The Joint-by-Joint Approach | FIT
Picture this: two legends of the strength and conditioning world, Gray Cook and Mike Boyle, are standing at a bar after a long day at a coaching clinic. Beers in hand, they’re talking shop—the kind of deep, nerdy conversation that only coaches can love. Gray, a physical therapist obsessed with movement quality, says something simple but profound:
“The body’s just a stack of joints. Each one’s got a job—some are meant to move, some are meant to stabilize. Problems start when they forget who’s supposed to do what.”
Mike pauses, eyes narrowing.
A napkin comes out.
They start sketching. Ankle, knee, hip, spine, shoulder. Alternating labels: mobile, stable, mobile, stable.
And right there—on the back of a bar napkin—the Joint-by-Joint Approach was born.
That napkin became one of the most influential frameworks in modern performance training. It bridged the gap between rehab and strength & conditioning, giving coaches and athletes a simple roadmap for understanding how movement dysfunction happens—and how to fix it.
The Genius of Simplicity
Gray Cook and Mike Boyle weren’t trying to build a textbook model. They were trying to solve problems they saw every day—clients with bad backs, cranky knees, and shoulders that refused to cooperate.
Their insight was brutally simple:
Every joint has a primary role—either mobility (freedom of motion) or stability (control).
When one joint fails to do its job, the joints above and below compensate.
Compensation equals dysfunction. Dysfunction equals injury.
In other words: if you lose mobility in one area, the next joint up or down will have to pick up the slack—and that’s where pain usually shows up.
It’s not magic, and it’s not pseudoscience. It’s just anatomy and physics having a conversation.
The Human Stack
Here’s how the body typically breaks down, joint by joint.
Simple, right? But simple doesn’t mean easy.
Take the ankle, for example. It’s designed for mobility—dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, inversion, eversion. When it stiffens up (usually from too much sitting, bad footwear, or old sprains), the knee, which is supposed to be stable, gets forced into awkward movement patterns.
That’s why limited ankle mobility is a silent killer for athletes—it shifts stress upward, leading to knee valgus, poor deceleration mechanics, and ACL risk.
The same thing happens up the chain: if the hips get tight, the lumbar spine starts moving too much, leading to back pain. If the thoracic spine locks up, the shoulders lose overhead mobility. It’s a domino effect.
Why Every Athlete and Adult Should Care
You don’t need to be a pro athlete to apply this model. In fact, if you want to move well, feel good, and perform better at anything, this framework might be the most important thing you’ll ever understand about your body.
Here’s why..
Pain Is Usually a Symptom, Not the Problem
When your knee hurts, the real issue might be your ankle or hip. The Joint-by-Joint lens teaches you to look above and below the pain site before you start throwing random exercises at the problem.
Better Movement Equals Better Performance
Whether you’re an athlete cutting on the field or a parent playing pickleball, power depends on how well energy transfers through your kinetic chain. If mobility or stability is missing, you’re bleeding performance.
It Makes Training More Intelligent
Instead of stretching everything or strengthening everything, you start targeting what’s actually lacking. Tight hips? Mobilize. Loose knees? Stabilize. The model gives structure to your warm-ups, lifts, and correctives.
It’s the Foundation of Longevity
Injury prevention isn’t about bubble wrapping your body. It’s about having the right joints doing the right jobs. That’s how you stay in the game—long after others are sidelined.
How FIT Uses the Joint-by-Joint Model
At FIT: Sports Performance & Fitness, we don’t just chase numbers—we chase quality movement. Every warm-up, every lift, every drill is built through this lens.
Before an athlete hits a sprint or a jump, we make sure the ankles and hips move freely, and the knees and core can hold stable under load. Before an adult member does a press or pull, we address thoracic mobility and shoulder stability.
That’s why our athletes move better, get hurt less, and perform longer.
And that’s why our adults feel athletic again—not just “fit,” but functional, powerful, and resilient.
The Takeaway
Gray Cook and Mike Boyle didn’t invent anything new—they just gave language to what great coaches already sensed: movement quality matters more than movement quantity.
Mobility and stability aren’t opposites—they’re dance partners.
And when one misses the beat, the whole system stumbles.
So whether you’re chasing a faster 40, a stronger squat, or just want to move like you did ten years ago—start thinking joint by joint.
Because sometimes the biggest revolutions don’t start in laboratories or boardrooms.
They start on the back of a napkin.