MOBILITY TIPS 101

1) FOCUS ON THE MOVEMENT

When i talk about MOBILITY i’m talking about taking a muscle through a specific range of motion.

When something is tight . . or feels unusual . . and you’re looking at fixing the issue . . a lot of people focus on ONE muscle to stretch or mobilize . .

What for ??

How do you know what muscle is tight ??

Every movement we make uses a LOT of muscles working TOGETHER.

So if a particular movement doesn’t feel right . . isn’t it common sense to mobilize the MOVEMENT and not worry about what muscle you’re stretching or what its called . . i don’t give a shit what muscle i’m mobilizing . . as long as the issue is resolved.

SUMMARY: Whatever movement hurts, mobilize in the ENTIRE range of motion. If you’re having an issue in the bottom of the squat . . look at opening up those hips . . get on the floor & figure out a way to get to the tight areas & replicate that movement . .

2) FOAM ROLLING – IF YOU’RE NOT ON IT, GET ON IT.

I’ve talked about it before in previous blogs . . i’m not going to bore you with WHY you should do it . . here’s a link that sums it up well:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance_repair/feel_better_for_10_bucks

TIP: When you’re rolling the I.T Band, a lot of people tend to roll on it like this . .  (just watch the movement, you don’t have to listen to him)

HOWEVER, the problem with this is the I.T band is it’s not a muscle . . it’s a MASSIVE piece of connective tissue that doesn’t stretch . .  it’s like trying to stretch a steel cable . . it ain’t going to work . . so rolling on it up & down is not loosening up the tissue around it.

A more EFFECTIVE alternative is to pick a spot on your IT band, position yourself the same as above . . but instead of rolling up & down along the IT band, you’re going to roll side to side (so you’re rolling across the quad & the hamstring) really pancaking those fibres and smoothing out those tissues.

This way, you’re really getting in between the insertion of the I.T band to the quads & the hammies . . make sure you’re MOVING, that’s the main thing.

SUMMARY: FOAM ROLL before & after training to keep those tissues smooth.

3. MORE IS NOT BETTER, MORE OFTEN IS BETTER.

If you’ve got 200 tight muscles . . focus on the muscles/movement of the muscles you’re going to be working that day . . if you’re training legs . . no point focusing on mobilizing the shoulders now is there ??

Once again, COMMON SENSE.

And don’t over do it, mobilizing 3-5 times a day is fine . . but 2 mins each movement max in the one session is PLENTY.

Over & out.