Sort Yourself Out
Chances are if you are reading this then you are probably an avid lifter with at least a years’ experience under your belt. Chances are you were like me at one point in time and your thought process was more about getting into the gym, passing on a warm up and skipping the stretch at the end because you cannot be bothered and you want to admire your newly acquired pump.
A little back story to this article. In December 2012 I finally managed to squat 3 plates (lbs) and thought “f**k yeah!”. Little did I realise I had no idea how to squat and I had absolutely no movement through my hip, shoulder and ankle joints. It is only since the introduction of mobility into our gym and my workout schedule that I managed to see the flaws and realise that I am just a great big ball of tightness that cannot move because stretching is not a cool thing to do….especially in a hardcore bodybuilding gym in Nottingham (first gym I went too many moons ago).
So over the last year I have working at my mobility in all of the different areas mentioned above. Whilst I still do not have that Kelly Starrett mobility and movement, I am a lot more mobile than I was back in December 2012. Getting that perfect mobility is definitely high on my priorities because being able to move better is one of the best feelings.
See below some of our favourite exercises with some of the common immobility’s
(T-Nation, 2012)
As you can see there is a lot of common ground between the big 4 lifts. Thoracic spine and hip mobility tend to be the biggest and most common of them all but are fairly simple to correct if you are willing to put the time and effort in to correct them. Not only will your everyday movement improve but your movement pattern through these lifts will significantly improve and then consequently over time you should be able to shift larger weights in a better movement pattern.
See 2 of my favourite hip mobility videos and ones that I did when first trying to improve my hips.
Pre-Squat:
Simple at home night before squat:
For your thoracic spine you might want to take a look at these:
If there is 1 thing you take away from this article it is the pre-squat video. You do not have to have any fancy equipment, just a bit of space on the floor and 5 minutes.
To scale down the Yo Elliot video you can literally use a foam roller and place it in your thoracic spine and bend right way over it, tend you arms out (hold a light weight if you wish) and keep your legs straight. Let your body relax and enjoy the stretch.
There are plenty of ways to develop each of the stretches in the videos about but I tried to keep it as simple as possible for those who have never done any of these before. Anyone who is interested in mobility or looking to get better I strongly suggest you read the book “Becoming a supple Leopard” By Kelly Starrett, it will be the best £34 you spend on a book as it will help transform your movement patterns and your clients (if you are a trainer). Another thing to look up is MobilityWOD.com which again is Kelly Starretts website (I promise you this article is not a paid for advertisement for Kelly Starrett!)
So the moral of the story is if you have poor movement then sort yourself out!
By
TheProducer (Dan)
References
T-Nation Article - http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/fillers_pairing_strength_with_mobility
MobilityWOD - www.mobilitywod.com
Link to Supple Leopard - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588
Chances are if you are reading this then you are probably an avid lifter with at least a years’ experience under your belt. Chances are you were like me at one point in time and your thought process was more about getting into the gym, passing on a warm up and skipping the stretch at the end because you cannot be bothered and you want to admire your newly acquired pump.
A little back story to this article. In December 2012 I finally managed to squat 3 plates (lbs) and thought “f**k yeah!”. Little did I realise I had no idea how to squat and I had absolutely no movement through my hip, shoulder and ankle joints. It is only since the introduction of mobility into our gym and my workout schedule that I managed to see the flaws and realise that I am just a great big ball of tightness that cannot move because stretching is not a cool thing to do….especially in a hardcore bodybuilding gym in Nottingham (first gym I went too many moons ago).
So over the last year I have working at my mobility in all of the different areas mentioned above. Whilst I still do not have that Kelly Starrett mobility and movement, I am a lot more mobile than I was back in December 2012. Getting that perfect mobility is definitely high on my priorities because being able to move better is one of the best feelings.
See below some of our favourite exercises with some of the common immobility’s
| Movement | Limiting Factors |
| Squat | Ankle dorsiflexion, thoracic spine mobility, hip mobility, anterior core strength |
| Bench | Upper-back strength/scapular stability, anterior hip mobility/hip stability, shoulder stability |
| Conventional Deadlift | Thoracic spine mobility, hip mobility, hamstring extensibility |
| Overhead Press | Thoracic spine mobility, shoulder stability, shoulder mobility, core stability |
As you can see there is a lot of common ground between the big 4 lifts. Thoracic spine and hip mobility tend to be the biggest and most common of them all but are fairly simple to correct if you are willing to put the time and effort in to correct them. Not only will your everyday movement improve but your movement pattern through these lifts will significantly improve and then consequently over time you should be able to shift larger weights in a better movement pattern.
See 2 of my favourite hip mobility videos and ones that I did when first trying to improve my hips.
Pre-Squat:
Simple at home night before squat:
For your thoracic spine you might want to take a look at these:
If there is 1 thing you take away from this article it is the pre-squat video. You do not have to have any fancy equipment, just a bit of space on the floor and 5 minutes.
To scale down the Yo Elliot video you can literally use a foam roller and place it in your thoracic spine and bend right way over it, tend you arms out (hold a light weight if you wish) and keep your legs straight. Let your body relax and enjoy the stretch.
There are plenty of ways to develop each of the stretches in the videos about but I tried to keep it as simple as possible for those who have never done any of these before. Anyone who is interested in mobility or looking to get better I strongly suggest you read the book “Becoming a supple Leopard” By Kelly Starrett, it will be the best £34 you spend on a book as it will help transform your movement patterns and your clients (if you are a trainer). Another thing to look up is MobilityWOD.com which again is Kelly Starretts website (I promise you this article is not a paid for advertisement for Kelly Starrett!)
So the moral of the story is if you have poor movement then sort yourself out!
By
TheProducer (Dan)
References
T-Nation Article - http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/most_recent/fillers_pairing_strength_with_mobility
MobilityWOD - www.mobilitywod.com
Link to Supple Leopard - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Becoming-Supple-Leopard-Preventing-Performance/dp/1936608588