MOBILITY ON THE GO

Have you experienced neck tension or pain? Do you have low back pain?

Any of these sound familiar? Maybe you’ve told yourself you are too busy with work - that there isn’t time to do some mobility work at home. You get home from a long day at work and the last thing you want to do is mobility. You just want to plop on the couch and relax. Or perhaps you’re on vacation and after walking 12 miles, you notice your knees and calves aching. Even driving aggravates your right shoulder or upper back.

If you notice discomfort in reaching for something in the food cabinet, putting on a shirt, or even reaching behind you in the car seat, perhaps you are being limited by the lats, pecs, or weak serratus anterior muscles.

Below are some simple ways you can easily add effective mobility work either at home, at the office, or in your hotel room. All you really need is a foam roller. Bands and/or a light dumbbell would work well for two of the exercises, but not mandatory.

Give them a try and see how they go!

SHOULDER MOBILITY and/or OVERHEAD MOVEMENT

Do you feel limited when you’re lifting overhead? Perhaps you’re trying to improve your throwing arm so you can win that Rec League basketball or football game.

1. Foam roller serratus slide and lift off - similar to the video linked, but at the top of the slide, you lift one arm off the foam roller at a time OR better yet, do it on the ground like this.

  • This is great to improve your mobility, stability, and motor control. The serratus anterior muscle is a big player in overhead motion.

  • This exercise focuses on upward rotation and posterior tilt of the scapula - as we want the scapula to be able to move in this motion when going overhead.

2. If you're an overhead athlete, you can even add in PVC Pipe Lift Offs to help improve your shoulder mobility and overhead positioning even more like this.

T-SPINE EXTENSION

Do you sit 8 hours a day at work? Do you notice your shoulders rounding forward or even feeling slouched forward?

1. T-spine extension on the foam roller:

  • I’m sure most of you have seen or done this exercise as this is a fantastic exercise for those of you with desk jobs or a job that requires bending over often.

T-SPINE ROTATION

1. (Banded) thread the needle

  • Rotation can actually be quite effective in improving T-spine extension as well so this is a great exercise to help improve both.

  • Adding a band to the exercise helps reach deeper ranges - just tie a band to a sturdy pole and hold onto the band as you reach under

PEC LENGTH

Do you sit 8 hours a day at work? Do you notice your shoulders rounding forward or even feeling slouched forward?

1. Eccentric dumbbell fly on roller - I learned this from my supervisor at my job here, and love this one when I really need to open up my shoulders and lengthen my pecs.

  • This is a fantastic exercise especially for those with desk jobs

  • Overly tight pecs can lead to rounded shoulders and even neck and/or shoulder pain

HIP INTERNAL ROTATION

Do you sit 8 hours a day at work? Do you feel like your hips are always tight? Perhaps you have been dealing with some low back pain or even some knee pain.

1. Supine 90/90 hip IR breathing - (for hip IR, walk the feet outwards, keeping the knees against the foam roller) - this is what I learned in the Clinical Athlete Weightlifting Seminar that I attended a few months ago.

  • Poor breathing patterns are linked with anxiety, depression and other bad stuff. The process in which the diaphragm pulls air into the lungs is crucial in creating trunk stability, and trunk stability is crucial in generating force at the hip or shoulder, which translates over to when you workout.

  • Proper breathing pattern maintains posture. Your body should be able to support itself without so much effort - you shouldn’t need to clench your butt cheeks real hard and pull your shoulders back to maintain your posture. If you are doing it right, you should just be there, not force it there.

  • This is good for getting you set in a more neutral position and opening up your hip internal rotation. Breathing plus internal rotation tends to really clean up hip internal rotation range of motion, and gets the pelvis position much more neutral so that you can hit depth on my squat.

GLUTE ACTIVATION

Do you sit 8 hours a day at work? Do you feel like your hips are always tight? Perhaps you have been dealing with some low back pain or even some knee pain.

1. Sidelying clamshell - another golden nugget I learned from Dr. Quinn Henoch, DPT at the Clinical Athlete Seminar. This along with rolling out the TFL and IT Band can help desensitize the hip while activating the glutes.

  • Sure, you have your bridges and clams, but this is extremely effective. Some glute activation in those exercises is great, but it’s even better when you can also maintain breathing patterns and trunk position.

  • Weak and/or inhibited glutes may be related to your low back pain, if you’re experiencing some low back pain and notice your glutes are “sleepy”.

BOTTOM LINE IS TO JUST PICK A FEW THAT YOU NEED AND DO THEM.

Happy Thoughts!

-C

 

fitnessCheri ChanComment