Wednesday 6 March 2013

Don't Make Stretching a Chore!

Feels Good Huh?!

We are always bleating on to our members about stretching and mobility and how important it is to your overall well-being and athletic performance. Being mobile means having a proper range of motion across all your joints and this affords you balanced body mechanics and the ability to run, jump, lift, pull, push, leap and squat with good form and no pain.

However, as we age the vast majority of us become stiff through under-use of our muscles and joints and even the most basic movements can become impossible to do. We sit down, hunched over too long and our once springy, flexible muscles become tight and unable to move through the ranges they once used to.

What do you mean this is hard?

Its not until you start moving again and trying to do something even remotely considered 'sporty' that you may realise just how limited you are in your movement patterns and how something that should be simple is in fact nigh on impossible. (see above picture!)

Take the basic squat for example.

I would say 85% of people who come through our doors cannot perform a correct, un-weighted, full depth air squat. Try it now:



1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
2) Toes turned ever so slightly outwards.
3) Have your hands in front of you, arms outstretched.
4) Lift your toes up off the floor and start pushing your hips backwards.
5) As you sit down into the squat drive your knees outwards so they track over the second and third toes on your feet.
6) Keep your chest inflated and your arms up so your back remains straight.
7) Weight should remain over the heels at all times.

How far can you go down before one or all of the points above break down? Ideally we are looking for your hip crease to pass below the level of your knees with all of the above present and correct.

No bending of the back, no collapsing of the feet or knees inwards, no turning of the toes outwards...........

Unless you can perform a squat like this with perfect execution then you shouldn't really be loading any weights up onto a bar.

Improper mechanics leads to improper form which leads to injuries.

So what do you do about it if you cant do it?  Stretch and mobilise!

A great first port of call would be Kelly Starretts Mobility WOD website where he posts regular videos on some of the best exercises to do to improve your ranges of motion. Yes, some of them hurt and he uses some crazy tools of torture but they definitely work and even in a few short minutes you can see the difference when you test and then re-test a certain movement.

Next up would be our Mobility class that we run on a Tuesday night at 8pm at CrossFit Connect. We spend an hour working through many drills and trying to unglue your sticky points. Nothing beats a whole hour of mobility work. Plus you get to learn a few drills that you can practice at home.

And this brings me onto the point of the article. Don't make stretching a chore. You don't have to find a slot in your day to dedicate a whole bunch of time to stretching and mobility. If you can this is of course ideal but most of us lead busy lives and all good intentions usually don't last.

Instead, make stretching part of your day. Learn a few drills or exercises to work on that would be most beneficial to you and do them every few hours for 30 seconds or a minute at a time.

Take this one: a mobility drill to improve dorsiflexion range through your ankles (one of the big reasons people can find a full depth squat so hard).

A great ankle mobility drill

1) Stand with the toes of one foot about 2 inches from a wall, foot straight. The other foot can be behind you for balance.
2) Leaning forward push the knee of your front foot over your toes and see if the knee can touch the wall whilst keeping the heel flat on the floor.
3) If you can do this, move the front foot back an inch or so and repeat.
4) You will come to a point where the knee wont touch the wall before your heel comes off the floor.
5) At this point work on reps of 15-20 movements pushing the knee forward and then relaxing it.
6) Change feet and repeat. Notice if there is a difference between ankles. More often than not due to previous injuries the ankles will work slightly differently.
7) A goal would be to aim to get your toes 5 inches away from the wall and still touch your knee on the wall whilst your heel remains flat. Less than this and your movement may be being compromised.

So, armed with this knowledge, every time you are waiting for the kettle to boil or are by the water dispenser at work (do offices still have those things?!) carry out this drill for a couple of minutes. Its an easy way to get your mobility work done without really dedicating any specific time to it. And believe me, do this 3 or 4 times a day for a week or so and you will notice a big difference.

Similarly, how about a hamstring stretch whilst you brush your teeth?



Okay, perhaps not that one but you get my drift! Standing with your heel on the edge of the bath and leaning forward whilst the leg stays straight is an easy thing to do whilst you clean your fangs.

Stretch regularly, consistently and make it a small but achievable part of your day. The more mobile you become the better your lifts and WOD times will be. You will move more efficiently and you will cut down your risk of injury big time.

For more information of stretching or better movement mechanics drop by the box and have a chat with us. We'll be only too happy to help.