Every Joint. Every Day. The Elegance of Simple and Sinister

I recently attended a conference and watched a presentation by a highly respected clinician and researcher who specializes in chiropractic and neuro physiology. He works very hard to show the link between movement of the joints and what happens at the brain level. His research dives deep into pain and inflammation, along with keeping joints healthy through sleep, diet, and movement. Something caught my attention when he was talking and I wrote the quote down on a small piece of paper:

“After reviewing all the available research, the way to keep the synovial joints [where two bones meet and there is a fluid filled capsule around them] healthy is to move them through a full range of motion, every day, with load.”

Stop and think about that for a second.

It is so simple that people will inevitably complicate it. They’ll come up with a thousand different exercises to try and accomplish a thousand different things. For the sake of complexity, they will claim that you have to do this if you want to get better at that; and you need to have these four corrective exercises so you can progress at this other one.

Yet many such plans become unnecessarily complicated. It takes a very experienced coach to know when certain additions are needed and when to just let things happen through simplicity. Don’t just stand there and point a finger at other people. We have all been there at some point in our careers. We were guilty of holding a person back because we felt things weren’t quite perfect, or that we needed to fix or add just one more thing.

Appreciating the Simple in Simple and Sinister

Yet sometimes the most basic plans are also the most effective. I have written about Simple and Sinister before. You can find that article here. I remember the first time I picked up a copy of Pavel’s book. I read through it, implemented none of it, put it down for a few months, and then read through it again. This is standard behavior for me with his work. I know there will be hidden things I don’t see during my initial read-through and I have to forget about it for a while and then come back later with a fresh perspective.

My first thought after finishing the book was, “It’s only about two exercises, that’s strange.” The next time I read Simple and Sinister was after the incident I referred to in the article above. At that moment with my compromised capacity, there were only a very small number of things I could do. With my choices limited by injury, I came to appreciate the idea of only focusing on a couple of movements, but honing in on them with such laser focus that it could cut a diamond.

Defining Elegant

I want to define the term “elegant” for you. The first definition comes from the worlds of art and fashion. It means something is pleasingly graceful and stylish in appearance. When solving a scientific or mathematical problem, elegant means finding a solution that’s pleasingly ingenious and simple. I am not sure if this is true, but I like to believe Pavel had both of these definitions in mind when he wrote Simple and Sinister. If this elegantly elemental program is being performed by someone who has been well coached and is moving with intention, the first definition will very much apply. As far as the actual program, the second definition is absolutely appropriate.

I have no idea if this was deliberate or not, but if you look at how I described the way to keep your joints healthy and thoroughly read Simple and Sinister, you will notice something striking. With just two exercises, you manage to almost put all your joints through all their ranges of motion, every day, under load. When you add in the recommended warmup, you fill in the squatting gap and the short lever positions of the shoulder. The only thing really missing is full extension of the shoulder, which can easily be added into your training with some weighted dips and maybe the “skin the cat” (I promise, no actual cats are hurt when performing this exercise.) You roll, rotate the spine, hinge on one hip, fully flex the knees, extend all the toes, flex, extend and rotate the hips, and lunge. You perform a horizontal press and manage a big load overhead through every plane. And that’s just the get-up.

As for one-arm swings, you get powerful hinging, long lever internal and external shoulder rotation, and powerful anti-rotation of the spine. You also get a tremendous amount of trunk stability work with both single and double arm swings and learn to breathe efficiently and effectively while maintaining this stability. Thank you, hardstyle kettlebell swings.

Stripping Away the Unnecessary

People often look at something so elegant and almost immediately ask the question, “Well, how do I add this to my program?” I’m sure the StrongFirst forum is strewn with such inquiries. What people often fail to realize is that with the Simple and Sinister approach, everything unnecessary has been stripped away. Depending on your goals in life, there may not be a whole lot more you really need to add. This can be a big issue as a coach. People are not always interested in actual training anymore. Rather, they’re fixated on exercising, which is totally different. This leads many coaches and athletes to chase complexity they don’t truly need.

Are you planning on playing a contact sport? You’re probably going to have to add some things to increase mass and drive maximum strength and power. Are you participating in powerlifting, weightlifting, strongman, CrossFit, etc.? Then of course there are other skills you are going to need to acquire. Many of those training systems don’t put your joints through all their positions. Other plans are only heavy in just one plane of motion. What I will tell you is all of these endeavors will do nothing but improve in spades if you add even a condensed version of Simple and Sinister to your training schedule. Move each joint through a full range of motion every day under load. Those are words to live by. And if I may say so, elegant ones at that.

Resources Mentioned

Simple and Sinister – Book by Pavel Tsatsouline
The StrongFirst Forum – StrongFirst Community

You may also like:

Gray Cook on Simple & Sinister

When an author, a coach, a philosopher or somebody who’s immersed themselves in physical culture like Pavel has, takes the time to simplify his knowledge into clear, concise statements, you better put that on your shelf.

Simple & Sinister in a Rehabilitation Setting

Anyone who has experienced a complete tendon rupture knows the recovery process is long. Simple & Sinister along with a focus on movement basics helped me rehabilitate faster than anyone expected.

Simple & Sinister: Getting from Two- to One-Hand Swings

Adding one-hand swings to your Kettlebell Simple & Sinister training can be daunting for some people. Here's a simple method for achieving that goal.

From Simple to Sinister: Waving Volume on S&S

You may want to start “waving” your volume in the manner of Soviet weightlifters. Studies have documented the greater effectiveness of “waved” training for experienced athletes.

Travis Jewett

Travis Jewett is a chiropractor and strength coach in Scottsdale, AZ working with critically ill patients, complex neurological cases, and basic neuromuscular rehabilitation through manual therapy and strength training. He also does coaching development work for The Ready State. He can be reached through email at drjewett07@gmail.com