Body By Design, Inc.

10/21/2026

You lifted it. But can you turn with it—and put it down?

A planter. A laundry basket. A bag of groceries.

The weight is only part of the question. Where you reach, how you shift, how quickly you move, and where the object needs to go all change what your body must manage.

Your back participates in the whole event. So do your feet, hips, pelvis, trunk, and arms.

In the final article of my lumbar spine series, we explore how to prepare those relationships for bending, turning, slowing down, and changing direction—from the garden to the golf course.

You don’t have to consider yourself an exerciser for this to matter. Life already asks these questions.

Life Moves in Every Direction. Can Your Back Share the Load?

Read Part 3 on my Substack:
bobfanelli.substack.com

What activity would you like to approach with greater confidence?

10/14/2026

You can hold a plank. But what must your core help you do when the rest of your body moves?
Reach overhead. Carry groceries. Turn toward the back seat. Complete a golf swing.
Abdominal strength matters. These activities also ask your hips, pelvis, upper back, shoulders, and feet to contribute—and your trunk to manage the changing demand.
In Part Two of The Lumbar Spine in Context, I explore how we develop those movement resources, learn to control them, and connect them to the activities that matter.
Even the same grocery bag asks a different question when you carry it beside you, lift it, or reach it onto a counter.
Your Back Needs More Than a Strong Core
What must that strength help you manage?
Read the article on my Substack:
https://bobfanelli.substack.com

09/23/2026

Pronation is not the problem.

Pronation is one of the ways the foot adapts to the ground, accepts force, and contributes to the Chain Reaction® moving through the ankle, knee, hip, pelvis, and trunk.

The problem may be that pronation is:
• insufficient
• excessive
• too rapid
• poorly timed
• inadequately controlled
• or never effectively transformed into propulsion

A foot that cannot become mobile enough to adapt may struggle to become stable enough to propel.

That distinction matters.

When we automatically label pronation as dysfunctional—or attempt to prevent it without understanding the individual—we may restrict a motion the body requires for shock absorption, sensory input, and whole-body movement.

The better question is not simply:

Does the foot pronate?

It is:
Can the foot access the motion it needs, control that motion, and transform it into the next phase of movement?

In my newest article, I explore pronation, calcaneal eversion, force management, and why the foot should be understood as an adaptable part of an integrated human system—not merely a rigid foundation.

Read “Pronation Is Not the Problem” through the link in my bio.
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09/16/2026

A muscle does not decide its role in isolation.

Its function changes according to the person, the position of the body, the task being performed, the forces being managed, and the environment in which movement occurs.

That means the glutes do not always simply “extend the hip.” The abdominals do not function only by bracing. A muscle labeled an agonist in one movement may help decelerate, stabilize, redirect, or transfer force during another.

Muscles participate in coordinated, task-dependent relationships—responding to sensory information and working across the body’s entire Chain Reaction®.

Structural anatomy gives us an essential map. But the map is not the movement.

In the newest article in my Human Adaptation series, I explore:
• Why muscle function is context-dependent
• How muscles work through adaptable synergies
• Why a muscle can influence joints it does not cross
• What this changes about “activation” and isolation-based coaching
• How principles can guide better exercise strategies and techniques

Muscles Are Not Independent Actors
Why Muscle Function Depends on the Person, the Task, and the Environment
Read the full article on Substack.

Bob Fanelli | The Prism Framework™
Understanding Reveals Possibility.™

09/10/2026

Something new is being built at AltaFit.

Not a replacement. Not a reinvention. An expansion.

We are bringing applied biomechanics, movement assessment, and human-performance education into an already strong environment of coaching, strength, conditioning, and community.

We build upon what works—and create new opportunities to understand what may be possible.

09/02/2026

The body does not respond to the name of an exercise.

It responds to information.

Every movement changes joint position, tissue tension, pressure, speed, direction, balance, and the body’s relationship with gravity and the ground. Proprioception, vision, the vestibular system, and tactile receptors continually send that information to the nervous system.

The nervous system interprets those signals and organizes a movement response—often before we are consciously aware that it is happening.

This does not mean the exercise is unimportant. It means the exercise is only part of the experience.

Change the position, direction, speed, reach, surface, target, load, or person—and you change the information the body receives. Change the information, and you may change the response the body learns to create.

My new article explores why movement is not only something the body produces.

Movement is also information the body receives.

https://bobfanelli.substack.com/p/the-body-does-not-respond-to-exercise

Read the full article on my Substack.

08/26/2026

We often ask whether a squat, lunge, deadlift, machine, or balance drill is “functional.”

But an exercise cannot answer that question by itself.

Its value depends on the person performing it, the purpose it is intended to serve, the environment in which it occurs, the information it creates, and the adaptation we are trying to encourage.

The same exercise may be appropriate for one person and poorly matched to another. It may even be appropriate for the same person on one day and inappropriate on another.

The exercise has not changed.

The relationship has.

Its value depends on the person performing it, the purpose it serves, the environment in which it occurs, the information it generates, and the adaptation we are trying to encourage. It is a process of understanding, prescribing, observing, and adapting.

The exercise is not the prescription.

The Experience is the prescription.

Read: “Functional Exercise Is Not an Exercise: It Is a Prescription.”

Understanding Reveals Possibility.™

08/18/2026

unctional training has evolved. Has our definition?

For years, functional training has often been described by movements:

Push. Pull. Squat. Lunge. Bend. Rotate.

Those are certainly movements humans perform.

But I'm increasingly interested in a different question:

What actually makes an exercise functional for the person standing in front of us?

Because a lunge isn't simply a lunge.

Change the direction.
Change the speed.
Change the load.
Change the reach.
Change the environment.
Change the intention.

And most importantly—

change the person.

The biological experience changes.

The body doesn't experience the name we give an exercise. It experiences motion, forces and information—and it responds and adapts accordingly.

That's the subject of the first article in my new series exploring the continuing evolution of functional training and functional exercise prescription.

Not because what we've done before was wrong.

Because our understanding of the human system continues to grow.

And as our understanding evolves, our prescription should evolve with it.

Full article available through the link in my bio.

Functional training has evolved. Has our definition?rcise. It experiences motion, forces,Functional and information—and it responds and adapts accordingly.

08/08/2026

08/06/2026

If bone responds to mechanical loading, why doesn’t every heavy resistance-training program produce the same skeletal response?

Why can one person lift substantial weights for years yet show only modest changes in bone strength, while another person responds more significantly to a program using different directions, speeds, impacts, and movement patterns?

The answer is that bone does not respond to weight alone.

It responds to the strain environment that weight creates.

And weight and strain are not the same thing.

What does this mean for how we train?

Find out in my latest substack...Why Heavy Isn't Always Enough. Why Your Bones May Stop Listening Long Before Your Muscles Do

Link in Bio