The Six Pillars of an unbreakable body are six areas of the body that, when built to have enough mobility, control, and strength, for what that person needs, they become stronger, more durable, more capable, more resistant to aches and pains, and are more adaptable.
I developed this framework as I worked with clients in my gym each day in part as a way to help take the complex conversation of body stuff and break it down into an easy-to-remember framework that the person can use to know how to train themselves.
And that is indeed what happened as more of my clients used the Six Pillars framework… For instance, my triathletes, who move through seasons where they’re running more, or swimming more, or biking more, started to understand how to adapt their strength, mobility, and recovery, work based on which of their Pillars was seeing a lot of action versus which ones were not.
They also started to recognize that nothing in the body is isolated – that having strong feet can influence the strength of your glutes and vice versa, that having a strong torso can influence how good (or not) your posture muscles feel and function, and so on.
Here’s a brief overview of the Six Pillars of an unbreakable body. I’ve listed just a few of the things that can come from building your Six Pillars. The total list of results that can occur is far greater than what I can list here.
Strong Feet
When your feet aren’t strong enough for what you need, that means the muscles of your feet are weak. Other tissues will have to compensate to help do the jobs the foot muscles should be doing.
But when your feet are strong enough for what you need:
– you’ll be less likely to develop aches from overuse or misuse
– you’ll be more likely to be efficient and powerful with everything you’re doing while on your feet – standing, walking, running, pushing, pulling, bracing, and sports-ing.
Mobile Hips
When your hips aren’t mobile enough for what you need, you won’t be able to flex, extend, or rotate your femur in the hip joint easily. You’ll need to compensate elsewhere – the low back is a common compensator for missing hip motion – in your body to achieve the hip motion you’re seeking.
But when your hips are mobile enough for what you need:
– you’ll have many degrees of freedom in how you move, which grants you more ranges of motion you can move through safely, easily, and effectively
Strong Glutes
When your glutes aren’t strong enough for what you need, you’ll impact both your strength for fitness pursuits and for everyday activities. Even seemingly simple things like maintaining a stable pelvis when you walk are dependent on the glutes.
But when your glutes are strong enough for what you need:
– you can generate more power
– keep more stacked and aligned positioning of your pelvis, torso, and legs
Strong Torso
When your torso isn’t strong enough for what you need, your breathing, pelvic floor control, and ability to brace (as when lifting an object) could become compromised. In addition, the strength you can generate through your arms and legs can be affected.
But when your torso is strong enough for what you need:
– you can navigate a variety of body positions with ease
– generate power for times when you’ll need to give effort
– have adequate endurance for sustaining certain positions for an extended period of time.
Mobile Shoulders
When your shoulders aren’t mobile enough for what you need, you won’t be able to flex, extend, or rotate your humerus in the glenohumeral joint easily. You’ll need to compensate elsewhere (the muscles of the pec, upper trap, and neck are a few of the common compensators for missing shoulder motion ) in your body to achieve the shoulder motion you seek.
But when your shoulders are mobile enough for what you need:
– you’ll have many degrees of freedom in how you move, which grants you more ranges of motion you can move through safely, easily, and effectively
– you’ll be able to get stronger as you can access greater range of motion and use each of your tissues to their full capacity
Strong Posture
When your posture muscles aren’t strong enough for what you need, you’ll have a more difficult time maintaining a stacked and aligned stance from your top of your head down to your feet. You may have a very limited range of positions you can move your body through with ease.
When your posture muscles are strong enough for what you need:
– you can impact how deep and full of a breath you can take
– you can alter how your neck and shoulder muscles feel
– you can experience how it feels to stand at ease, with your bodyweight stacked over the center of your mass instead of forward or backward from center
Ready to build your unbreakable body?
In the Unbreakable Body: Jump Start program
you’ll learn exactly what you need to build each of your Six Pillars.
With each workout laid out for you,
and all of them able to be done at home or in a gym with little to no equipment,
plus easy to follow videos and written guidance,
you can start becoming unbreakable today!
Click here or on the image below to explore the program.
Prefer to dive deeper into the learning for each of the Six Pillars? I’ve organized a playlist of long-form video talks I’ve given about each of the Six Pillars. Click here to watch the talks.