When I was at the Journey On Summit in Paso Robles, I had the opportunity to do a hands on clinic with attendees for one hour on Monday. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do when the weekend started, but by the time I had spoken to multiple audience members both before and after my talk, and later answered a question from one of the other speakers in our closing Q&A, it became pretty clear.

Most of the the folks who attended have busy lives. Many of them have horse farms. Some of them have full-time jobs and have horses on the side. They are all fully involved in their work and hobbies and many do not have time to spend in a gym or going to an exercise class. Their fitness practices need to be practical, specific, and effective.

In my talk, I spoke about the importance of posture and how activating our muscle tissue for most of the day is the fundamental path to better health for all of us, regardless of weight. Unfortunately, our modern lifestyles not only work against us, they can actually cause us to develop weaknesses, incorrect posture, poor movement, and eventually, pain.

The good news is that this is a relatively easy problem to solve. Our posterior chain, the literal chain of muscles that runs from our heels to the back of our head, is the primary player in maintaining good posture. It is essential to our movement, core strength, and the transfer of power between the lower and upper body. It is also severely weakened by sitting and the passive posture of our modern lifestyles. The good news is that the posterior chain can be easily strengthened by practicing simple movements throughout our day.

At my clinic, I taught four movements that can be the core of any good strength program. More importantly, if you set things up correctly, you can perform these throughout your day and not have to necessarily set aside time to spend in the gym. For you more active folks with physical jobs, a little goes a long way.

Before we get to the movements, let me explain a few things about your body.

1. Your hips, core, and upper back are essential for driving most natural human movements. When these areas are not strong, it causes more wear and tear on your knees and ankles as well as your shoulders, elbows, and wrists.
2. Power is transferred through the core from the hips to the upper back when performing explosive movements such as jumps or throws. This is also true for most full body movements such as lifting and carrying objects or small children or stabilizing yourself when walking, running, or even riding a horse.
3. Learning to use your whole body, especially your posterior chain, will restore a lot of your strength and endurance as well as help mitigate joint pain. This is why full body strength movements such as squats, deadlifts, presses, and carries are so effective for overall health and fitness.

Are you excited to learn how to do this? You should be. If You haven’t already, pick up a copy of my book, Fitness without Fear. You can get it on Amazon and the ebook version is only $3. I not only explain how to do all these exercises but teach you how to write up some basic programs that are easy to follow for as little as 15 to 20 minutes a day.