The person behind the program
I'm Craig van Heerden. I've spent my career helping people move better — as a biokineticist (clinical exercise therapist), a strength and conditioning coach, a CrossFit coach, a personal trainer, and a movement culture facilitator.
I ran my own clinical practice specializing in spine health and back pain for six years. Hundreds of patients came through that practice — desk workers, athletes, retirees, people who'd tried everything and were told their pain was permanent. Most of them got better. The ones who followed the program got significantly better.
This course is the result of everything I've learned — from treating patients, studying the science, coaching athletes, and recovering from my own injuries.
Six years running a practice specializing in spine health and lower back pain. Desk workers, athletes, chronic pain patients — the protocols in this course come directly from what worked with them.
S&C coach for a premier league rugby side. High school rugby S&C. CrossFit coach, personal trainer, and movement culture facilitator. From elite athletes to complete beginners.
BSc with Honours in Biomedical Sciences, specializing in Biokinetics (Clinical Exercise Therapy). Years of studying Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, squat and deadlift biomechanics, and spine loading mechanics.
I don't just study this — I've lived it. I had minor scoliosis that I've managed to reverse through consistent corrective work. My wrist required two reconstructive surgeries, and I was told we needed to fuse the joint. I refused and insisted on a rehabilitation path, trusting the gymnastics wrist strengthening protocols I knew. Today I can do full handstands and thoracic back bridges again.
These recoveries weren't luck. They were the same progressive loading, stabilization, and movement principles that I use with my patients — and that are built into every week of this course.
“Everything I fear about getting old has nothing to do with gray hairs and wrinkled skin. It's all about the loss of movement. I want to run, hike, play with my grandchildren, surf, rock climb — right until the last day.”
Full back rehabilitation normally means working with a specialized coach 2-3 times a week for 6 to 18 months. Most people can't afford that. I wanted to make what I know accessible and scalable.
This course documents everything I learned from the great successes I had with my clients — the protocols that consistently worked, distilled into a structured 12-week program anyone can follow.
It's built on the work of Professor Stuart McGill, Kelly Starrett's Becoming a Supple Leopard, and my own study of Olympic weightlifting, powerlifting, and biomechanics — understanding how to stabilize the spine under load and what causes injury.
Every exercise and lesson is grounded in evidence-based rehabilitation research. The core influences are Professor Stuart McGill's spine biomechanics, Kelly Starrett's mobility systems, and Vladimir Janda's work on muscle imbalance. The progression model is adapted from Christopher Sommer's methodology, proven in gymnastics strength training and applied here to spinal rehabilitation.
Start with the free mobility routine and a full guided week. No credit card required.
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