I often get asked about mobility. Clients and friends want to know how to make their bodies feel better, what to mobilize to make ____ pain go away. I was going to write a post on the most effective mobilization methods, but I realized this would be jumping the gun. Mobility is an all encompassing approach to quality, pain-free movement. Many forget that quality movement is the first component of mobility. If movement is poor and positions are sub-optimal no amount of mobilizing will help. Here I will teach you how to be in the best position for everyday life and performance. Know this: if you are out of position for repeated or long bouts you will eventually have pain. The idea is to get in a good position before pain is created. If you already have pain, you must address your position to make any mobilization techniques stick.
Take a deep breath
When asked to take a deep breath, most folks inhale through their mouth, making their clavicle and chest rise. This kind of breath may feel big and deep (that's what she said), but it is actually unproductive and shallow. A deep breath should be slow and through the nose, making the lower ribs (diaphragm) expand in a three-dimensional fashion. It should look like a tiny person behind your navel just opened an umbrella inside of you. If you put your hands around the bottom of your ribs, you should feel them expand. One way to get better at proper breathing is to lie on your back, feet up against a wall.
The best way I have found to teach proper breathing is to have my client smell peppermint oil. Attempting to smell (not vacuum up through one's nose, as some will do) automatically makes everyone I've encountered breathe properly. You can use coffee, toothpaste, essential oils, anything with a pleasant (for your sake) and strong odor. A lot of my clients have peppermint oil (which can be purchased at Whole Foods, Fairway, etc) on them at all times to help them breathe under stress or at the gym. In a pinch, you can pretend that you are trying to smell coffee in the air, this often works like a charm. Once you understand how to breathe properly, your spine will be much easier to stabilize, improving the quality of your movement and stability.
Brace yourself
Movement happens from core to extremity. This means that the stability in your spine leads to mobility and power in your hips and shoulders, If your spine isn't braced during performance and physical tasks, you are at risk for spinal injury and you are not being as powerful or as mobile as you could be. The following is a universal bracing sequence from who else--Kelly Starrett:
- Squeeze your butt and screw your feet into the floor.
- Pull your rib cage down.
- Flex your abs and breathe into the tight container you've made of them.
- Set your head in a neutral position and screw your shoulders down and out.
This bracing sequence applies to almost all exercises. The greater the load, the more intense and important the bracing sequence will need to be. Even when you are just standing around, there should be some semblance of bracing happening. If you stand all day (hi, trainers), make sure that your butt is squeezed and your abs are 'on.' It is also important for your shoulders to be depressed (down) and externally rotated (rotated out). Having your shoulders rolled in, abdominals soft, or standing on one hip will eventually come back to haunt you in the form of pain, injury or decreased strength and power.
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| Mike demonstrates a braced, neutral spine, an over-extended and an over-flexed posture Photo taken at Crunch 34th street |
If you sit all day, you should really find a way to stand more often. Get a standing desk, take calls standing, move your wastepaper basket down the hall, a-la my mother. When you do sit, brace before you sit down and attempt to keep tension in your abs while sitting. If you find that you are slouching, get up, brace and sit again. Fixing your slouch while sitting leads to being in another compromising position.
You are what you do
Before moving on to how to position yourself for movement, this point must be made: if you are in poor static positions all day, your body will adapt to those positions, not to your 1 hour or so of exercise. If you sit all day you will have a 'sitter's body,' your anterior hip and shoulder muscles will be locked in a short position and you will have a default over-extended or over-flexed spinal position. You cannot take this sitter's body of yours and throw it into high level movement and strength training without pain or injury somewhere down the line. You must strive to get into good positions throughout your day, and you must undo every hour you sit with at least 3 minutes of mobility work. Here is a short clip with Dr, Kelly Starrett about sitting awareness and a few stretches you can do to undo your seated ways,
Keep your spine together
As stated earlier, the bracing sequence above applies to movement, it is a way to keep your spine from moving under load. This means the way your back looks at the beginning of an exercise is the way it should look at the end of an exercise. When performing movements, you should only be changing the angles of your hips, shoulders and appendage joints (like knees and elbows). It is an error for any part of your spine to flex or extend locally during a movement.
This can mean your lower back rounding in a squat, or you craning your neck to get it over the top of a pull-up bar. If this happens it means you are either missing end range of motion or lack the motor control and strength to stay braced. For example, missing end range of motion is expressed if you round your back to reach a bar because your hips are too tight to flex all the way down. Arching your back and squirming to get out of the bottom of a dip is an example of not being strong enough to complete the movement properly. The movement is so hard for you that you can't 'waste' any energy bracing, so your spine loses position.
If you are missing end range of motion, you will have to work on mobilizing the joint system that lacks mobility and restricting range of motion to what you can control. If you lack strength, you must scale the exercise to a range of motion or degree that you can complete safely. For personal records, some spinal disorganization may happen, you have to recognize this and not accept it for your working sets. Ugly form and disorganized spines won't lead to strength in the right areas, you don't want to get good at an exercise doing it the wrong way.
*note: there are some positions, like those in yoga or gymnastics that cause the whole body to be arched or flexed. These positions aren't bad because the whole body and spine are moving in the same way, the spine is not flexing or extending at one segment.*
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| Mike demonstrates global extension in this yoga position, his spine is not in danger. Photo taken at Solace New York |
Torquing
At this point you should understand that the spine should be in a braced and neutral position during activity. Having a braced-neutral spine will give you the stability needed to create force through your hips and shoulders. Symbiotically, if you generate enough tension and force (torque) in your extremities, you have a better chance of maintaining a braced spine. Generating tension in your hips and shoulders is crucial for optimal force, power and stability during movement. The following cues should be part of your bracing sequence and movement prep:
- Screw your feet into the ground.
- Spread the floor.
- Push your knees out.
- Activate the arch in your foot.
- Break the bar.
- Tear the floor with your hands.
- Fondle the floor (a favorite cue from handstand and pole genius Samantha Star)
- Pull the bar apart (like a magician's scarf).
- Hide your armpits (for pull-ups)
- Armpits forward (for overhead pressing).
- Elbow pits forward (for push-ups and dips).
When you rotate your hips and shoulders into an 'on' position, they become powerful and stable. If you create torque before you move, you can get away with missing a small bit of flexion or extension range of motion. For example, if you don't have great hip flexion, but have excellent hip rotation/torque you will be able to lift an object safely and productively. If you are missing shoulder or hip rotation, stabilizing your spine and generating force becomes exceedingly difficult.
It is important to have your legs squeezed together when performing upper body movements and your shoulders screwed in when performing lower body movements. Failing to do either leaks tension and force all over the gym floor. It is also important to move with feet and hands (when performing push-ups, etc) facing forward, not turned out. Squatting, for example, with turned out feet makes it impossible to facilitate hip tension. Make a stable point to generate torque off of, a forward facing foot or hand.
Start good, finish better
Setting up your movements with spinal stability and torque at the hips and shoulders is just as important as finishing them in the same manner. Movement has a start position and a finish position, the middle, where most movement occurs, is called the transition. The transition is a product of the start and finish position. If you have a poor start position and a good finish position or vice versa, your transition will be negatively affected. For example, if your setup and bracing sequence is perfect but your squats still look and feel like crap, look at your bottom position. The bottom of your squat should have knees out, shoulders screwed in and spine intact. If you can't get into a good bottom position, you are either lacking end range mobility in your ankles, hips or thoracic spine, or you aren't strong enough to maintain the proper position under load.
Start good, finish better
Setting up your movements with spinal stability and torque at the hips and shoulders is just as important as finishing them in the same manner. Movement has a start position and a finish position, the middle, where most movement occurs, is called the transition. The transition is a product of the start and finish position. If you have a poor start position and a good finish position or vice versa, your transition will be negatively affected. For example, if your setup and bracing sequence is perfect but your squats still look and feel like crap, look at your bottom position. The bottom of your squat should have knees out, shoulders screwed in and spine intact. If you can't get into a good bottom position, you are either lacking end range mobility in your ankles, hips or thoracic spine, or you aren't strong enough to maintain the proper position under load.
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| Kyle demonstrates a good start and finish to his squat. Photo taken at Solace New York |
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| Mike demonstrates a really bad quarter squat bottom position. Photo taken at Crunch 34th street |
Now it is time for you to take inventory and responsibility for your movements. Good positioning looks like this:
- Breathing diagrammatically
- Spine braced and neutral
- Torque at hips and shoulders
- Feet and hands forward
Poor movement and positioning signs:
- Chest breathing
- Local extension or flexion in spine
- Hips or shoulders internally rotated (except the back leg in a lunge or jumping prep)
- Feet and hands spiraled out
- Knees in, elbows flared
Look at movement and positioning as step one in your mobilization journey. Once you understand how to be in good positions, you will have less pain, more mobility and power. Digest and apply this information and you will be ready to learn about mobilization techniques. If you sat while reading this, get up and move around.
