OLN : 002 Mobility
Mobility is a dirty word. People cringe slightly when saying it, followed by an admission of needing to do more. The misconception is that mobility is ambiguously describing an act that is immeasurable. Mobility has a specific training sensation, it is difficult because you are making neurological connections that don’t exist yet (you can’t do what you can’t do) but it is not fatiguing in the same way repetitions of lifting a weight are. Attaining mobility can be elusive because it feels unfamiliar. By the time you have mobility, it isn’t mobility because familiarity or “control of a range of motion” is just known as capability.
Most of life takes place predominantly in the sagittal plane (anything in front of us). We twist, rotate, and bend less while sitting more, and even our training places us mostly in the sagittal plane. It is not that sitting is inherently bad, but an abundance of sitting coupled with a lack of movement, can send the signal to the body that certain ranges are not needed.
The goal with this session, as well as the ones to follow in the coming weeks, is to begin experimenting with moving through different planes of motion, both loaded and unloaded, to begin to access more ranges of motions to compromised positions — meaning position we should be able to get in to, but currently cannot access safely.
My theory is that the more ways we can articulate the spine, the better the neurological signaling to the extremities becomes during normal everyday activities and acute situations where "danger" exists. This could mean slipping on ice, participating in some sort of contact sport, or any situation that requires your body to react more quickly than normal — and yes, plenty of people hurt themselves sneezing.
It will never get any easier to do mobility than it will be right now. Keep that in mind.
Work:
10 minutes of Hacky Sack Play
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3 Sets
3/3 Shoulder CARs
3/3 Hip CARs
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Pail and Rail
- Hip Internal Rotation
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3 Sets
15/15 Shoulder External Rotation Impulses
10 Cuban Press
10/10 Half Kneeling Overhead Side Bend
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2min Spine CAR
*as few repetitions as possible while continuously moving.
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3 Sets
:10-:15 GHD Side Bend per side
10/10 Half Kneeling Banded Medball Rotations
10 Jefferson Squats (no loading)
Flow:
Begin the session by juggling a Hacky Sack the best you can for 10 minutes. This may be trying to get as many contacts as possible by yourself or with a partner.
After your play activity perform 3x shoulder CARs (controlled Articular Rotations) on the right and left arm
After the Shoulder CARs, perform 3x Hip CARs on the right and left hip
After your Hip CARs, perform 3x Thoracic CARs
Repeat the CARs for 2 more rounds, for a total of 3 rounds.
Next, you will perform a PAIL and RAIL (progressive/regressive angular isometric loading) for shoulder external rotation on both the right and the left arm. (watch demo here)
After you’ve completed the Shoulder PAIL and RAIL, perform the Hip PAIL and RAIL for internal rotation.
You will then move to 3 sets of the following movement: 15 reps on each arm of Shoulder External Rotation impulses. 10x Cuban Press and 10x Half Kneeling Overhead side bends on each side. Rest as needed to ensure quality.
After finishing the 3 sets perform 2 minutes of slow Spine CARs (also called Spine Segmentation).
The last sequence of movements is as follows: perform 3 sets of a 10-15 second GHD side bend on each side of your body, followed by 10x each side Half Kneeling Medball Rotations, and finish the set with 10x Jefferson Squats.
Repeat the last sequence 2 more times for a total of 3 sets.
Session complete.
*PLEASE READ: Most of these movements will put you in a relatively compromised position, so excessive loading is a bad idea. I think a 45lb empty bar was the heaviest anyone went on the Cuban Press, and even that felt slightly excessive for the day's intent. Each movement, and the compounding effect of the sessions, should leave you feeling better than when you started. If anything feels off or weird, DON’T DO IT.
