Functional Movement Systems--Screening, Assessment, Corrective Strategies
by Gray Cook
with Lee Burton, Kyle Kiesel, Greg Rose & Milo Bryant
Gray's premise is beautiful in its simplicity: Training movement can fix muscles, but training muscles rarely fixes movement. Since all of sport is movement, his 80/20 approach is then astounding in its effectiveness. For the time invested, the FMS and its cousins are the best tools I've seen for producing bullet-proof athletes and pain-free non-athletes in record time.
Tim Ferriss, author of the #1 NY Times bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek
Movement, the book, is a vivid discovery, a fundamental and explicit teaching in which the return to basics takes on a whole new meaning. In it, author Gray Cook crosses the lines between rehabilitation, conditioning and fitness, providing a clear model and a common language under which fitness and rehabilitation professionals can work together.
Exercise and rehabilitation time is valuable--too valuable not to use a system. Preparation is built on a systematic evaluation of everything we can control. This book uses a systematic approach to exercise and rehabilitation built on the fundamentals of authentic human movement.
Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts
By using systematic logic and revisiting the natural developmental principals all infants employ as they learn to walk, run and climb, Gray forces a new look at motor learning, corrective exercise and modern conditioning practices.
The discoveries, lessons and approaches you'll learn--
- How to view and measure movement quality alongside quantity
- How to ascertain dysfunctional patterns with the Functional Movement Screen
- What clinicians need to know about the Selective Functional Movement Assessments
- When to apply corrective strategies and how to determine which strategies to use
- How to map movement patterns and understand movement as a behavior and not just as a mechanical idea
We have integrated many of Gray's movement principles and corrective strategies into our programs to help accomplish our mission of preserving and maintaining the Commander's combat power. The FMS screening and assessment tools are very useful in establishing the baseline for our performance training system.
Mike Strock, US NAVY, Human Performance Consultant
This book is not simply about the anatomy of moving structures. Rather, it serves a broader purpose to help the reader understand authentic human movement, and how the brain and body create and learn movement patterns. Our modern dysfunctions are a product of our isolated and incomplete approaches to exercise imposed on our sedentary lifestyles. A return to movement principles can create a more comprehensive exercise and rehabilitation model, a model that starts with movement.
I was skeptical when Gray and Lee first took me through the screening process. But by bringing out my weak spots, this honest evaluation told them exactly what I needed to work on. They taught me to think of my body in a different way, proving trainers and therapists don't need fancy equipment to do a good evaluation.
Michelle Wie, Professional Golfer
You can grab a pdf of the full table of contents here.
