4 WAYS TO UPGRADE YOUR MOBILITY TRAINING, PART ONE
“You’re too tight.”
“You need to stretch more!”
How many times have we been told that our inflexibility is why we’re injured, sore, too slow, or can’t touch our toes.
While this advice is well intentioned, it only addresses one aspect of a complex physiological system—muscle length.
While stretching can yield favorable results for some—especially in the early phases of a program—its effects are often fleeting, and range-of-motion improvements often lack functional carryover to dynamic activities.
The truth is that the “stretch it out” paradigm in and of itself fails to account for many of the other qualities that contribute to overall mobility like motor control, joint function, and position.
In order to bring your mobility to the next level, we’re highlighting four techniques to address these other performance-limiting factors.
For Motor Control: CARs
Passive range of motion (i.e. the ability to touch your toes) is nice to have, but the ultimate goal for any mobility exercise is to increase usable movement. This involves a carefully choreographed exchange between the muscles and the nervous system to provide enough tension to maintain stability, but not so much that it unduly restricts motion.
Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) utilize active, rotational movements to sharpen and refine the give and take between the muscles and the nervous system, while building pattern-specific strength.
During each CARs rep, the goal is twofold: to increase the size of the “circle” without the motion spilling over into other parts of the body, and to strengthen working muscles by creating escalating muscular tension around the moving joint each rep. The best way to do the latter is to imagine pulling yourself through thick mud as you move through each repetition.
These are best performed slowly, with each rep lasting 5-8 seconds. Try 2-3 sets of 2-3 reps per side.
For Joint Function: Joint Mobilizations
Joint mobilizations are active, self-generated movements designed to improve range of motion at the joint level. This is accomplished by using a thick rubber band to apply angled pressure to a joint during a movement. The placement of the band, and the direction of pressure, is calibrated to encourage accessory joint motion.
Accessory motions are small movements that occur between the articulating surfaces of the bones within the joint capsule—a flexible membrane that surrounds and protects all synovial joints. If the capsule becomes stiff or overstretched on one side, it can alter the position of the joint within and restrict accessory motion.
The aim of the joint mobilization is to stretch the capsule and/or decompress the surrounding tissue.
Here’s a hip joint mobilization that uses a 1.5-inch stretch band to apply a posterior force to the hip capsule during flexion. This would have the effect of decompressing the front of the joint capsule while stretching the back.
In the next post we’ll explore two more techniques that will help you avoid mobility bottlenecks by prioritizing position, strength and motor control in end-range positions.
4 WAYS TO UPGRADE YOUR MOBILITY TRAINING, PART ONE
“You’re too tight.”
“You need to stretch more!”
How many times have we been told that our inflexibility is why we’re injured, sore, too slow, or can’t touch our toes.
While this advice is well intentioned, it only addresses one aspect of a complex physiological system—muscle length.
While stretching can yield favorable results for some—especially in the early phases of a program—its effects are often fleeting, and range-of-motion improvements often lack functional carryover to dynamic activities.
The truth is that the “stretch it out” paradigm in and of itself fails to account for many of the other qualities that contribute to overall mobility like motor control, joint function, and position.
In order to bring your mobility to the next level, we’re highlighting four techniques to address these other performance-limiting factors.
For Motor Control: CARs
Passive range of motion (i.e. the ability to touch your toes) is nice to have, but the ultimate goal for any mobility exercise is to increase usable movement. This involves a carefully choreographed exchange between the muscles and the nervous system to provide enough tension to maintain stability, but not so much that it unduly restricts motion.
Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) utilize active, rotational movements to sharpen and refine the give and take between the muscles and the nervous system, while building pattern-specific strength.
During each CARs rep, the goal is twofold: to increase the size of the “circle” without the motion spilling over into other parts of the body, and to strengthen working muscles by creating escalating muscular tension around the moving joint each rep. The best way to do the latter is to imagine pulling yourself through thick mud as you move through each repetition.
These are best performed slowly, with each rep lasting 5-8 seconds. Try 2-3 sets of 2-3 reps per side.
For Joint Function: Joint Mobilizations
Joint mobilizations are active, self-generated movements designed to improve range of motion at the joint level. This is accomplished by using a thick rubber band to apply angled pressure to a joint during a movement. The placement of the band, and the direction of pressure, is calibrated to encourage accessory joint motion.
Accessory motions are small movements that occur between the articulating surfaces of the bones within the joint capsule—a flexible membrane that surrounds and protects all synovial joints. If the capsule becomes stiff or overstretched on one side, it can alter the position of the joint within and restrict accessory motion.
The aim of the joint mobilization is to stretch the capsule and/or decompress the surrounding tissue.
Here’s a hip joint mobilization that uses a 1.5-inch stretch band to apply a posterior force to the hip capsule during flexion. This would have the effect of decompressing the front of the joint capsule while stretching the back.
In the next post we’ll explore two more techniques that will help you avoid mobility bottlenecks by prioritizing position, strength and motor control in end-range positions.