of our joint motions are painful. For instance, reaching
overhead may not be painful until your get to your maximum reach. Maybe you
can squat down to chair level without any problems, but a lower squat may cause
hip or back pain. The simple solution is to switch to exercises that don’t require
movement into painful ranges of joint motion.
Don had achy shoulders when bench pressing. As he lowered the bar to his
chest, the stretch on his shoulders intensified to painful levels. We reduced the
stretch by switching him to a barbell floor press.
Performing a barbell floor press limited shoulder range of motion allowing Don
to lift satisfying, heavier weights without pain.
Statute #5: Modify rest periods between sets of exercises to maintain
intensiveness
Regardless of how we changed Don’s workouts to move comfortably and stay
pain-free, there were times when he had to decrease in the weights to avoid
painful exercise.
To compensate reduced weight in his strength exercises but to maintain intensity,
we periodically decreased the prescribed rest period between sets of exercises.
This resulted in only partial recovery of his muscles between sets. It also
challenged Don’s energy producing systems promoting a favorable challenge to
his endurance and perceived effort even at reduced weights.
An easy way to do this is to alternate exercises for one muscle group with an
exercise involving a different muscle group. For instance, Don would perform a
Step-up which is a lower body exercise, and then couple it with Landmine press
which is an upper body push exercise. Combining exercises as such allowed Don
to maintain a high level of effort and kept his motivation high and his workouts
challenging and interesting.
As you make your comeback to the gym with your All Gain, No Pain Program,
it’s easy to get carried away by enthusiasm and the progress you’ll experience.
However, it’s important to remember that “too much, too soon” can be the fast
track back to where you started. By following The All Gain, No Pain Statute of
Workout Limitations, you can continue your successful return to exercise and
keep it pain-free, productive, and satisfying.
You’ll find a full list of substitute All Gain, No Pain exercises in Appendix 3.
These exercises will protect you from painful ranges of motion while
maintaining the intensity of your workouts.
Statute #6: Include Readiness and Supplemental Exercises to overcome our
stress pattern
Readiness and Supplemental Exercises overcome our movement-limiting human
stress pattern (See Chapter 3 for a review). These exercises promote reciprocal
muscle activity and optimally-timed breathing to enhance our ability to bend,
twist, and move side-to-side.
Try this simple experiment to understand how breathing can instantly improve
movement:

Standing with your feet about hip width. Slide your right hand down
the outside of your right thigh as you side bend your trunk to the
right. You should feel more weight on your right foot than your left
foot.
Take a breath in through your nose. As you exhale through your
mouth try to reach a little farther down your right leg and feel a little
more weight to the right.
Take another breath in and hold it.
Now reverse your trunk position by bending to the left while still
holding your breath. You’ll notice a limitation in bending left
compared to right.
Now exhale fully and slide the left hand down the outside of your
left thigh.
You’ll feel your left side bend improve simply by exhaling your
trapped air as your reach with your left hand.
It is not unusual to find that some of the Readiness or Supplementary Exercises
are easier to perform on one side of the body than the other. This is normal and
quite common. Consider these strategies if you sense a significant difference
between the two sides:

Perform Readiness and Supplement Exercises on the more difficult

side first to take advantage of increased focus and attention.
Temporarily reduce the number of sets of Supplementary Exercises
on the “easy” side and increase the number of sets on the more
difficult side keeping total sets the same as prescribed in your All
Gain, No Pain Program.
Perform 2-4 daily mini-mobility sessions of your favorite Readiness
 Exercise biased toward the more difficult side (See Chapter 13).
You’ll find the full list of Readiness and Supplementary Exercises with their
technical instructions in Appendix 3.
Review
Follow the All Gain, No Pain Statute of Workout Limitations to maintain
progress and stay pain-free:

Limit weight
Vary the exercise pattern
Limit the speed of movement
Limit the joint motion
Modify the rest periods
Use reciprocal exercises
Focus on progress to remain healthy and satisfied.

Take Action
Take out your notebook.
Take a look at your self-assessment from Chapter 8.
Do you have any limited movements?
Do you have any movements that are consistently uncomfortable?
Take a quick look at Appendix 3 and review some of the exercises that you may
use to avoid painful movements. Mark your favorites for future reference.
 20
All Gain Principle #6: Measure and Manage Progress
Key Points
Expect frustration if you’re doing it right
What gets measured, gets managed
What are our Key Performance Indicators?
How often should you measure Key Performance Indicators?
“If necessity is the mother of invention, then frustration is the father of
progress.”
—Jerry Meadows
I use this quote almost every day in my physical therapy and fitness practices as
I help my patients and fitness clients make changes in their bodies and their
lives. It’s important to realize is that you are a complex human. While you share
many of the same aspects and elements of physiology of all other humans, your
brain, environment, and experiences make you unique.
Expect frustration if you’re doing it right
My point is that there will be times where progress will be slow. It may stagnate.
You may backslide a bit. You may “fall off the wagon” of compliance and miss a
workout here and there. Life has a way of interrupting the best of plans. The goal
is maintaining a trend of improvement over the long haul.

One bad day, or even a series of bad days, does not define our potential to
change for the better. Our bodies have a way of resisting change. If we expect
the challenging days and accept our periodic imperfections, we’ll be better
prepared to manage our comeback to the gym and to feeling our best every day.
The results All Gain, No Pain provides are more about learning, relearning, and
restoring a movement repertoire that seemed lost. It is influenced by how we
move air through our body, control joint position, and develop and our fitness
levels. Some of these changes can be instantaneous. Some take time. We are
embarking on a management process that will give us back control—an ability to
self-regulate, feel good, and look good.
What gets measured, gets managed.
—Peter Drucker
When a client starts a new exercise program, I often get the question, “What’s
important?” From the outside looking in as a newbie to the All Gain, No Pain
Program, it seems like a lot to keep track of considering the behavioral changes
recommended.
All Gain, No Pain is management process. To manage our comeback, we really
only need to directly measure a few simple things. Measuring progress will
provide impetus for consistency and compliance and lead to improved decision
making. Just like in business, we have key performance indicators (KPI) to let us
know where we stand in regard to our Starting Point from Chapter 8. I suggest
creating a simple file on your computer to keep track of your workouts, self-
assessments, thoughts, and goals.
If you’re not a computer guy and prefer paper and pen (like me), find a notebook
that you like and keep track manually. My personal preference is a simple, lined
Moleskine notebook where I track all of my measures, nutrition plan, daily
rituals, goals, and progress.

What are our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?

KPI #1: Movement Tests
All Gain, No Pain is all about rebuilding our body and restoring effective,
comfortable movement. It stands to reason that movement is a KPI for
measuring progress. From Chapter 8, we have results of our initial tests. This
provides an easy comparison each time we recheck our movement tests for
progress.
Ask yourself these questions:

In general, how do I feel after waking in the morning?

What specific areas of my body draw my attention during daily
activities?
What movements are more challenging than others?
We often don’t perceive progress and change as they come gradually. Many of
my clients report periodic revelations in their comfort of movement or exercise
that were previously beyond their capabilities.
KPI #2: Personal Records
Ask an athlete about their highest achievement in sport, and you’ll often get a
story about their “PR”—their Personal Record. Basketball players speak of their
vertical jump or points scored in a game. Javelin throwers never forget their best
throw. Weightlifters always know their best clean & jerk.
While our goals may not include such high-performance activities, we will still
have “PR’s” that matter. It may be how much weight we used in a specific
exercise or how many perfect reps we completed. Our “PR” may be consecutive
days of performing our daily rituals that we established based on Chapter 13. I
personally even keep track of my sleep quality “PR’s.”
Recognizing progress and celebrating personal victories are important
components of All Gain, No Pain . If you use a computer file to track your Key
Performance Indicators, highlight your “PR” in green. If you’re using a
Moleskine like me, circle your “PR” with a green pen and make a congratulatory
comment to yourself.
A fascinating thing happens whenever we recognize our successes. Each time
you identify a favorable change or improvement, the simple act of recognizing it
as a special moment, we’re more likely to make further progress. Our brain
actually changes to make it easier to stick to our program and set our next “PR.”
KPI #3: Body Composition (AKA Body fat percentage)
Body composition is an estimate of how much of us is body fat and how much is
the other stuff—muscle, bone, water, internal organs, etc. Keeping a record of
body composition informs us as to how well we’re managing your program in
regard to overall health.
We can certainly get motivated and go for very low measures of body fat or
maximizing muscle mass. A reduction in body fat percentage certainly enhances
our appearance. However, and more importantly, it may also reflect better
management of blood sugar and reduce inflammation and oxidative stress as
discussed in Chapter 13.
Body composition can be estimated in many ways from a high-tech DEXA scan
to simple over the counter calipers, but I’m all for even simpler. I use a simple
bathroom scale and a tape measure to track my body composition. My scale plus
tape measure method gives me three useful indicators of progress.
The scale measures total body weight. If weight loss or body composition
changes are our goal, it may require reducing overall body weight. If adding
muscle, we may want to see the scale move up. Trading muscle gains for fat loss
me see the scale tip in either direction.
A tape measure is used to measure waist circumference. High stress or high
levels of blood sugar alter hormones like cortisol (stress-related) and insulin
(blood sugar-related), which may increase body fat around the waist.
Taking a consistent waist measurement is quite simple. Simply wrap the tape
measure around your waist at the level of your belly button. Exhale all your air
and secure the tape without stretching it. You’ll then use your waist measure to
calculate your percentage of body fat.
With our measures, we have two routes to make your body fat percentage
calculation.
Method #1 —Easiest
Google “YMCA Body Fat Calculator” and you’ll be taken to an online
calculator with very simple instructions.59
Indicate whether you are male or female.
Fill in your scale weight in pounds (for US residents).
Fill in your waist measurement in inches (for US residents).
Hit ENTER.
Done. Record your body composition.
Method #2 —Old School
If you’re old school and don’t want to go the online route, you can simply plug
your measures into the Modified YMCA Body Composition Equation yourself.60

Document this in your notebook and revel in your “Old School” bad-assery.
KPI #4: Resting Heart Rate
Resting heart rate (RHR) provides an estimate of how we’re managing our stress
response and progressing with rebuilding your capacity. As we implement the
No Pain Principles, we’ll be directly impacting and reducing the “Flight or
Fight” influence that speeds up our heart rate. Our exercise program will also
promote adaptations in the heart itself that slow our heart rate at rest.
These changes occur more slowly than other changes, such as with our
movement capabilities. Over time, tracking our RHR lets us know that we’re
reducing the effect of stress on our heart, health, and ability to move.
A simple heart rate monitor with a chest strap works quite well. I recommend a
Polar brand heart rate monitor. They work well with a free Polar app on your
smart phone and can be used for tracking heart rates during exercise or at rest.
The best time to test is first thing in the morning before the day’s physical and
psychological stressors influence our RHR. After you wake up, apply your chest
strap and lie quietly for 5 minutes (Don’t fall back asleep!), then check your
heart rate. Document your RHR in your notebook or computer file.
How often should I measure Key Performance Indicators?
Change takes time. The systems of our body, muscles, and metabolism all
change gradually based on the consistency our behaviors. I recommend
rechecking KPI’s every two weeks. This duration allows changes and
adaptations to occur, which determine our degree of success. Two weeks is also
short enough if things don’t go as planned, there is very little “damage control”
necessary to get back on course.
Much like a boat tacking back and forth to take advantage of the wind, your
progress will have left and right turns and peaks and valleys. Pay attention to the
overall trend.
You are now informed and prepared to make your comeback to a fit and pain-
free body. There will be questions and concerns as you relearn how you move,
exercise, and manage your brain and body. Be relentless and do not fear mistakes
of action. Avoid the mistake of knowing what you need to do and NOT taking
action.
Set your alarm clock. All Gain, No Pain starts tomorrow!
Review
Expect frustration as part of your process of change and improvement.
Adaptations in the brain and body take time to become permanent.
Monitor your Key Performance Indicators every two weeks. Make any
necessary changes to maintain an overall trend of progress toward your goals.
 Take Action
Get your notebook or excel file set up tonight.
Purchase your heart rate monitor, scale, and tape measure.
Schedule your first workout and get started on your first All Gain, No Pain
Program tomorrow!
Visit www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership for updates, advice, Q
& A, and articles to keep you informed and successful.
 Conclusion
What do I do now?
Without question, following the principles provided in All Gain, No Pain
positively impacts every aspect of your health and quality of life. It can also
seem overwhelming. So much new information makes it difficult to determine
where to start. Here’s a little coaching to get you going in the right direction and
to keep you on course.
1)Download your All Gain, No Pain Action Guide by becoming a member at
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
This guide keeps outlines all of the Take Action steps found at the end of each
chapter to keep you organized and moving forward in your comeback. Use the
Action Guide and a simple notebook to complete the recommended homework
and take notes.
You’ll also be able to review how to execute your self-assessment, see how to
perform all of the exercises in All Gain, No Pain , and learn more about the each
All Gain, No Pain Principle .
2)Focus on The No Pain Principles first!
Remember that creating Resistance to stress is relatively easy. It’s tempting to
simply work harder to regain lost form and movement, but the real key to
success is your foundation of Resilience . The ability to regenerate and recover
from stress including general life stressors AND exercise far out-weighs your
ability to push yourself.
3)Pick one No Pain Principle and establish it as your new normal.
Which one is most important? Well, all of them. However, if I had to choose one
or two that make the greatest impact, I’d focus on sleep (Chapter 13). Nothing
establishes your foundation of health, energy, and overall Resilience like sleep.
A close second is nutrition (Chapter 11). Remember that you already know good
food from bad. It’s all about establishing your habits and new normal.
Once you’ve established a No Pain Principle into your lifestyle, add the next,
and the next and so on. It’s a process designed for long-term success. This is not
a 6-week quick fix. This is a life-changer. Take your time and be consistent.
4)Go to Appendix 1 and build your first All Gain, No Pain workout program.
If you don’t think you’re familiar enough with The All Gain Principles, review
them again and also view the tutorials on www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-
membership .
Then download your workout sheets from the member’s area at
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership and follow the step-by-step
directions on how to construct your individualized workout program. If you need
help, just follow the tutorial at www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-
membership .
5)Show up.
The secret to your comeback lies in consistency of execution of the All Gain, No
Pain Principles . Just showing up means to do something and make it consistent.
Schedule your daily ritual. Schedule your gym time and just show up. Make
small measureable changes every week and every day. Success is an incremental
process.
Your comeback starts today!
I’ll see you at www.billhartman.net .
Appendices
 Appendix 1

Understand the All Gain, No Pain Program
The All Gain, No Pain Workout

1. Reset Exercise
2. Readiness Exercises
3. Resistance Exercises
a. Primary Exercise
b. Secondary Exercises
c. Supplementary Exercises
4. Restorative Exercise
5. Rebuilding Capacity

Benefits of Reset Exercises:

Reset Exercises “unlock” any undesired muscle tension or limiting

patterns of posture and movement in preparation for your readiness
exercises.
They prime your diaphragm for more intensive activities to come
without increasing fatigue.
They enhance your ability to focus and feel new movement
capabilities as you experience them in the Readiness Exercises to
follow.

Benefits of Readiness Exercises:

They alternate movement from side-to-side and frequently cross the

midline of the body. This engages both sides of the brain and allows
greater access to your full movement capabilities.
They increase body temperature and increase efficiency of your
energy production. During your All Gain, No Pain workouts, you’ll
 use all three of your energy producing systems, but your Readiness
Exercises provide a much needed “ramping up” of your aerobic
energy systems to support recovery between sets of each exercise
you perform.
Readiness exercises cue your ability to shift airflow and pressure to
enhance trunk control and joint position and allow you to
demonstrate effective movement and strength.
You’ll see the full array of Readiness Exercises in Appendix 3.

Benefits of your Primary Exercises:

Primary Exercises promote the development of a desired level of

muscle mass.
They help increase the size of “your personal stress bucket” and
promote the development of resistance to stress.
They teach you how to prevent defaulting into limiting patterns of
movement that may increase fatigue or result in discomfort.
To understand how to determine your weights for your Primary Exercises go to
Appendix 2. Your full list of Primary Exercises is available in Appendix 3.

Secondary Exercises

Secondary Exercises increase volume (sets x reps) of work for

specific muscle groups that enhances your ability to maintain and
develop the desired level of muscle mass.
They will also affect and develop different aspects of the muscles,
such as endurance, that the Primary Exercises cannot target.
They mutually benefit both your ability to increase the size of your
stress bucket and your ability to refill it.
You’ll see the full array of Secondary Exercises in Appendix 3.

Benefits of Supplementary Exercises:

Reciprocal movements performed in Supplementary Exercises help

you to overcome the side biased movement limitations of the natural
 “musculoskeletal stress pattern.”
Supplementary Exercises support your ability to shift airflow to
different regions of the lungs and ribcage to enhance your movement
capabilities when working against resistance provided by weights,
cable machines, or resistance bands.
Ground-based, asymmetrical exercises that alternate sides of the
body lay the foundation of body control necessary to restore your
sense of athleticism and agility for more advanced programs to
come.
You’ll see the full array of Supplemental Exercises in Appendix 3.

Benefits of Restorative Exercises:

Restorative Exercises shift your stress gauge to the right and the
counteract potential negative side effects of prolonging the effects of
higher intensity activities like Primary and Secondary Exercises.
They improve your ability to self-manage undesired movement
limitations and muscle tension
They help initiate the recovery process to refill your stress bucket
and enhance resilience .
You’ll see the full array of Supplemental Exercises in Appendix 3.

Benefits of Rebuilding Capacity:

Rebuilding Capacity improves the energy producing processes in

your organs and muscles.
Over time, Rebuilding Capacity reduces the stress on your heart from
daily demands and hard exercise.
Improved Capacity enhances your ability to manage blood sugar and
contribute to a caloric deficit to enhance fat loss.
Appendix 4 provides selected capacity-based workouts and suggested
application. You’ll also find more information on
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
 The All Gain, No Pain Program Framework
You’ll find Frequently Asked Questions to help you understand the nuances of
the program framework at the end of this appendix.
 Example programs
Example Program #1—The Comeback Program
This example program is designed for someone first returning to a regular
exercise program after recovery from pain or injury. Primary Exercises and
Modified Exercises are excluded as focus is placed on modulating intensity and
gaining consistency with No Pain Principles.
Resets are performed twice daily AND prior to strength training
Readiness Exercises are performed prior to strength training. Select 1-2
Readiness Exercises to be performed as 2-3 Mini-mobility sessions periodically
throughout the day. Use limitations indicated in your Self-Assessment in Chapter
8 to guide your selection.
This program consists of 3 strength workouts. Each workout is performed 3-4
days apart until 12 total workouts are completed.
Rebuilding Capacity make take place after your strength training program or
on days following your more intensive strength training. Your goal is to
complete at least two Capacity workouts per week. Examples of Capacity
workouts can be found in Appendix 4 and on
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
Here are two examples of how they may be executed. You are the best judge of
your body’s capabilities when considering the ideal frequency.
Program 1—Workout #1
Program 1—Workout #2
Program 1—Workout #3
 Example Program #2—Including Primary Exercises
This example program is designed for someone who has been exercising at least
3 months and is capable of safely performing Primary Exercises .
Resets are performed twice daily AND prior to strength training
Readiness Exercises are performed prior to strength training. Select 1-2
Readiness Exercises to be performed as 2-3 Mini-mobility sessions periodically
throughout the day. Use limitations indicated in your Self-Assessment in Chapter
8 to guide your selection.
This program consists of 3 strength workouts. Each workout is performed 3-4
days apart until 12 total workouts are completed.
Rebuilding Capacity make take place after your strength training program or
on days following your more intensive strength training. Your goal is to
complete at least two Capacity workouts per week. Examples of Capacity
workouts can be found in Appendix 4 and on
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
Here are two examples of how they may be executed. You are the best judge of
your body’s capabilities when considering the ideal frequency.
Program 2—Workout #1
Program 2—Workout #2
Program 2—Workout #3
 Example Program #3—Modified Exercises
This example program is designed for someone who has been exercising at least
3 months but may not yet be qualified to perform the Primary Exercises due to
discomfort or limited joint motion. Intensity and muscle building potential will
be maintained by performing Modified Exercises.
Resets are performed twice daily AND prior to strength training
Readiness Exercises are performed prior to strength training. Select 1-2
Readiness Exercises to be performed as 2-3 Mini-mobility sessions periodically
throughout the day. Use limitations indicated in your Self-Assessment in Chapter
8 to guide your selection.
This program consists of 3 strength workouts. Each workout is performed 3-4
days apart until 12 total workouts are completed.
Rebuilding Capacity make take place after your strength training program or on
days following your more intensive strength training. Your goal is to complete at
least two Capacity workouts per week. Examples of Capacity workouts can be
found in Appendix 4 and on www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
Here are two examples of how they may be executed. You are the best judge of
your body’s capabilities when considering the ideal frequency.
Program 3—Workout #1
Program 3—Workout #2
 Program 3—Workout #3

Appendix 3 contains a selection of recommended exercises to fit into each of

your 3 workouts. Experiment with several variations and select the ones you’re
most comfortable with. Insert them into the following All Gain, No Pain
Program Framework and use that program until the program has been completed
4 times. Then select a new group of exercises for your next program.
Focus on being successful in your workouts. If you find exercises to be too easy
or too challenging, simply select the next appropriate exercise. You’ll find more
information at www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership to assist with
your programming.
Now it’s time to create your workouts. Use the framework below and select your
exercises from Appendix 3.
 My Program 1: Workout 1—Lower Body Emphasis
Select your daily Resets and Readiness Exercises that you’ll perform
through Program 1.

Select your Primary Exercise for workout 1. Then select from the
recommended Secondary Exercises and Supplementary Exercises.

Choose 1 reset from above to perform after your strength workout.

 My Program 1: Workout 2—Pulling Emphasis
Select your daily resets and readiness exercises that you’ll perform through
Program 1 .

Select your Primary Exercise for workout 2. Then select from the
recommended Secondary Exercises and Supplementary Exercises.

Choose 1 reset from above to perform after your strength workout.

 My Program 1: Workout 3—Pushing Emphasis
Select your daily resets and readiness exercises that you’ll perform through
Program 1.

Select your Primary Exercise for workout 3. Then select from the
recommended Secondary Exercises and Supplementary Exercises.

Choose 1 reset from above to perform after your strength workout.

 Frequently Asked Questions
What do the numbers in the top row of the Resistance program template
mean?

The numbers 1 through 4 designate the number of the workout for that program.
The first time you perform an exercise, follow the sets and reps prescription
under the number “1.” The next time you perform that workout (most likely the
following week), you’ll follow the sets and reps prescription under “2,” and so
on for the third and fourth time you perform this workout.
How fast should I lift and lower the weights?
In general, for most of your strength training exercises, you’ll lift the weight on
a one-count and lower it on a 3-count.
What do the 1A) and 1B) and 2A) and 2B) notations mean?
“1A” exercises and “1B” exercises are paired such that they are alternated.
For example, from example program 1:

On your first workout, you’ll perform your first set of 10 reps of Alternating
Dumbbell Bench Press. You’ll rest for between 60-90 seconds and then perform
a set of 10 reps of Dumbbell split squat. You’ll again rest for 60-90 seconds and
perform your second set of 10 reps of Alternating Dumbbell Bench Press. After
your rest period of 60-90 seconds, you’ll perform your second set of 10 reps of
Dumbbell split squats.
After completing all your sets of “1A” and “1B” exercises, you’ll move on to
your “2A” and “2B” exercises and follow the same alternating exercise pattern.
 Appendix 2
How to warm up for strength training and setting your repetition
maximum for Primary Exercises
We want to be assured that the body is best prepared for exercise. This would
include access to your best movement repertoire and a fully primed nervous
system to generate muscle output.
Your Resets and Readiness Exercises address your movement ground work and
begin a ramping up of the nervous system in preparation for your Primary
Exercises . These exercises are pivotal in achieving full, comfortable movement
as well as regaining control of undesired muscle tension. As the saying goes, “if
you don’t have time to warm-up, you don’t have time to train.” So, don’t neglect
your Resets and Readiness Exercises .
You’ll then want to follow these instructions that allow you to determine your
optimal weights to use in your Primary or Modified Exercises in your strength
program. By following this process, you’ll use your best weights without
accumulating unnecessary fatigue that impairs your exercise performance.
Step loading up to your best weight for Primary Exercises
It is common for a warm-up progression for a barbell bench press to look like
this:
Exercise: Bench Press
Sets x Reps: 5 sets x 5 Reps
Warm-up sets:
95 x 12
115 x 10
135 x 8
150 x 5
You have now determined that your best weight for 5 reps is 150 pounds and
would use this weight as prescribed in the program. What you may not realize is
that this weight may actually be less than your true capabilities because of the
accumulated fatigue associated with your warm-up sets.
95 x 12 = 1140
115 x 10 = 1150
135 x 8 = 1080
This equals a total volume of 3,370 pounds (reps x weight) before you even get
to your best 5 reps weight. Each rep contributes muscle fatigue that will
ultimately limit how much weight you can lift, and how much benefit you’ll
receive from the exercise in regard to building muscle and improving stress
Resistance .
Instead, I recommend that you follow a step loading pattern of warm-up for your
Primary Exercise as follows:
95 x none—the weight is too light to provide a valuable stimulus to your
preparation
115 x 5 = 575
135 x 5 = 675
160 x 5
Now your total volume before you reach your 5-repetition maximum (5 RM)
weight is only 1,250 pounds. By accumulating less fatigue by step loading,
you’ll achieve a higher 5 RM and potentially be able to more work at that
intensity during your workout.
Here’s an example to demonstrate the difference:
Exercise: Bench Press
Sets x Reps: 5 sets x 5 Reps
Warm-up sets:
95 x 12
115 x 10
135 x 8
150 x 5 = 750
150 x 5 = 750
150 x 4 (onset of early fatigue) = 600
150 x 3 = 450
150 x 2 = 300
Total volume at 5 RM intensity = 2,850 pounds
Now the outcome compared to step loading:
Warm-up sets:
115 x 5
135 x 5
160 x 5 = 800
160 x 5 = 800
160 x 5 = 800
160 x 5 = 800
160 x 4 (onset of fatigue) = 640
Total volume at 5 RM intensity = 3,840 pounds
To consistently achieve your best effort on your Primary Exercises, use a step
loading approach to your warm-up sets.
Using Auto-Regulatory Training and an Effort Buffer to Accumulate
Volume
Previously, I showed you an example of how to use Auto-Regulatory Training
for the deadlift. By building in an effort buffer, you’ll be able to accumulate
more volume and a greater effect from your Primary Exercises and a greater
stimulus for improvement. Here’s an example using the same deadlift progress
from Chapter 18.
Primary Exercise: Deadlift
Prescribed repetition maximum weight in the workout: 6 repetition maximum
Maximum weight lifted for 6 repetitions: 200 pounds
Number of reps per set based on buffer: 4 repetitions
Number of sets prescribed by the program: at least 3 and no more than 8 sets
Set 1: 6 reps at 200 pounds = 1200
Set 2: 4 reps at 200 pounds = 800
Set 3: 4 reps at 200 pounds = 800
Set 4: 4 reps at 200 pounds = 800
Set 5: 4 reps at 200 pounds = 800
Set 6: 3 reps at 200 pounds (onset of fatigue) = 600
Finished and move on to next exercise
Total volume at 6 RM intensity = 5,000 pounds
Without the effort buffer, your workout may look like this
Set 1: 6 reps at 200 pounds = 1200
Set 2: 6 reps at 200 pounds = 1200
Set 3: 6 reps at 200 pounds = 1200
Set 4: 3 reps at 200 pounds (onset of fatigue) = 600
Finished and move on to next exercise
Total volume at 6 RM intensity = 4,200 pounds
The buffer allows you to accumulate and learn to tolerate greater stress at the
same intensity supporting your efforts in the All Gain, No Pain Program.
 Appendix 3

The All Gain, No Pain Exercise Menu

Section 1: Your Exercise Menu

Resets
Readiness Exercises
Resistance Exercises
Workout #1 Exercises
Workout #2 Exercises
Workout #3 Exercises
Section 2: Exercise Descriptions
Includes photos and descriptions of the recommended exercises for each section
of the program
 Section 1: Your Exercise Menu

Resets
Choose 2 resets based on your assessment and current exercise level
Level 1—This is your first program or you’ve never exercised before
Pullover with Hamstrings —If rib angle is greater than 90 degrees (See Chapter
8)
Lazy Bear —if rib angle is less than 90 degrees
Diagonal Sit with Knee Raise —If your Seated hip shift or seated rotation test is
asymmetrical
Reciprocal Skywalker with Heels on Bench
Level 2—You’ve been exercising comfortably but still have some movement
limitations based on your assessment
Forward Ball Reach —If rib angle is greater than 90 degrees
Bear —if rib angle is less than 90 degrees
Low Diagonal Sit with Knee Raise —If your Seated hip shift or seated rotation
test is asymmetrical
Reciprocal Skywalker with Heels on Floor
Level 3-You move well based on your assessment and you need something
more challenging
Forward Ball Roll —If rib angle is greater than 90 degrees
Walking Bear —if rib angle is less than 90 degrees
Diagonal Sit with Knee Raise to Bridge —If your Seated hip shift or seated
rotation test is asymmetrical
Reciprocal Skywalker Sit-Up
 Readiness Exercises
Level 1—Select this set of Readiness Exercises if this is your first program
Hooklying Windshield Wiper
Band PNF Diagonal Reach with Hamstrings
Lower Trunk Rotation with Stable Shoulders
Cat/Camel
Lazy Twister
Lat Stretch
Level 2—Select this set of Readiness Exercises if you’re exercising
comfortably
“Elvis” Hip Rotation
Half-Kneeling Band PNF Diagonal Reach
Side Split Squat with Cross Connect
Downward Dog
Twister from Push-up
Bar Hang
Level 3—You move well based on your assessment then choose 2 or 3 from
each level and vary your Readiness Exercises from workout to workout
Always finish your Readiness Exercises with the Cross Connect March
 Resistance Exercises
Select your strength exercises from the menu below. Exercises are listed in order
of complexity and difficulty. If you have questions, you’ll find answers at
www.billhartman.net .
Workout #1—Lower Body Emphasis
Primary Exercise
Deadlift
Modified Exercise—Select one exercise if unable to perform the Primary
Exercise safely and effectively
Kettlebell Deadlift
Rack Pull
Trap Bar Deadlift
Secondary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section
Off-Set Dumbbell Step-Up
Dumbbell Step-Up
Kettlebell/Dumbbell Single Leg Romanian Deadlift
Secondary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section
Barbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Floor Press
Dumbbell Inclined Bench Press
Supplementary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section
Dumbbell Split Squat
Alternating Hip Lift
Dumbbell Cross Connect Step-Up
Supplementary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section
One Arm Dumbbell Row to Kickback
Alternating Dumbbell Row to Kickback
Alternating Dumbbell Row
Workout #2—Pulling Emphasis
Primary Exercise
Supinated Chin-Up
Modified Exercise—Select one exercise if unable to perform the Primary
Exercise safely and effectively
Lean-Away Parallel-Grip Lat Pulldown
Lean-Away Supinated Lat Pulldown
Parallel-Grip Chin-Up
Secondary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section
Suspension Trainer Fall-Out
Split Stance Cable Row
One Arm Dumbbell Row
Secondary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section
Plate Squat
2 Kettlebell Front Squat
Front Squat
Supplementary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section
Supine Arm Bar
Half-Kneeling Cable Press
High to Low Cable Press
Supplementary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section
Half-Kneeling Cable Chop
Standing Alternating Cable Chop
Suspension Trainer Mountain Climber
Workout #3—Pushing Emphasis
Primary Exercise
Standing Barbell Press
Modified Exercise—Select one exercise if unable to perform the Primary
Exercise safely and effectively
Barbell Floor Press
Barbell Inclined Bench Press
Standing Landmine Press
Secondary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section
Alternating Dumbbell Bench Press
Standing Alternating Dumbbell Press
Standing Dumbbell Press
Secondary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section
Dumbbell Backward Lunge
Dumbbell Forward Lunge
Dumbbell Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat
Supplementary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section
Arm Bar
Reciprocal Push-up
T-Push-up
Supplementary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section
One Arm Lat Pulldown
Half-Kneeling One Arm Pulldown
Reciprocal Pulldown in a Squat Position
You will find more exercises and more workouts at
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership
 Section 2: Exercise Descriptions
To gain access to higher resolution photos, videos, and more programs, just sign-
up at www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership !

Resets

Level 1
Pullover with Hamstrings

Set-up

Lie on your back with hips and knees bent 90 degrees and heels
placed on a bench
Grasp a kettlebell or dumbbell with both hands and press it directly
above the chest with arms straight
Performance

Pull down with the heels and tilt your pelvis backward to flatten the
back to the floor
Exhale fully as you reach toward the ceiling maximally with the
weight
Reach back overhead until the arms are at a 45-degree angle from the
floor
Hold this position as you take 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Return to the starting position
Perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues
 Attempt to extend your reach upward with each exhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Lazy Bear

Set-up

Position yourself in all fours on the floor

Hands should be directly below the shoulders and knees directly
below the hips
Head should rest with the ear in line with shoulders in line with the
hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor until
you feel a stretch between the shoulder blades
Tilt the pelvis backward to round the lower back slightly
Hold this position as you take 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Relax and breathe normally for a few seconds
Repeat and perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Push away from the floor on each exhale

After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Diagonal Sit with Knee Raise

Set-up

Sit with your left knee turned outward and right knee turned inward
Place the bottom of your left foot against your right knee
Turn your torso to the left and support yourself on both hands with
your arms extended
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction

Push away from the floor to make the arms “long” until you feel a
stretch between the shoulder blades
Lift the left knee slightly off the floor until you feel the muscle on
the inside of the thigh working
Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Repeat and perform 3-5 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the

exercise
Push away from the floor on each exhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Reciprocal Skywalker with Heels on Bench
Set-up

Lie on your back with hips and knees bent 90 degrees and heels
placed on a bench
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction to flatten your back to

the floor and raise your tailbone slightly
Pull down on the bench with your heels to engage your hamstrings
on the back of your thigh
Shift your right knee higher than your left and then straighten your
right knee
Reach upward toward your right toes with your left hand without
lifting the head
Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Repeat the same directions for the other side
Perform 3-5 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis and hamstrings

working throughout the exercise
Keep your straight knee higher than your left
Try to reach farther each exhale without lifting the head
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Level 2
Forward Ball Reach

Set-up

Kneel down on both knees with your forearms resting on an exercise

ball
Keep your hips directly over your knees
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a backward direction to flatten your back slightly

Push on the ball through your elbows to round your upper back
toward the ceiling until you feel a stretch between your shoulder
blades
Hold this back position and roll the ball as you reach forward until
your elbows are even with your forehead
Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the

exercise
Keep your upper back rounded toward the ceiling
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Bear
Set-up

Position yourself in all fours on the floor

Bend your ankle to place the ball of the foot on the floor
Hands should be directly below the shoulders and knees directly
below the hips
Head should rest with the ear in line with shoulders in line with hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor until
you feel a stretch between the shoulder blades
Tilt the pelvis to round the lower back slightly
Bring the knees off the floor until the shin is horizontal to the floor
Hold this position as you take 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Relax and breath normally for a few seconds
Repeat and perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Push away from the floor on the exhale and hold this higher position
for the inhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Low Diagonal Sit with Knee Raise
Set-up

Lie on your side propped up on the down side elbow with the upper
arm perpendicular to the floor
Rest the downside forearm on the floor with the palm down
Bend the hips 45 degrees and the knees 90 degrees
Rotate the top hip so that the knee now points upward toward the
ceiling and place the top leg foot flat on the floor just in front of the
down side foot
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction

Take the sag out of the spine by lifting the ribs upward toward the
ceiling until the spine assumes a straight line from head to pelvis
Lift the left knee slightly off the floor until you feel the muscle on
the inside of the thigh working
Reach upward toward the ceiling with the top side arm

Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Repeat and perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the

exercise
Reach harder toward the ceiling each exhale
 After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Reciprocal Skywalker with Heels on Floor

Set-up

Lie on your back with hips and knees bent 90 degrees and heels
placed on the floor
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction to flatten your back to

the floor and raise your tailbone slightly
Pull into the floor with your heels to engage your hamstrings on the
back of your thigh
Shift your right knee forward ahead of your left and then straighten
your right knee
Reach upward toward your right toes with your left hand without
lifting the head
Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Repeat the same directions for the other side
Perform 3-5 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis and hamstrings

working throughout the exercise
Keep for straight knee higher than your bent knee
Try to reach farther each exhale without lifting the head
 After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Level 3
Forward Ball Roll

Set-up

Kneel down on both knees with your forearms resting on an exercise

ball
Start with your hips directly over your knees
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a backward direction to flatten your back slightly

Push on the ball through your elbows to round your upper back
toward the ceiling until you feel a stretch between your shoulder
blades
Hold this back position and roll the ball as you reach forward until
your elbows are even with your forehead
Shift your hips slightly in front of your knees until you feel your
abdominal muscles working strongly
Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the

exercise
Keep your upper back rounded toward the ceiling
 After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Walking Bear

Set-up

Position yourself in all fours on the floor

Bend your ankle to place the ball of the foot on the floor
Hands should be directly below the shoulders and knees directly
below the hips
Head should rest with the ear in line with shoulders in line with hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor until
you feel a stretch between the shoulder blades
Tilt the pelvis to round the lower back slightly
Bring the knees off the floor until the shin is horizontal to the floor
Step forward with the left foot and right hand
Hold this position as you take 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Relax and breath normally for a few seconds
Repeat the instructions for the other side
Repeat and perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues
 Push away from the floor on the exhale and hold this higher position
for the inhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Diagonal Sit with Knee Raise to Bridge

Set-up

Sit on your left hip propped up on your extended left arm with the
elbow straight
Bend the hips 45 degrees and the knees 90 degrees
Rotate the top hip so that the knee now points upward toward the
ceiling and place the top leg foot flat on the floor just in front of the
down side foot
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction

Take the sag out of the spine by lifting the ribs upward toward the
ceiling until the spine assumes a straight line from head to pelvis
Lift the left knee slightly off the floor until you feel the muscle on
the inside of the thigh working
Reach upward toward the ceiling with the top side arm
Lift your hips off the floor slightly
Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Repeat and perform 3-5 repetitions
Coaching Cues
 Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the
exercise
Reach harder toward the ceiling each exhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Reciprocal Skywalker Sit-Up

Set-up

Lie on your back with hips and knees bent 90 degrees and heels
placed on a bench
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction to flatten your back to

the floor and raise your tailbone slightly
Pull down on the bench with your heels to engage your hamstrings
on the back of your thigh
Shift your right knee higher than your left and then straighten your
right knee fully
Reach upward toward your right toes with your left hand while
lifting your head and shoulders off the floor
Hold this position and perform 3-5 full breaths in through the nose
and out through the mouth
Repeat the same directions for the other side
Perform 3-5 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis and hamstrings

working throughout the exercise
Keep the straight knee higher than the bent knee
Try to reach farther each exhale and hold the higher position for the
inhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
 Readiness Exercises

Level 1
Hooklying Windshield Wiper

Set-up

Lie on your back with your knees bent 90 degrees and heels on the
floor
Spread your feet wider than your hips
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction to flatten your back to

the floor and raise your tailbone slightly
Keeping your weight even on your hips move your left knee inward
as far as you can without pain as you exhale
Move your left knee outward as you inhale
Repeat the same directions for the other side
Perform 5-10 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the

exercise
Move smoothly inward and outward and avoid painful ranges of
motion
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Band PNF Diagonal Reach with Hamstrings
Set-up

Lie on your back with hips and knees bent 90 degrees and heels
placed on a bench
Performance

Tilt the pelvis in a slight backward direction to flatten your back to

the floor and raise your tailbone slightly
Pull down on the bench with your heels to engage your hamstrings
on the back of your thigh
Hold one end of an exercise band in each hand and stretch the band
diagonally across your chest with your left hand downward and right
hand upward
Turn your left palm down toward the floor and reach long toward
your feet
Reach your right hand diagonally over your head and turn your right
palm upward
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth as you
reach your hands away from one another
Repeat for 3-5 breaths
Repeat the instruction with left arm up and right arm down
Coaching Cues

Maintain the slight backward tilt of the pelvis throughout the

exercise
Reach and stretch the band farther with each exhale
 After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Lower Trunk Rotation with Stable Shoulders

Set-up

Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor
Place the knees and feet together
Place the arms straight out to your sides with palms turned upward
toward the ceiling
Performance

Turn the left palm down toward the floor

In a controlled manner, lower the knees fully to the left as you exhale
fully through the mouth
Return the knees to the starting position as you take a normal inhale
through the nose
Turn your right palm down toward the floor and the left palm up
toward the ceiling
In a controlled manner, lower the knees fully to the right as you
exhale fully through the mouth
Return the knees to the starting position as you take a normal inhale
through the nose
Perform 5-10 repetitions to each side
Coaching Cues

Keep the knees and feet together throughout the exercise

 Remember to cue the palm down toward the side of rotation
Exhale fully as your lower the knees in a pain-free manner
Cat/Camel

Set-up

Position yourself in all fours on the floor

Hands should be directly below the shoulders and knees directly
below the hips
Head should rest with the ear in line with shoulders in line with the
hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor until
you feel a stretch between the shoulder blades
Tilt the pelvis backward to round the lower back slightly as you
exhale
Reverse motions by tilting your head back and looking upward
toward the ceiling and arch your back by tilting the pelvis forward as
you inhale
Repeat and perform 5-10 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Push away from the floor on each exhale

Increase your motion gradually and avoid moving into pain
Lazy Twister
Set-up

Position yourself on all fours on the floor

Hands should be directly below the shoulders and knees directly
below the hips
Head should rest in line with the ear, shoulders, and hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor
Bring your right knee forward to bring the right foot to rest next to
your right hand
Turn your shoulders to the right and reach to the ceiling with your
right hand
Perform one full breath in through the nose and out through the
mouth
Return to the starting position
Repeat on the other side
Perform 5-10 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Keep your spine “long”

Push away from the floor with the arms
Adapt the position of your foot to your personal level of flexibility
and do not force into pain
Lat Stretch
Set-up

Grasp the inside of a doorframe or an exercise band secured to a

stable upright
Step back from your hand-hold as you bend forward comfortably at
the hip
Performance

Continue to step backward until you feel a stretch in the reaching

side of your torso
Hold this stretch position and breathe in through the nose and out
through the mouth 5 times
Release the stretch by stepping forward and releasing your hand-hold
Repeat on the other side
Perform 5 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

“Reach” into the stretch and focus on full exhales

Adapt the position to your personal level of flexibility and do not
force into pain

Level 2
“Elvis” Hip Rotation
Set-up

Stand with your feet wider than your hips

Place your hands on your hips
Performance

Lift your right heel and bend the right knee slightly
Turn your right knee inward as far as you can comfortably as you
exhale
Turn your right knee outward as far as you can comfortably as you
inhale
Repeat for 5-10 repetitions
Repeat this activity on the left side
Coaching Cues

Keep the motion comfortable and do not move into pain

After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Half-Kneeling Band PNF Diagonal Reach
Set-up

Assume a half kneeling position with your left knee directly

underneath your left hip and your right foot in front of you with your
right shin vertical
Reach your left hand down toward the floor and turn it in to make
your palm backward
Reach your right hand over your head and turn your palm toward
your face
Performance

Maximally exhale through your mouth and tilt your pelvis backward
slightly
Hold this position as you inhale through your nose and reach both
hands away from each other
Hold this position as you exhale and feel your ribcage pull
downward with your abdominal muscles
Repeat for 3-5 breaths
Reverse the set-up and repeat this exercise on the opposite side
Coaching Cues

Create as much distance between your hands as possible as you

inhale and maintain that distance as you exhale
Do not arch your back to extend your reach.
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Side Split Squat with Cross Connect
Set-up

Stand with the legs split to either side with the knees straight and feet
flat on the floor until a mild stretch is felt in the groin
Performance

Keeping the left knee straight, shift your weight back and to the right
while bending the right knee and hip
Bend the trunk and turn your shoulders to the right and bring your
left elbow to the right knee as you exhale
Inhale and return to the starting position
Repeat for 5-10 repetitions
Repeat this activity by taking the right elbow to the left knee as you
exhale
Inhale and return to the starting position
Repeat for 5-10 repetitions
Coaching Cues

Push your hip back as you shift to the side

Allow the trunk to lean forward as you turn and bring the elbow to
the knee
Downward Dog

Set-up

Position yourself at the top of a push-up position with the knees

 straight
Hands should be directly below the shoulders
Head should rest in a neutral position with your ear in line with your
shoulders and hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor
Bend at the hips to raise the hips upward keeping the arms and knees
straight
The head will move downward between the arms and let your ankles
relax as you feel your calf muscles stretch
Perform 3 breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth
Return to the starting position
Repeat 5-10 times
Coaching Cues

Keep your spine “long”

Push away from the floor with the arms
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Twister from Push-up

Set-up

Position yourself at the top of a push-up position

Hands should be directly below the shoulders
Head should rest in a neutral position with the ear in line with
 shoulders and hips
Performance

Push long through the arms as if to push away from the floor
Bring your right knee forward to bring the right foot to rest next to
your right hand
Turn your shoulders to the right and reach to the ceiling with your
right hand
Perform one full breath in through the nose and out through the
mouth
Return to the starting position
Repeat on the other side
Perform 5-10 repetitions on each side
Coaching Cues

Keep the spine “long”

Push away from the floor with the support arm as your reach for the
ceiling
Adapt the position of your foot to your personal level of flexibility
and do not force into pain
Bar Hang

Set-up
 Set up a bar in a rack or use a chin-up bar
Depending on bar height you may need a box to support your feet
during the hang
Performance

Hang straight down from the bar with your hips and knees bent
approximately 90 degrees and your feet supported
Dig your heels into the support surface and tilt your pelvis backward
to flatten your back
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth
emphasizing a full exhale
Feel your front ribs pull down fully as you exhale
Hold the ribs in the exhaled position as you breathe in through the
nose and out through the mouth
Perform 5-10 breaths
Coaching Cues

Hang down fully from the bar and then tilt the pelvic backward
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Cross Connect March

Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately hip width and arms at your sides
Performance

Raise your bent right knee above hip level as you reach across your
 body with your left elbow
Touch your left elbow to your right knee as you exhale
Return to the starting position as you inhale
Raise your bent left knee above hip level as you reach across your
body with your right elbow
Touch your right elbow to your left knee as you exhale
Return to the starting position as you inhale
Perform 5-10 reps on each side
Coaching Cues

Avoid swinging your leg upward

Bring the elbow to knee in one smooth motion
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
 Resistance Exercises
Select your strength exercises from the menu below. Exercises are listed in order
of complexity and difficulty. Do not work into pain. If you have questions, you’ll
find answers at www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
Workout #1—Lower Body Emphasis
Primary Exercise
Deadlift

Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately hip width with a loaded barbell
directly in front of your shins and above your shoe laces
Bend the hips and knees and take an overhand grip on the barbell just
outside your legs
Keeping the arms straight, lower your hips to just above knee height
to allow the spine to be positioned in its normal curved position
The shins will be angled forward slightly and the shoulder will be
higher than the hips
The shoulder should be positioned directly over the bar
Performance

Take a breath and hold it as you initiate lifting the bar from the floor
by “pushing the floor away from the bar” keeping the bar close to the
shins as the shins move into a more vertical position
The shoulders and hip will rise simultaneously and evenly from their
starting positions as the bar track upward in front of your shins until
you reach the point in the lift just above the knee
Continue to pull as the shoulders move upward the hips move
forward toward the bar until the entire body is upright and straight as
 you exhale slightly.
Inhale and reverse the motion by bending the hips and pushing the
hips backward away from the bar while keeping the shoulders
directly over the bar until your reach just below knee level
Bend the knees and hips and return the bar to the floor
Coaching Cues

If you are limited in joint motion, then substitute a modified exercise

for the Deadlift
Keep your weight on the middle of your foot throughout the
movement
Keep your head, shoulders, and hips in line at all times

Modified Exercise—Select one exercise if unable to perform the Primary

Exercise safely and effectively
Kettlebell Deadlift

Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately shoulder-width and toes pointing

forward
Place a kettlebell between your feet in line with the middle of your
feet
Performance

Unlock your knees slightly and fully exhale through your mouth to
engage the abdominals
Bend your hips and knees keeping your shins vertical while push
 your hips backward to incline your torso forward as you reach for the
kettlebell
Once your hands pass your knees squat down the remainder of the
distance until you can grasp the kettlebell handle with both hands
Inhale through your nose and then lift the kettlebell as you return to
standing upright keeping the kettlebell close to your body as you
exhale through your mouth
Inhale again as your return the kettlebell to the floor by reversing the
same process you used to lift it
Coaching Cues

Keep your head, shoulders, and hips in line as you lift the kettlebell
and return it to the floor
Push the entire foot evenly through the floor as you lift the kettlebell
Elevate the kettlebell on a low box to accommodate limited mobility
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Rack Pull

Set-up

Rest a barbell on safety pins at or slightly below knee level

Spread your feet to hip width and push your hips back, keeping your
shins vertical and your shoulders over the bar
Grasp the bar with your hands slightly wider than your knees
Performance
 Take a breath and hold it as you initiate lifting the bar from the pins
by “pushing the floor away from the bar”
Pull as the shoulders move upward the hips move forward toward the
bar until the entire body is upright and straight as you exhale slightly
Inhale and reverse the motion by bending the hips and pushing the
hips backward away from the bar while keeping the shoulders
directly over the bar until your reach the pins
Coaching Cues

Avoid excessive arching in your lower back

Keep your weight on the middle of your foot throughout the
movement
Keep your head, shoulders, and hips in line at all times
Trap Bar Deadlift

Set-up

Stand in the middle of a trap bar with your feet between

approximately hip width and toes pointing straight ahead
The middle of the trap bar handles should be in line with your ankles
Performance

Bend your hips and knees and grasp both Trap Bar handles just
outside your legs
Keeping the arms straight, lower your hips to just above knee height
to allow the spine to be inclined forward and in its normal curved
position
The shins will be angled forward slightly and the shoulder will be
higher than the hips
 Exhale through your mouth to set the ribs in the exhaled position and
engage your abdominal muscles
Inhale through your nose, hold your breath and lift the bar on a
vertical path upward by “pushing the floor away from the bar” until
your legs are straight and your torso is upright
Exhale and lower the bar to floor under control by bending your hips
and knees and reversing the process
Coaching Cues

Keep your head, shoulders, and hips in a straight line throughout the
movement
Push through the entire foot throughout the movement
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Secondary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section

Off-Set Dumbbell Step-Up

Set-up

Stand behind step-up box

The box should be a height that when the foot is placed on top of the
box, the knee is bent approximately 90 degrees
Hold an appropriate weight in your left hand that will allow the
desired number of reps to be performed
Performance
 Place your right foot firmly on the box with your foot flat and step up
on t the box until your left foot rests next to the right foot on the box
Reverse the motion by stepping back off the box with the left foot
while lowering yourself in a controlled manner until you reach the
floor
Complete all the reps with the right leg
Switch the weight to the right hand and repeat the process for the left
leg
Coaching Cues

The weight is always opposite the step-up leg

Push through your entire foot
Always lower yourself to the floor in a controlled manner
Dumbbell Step-Up

Set-up

Stand behind a step-up box

The box should approximate a height that when the foot is place on
top of the box, the knee is bend approximately 90 degrees
Hold an appropriate weight in each hand that will allow the desired
number of reps to be performed
Performance

Place your right foot firmly on the box with your right foot flat and
step-up onto the box until your left foot rests next to the right on the
box
Reverse the motion by stepping back off the box with the left foot
 while lowering yourself in a controlled manner until you reach the
floor
Complete the prescribed number of reps for the right leg
Repeat the process for the left leg
Coaching Cues

Push through your entire foot

Always lower yourself to the floor in a controlled manner
Kettlebell/Dumbbell Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

Set-up

Hold a kettlebell or dumbbell of appropriate weight in your right

hand with your feet side by side
Performance

Inhale and bow forward slowly bending at the hip as you lift your
right foot off the ground
Bend your left knee slightly, keeping your left shin vertical
Reach back with your right heel keeping the right leg straight and
lower the kettlebell toward the inside of your left foot
Exhale and reverse the motion and bring your right foot forward to
return to the starting position
Complete the prescribed number of reps for the left leg
Switch the weight to the left hand and repeat the process on the right
leg
Coaching Cues
 Keep your weight centered on the middle of your support foot
Perform the exercise with control to maintain your balance

Secondary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section

Barbell Bench Press

Set-up

Lie back on a bench with the back of your head, upper back hand
hips in contact with the bench
Your feet should be under your knees and flat on the floor
Place a loaded barbell on the rack above you
Take a slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand grip on barbell
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles as your pull your shoulders back into the bench
Un-rack the bar and steady it over your shoulders with your arms
straight
Inhale and lower the bar slowly until the bar touches your lower
chest with your elbows approximately 45 degrees away from the
body
Exhale and straighten your arms to press the barbell up to the starting
position
Coaching Cues

Keep your feet flat on the floor and your body stable throughout the
lift
 After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Dumbbell Floor Press

Set-up

Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat
Hold a dumbbell in each hand directly above the shoulders with your
arms straight
Your head, upper back and hips should be in contact with the floor
Performance

Inhale and bend the elbows and lower the dumbbells slowly until
your elbows touch the floor approximately 45 degrees away from the
body
Exhale and straighten your arms to press the dumbbells to the
starting position
Coaching Cues

Keep your elbows approximately 45 degrees away from your body

while lowering the weights
Do not arch the lower back away from the floor
Dumbbell Inclined Bench Press
Set-up

Lie back on a 15-30 degree inclined bench with the back of your
head, upper back hand hips in contact with the bench
Your feet should be under your knees and flat on the floor
Hold a dumbbell in each hand directly above the shoulders with your
arms straight
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles as your pull your shoulders back into the bench
Inhale as you bend the elbows and lower the dumbbells to shoulder
level with your elbows approximately 45 degrees away from the
body
Exhale and straighten your arms to press the dumbbells to the
starting position
Coaching Cues

Keep your feet flat on the floor and your body stable throughout the
lift
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Supplementary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section

Dumbbell Split Squat

Set-up

Hold a dumbbell in each hand that will allow you to complete the
prescribed number of reps
 Take a large stride forward with your left foot
Keeping the left foot flat, raise your right heel
Performance

Exhale and tilt your pelvis backward slightly holding this position
throughout the exercise
Inhale and lower yourself downward under control by bending both
knees until the back knee makes light contact with the floor
Exhale and push upward to return to the starting position
Complete the prescribed number of reps with the left foot forward
Reverse the foot position and repeat the process with the right foot
forward
Coaching Cues

Your front knee should bend approximately 90 degrees as your back

knee contacts the floor
Your back knee should be directly below the hip when the knee
contacts the floor
Push through the entire front foot
Alternating Hip Lift

Set-up

Lie with your upper back supported cross-ways on a bench and your
arm straight out to your sides
Lower your hips down toward the floor until they are bent
approximately 90 degrees
Keep your feet flat on the floor
Performance

Exhale as you feel the ribs move downward and inward to engage
your abdominal muscles
Inhale as your push your hips upward with your left leg only until the
body is straight
As your lift your hips, straighten the right leg upward
Exhale as your return to the starting position with both feet on the
floor
Inhale as you repeat the sequence pushing your hips upward with the
right leg and straightening the left leg upward
Exhale as your return to the starting position with both feet on the
floor
Alternate sides for the prescribed number of reps
Coaching Cues

Your shoulders, hips, and knees will be in line at the point of

maximal hip lift
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Dumbbell Cross Connect Step-Up

Set-up

Stand behind a step-up box

The box should approximate a height that when the foot is place on
top of the box, the knee is bend approximately 90 degrees
Hold an appropriate weight in your left hand that will allow the
 desired number of reps to be performed
Performance

Place your right foot firmly on the box with your right foot flat and
step-up onto the box
As you step-up with your right leg, raise the left knee above the level
of the hips
Reach across your body and bring your right elbow to your left knee
Reverse the motion by stepping back off the box with the left foot
while lowering yourself in a controlled manner until you reach the
floor
Complete all the reps for the right leg and right elbow to left knee
cross connect
Switch the weight to the right hand and then repeat the process for
the left leg and the left elbow to the right knee
Coaching Cues

The weight is always opposite the step-up leg

Push through your entire foot and raise the opposite knee as high as
is comfortable
Always lower yourself to the floor in a controlled manner

Supplementary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section

One Arm Dumbbell Row to Kickback

Set-up

Stand by a bench with your feet approximately hip width and right
foot slightly ahead of the left
 Bend forward at the hip and place your left hand on a bench while
holding a light dumbbell in your right hand
Push the upper back upward away from the bench making the left
arm straight
Performance

Exhale to engage your abdominal muscles and row the dumbbell

upward by pulling the right shoulder back and bending the right
elbow until the upper arm is in line with your torso
Holding the right arm in line with the torso, inhale and straighten
your elbow
Exhale and lower your right arm to the starting position
Repeat for the prescribed number of reps
Switch the weight to the left hand and repeat the process
Coaching Cues

Use an appropriate weight to allow you to straighten your elbow

Push long through the support arm at all times.
Alternating Dumbbell Row to Kickback

Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately hip width

Bend forward at the hips while holding a light dumbbell in each hand
Keep the head, shoulders, and hips in line and slight bend in your
knees
Performance

Exhale to engage your abdominal muscles and row the dumbbell

 upward by pulling the right shoulder back and bending the right
elbow until the upper arm is in line with your torso
Holding the right arm in line with the torso, inhale and straighten
your right elbow
Exhale and lower your right arm to the starting position
Exhale and row the dumbbell upward by pulling the left shoulder
back and bending the left elbow until the upper arm is in line with
your torso
Holding the left arm in line with the torso, inhale and straighten your
left elbow
Exhale and lower your right arm to the starting position
Alternate sides for the prescribed number of reps
Coaching Cues

Use an appropriate weight to allow you to straighten your elbow

Breath in normally followed by a full exhale
Let the breathing drive the tempo of the exercise
Alternating Dumbbell Row

Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately hip width

Bend forward at the hips while holding a dumbbell in each hand that
will allow completion of the prescribed number of reps
Keep your head, shoulders, and hips in line and slight bend in your
knees
Performance
 Inhale and row the dumbbell upward by pulling the right shoulder
back and bending the right elbow until the upper arm is in line with
your torso
Exhale and lower your right arm to the starting position
Inhale and row the dumbbell upward by pulling the left shoulder
back and bending the left elbow until the upper arm is in line with
your torso
Exhale and lower your right arm to the starting position
Alternate sides for the prescribed number of reps
Coaching Cues

Keep the knees bent slightly throughout

Breath in normally followed by a full exhale
Let the breathing drive the tempo of the exercise

Workout #2—Pulling Emphasis

Primary Exercise
Supinated Chin-Up

Set-up

Grasp a chin-up bar with shoulder-width grip and your palms facing
you
Hang straight down from the chin-up bar
Performance
 Fully exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominals
Inhale and pull yourself upward by bending your elbows to bring
your chest to the bar as you exhale
Inhale and lower yourself under control to the starting position
Coaching Cues

Avoid arching in your lower back or shrugging your shoulders as you

pull upward
Do not swing or kick your legs
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Modified Exercise—Select one exercise if unable to perform the Primary

Exercise safely and effectively
Lean-Away Parallel-Grip Lat Pulldown

Set-up

Take a parallel grip on the parallel grip lat bar (palms facing toward
each other)
Sit facing the high cable pulley with arms straight overhead
Lean away from the pulley approximately 30-45 degrees
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set your ribcage in an exhaled position

 Inhale against your active abdominal muscles and pull the lat bar to
your mid to lower chest
Exhale as you return the bar to the starting position
Coaching Cues

Avoid arching your back toward the bar as you bring it to your chest
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Lean-Away Supinated Lat Pulldown

Set-up

Take a shoulder-width under hand (palms facing you) grip on a lat

bar
Sit facing the high cable pulley with arms straight overhead
Lean away from the pulley approximately 30-45 degrees
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set your ribcage in an exhaled position

Inhale against your active abdominal muscles and pull the lat bar to
your mid to lower chest by bending your elbows
Exhale as you return the bar to the starting position
Coaching Cues

Avoid arching your back toward the bar as you bring it to your chest
 After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Parallel-Grip Chin-up

Set-up

Grasp a chin-up bar with narrower than shoulder-width grip and your
palms each other
Hang straight down from the chin-up bar
Performance

Fully exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominals
Inhale and pull yourself upward by bending your elbows to bring
your chest to the bar as you exhale
Inhale and lower yourself under control to the starting position
Coaching Cues

Avoid arching in your lower back or shrugging your shoulders as you

pull upward
Do not swing or kick your legs
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Secondary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section

Suspension Trainer Fall-Out
Set-up

Set the suspension trainer handles to approximately waist high

Grasp the handles with an overhand grip and the arms straight
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set your ribcage in an exhaled position

as you push the handles away from you to make your arms “long”
and straight
Keeping the arms and body straight, lean forward and push the
handles away from you until your arm reach overhead and you feel
your abdominals engage strongly
Hold this position and take 3-5 breaths in through the nose and out
through the mouth
Keep the arms straight, pull downward with your arms and return to
the starting position
Coaching Cues

Avoid arching your back as your arms travel overhead

Adjust the height of the handles to match your current level of
strength and control
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Split Stance Cable Row
Set-up

Face a cable machine with a handle attachment positioned at chest

height
Split your legs front to back with your left foot forward and flat on
the floor
Raise your right heel slightly off the floor
Bend both knees about 45 degrees
Grasp the handle with your right hand and your arm reaching straight
in front of you
Performance

Exhale to set your ribcage in the exhaled position

Inhale and pull the handle by pulling the right shoulder back and
bending the right elbow until the upper arm is in line with your torso
Exhale and straighten your arm slowly and to the starting position
Reverse the set up and instructions to repeat on the opposite side
Coaching Cues

Keep the ribs in the exhaled position to avoid arching your back as
you pull the handle backward
It may help to reach forward with opposite arm as you pull the
handle backward
One Arm Dumbbell Row
Set-up

Stand by a bench with your feet approximately hip width and left
foot slightly ahead of the right
Bend forward at the hip and place your left hand on a bench while
holding a dumbbell in your right hand with the arm hanging straight
downward
Push the upper back upward away from the bench making the left
arm straight
Performance

Exhale to set the ribcage in the exhaled position engage your

abdominal muscles
Inhale and row the dumbbell upward by pulling the right shoulder
back and bending the right elbow until the upper arm is in line with
your torso
Exhale and lower your right arm to the starting position
Repeat for the prescribed number of reps
Switch the weight to the left hand and repeat the process
Coaching Cues

Push long through the support arm at all times.

After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Secondary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section

Plate Squat
Set-up

Stand with feet approximately hip width

Hold a weight plate in front of the body with arm fully straightened
at shoulder level
Reach forward as far as you can to feel the shoulders round forward
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribs in the exhaled position and
tilt the pelvis backward slightly
Inhale through your nose and then exhale through your mouth as you
lower the hips into a squat by bending the hips and knees to the most
comfortable depth while continuing to reach forward maximally
Inhale again the bottom of the squat and then exhale as you return to
standing
Coaching Cues

Keep arms straight and shoulders forward throughout

After the first exhalation, keep the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against active abdominal muscles
Assume the deepest squat possible with good technique and without
pain
2 Kettlebell Front Squat
Set-up

Hold two kettlebells in racked position in front of your chest and

supported by your forearms
Stand with your feet approximately shoulder-width
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribs in the exhaled position and
tilt the pelvis backward slightly
Inhale against active abdominal muscles and hold your breath
Lower into a squat position by bending the hips and knees to “sit
down between your heels” keeping your torso upright throughout
Exhale as you return to standing
Coaching Cues

Maintain flat feet throughout the entirety of the movement

Avoid arching your back excessively as you return to standing from
the squat
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Front Squat

Set-up

Set up a barbell of appropriate weight in a rack at just below

shoulder height
Reach forward maximally and place the bar across the front of the
shoulder resting comfortably on the shoulder muscles
 Keeping your arms parallel to the floor, bend your elbows to cross
your arms and bring your hands to the bar to stabilize the bar on your
shoulders
Unrack the bar, step back from the supports and take a slightly wider
than hip-width stance
Performance

Exhale to set the ribcage and engage the abdominals by pushing your
elbows forward keeping the upper arm parallel to the floor
Inhale against active abdominal muscles and hold your breath
Lower into a squat position by bending the hips and knees to “sit
down between your heels” keeping your torso upright throughout
Return to stand by pushing upward away from the floor through your
heel as you exhale
Coaching Cues

Keep your elbows reach forward throughout the movement

Squat to a comfortable depth only and avoid discomfort
See www.billhartman.net for alternative bar placements and grip
positions to protect your wrists and shoulders

Supplementary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section

Supine Arm Bar

Set-up

Position yourself on your back with legs extended

 With a kettlebell (or dumbbell) in the right hand, reach upward until
the right arm is fully straightened and the shoulder is rounded
forward
Performance

Bend the left knee and hip to bring the knee toward the chest until
you feel the left abdominal muscles engage
Actively straighten the right hip and knee
Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth 3-5 times
Reverse the above positions to a left reach and bend of the right hip
and knee
Breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth 3-5 times
Coaching Cues

Attempt to extend your reach upward and bend the hip maximally
with each exhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Half-Kneeling Cable Press

Set-up

Facing away from a cable machine, kneel with your left knee down
and right knee up
Set the cable pulley at about your kneeling shoulder height
Face away from a cable machine with the pulley handle in your left
 hand in front of your left shoulder with the elbow bent
Performance

Exhale to set the ribcage and engage the abdominals in the exhaled
position
Inhale through your nose and maximally reach your left hand
forward to straighten the arm as you exhale fully out of your mouth
Inhale and return to the starting position
Reverse the process to complete the prescribed repetitions on the
other side
Coaching Cues

Reach forward as far as you can as you exhale

After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
High to Low Cable Press

Set-up

Facing away from a cable machine, split your legs front to back with
your left leg forward and right leg back
Set the cable pulley to a height above your head
Face away from a cable machine with the pulley handle in your right
hand in front of your right shoulder with the elbow bent
Keeping your hips facing forward, turn your shoulders slightly to the
right
Performance

Exhale to set the ribcage and engage the abdominals in the exhaled
position
Inhale through your nose and maximally reach your right hand
forward to straighten the arm and turn your shoulders to the left as
you exhale fully out of your mouth
Inhale and return to the starting position
Reverse the process to complete the prescribed repetitions on the
other side
Coaching Cues

Reach forward as far as you can as you exhale

Pull the opposite shoulder back as your reach forward to help turn
the shoulders
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Supplementary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section

Half-Kneeling Cable Chop

Set-up

With a high cable pulley to your left, kneel down on your right knee
and your left knee up
Reach up and across your body to the left with both hands and grasp
the rope handles
Performance

Exhale to set the ribcage and engage the abdominals in the exhaled
position
Inhale and pull the handles down and across your body toward the
outside of your right hip reaching maximally toward the floor as you
exhale and maintaining your upright posture
Inhale and return to the starting position
Complete all the repetitions with your right knee down
Reverse the set up and instructions to repeat the process on the other
side
Coaching Cues

Feel your whole front foot on the floor throughout the movement
Reach down and across as far as you can as you exhale
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Standing Alternating Cable Chop

Set-up

Stand facing a high cable pulley that is set above head level
Reach up and grab the rope handles with both hands
Bend the knees slightly and incline the torso forward slightly keeping
the head, shoulders, and hips in line
Performance
 Exhale to set the ribcage and engage the abdominals in the exhaled
position
Inhale and pull the handles down and outside of your right hip
reaching maximally toward the floor as you exhale and shift your
weight to your right foot
Inhale and return to the starting position
Pull the handles down and outside of your left hip reaching
maximally toward the floor as you exhale and shift your weight to
your left foot
This constitutes one repetition
Coaching Cues

Reach down and across as far as you can as you exhale

After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Suspension Trainer Mountain Climber

Set-up

Set the suspension trainer handles approximately one foot off the
floor
Assume the top of a push-up position with your feet in the stirrups of
the suspension trainer
Push your arm straight and “long” until your feel a stretch between
your shoulder blades
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set your ribcage in an exhaled position

as you push away from the floor
 Inhale and exhale again keeping the arms and body straight as bring
your left knee toward your chest
Take 3-5 breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth
exhaling fully each breath
Return to the starting position and repeat the process on the other
side
This constitutes one repetition
Coaching Cues

Avoid arching your back as you straighten your legs

Keep the arms “long” and straight throughout the exercise
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Workout #3—Pushing Emphasis

Primary Exercise
Standing Barbell Press

Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately shoulder-width

Hold a barbell at your shoulders with a slightly wider than shoulder-
width overhand grip on the bar
Performance

Unlock your knees slightly and exhale fully through your mouth to
engage your abdominal muscles
Inhale, hold your breath and press the bar upward overhead until
 your arms are fully straightened and your arms are in line with your
ears
Lower the bar under control to the starting position and exhale
Coaching Cues

After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles to avoid excessively
arching your back as you press overhead

Modified Exercise—Select one exercise if unable to perform the Primary

Exercise safely and effectively
Barbell Floor Press

Set-up

Lie on your back on the floor with your knees bent and feet flat
Place a loaded barbell on the rack above you
Take a slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand grip on barbell
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles as your pull your shoulders back into the floor
Un-rack the bar and steady it over your shoulders with your arms
straight
Inhale and lower the bar slowly until your elbows touch the floor
approximately 45 degrees away from the body
Exhale and straighten your arms to press the barbell up to the starting
position
Coaching Cues
 Keep your feet flat on the floor and your body stable throughout the
lift
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Barbell Inclined Bench Press

Set-up

Lie back on a 30-45 degree inclined bench with the back of your
head, upper back hand hips in contact with the bench
Your feet should be under your knees and flat on the floor
Place a loaded barbell on the rack above you
Take a slightly wider than shoulder-width overhand grip on barbell
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles as your pull your shoulders back into the bench
Un-rack the bar and steady it over your shoulders with your arms
straight
Inhale through your nose and lower the bar under control toward
your mid to upper chest lowering only as far as is comfortable for
you with your elbows approximately 45 degrees away from your
body
Exhale and straighten your arms to press the barbell up to the starting
position
Coaching Cues

Keep your feet flat on the floor and your body stable throughout the
 lift
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Standing Landmine Press

Set-up

Place one end of a barbell into a landmine plate or into a corner of

the room
Hold the end bar in your right hand slightly in front of your shoulder
Split your legs front to back with your left foot forward
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles
Inhale and straighten your arm to press the bar up and away from
you as you exhale fully
Reach the arm “long” as you finish your exhale
Inhale and lower the bar to the starting position
Coaching Cues

Avoid arching your lower back as you press the bar upward
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Secondary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section

Alternating Dumbbell Bench Press
Set-up

Lie back on a bench with the back of your head, upper back hand
hips in contact with the bench
Your feet should be under your knees and flat on the floor
Hold a dumbbell in each hand directly above the shoulders with your
arms straight
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles as your pull your shoulders back into the bench
Inhale and then bend the right elbow to lower the right dumbbell to
shoulder level with your right elbow approximately 45 degrees away
from the body
Exhale and straighten your right arm to press the dumbbell to the
starting position
Inhale and then bend the left elbow to lower the left dumbbell to
shoulder level with your left elbow approximately 45 degrees away
from the body
Exhale and straighten your left arm to press the dumbbell to the
starting position
Coaching Cues

Keep your feet flat on the floor and your body stable throughout the
lift
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Standing Alternating Dumbbell Press
Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately shoulder-width

Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level with your elbows
turned outward at an approximate 45 degree angle
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles
Inhale and straighten your right arm to press the dumbbell directly
overhead until the right arm is in line with your ear as you exhale
Bend your right elbow and lower the dumbbell to the starting
position at shoulder level keeping your elbow approximately 45
degrees away from the body as you inhale
Inhale and straighten your left arm to press the dumbbell directly
overhead until the left arm is in line with your ear as you exhale
Bend your left elbow and lower the dumbbell to the starting position
at shoulder level keeping your elbow approximately 45 degrees away
from the body as you inhale
This constitutes one repetition
Coaching Cues

Keep your entire foot flat on the floor and your body stable
throughout the lift
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles to avoid excessive
arching of the back as you press
Standing Dumbbell Press
Set-up

Stand with your feet approximately shoulder-width

Hold a dumbbell in each hand at shoulder level with your elbows
turned outward at an approximate 45-degree angle
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles
Inhale and straighten your arms to press the dumbbells directly
overhead until the arms are in line with your ears as you exhale
Bend your elbows and lower the dumbbells to the starting position at
shoulder level keeping your elbows approximately 45 degrees away
from the body as you inhale
Coaching Cues

Keep your entire foot flat on the floor and your body stable
throughout the lift
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Secondary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section

Dumbbell Backward Lunge

Set-up
 Standing with your feet approximately hip-width
Hold a dumbbell in each hand by your sides
Performance

Unlock your knees slightly and exhale fully through your mouth
while tilting your pelvis backward slightly
Inhale through your nose
Keeping your weight primarily over the left leg, take a large stride
backward with your right foot to lower yourself downward under
control by bending both knees until the right knee makes light
contact with the floor beneath your right hip
Keeping your torso vertical push through your left foot and return to
stand in the starting position as you exhale
Reverse the instructions to perform on the left side
Coaching Cues

Keep your front foot flat on the floor throughout the exercise
Minimize the forward excursion of your front knee over the toes to
reduce load on the knee
Your back knee, hip, and shoulder should form a straight line when
viewed from the side
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Dumbbell Forward Lunge

Set-up

Standing with your feet approximately hip-width

 Hold a dumbbell in each hand by your sides
Performance

Unlock your knees slightly and exhale fully through your mouth
while tilting your pelvis backward slightly
Inhale through your nose
Take a large stride forward with your right foot to lower yourself
downward under control by bending both knees until the left knee
makes light contact with the floor beneath your left hip
Keeping your torso vertical push through your right foot and return
to stand in the starting position as you exhale
Reverse the instructions to perform on the left side
Coaching Cues

Keep your front foot flat on the floor throughout the exercise
Minimize the forward excursion of your front knee over the toes to
reduce load on the knee
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Dumbbell Rear Foot Elevated Split Squat

Set-up

Hold a dumbbell in each hand that will allow you to complete the
prescribed number of reps
Standing in front of a bench, take a large stride forward with your
left foot
Keeping the left foot flat, elevate your right foot on a bench
Performance

Exhale and tilt your pelvis backward slightly holding this position
throughout the exercise
Inhale and lower yourself downward under control by bending both
knees until the left thigh is approximately parallel to the floor
Exhale and push upward through the left foot to return to the starting
position
Complete the prescribed number of reps with the left foot forward
Reverse the foot position and repeat the process with the right foot
forward
Coaching Cues

Keep your front foot flat on the floor throughout the exercise
Minimize the forward excursion of your front knee over the toes to
reduce load on the knee
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Supplementary Exercise #1—Select one exercise from this section

Arm Bar

Set-up

Position yourself on your back with legs straight

With a kettlebell (or dumbbell) in your right hand, reach upward until
the right arm is fully straightened toward the ceiling
Reach overhead with the left arm and place it flat on the floor
Performance
 Maximally reach toward the ceiling with the kettlebell and bring the
right knee toward your chest to engage the abdominal muscles
Roll to the left by driving the right knee across the body while you
keep reaching for the ceiling with the kettlebell
Complete the roll to your left and attempt to turn your chest toward
the floor keeping the kettlebell vertical
Take 3-5 breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth
Return to the starting position to complete one repetition
Coaching Cues

Keep trying to reach upward fully throughout the movement

Perform the roll into and out of the arm bar in a controlled manner
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Reciprocal Push-up

Set-up

Assume a push-up position with your right hand elevated on a 4-6

inch box
Push your arms “long” until you feel a stretch between your shoulder
blades
Lift your left foot off the floor keeping the left leg straight
Performance

Exhale through your mouth to set the ribcage and engage your
abdominal muscles
 Inhale and lower your chest toward the box until your elbows are
bent to approximately 90 degrees
Exhale and straighten your arms to push yourself up to the starting
position
Complete the prescribed number of repetitions with the right hand
and right foot elevated
Reverse the set up and instructions to repeat the process on the other
side
Coaching Cues

Keep your ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, and head in a straight line
throughout the movement
Avoid arching the lower back as you lift the foot from the floor
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

T-Push-up

Set-up

Assume a push-up position with your hands underneath your

shoulders and your arms straight
Your head, shoulder, hips and feet will be in line
Spread your feet to approximately shoulder-width
Performance

Exhale to engage your abdominals and make your arms long

Inhale lower yourself into the push-up by bending your elbows to
approximately 90 degrees
 Keeping your abdominals engaged, straighten your arms to push
yourself away from the floor
Once your arms are straight, exhale as you pivot on your feet, reach
your left hand toward the ceiling turning your body to the left, and
forming a “T” with your straightened arms perpendicular to your
body
Inhale and return to the starting position
Repeat the same sequence turning the body to the right
Coaching Cues

As you reach toward the ceiling, actively push away from the floor to
keep the shoulders engaged
Avoid arching your lower back by keeping your abdominals engaged
throughout the movement
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles

Supplementary Exercise #2—Select one exercise from this section

One Arm Lat Pulldown

Set-up

Sit on the floor with a high cable pulley overhead to your right
Sit on your right hip propped up on your extended right arm with the
elbow straight
Bend the hips 45 degrees and the knees 90 degrees
 Rotate the top hip so that the left knee now points upward toward the
ceiling and place the left foot flat on the floor just in front of the right
foot
Performance

Grab the handle with your left hand and make your arm long over
your head
Exhale as you pull the handle down by bending the left elbow
Pull your left elbow into the left side of the ribcage as you complete
the exhale
You should feel your left abdominal muscles engage
Straighten your arm slowly and inhale keeping your abdominals
engaged
Reverse the set up and instructions to perform on the other side
Coaching Cues

Pull your elbow down and into the ribcage

Adjust your distance away from the cable pulley based on your
shoulder comfort
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Half-Kneeling One Arm Pulldown

Set-up

Face a high cable pulley and kneel down on your left knee with the
 right knee up
Reach up and forward to grasp the cable handle with a straight right
arm
Performance

Exhale as you pull the handle down by bending the right elbow
Pull your right elbow into the right side of the ribcage as you
complete the exhale
You should feel your abdominal muscles engage
Straighten your right arm slowly and inhale keeping your abdominals
engaged
Reverse the set up and instructions to perform the pulldown on the
left side
Coaching Cues

Pull your elbow down and into the ribcage

Adjust your distance away from the cable pulley based on your
shoulder comfort
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
Reciprocal Pulldown in a Squat Position

Set-up

Face a double high cable pulley, grasp a handle in each hand, and
squat down as deep as is comfortable
Reach up and forward slightly to straighten both arms
Performance

Exhale and pull the right handle down by bending the right elbow
Pull your right elbow into the right side of the ribcage as you
complete the exhale
You should feel your right abdominal muscles engage
Straighten your right arm to slowly return to the starting position as
you inhale keeping your abdominals engaged
Exhale and pull the left handle down by bending the left elbow
Pull your left elbow into the left side of the ribcage as you complete
the exhale
You should feel your left abdominal muscles engage
Straighten your left arm to slowly return to the starting position as
you inhale keeping your abdominals engaged
This entire process represents on repetition
Coaching Cues

Pull your elbow down and into the ribcage

Adjust your distance away from the cable pulley based on your
shoulder comfort
After the first exhale, maintain the ribs in the exhaled position and
breathe against the active abdominal muscles
You’ll find more exercises as well as other program offerings at
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
 Appendix 4
Methods for Rebuilding Capacity
Before I explain several capacity-building exercise options, I’ll explain two
simple methods to monitor your exercise intensity and optimize the effects of
your workouts.

Using Your Heart Rate Monitor to Monitor Intensity

In Chapter 20, I mentioned using a simple chest strap heart rate monitor to track
your resting heart rate for convenience and consistency in measurement. You can
use this same heart rate monitor to control exercise intensity during your
capacity-building workouts.
To avoid excessive intensity as you make your comeback to exercise, your heart
rate goal for capacity-based workouts will fall between 120-140 (plus or minus
10 beats) beats per minute. This range is believed to allow the heart to fill with
more blood per beat and slowly expand the heart chamber (mainly the left
ventricle which pumps blood to the entire body) and eventually reduce resting
heart rate and exercise heart rate.61 Over the long term, there may also be a
reduced impact of “flight or fight” on the heart.

Using the Talk Test to Monitor Intensity 62 , 63 , 64

While high-intensity interval training is quite popular in the fitness literature, it
doesn’t fit into the planning of applying intermittent intensity by utilizing
intensive strength training workouts and lower intensity exercise to build aerobic
capacity. There are also indications that there is greater benefit to interval
training after establishing an aerobic foundation. You can emphasize this type of
training in a few months after you’ve reestablished your foundation of capacity.
Therefore, your goal for now is to avoid crossing the line into high-intensity
aerobic exercise.
To avoid too much exercise intensity in your capacity workouts, I recommend
that you use the Talk Test. Put simply, the Talk Test distinguishes that line where
you’ll crossover from a predominance of moderate-intensity exercise to high-
intensity exercise.
If you can still speak comfortably, then you are below the high-intensity cut-off.
If you find that you are unable to speak comfortably, then you may be exercising
to hard.
How do you know when you can’t speak comfortably? Research uses reciting a
simple paragraph like “The Pledge of Allegiance” as the test. The judgement is
then up to you. If you find that breathing takes precedence over speaking, just
back off your effort a little bit and retest your Talk Test in a few minutes. You’ll
get better at making the best judgement with practice.
 Recommended Activities to Build Capacity
Method #1: Long Slow Distance (LSD)
LSD is simple because it requires very little skill to execute. This type of
exercise can be performed in the gym on an exercise bike, treadmill, elliptical
machine, rower, or any other variation of exercise equipment that allows
continuous activity. If you’re capable of working hard enough, you can even go
to your favorite park for a vigorous walk and enjoy the scenery. I would suggest
you vary your workouts as the effect is specific to those muscles involved in the
exercise. For instance, when you use a bike, the leg muscles receive the benefit.
When you use a rower, the legs and pulling muscles benefit.
Recommended Exercise Duration: 30-60 continuous minutes
Method #2: Circuit Training
If you’re one who gets bored performing the same activity continuously as in
LSD, consider using Circuit Training to add some variety to your capacity
workouts. Your goal is to elevate your breathing and heart rate as described
above by moving from one exercise to the next without resting between
exercises until the circuit is completed. At my gym, IFAST, we frequently set up
5-8 different exercises or activities to keep up interest and add variety.
An example exercise circuit:
Body weigh squats x 10
Medicine ball floor slams x 10
Exercise sled push x 90 feet
Kettlebell shoulder press x 10
Lunges x 5 each leg
Elevated Push-ups x 10
Downward Dog x 5 breaths
Rest 20-30 seconds
Repeat 8-10 times
This type of circuit works well if you have a couple friends join you for
encouragement and to keep it fun. Perform each activity resting only enough to
get to the next activity.
Be sure to check www.billhartman.net for more capacity-building ideas.
Go to www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership right now and get
signed in!
 References
1. Porges, S. Neuroception: a subconscious system for detecting threats and safety. Zero Three 5 , 19-
24 (2004).
2. Arnsten, A. Stress signaling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function. Nat Rev
Neurosci 10 , 410-422 (2009).
3. De Kloet ER, J. M., Holsboer, F. Stress and the brain: from adaptation to disease. Nat Rev Neurosci
6 , 463-475.
4. Dunnington, W. A Musculoskeletal Stress Pattern: Observations from over 50 Years’ Clinical
Practice. JAOA 64 (1964).
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 Acknowledgements
We are products of the people we meet and with whom we associate. There are
so many people for me to thank for who I am and where I am in life. I apologize
if my faulty memory neglects to recognize anyone who has contributed to my
development as a human and a professional. These thanks are in no particular
order.
Thanks Mom. For everything.
Thank you, Lisa. You are everything.
Jim, Deb, Sue, and Stacy. We are a tree without branches. So be it.
Thank you to my colleagues and “family by choice” who inspire me and
challenge me to get better every day: Eric Oetter, Zac Cupples, Mike Roncarati,
Doug Kechijian, Connor Ryan, “Young” Matt Nickerson, Joe Cicinelli, Pete
Cicinelli, Mike Irr, Sarah Martin, Cody Benz, Adam Loiacono, Mike Coval, Jim
Ferris, Trevor Rappa, Greg Spatz, and A. Joseph Santiesteban. Adam Campbell,
thanks for taking a chance on me so many years ago. You are a true friend.
Bryan Chung, you are forever young. Readers will never believe that you are
over 40. You are always a brother. Thanks for your time, intellect, effort, and
your friendship. It is my hope that you can possibly turn your efforts as the
primary model in All Gain, No Pain into another gig somewhere down the line if
you get tired of being a PhD and a plastic surgeon.
Ben Smith, thanks for your amazing chin-up abilities. I remember when you
were skinny and not the jacked Army officer you’ve become. I’m so proud to be
a part of your development.
Mike Robertson, my business partner at Indianapolis Fitness and Sports
Training, the best training facility in the country. A lot of this book has come
from our evolution at IFAST including our many successes and failures. I and we
at IFAST get better every day thanks to you.
The IFAST Staff and Family of Jae Chung (my personal philosopher), Jason
Neal, Tony Giuliano, Brandon Brown, Lance Goyke, Ty Terrell, and Rufus
Blackbone (AKA Grant Gardis). Thanks for asking the right questions at the
right time and driving conversations that challenge my thought and reason.
Finally, Mike Roussell, your contribution to this book is essential. Your
importance to me as a friend, colleague, and advisor is immeasurable. There are
few that I trust so deeply. Your guidance helped transform my body at an age
when most would think it impossible. Your creations will keep my brain and
body healthy for decades to come. You are helping so many more do the same
with your own work (www.MikeRoussell.com ) and your involvement in this
book. I take great pride in the fact that I got to know you before you were “Dr.
Mike” and to witness your evolution and broad spectrum of success. You
represent the ideal father, husband, and friend that most would hope to be. Thank
you. By the way, I’ll text you my weight and waist measurement in the morning.
 About the Author

Bill is known as a problem solver. From his small, private practice, IFAST
Physical Therapy in Indianapolis, Indiana, Bill provides relief to patients in pain
from all over the United States who could not be helped elsewhere. His detective
skills for locating the source of patients’ true problems are often compared to his
favorite nocturnal comic book hero although he wears no cape or cowl (but does
often wear a bat on his chest under his work clothes… you never know when a
hero will be needed).
Bill is an in-demand speaker and consultant across the country and half way
around the world to share his approach in regard to restoring a pain-free lifestyle
to other health and fitness professionals. He regularly mentors physical therapy
students and interns many of whom have gone on to land positions in
professional sport or become successful business owners themselves.
Bill is also the co-owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training with Mike
Robertson where he works with clients ranging from very young athletes to
professionals. At the age of 50, he took his own advice and transformed himself
from a painful and soft 200+ pounder to a lean and much less painful 170-
pounds resulting in him being featured in Men’s Health Magazine where he is
also a member of the advisory board.
Bill lives outside of Indianapolis with his wife, The Gorgeous One, along with
his dog Paxton, and occasionally his adopted son Zac Cupples. To find out more
about Bill and how he can help you, go to www.billhartman.net .
 Would you do me a favor?
I can’t thank you enough for purchasing and reading my book. I hope you’ll take
full advantage of the information provided and all the additional resources at
www.billhartman.net/blog/foundation-membership .
If I could ask you to go one step further?
Would you be so kind as to go to Amazon.com and leave me a review on so that
I may reach my goal of reaching a million other people just like you?
Click Here to go to Amazon.com
You are awesome and thank you again!
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