MOVE YOUR BODY-ODY: MOBILITY
Mo-bil-i-ty (noun): The ability to move or be moved freely and easily.
We may feel that we’re “moving freely and easily” in our workouts, but in reality we aren’t. Our bodies are moving within the confines of the range of motion we’ve unknowingly created for ourselves. The way you stand, the way you sit, your walking posture, how you sleep or how you pick things up off the ground are all everyday movements we totally overlook that slowly determine movement patterns, and therefore your range of motion. Believe it or not, our day-to-day habits have caused significant amounts of restriction on our body, and it's when we try to exercise on top of these restrictions without proper mobility training that we get injured.
Do you have low back pain!? Neck and shoulder pain!? Or do you hear yourself saying... “I can’t do that exercise because it hurts my _______!?”
When the body is in pain, it’s giving you a signal that something is wrong. When you ignore that signal time and time again because you “can’t miss a workout,” you’re increasing your risk of getting a more significant injury, and let’s just say the significant injury will knock you out for muchhhh longer than the time it takes for you to invest in fixing your shit.
If your experience is more like “What do you mean!?…. I’m not in pain!” That’s great, but you most likely still have some bad habits that need fixing and you definitely could broaden your range of motion -- we all could. For instance, if you work on hip mobility to deepen your squat, you’ll be able to safely handle more weight and reach gains quicker. Who couldn’t benefit from that?
Incorporating mobility is essential to any balanced training program. It restores the natural functioning relationships that muscles and joints have to create a stronger, healthier body. We incorporate it into our warmup, but it deserves its own dedicated spot in your life. I’m not just talking about static stretching or foam rolling briefly, I’m talking about increasing the functional range of motion from head to toe, hitting every joint in your body.
Keep those eye rolls to yourself! I’m not adding ‘just another thing’ to your workout regimen - 15 minutes of mobility 2-3x a week is enough to get you progress. And ALL of this can be done bingeing Netflix or eating holiday cookies, or both!
MOBILITY STARTER PACK
The Wall Angel
How
Stand against a wall or even lie on the ground. Bring your elbows in line with your shoulders creating a 90* angle. Press your head, upper back, low back against the wall while trying to maintain contact with your hands and shoulders.
What
3 sets of 20 second holds - then once you get that down EASY you can start to add in movement. Sliding your hands up the wall, but maintaining contact. If it’s not hard… you’re probably doing it wrong, because this is hard as hell.
Why
Restoring the postural muscles, opening up the chest and correcting all your rounded upper backs from slouching in that chair this entire quarantine and every day of work prior to that :)
Where
Any flat surface: wall, door.
90/90 Hip Stretch
How
Take a seat and put one leg out in front of you at a 90* angle and the other leg slightly behind you at a 90* angle. MAKE SURE ITS A TRUE 90* ANGLE!!!
Push the knees into the ground and maintain a tall posture. While keeping that posture walk the hands out in front of the front leg and feel the glutes and hips start to stretch and pull. After holding for a bit… put your hands behind your back and twist the shoulders toward the back leg. KEEP THE KNEES DOWN and feel that back hip start to tug just a little bit.
What
3 sets of 30 second holds in each direction then switch so that the other leg is in front - if it gets easy, try to throw this variation in there (insert video)
Why
The hips get stiff. We do a lot of linear moving and sitting which can increase tightness in the hips and cause low back pain. Tightness in the hips can also affect your form in many lower body exercises which leads to even more injury when working out.
Where
The floor, your yard, the park, the driveway, your kitchen island if it fancy like that.
Thoracic Rotation
How
Come down onto your hands and knees. Hands under shoulders, knees under hips. From here, sit your butt back to your heels, which will bring you into something that seems like child’s pose. Take one hand and place it behind your head - KEEP EVERYTHING ELSE STILL. Then rotate towards the ceiling leading with the elbow keeping your hips forward and your other hand connected to the ground.
What
3 sets of 10-20 rotations on each side. You should do this as much as you can, but especially before any upper body lifts.
Why
Thoracic mobility - like twisting to reach something behind you in the car. Our natural movement patterns don’t allow a lot of rotation within the thoracic spine (middle back). We sit a lot and we move a lot in a linear motion, which causes our middle back to stiffen up. This will allow you to regain some mobility within the back, restore posture and improve your form/technique during workouts.
Where
Still on the ground :) Anywhere.
If you can give yourself 15 minutes at lunch, in your warm up, while watching TV or make it part of your morning routine, you’ll regain control of your body, detrain those shitty habits you’ve developed and be one step closer to a stronger, healthier body. For life.
