Eric Goodman - Helping People Optimize Performance and Relieve Pain through Foundation Training

Eric’s Wild Idea: To create a program that helps people optimize performance and alleviate pain. 

As an athlete and human, it’s important to be able to move to the best of your ability. Injuries and pain that have kept me from running, surfing, or other adventuring have always been challenging. 

Today’s guest, Dr. Eric Goodman, has been recommended to me by many guests of this show. As the founder of the movement-based Foundation Training program, Dr. Goodman has helped thousands of athletes and every-day people alleviate pain and increase performance. Some of the people he’s worked with include athletes like surfers Lakey Peterson and Brad Gerlach, the late climber Dean Potter, as well as actors Rob Lowe, Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Bridges, and Matthew McConaughey. Both my partner Johnny and I have been using Foundation Training for the last six months to help us alleviate a nagging back injury and IT band pain, and both of us have experienced positive results. 

I wanted to have Dr. Goodman on the show because he has a great story. His wild idea to become a health practitioner and create a program to help people move and feel better is something I think a lot of people can relate to. 

A former water polo player, Dr. Goodman developed back pain that doctors told him he would need surgery to fix while he was in chiropractic school. Instead of going under the knife, he developed a series of exercises that helped him heal and became the origins of Foundation Training. Early in his career, he was also hired to train the U.S. Olympic Men’s Water Polo team, and used his methods to help them the year they took the silver medal. Today, Dr. Goodman has published two books, and there are Foundation Training trainers in over thirty countries around the world. 

Since many of you are getting ready to make New Year’s Resolutions, I wanted to get Dr. Goodman’s  advice on how to avoid injuries and train the right amount. We also dive into why healing emotional pain is as important as healing physical pain, how he got the wild idea to create a new movement practice, and what other methods he uses and thinks you might want to check out. 

Listen to this episode if: 

You struggle with injuries or chronic pain. You want to strengthen your body. You are interested in helping others heal. You are curious about movement-based training programs.

For full show notes, including guest links and books mentioned during the episode, visit: http://wildideasworthliving.com/95