Owner and Practitioner

Andy Lam

Growing up, I was always the most skinny, unathletic, and anxious kid. To make matters worse, I suffered a crippling shoulder dislocation as a freshman in high school that left my shoulder chronically unstable. To try to change my narrative, I picked up weightlifting and spent years seeking different methodologies for improving strength, packing on muscle, and enhancing athleticism. In hopes of helping others with the knowledge I had accumulated over the years, I became a personal trainer at a commercial gym here in Orange County at 19 years old and started working with many clients who were dealing with chronic pain and injury.

I quickly realized that the industry-standard techniques were ineffective at best, and damaging at worst. No amount of traditional strength training, stretching, or corrective exercise could effectively build muscle or strength without causing more imbalances for myself and my clients. Frustrated at the lack of results and inability to help my clients, I researched alternative systems outside of mainstream health and fitness and came across Functional Patterns.

Functional Patterns immediately stood out because of its emphasis on real-world, practical results. Not only was FP’s theory of training in accordance with human evolution logically sound, but it was the only system that actually produced substantial before-and-after transformations on people from all walks of life. I fully committed to buying the Functional Patterns 10-Week Online Course and making the 1.5 hour drive to the nearest Functional Patterns facility in Santa Monica weekly to learn all I could about the system.

Functional Patterns practitioners were the only ones to identify and correct my scoliosis (that I was previously unaware of) which unlocked the athleticism I lacked my entire life. As I was experiencing incredible results untwisting my scoliosis and rehabbing my chronic shoulder instability, I noticed a lack of FP practitioners in Orange County despite there being an abundance of people in pain who could benefit from the relief that FP provides. In 2021, I got certified to teach this groundbreaking system to others and guide them towards living with an integrated, strong, resilient, and pain-free body.

Certification: Functional Patterns Human Biomechanics Specialist Level 2

Overview

OUR PROCESS

We apply the Functional Patterns method using a four-step process to get to the root of your biomechanical imbalances that are impeding your quality of life. This process gets repeated as necessary to ensure that you are getting precise and customized programming according to what your body currently needs.

Posture and Gait Assessment

Your initial consultation consists of a standing posture and slow-motion gait cycle (walking and running) analysis on a self-propelled treadmill. We will assess your imbalances which will provide us key insights to help guide your training based on what you need. We will periodically reassess your posture and gait throughout your training to modify the execution of the corrective techniques based on your body’s current holding patterns. Minimal clothing is required so that your spine and ribs are as visible as possible for analysis.

GUIDED SELF-MYOFASCIAL RELEASE

We will teach you how to apply self-massage techniques using cheap and easily-obtainable tools such as lacrosse balls, soft balls, medicine balls, and PVC pipes. These techniques will alleviate points of tension and tightness in your muscles and fascia, which is the connective tissue found everywhere in your body. This sets the foundation for your body to be pliable and mobile enough to apply the corrective exercise techniques.

Integrated CORRECTIVE EXERCISE

We will apply Functional Patterns patented chamber techniques and corrective exercises to apply enough stimulus to your tissues to fundamentally change your structure and movement. These techniques have been developed by founder Naudi Aguilar with the intention to replicate the mechanics of the best athletes in the world and upload these sequences to your body using slow, controlled movements. These techniques are extremely detailed and require a practitioner’s trained eye to execute properly to ensure maximum efficacy with minimal risk.

Dynamic exercise

Once a base of movement has been established, you will be taught how to apply your newfound muscular connections dynamically with Functional Patterns dynamic exercises and functional activities such as kickboxing. This is where you realize the potential of your new movement capabilities and transfer them to real-world scenarios.