From foundational movements to a movement operating system: Building durable, flexible readiness
In past blogs, we’ve explored how Foundational Movements can serve as a universal language for coaching, training and learning. We’ve looked at signals in the noise of modern performance, asked if the shift in our industry already happened, and explored how robustness, not just resilience, can be a first line of defense. This piece adds another layer to this ongoing narrative. If we want to keep moving the profession forward, we need more than exercises, modalities and tools. We need systems. And not just any systems – systems that are durable and flexible. This is where the movement operating system, or mOS, has made an impact. What is the mOS? The mOS builds on the foundational movement framework and provides a structured, scalable way to connect movement quality to understanding and connecting programming, coaching, real-world training and performance. It’s called an “operating system” for a reason. Just like our phones need an OS to run different apps, the mOS is what allows strength, power, agility, mobility, conditioning, coaching and recovery protocols to run together without crashing. Instead of disconnected knowledge or siloed strategies, an mOS gives coaches and athletes a shared language that adapts to their environment, whether coaching a strength block, rehabbing post-injury, or managing a full unit in a time-constrained training session. The mOS helps coaches identify the foundational movement, analyze and adapt it using primary and secondary vectors, and make real-time decisions to improve performance. From attractors to action: How the mOS is designed to work At the center of the mOS are the foundational movements: plank, push, pull, rotate, hinge, squat, lunge, step, crawl and climb. These aren’t just categories, they represent movement attractor states – relatively stable, repeatable positions and transitions that hold up under load, fatigue and environmental complexity. Think of them as default biomechanical patterns and neurological behaviors we lean on when executing expected movements or when we are challenged with novel environments or tasks. But movement doesn’t happen in a vacuum. This is where primary and secondary vectors are useful. + Primary vectors refer to the essential elements that define a movement: hand and foot placement, range of motion, and load direction. These shape the physics of how we organize ourselves around a task. + Secondary vectors include variables like tempo, equipment/tool selection, load placement, and environmental constraints – the modifiers that impact the feel and focus of the movement. Once we understand these building blocks, we can execute, coach and adapt almost any movement in real time using what I call the mOS coaching loop. 1. Anchor the movement: Identify the root foundational movement – the core movement and its ideal attractor state. i.e. what is stable and what is mobile. Hint: A root foundational movement is not the same as an exercise; it is the root of many different exercises within the category. 2. Scan for key attractors: Assess if movement is meeting the essential positional and transitional competencies. 3. Triage the fault: Prioritize what matters most to modify/coach at the right time. 4. Apply the right cue or constraint: Use position or environment to steer the intended outcome. Hint: The most common fault I see is “over-coaching” vs. elegant teaching. 5. Step up* / Check down* / Repeat: Modify vectors and cueing as needed to achieve movement integrity and accumulate quality reps! * Tip: I don’t typically use the terms “progression” and “regression” because a modification people call a “regression” can in fact be the way toward progress. So I tend to use “step up” vs. progression and “check down” for regression. Why durability + flexibility matter Recently, I worked with a team of tactical fitness instructors during a multi-day training. This was an experienced group – they weren’t just there to check a box, they were evaluating me and everything being covered through the lens of, “Does this work in our environment and under pressure?” And then something clicked. A seemingly simple drill, the active plank (a protocol I adapted from Pavel), became a breakthrough moment. We dialed into what “right” looks and feels like, using scalable standards and common terminology to enable real-time peer coaching. The instructors weren’t just performing the plank, they were feeling and coaching it better, adjusting on the fly, and learning how to communicate and leverage what they already knew to layer in new concepts and cues. After the course, the lead instructor told me he was already seeing the benefits. The training had sharpened how the team approached movement and created momentum for building smarter programming around it. “Everyone found it extremely valuable, and I’m already seeing the benefits from it. This group is highly adaptable and eager to learn and grow, so training like this will continue to be vital to the future success of the program.” This is what makes the mOS effective. It’s durable enough to anchor learning through shared standards and flexible enough to grow with professionals eager to deepen their skillsets. Less confusion, more coaching The mOS isn’t about complexity, it’s about clarity. In a professional landscape where it’s easy to become overwhelmed by tools, data, new job titles and pressure to “know it all,” the mOS offers a stable foundation. It helps separate signals from noise not by limiting possibilities, but by organizing them. It doesn’t try to be everything. It tries to be one thing: a system that connects movement to outcomes clearly, consistently and across environments. If we want to improve readiness, mitigate re-injury, and help develop better coaches, not just better workouts, we need to leverage systems that support clarity, adaptability and shared understanding. The mOS may not be a magic fix. But it is a framework that holds up under pressure. It resonates with professionals and end-users across disciplines and scales with different environments. It creates structure where there’s often confusion and empowers the kind of learning and coaching that sticks. What’s next? Upcoming topics will start to explore how we can extend our impact to training the mind. I’ll dig