The Align Method: 5 Movement Principles for a Stronger Body, Sharper Mind, and Stress-Proof Life

Updated and expanded with more than 80 pages of new content!Improve your athletic performance, extend your athletic career, treat stiffness and achy joints, and prevent and rehabilitate injuries—all without having to seek out a coach, doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, or masseur. In Becoming a Supple Leopard, Dr. Kelly Starrett—founder of MobilityWOD.com—shares his revolutionary approach to mobility and maintenance of the human body and teaches you how to hack your own movement, allowing you to live a healthier, more fulfilling life. This new edition of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller has been thoroughly revised to make it even easier to put to use. Want to truly understand the principles that guide human movement? Becoming a Supple Leopard lays out a blueprint for moving safely and effectively through life and sport. Want to learn how to apply those principles to specific movements, whether you are doing squats in the gym or picking up a bag of groceries? Hundreds of step-by-step photos show you not only how to perform a host of exercise movements, such the squat, deadlift, pushup, kettlebell swing, clean, snatch, and muscle-up, but also how to correct the common faults associated with those movements. Frustrated because you can’t perform a certain movement correctly due to range of motion restrictions? Breaking the body down into 14 distinct areas, Starrett demonstrates hundreds of mobilization techniques that will help you resolve restrictions and reclaim your mobility. Unsure how to put it all together into a program that addresses your individual needs? This updated edition lays out dozens of prescriptions that allow you to hone in on a specific limitation, a nagging injury, or an exercise fault that you just can’t seem to get right. It even offers a 14-day full-body mobility overhaul. Performance is what drives us as human beings, but dysfunctional movement patterns can bring the human body to an abrupt halt. Often, the factors that impede performance are invisible even to seasoned athletes and coaches. Becoming a Supple Leopard makes the invisible visible. Whether you are a professional athlete, a weekend warrior, or simply someone wanting to live healthy and free from physical restrictions, this one-of-a-kind training manual will teach you how to harness your athletic potential and maintain your body. Learn how to perform basic maintenance on your body, unlock your athletic potential, live pain-free…and become a Supple Leopard. This step-by-step guide to movement and mobility will show you how to: Move safely and efficiently in all situations Organize your spine and joints in optimal, stable positions Restore normal function to your joints and tissues Accelerate recovery after training sessions and competition Properly perform strength and conditioning movements like the squat, bench press, pushup, deadlift, clean, and snatch Build efficient, transferable movement patterns and skill progressions from simple to more advanced exercises Identify, diagnose, and correct inefficient movement patterns Treat and resolve common symptoms like low back pain, carpal tunnel, shoulder pain, and tennis elbow Prevent and rehabilitate common athletic injuries Use mobilization techniques to address short and stiff muscles, soft tissue and joint capsule restriction, motor control problems, and joint range of motion limitations Create personalized mobility prescriptions to improve movement efficiency

This step-by-step guide, written by a best-selling author and former Wall Street titan, provides all the information—and inspiration—you need to feel better, reduce aches and pains, and push back against aging with a personalized fitness program that’s right for you.  Whatever your fitness goals or preferences, this book is designed to help you pursue the health program that works for you. An inspirational speaker, author, and former Wall Street rainmaker, Jim Owen was 70 when he decided he had to get fit. Years of a chair-bound lifestyle were taking their toll. Realizing that the old bodybuilding approach was no way to tackle the stiffness, weakness, and aches and pains that come with age, he set off on a journey of discovery and transformation. With help from the experts, he developed a common-sense, step-by-step program that can be tailored to any level of physical ability. Along the way he learned why cardio machines aren’t enough, what it takes to be “functionally fit” for daily life, and how to stay motivated. Today, Owen is in better shape than he was at 25, and he is a passionate evangelist for fitness as a way of life. He has proved that you don’t have to be powerless in the face of advancing years: if you make a commitment to “just move,” you can take charge of the aging process and make your coming years the best they can be.The book is divided into two sections, with the first providing fascinating information and the second showing step-by-step details of how to put the best fitness principles into practice.