Why your mobility might be affecting your performance
Now we all know class starts with a very decent warm up/activation series and then primers for strength/circuits but how about our warm downs?
OR the warm down specific to you.
Your coach and yourself know you have certain areas that need to improve more than others so here is another annoying reminder why you need to stretch more after class!
Now, I'm going to go into more detail about the most common areas we see tightness in and why you need to focus on them more. As you read through you'll find 1 or 2 which relate to you - so take note and get into them!
At the end of this you'll have a stretching catalogue (an old school effective one free to download) where you can cherry pick exercises that you need to warm down with and overall improve your mobility.
Enjoy!
1. THORACIC/SHOULDER MOBILITY
When we talk about the thoracic we are talking mainly about the area in the photo 'kyphotic curve'. The term kyphotic relates to the excessive rounding of the mid to upper back which we see a lot with office workers and the younger generations who grow up nowadays with technology attached to them.
Reduced mobility around the shoulder can lead to neck pain, shoulder impingement and rotator cuff strains. The problem is, we don’t notice our stiff thoracic spine until we hit the gym and start to try and push our shoulder into positions where we may no longer have the mobility to go.
So rather than trying to fix the neck or the shoulder impingement, I want you to start thinking about prevention, and make thoracic mobility exercises a normal part of your daily routine
2. ANKLE MOBILITY
To achieve the perfect squat, we must first be able to achieve proper range of motion in our ankles.
The foundation of most of our movement is in our feet, so if your chest is dumping forward drastically when you air squat, take a closer look at your ankle flexibility. How well are you able to achieve flexion? If the answer is that you have a 90 degree angle happening at your ankles, then you may need to spend more time on mobility in that area.
3. HIPS
Hips are a major topic! Without writing an essay about it here is what you need to know.
Restoring hip mobility will help in several areas. It should reduce or eliminate lower back and knee pain stemming from overcompensation. It can improve your power output by allowing you to fully engage your posterior chain in training exercises, while making them safer.
Happy to help.
Feel free to send this to your family, friends and colleagues and remember let me know what else you want me to write about, video blog or create content for - I am here to help!
Questions to marco@creaturefitness.com.au