How to Undo the Damage of Sitting

Courtesy of the Art of Manliness, comes 7 nicely illustrated exercises you can do on the daily to help relieve the pain and immobility that comes from your desk job. You don't have to do them in slacks & a button-up, but most are doable as work breaks or during commercials. Here's 3 to get you warmed up. Check out the rest at 7 Simple Exercise That Undo the Damage of Sitting.

"You actually don’t need a couch for this stretch, it just makes it a bit more comfortable (if that’s even possible). You can also do it on the floor by putting your knee against a wall.

For the “easy” version, place the knee of the leg you’re stretching against the back of your sofa. Place the foot of your other leg on the floor. Slowly raise your torso to a neutral spine position (i.e. standing straight and tall). As you raise your torso, squeeze your butt and abs. Hold the position for up to four minutes. Switch and repeat on the other leg."

"The Grok Squat is very similar to a catcher’s stance in baseball. Simply squat down until your butt touches your ankles. Keep your heels firmly on the ground and your back straight. Hold that position for 30-60 seconds. You should feel your hamstrings, quads, Achilles tendons, lower back, and groin gently stretching."

"Start by placing your leg on a tabletop (you could also use your bed) with the knee bent at 90 degrees. Place one hand on the table and one hand on your foot for support. Lean forward and hold for 60-90 seconds. Then lean left to the 10 o’clock position and hold for 60-90 seconds. Lean right to the 2 o’clock position and hold for 60-90 seconds. Repeat on the other leg."

Hips Don't Lie

If you are like the majority of today's workforce or students, you are sitting at a desk for hours a day. This usually means, 'tight' hips. Here's  8 great yoga moves that help loosen you up.

Basic Stretches For Tight Hips 

Try out a little quiet yoga morning routine (even 5 minutes is a great start to your day)  or incorporate a couple before a workout. Focus on your breathing & listen to your body - it shouldn't hurt!

Mobility for People Who Hate Mobility

Here's some pointers from a recent Catalyst Athletics article written by Mike Gray. A lot of us struggle with getting in mobility, and rarely does anyone have 30 minutes to sit on a foam roller pre or post workout. And frankly, that may not be the best use of your time. Mike has a few suggestions to make it as 'unpainful' and efficient as you can. Even incorporating it into your workout or workday.

1. Get loose before you actually train.

This can mean doing accessory work, stretching and range of motion movements at home or at your office in small time increments.

 

2. Use light weights (PVC even) of the movement you'll be doing today.

Working with #14 wallballs today? Start with air squats, move to a 10 lb wall ball first, doing some power cleans? Do your burgener warmup and drills with a PVC and/or empty bar before you ever grab a weight.

 

3. Stretch in between sets.  Instead of sitting on  a bench or checking your phone every rest period, you can do some light stretching as you move through a workout.

 

4. Sit in the snatch. sit in the receiving position of the snatch for a 3-count. This will not only help your mobility, but it will also make you feel more comfortable in that position. 

 

5. Try to fit it into your daily activities. 

As Mike says, "Just buy into the fact this is something we have to do, like paying taxes and changing the oil on your car, and I can almost guarantee you it will make you a better lifter." If you want to be a better athlete, and healthier person in general, just do it.

Read the full article here

The 5 Way Shoulder

For this months mobility post we're going for a simple 5 way fix for shoulders from Kelley Starrett of Mobility WOD. Take 10 minutes with a band before your next workout and see what a difference it makes. The 5 Way Shoulder | Feat. Kelly Starrett | Ep. 47 | MobilityWOD - YouTube.

Do you floss?

The dentist says you should floss everyday and KStar agrees.

Today's (belated) Mobility Monday post is all about a mobility tool outside of the popular lacrosse ball and foam roller. Voodoo Floss Bands. Voodoo Floss or Voodoo Bands is a fancy name for a long latex band used to compress and re-perfuse tissues and joints. A mobility weapon that helps an athlete enhance the benefits of stretching & 'unglue' their issues.

When wrapped around a joint or muscle, it creates compression around the site while you work through your range of motion. According to  Angus Certified, Voodoo Bands are effective tools for 4 reasons:

1) Restores sliding surfaces of the compressed and regional tissues being wrapped. (Like Self Inflicted ART)

2) Pushes swelling out of joints/tissues when used to treat in this way.

3) Re-perfuses tissues that have poor blood flow

4) Creates flexion gapping at joints like the elbow restoring normal joint motion.

via Angus Certified.com

Read the full article below to learn about what exactly flossing is and get some instruction videos on how to use them.

How To Use a Voodoo Floss Band | Angus Certified.

Mobility Monday: Knees

Todays mobility is courtesy of Kevin Cornell at Cal Strength. If you're suffering from patellar tendonitis or just struggling with getting full depth in a your squats - these mobility drills/stretches might help you get those ATG squats pain free.

Mobility Monday : Thoracic Spine

The Spine!Courtesty of Dan Pope of fitnesspainfree.com

On his post "The Correct Way to Mobilize your Thoracic Spine with a Foam Roller" he covers the importance of good spine mobility & a few videos demonstrating how best to do it!  Read up on his post & watch the videos and try them out the next time you hit the gym!

"The point of rolling your thoracic spine is usually to get a bit more thoracic extension and help improve your efficiency with overhead lifts.  Remember that your shoulder joint only really achieves 165 degrees of overhead flexion and in order to get that big weight overhead we need to get that last 15 degrees from our thoracic spine.  Thoracic spine extension is also a major player in shoulder health so we better get this hammered down."

Via FitnessPainFree

Mobility Monday : Ankles

Ankles!What better place to start with mobility than the oft forgotten but foundational joint, our ankles. This week's video is courtesy of Kelly Starret, coach, physical therapist & creator of the Mobility WOD.

"MobilityWOD is the ultimate guide to resolving pain, preventing injury, and optimizing athletic performance. Humans have been evolving for 2.5 million years and the human body is extraordinarily engineered. While people are born with this incredible machine, they aren’t born with the right software to run that machine.

The MobilityWOD is designed to help you hack your body’s mechanics and provide the tools to perform basic maintenance on yourself."

Via MobilityWOD|About

Mobility drills should be part of your daily warmup & rest days are a great chance to pick a few 'sticky' joints and do some more aggressive 'mobbing'. We'll post more mobility videos here but if you have issues with poor range of motion in your shoulders, hips, lumbar, ankles, whatever!, go check out his site, do a little googling, get a good book and take an active approach to fixing yourself!