5 minutes of mobility a day keeps the physio away
More and more these days, I see people struggling with flexibility, mobility, and general aches due to a lack of movement.
If you have a sedentary job and you don't do anything about moving your body regularly. You're most likely going to be in pain and uncomfortable. That's just it, you have to accept it.
On the other hand, if you do have a desk job where you sit the majority of the time, you don't have to be in pain, stiff, and unable to touch your toes. And it doesn't even take much to feel and move better.
This is a story of my client, Harry.
Harry is a doctor who works in the hospital with crazy hours. He's in his 30s and in great shape. Loves to climb, lift weights, hike...and enjoy all kinds of outdoor activities. When we met, about 2 and a half years ago, that wasn't the case. He was out of shape and decided to do something about it. Aside from being now in amazing shape and fit as hell, one thing that I remember very clearly was when one day he came to the garden gym and as soon as he walked in, he said: "Brani, look." He bent over and touched his toes. I was like, alright?! He said, "I was never able to do that."
You know, the funny thing is that we did zero targeted hamstring stretches. And one day, he was able to do it.
This is what Harry did on regular basis:
-Each session started with 5 minutes of mobility for the whole body (see the exact routine below) as a part of his warm-up. I make every single client of mine do this every single workout.
-We did a lot of strength training, making him really strong. What helped in this case specifically was deadlifts. Harry progressively worked his way up to 100kg deadlift and made his hips and hamstrings super strong.
-he started doing a little bit more flexibility between sets, especially things like deep squat sits with weight, when he was working out on his own. This was totally his own initiative because he wanted to improve his squat depth and mobility to perform better.
It strikes me on this day because I didn't really think about it. But when we're tight in certain areas, it's often not the problem of flexibility. It's a problem of strength.
When your body lacks strength, for example, in hamstrings, it'll signal your muscles and tendons to stiffen up because stretching past a certain level is dangerous and can cause injury. So your brain literally tells your body to stop by making it feel tight and stiff.
This is where strength training can do wonders. By making your muscles and tendons stronger, you're telling your body: "It's okay, let go of that tension. I can handle this."
Combine it with a regular 5-minute mobility or even an extra-long passive strength, maybe a favourite yoga class. And you're going to improve your flexibility, mobility, move better, more freely, and get rid of a lot of aches and pains.
You can do it too, but it won't just happen on its own.
PS: FYI, flexibility and mobility are not the same thing. Flexibility is the ability of muscles and other soft tissues to lengthen passively. Meaning without control of your muscles. Like touching your toes, you just hang in there and let the gravity do the work. Mobility is the ability to actively and controllably move a joint through its full range of motion. Performing a deep squat, maintaining control and proper form throughout the entire movement. They both are very important!
Workout of the day:
As I mentioned above, here is a quick 5-minute mobility routine you can do every single day (or at least the days you work out). I personally start every workout with this routine before going to the dynamic warm-up.
1 - Foam rolling everything that needs it 30 sec per muscle group (upper back, rear shoulder/shoulder blade, glutes, hamstrings, calves, quads)
2 - 5x cat-cow
3 - 5x lying thoracic rotation on each side (last rep hold 10 sec)
4 - 10x 90/90 hip switch
5 - 10x floor shoulder slides
There you go. This routine targets the whole body, spine (upper and lower), shoulders, and hips.
I hope it makes you feel and move better.