Mobility, Flexibility, Etc.

[djartek]

I've seen a lot of questions asked about how to keep yourself from getting injured and keeping yourself going through hard workouts, stiffness, DOMS, etc.

Also majority of the people that ask how to do exercises, generally lack flexibility and or mobility, and don't understand why they are leaning forward during squats, or can't get deep enough-this is just one example.

Here are some of the articles and videos that have really helped me gain better flexibility, mobility, and overall quicker recovery and less pain:

General Foam Rolling and Soft Tissue Work:
Soft Tissue Work for Tough Guys



http://activereleasetechnique.com/ - ART this stuff work's miracles

Hips & Legs:
Get Your Butt In Gear





Shoulders:
Shoulder Savers Part 1
Shoulder Savers Part 2
Shoulder Savers Part 3

[djartek]

Feel free to add your own remedies, tips, tricks, and drills.

[BFJ]

I've seen a lot of questions asked about how to keep yourself from getting injured and keeping yourself going through hard workouts, stiffness, DOMS, etc.

Also majority of the people that ask how to do exercises, generally lack flexibility and or mobility, and don't understand why they are leaning forward during squats, or can't get deep enough-this is just one example.

Here are some of the articles and videos that have really helped me gain better flexibility, mobility, and overall quicker recovery and less pain:

General Foam Rolling and Soft Tissue Work:
Soft Tissue Work for Tough Guys



http://activereleasetechnique.com/ - ART this stuff work's miracles

Hips & Legs:
Get Your Butt In Gear





Shoulders:
Shoulder Savers Part 1
Shoulder Savers Part 2
Shoulder Savers Part 3

thanks man, it's great that you're sharing this stuff. i couldn't agree more. i am always trying to keep an eye out for what could/is leading to injury in myself or others. unfortunately though, i find that despite my knowing a good amount about this stuff, knowing how to address asymetries can be tough on your own. i'd advise all the above you're provided, but also a second set of eyes and brain to help with determining asymetries. often times increasing mobility and addressing muscular imbalances only goes so far when there's still a L to R discrepancy.

anyways, lol, sorry didn't mean to make it seem like i was taking away from the great info you've provided, just expanding upon it i guess.

[djartek]

I was going to get into the details of muscle imbalances but that would have taken forever. I hope that every smart trainee knows that they need to do unilateral work with both barbells and dumbbells, as well as body weight exercises.

That should be common sense...I would think...but who knows?

[djartek]

Use these before some of your leg sessions, or even on your off days as active recovery plays a large part in helping your body recover more quickly.



HAM Mobility


HUG Mobility

[dopamine72]

Great stuff OP, subbed for future use, and repped

[notorius1]

reps on recharge for sure. I've been lookin for something like this for a while!

[TexAss]

I would say this needs to be a sticky but then no one would read it

[notorius1]

I would say this needs to be a sticky but then no one would read it

I'll definitely second that motion!!! Where da mods at on this?

[djartek]

I would say this needs to be a sticky but then no one would read it

I'll definitely second that motion!!! Where da mods at on this?

Thanks for the suggestions for this being stickied. I will try to add more to the thread, just been real busy with work and haven't had much time to add to the thread in the past couple of weeks!

[Bear_Felix]

Very nice post, hope it gets sticked.

[wick]

subbing so I can read later.

Hopefully this is useful to me as I'm probably the most inflexible person the world. I can't even touch my toes.. not even close =/

[djartek]

Active Recovery: Your New Found Friend!

I've been doing this for years even when I boxed. My coach/Father never let me sit on my ass on my days off or even after matches or hard workouts, he always had me do something, whether it was light cardio running, biking, low-intensity plyo-metrics, shadow boxing, technical work etc. I never really understood why he had me do it but he kept on saying this is what they use to do in Europe and this is what the Russians always did when it came to boxing. I understand bodybuilding and weightlifting are completely different from boxing, but there has to be a correlation.

When I started lifting I didn't know much just like most of us noobs didn't. So I lifted, did a little cardio and didn't do jack squat on my days off. Then after some time I started to stall on all of my lifts and felt like crap when I would lift. So I decided to take some time off, didn't work, de-load worked for a while, then nothing, diet was in check, sleeping and resting etc. etc. nothing helped.

One day talking to my dad and he says you should start coming to the gym and start shadow boxing and jumping rope on the days you don't lift. So I decided to spend some more time with my dad and then after a while I noticed that yes I was spending more and more time working out overall, but at a low intensity at the boxing gym and higher intensity in the weight room. After a couple of weeks I started to feel less and less groggy and I was busting through plateaus and experiencing less and less soreness and fatigue.

So I decided to do some research on the INTERNETZ and came across the term active recovery, and now it all began to make sense and those crazy commie's were onto something 40+ years ago and sitting on your arse the day after your hard workout or match or event or even later in the day isn't always the best thing for your body when it comes to recovery. Your body likes to move and the more you move as opposed to be dormant the better your body will recover. I'm not saying go run a marathon the next day after you had a hard day at the gym but do something.

15-30 Minutes of Cardio, Mobility Drills, Stretching, Walking, Biking, Swimming and doing all of this at a very low intensity so you can still carry on a normal conversation with out being winded.

Will follow up with links tomorrow!

No Cliffs

[SandMayne]

subbed into this.

I need more flexibility and mobility =/

[Daio]

Big up for posting this man, will def check out these vids.
Ive got a history of tendon problems so could definately benefit from this sort of thing!

Am thinking about starting some yoga too ;-)

[Daio]

Repped btw ;-)

[-Lucifer]

Just 5 star'd this motherf*cker.

[matt297]

Flexibility

Flexibility is defined by Gummerson as "the absolute range of movement in a joint or series of joints that is attainable in a momentary effort with the help of a partner or a piece of equipment." This definition tells us that flexibility is not something general but is specific to a particular joint or set of joints.

Don't try to increase flexibility too quickly by forcing yourself. Stretch no further than the muscles will go without pain.

Muscles and tendons have a neural reflex arc that prevents excessive stretching, or tension developing. Receptor nerves within the muscle are sensitive to changes in muscle length and tension. When a muscle is stretched, the muscle spindles send a message to the central nervous system to cause a reflex contraction of the muscle in order to prevent stretch damage. However, if the stretch is maintained for more than 6 seconds the Golgi tendon organs respond to the change in muscle tension by sending a signal to the central nervous system which causes the muscle to relax. This means that stretching exercises should be done slowly with a gradual increase in the range of movement every few seconds. The total duration of the stretch should be about 20 seconds.

Active flexibility

Research has shown that active flexibility is more closely related to the level of sports achievement than is passive flexibility. Active flexibility is harder to develop than passive flexibility (which is what most people think of as "flexibility"); not only does active flexibility require passive flexibility in order to assume an initial extended position, it also requires muscle strength to be able to hold and maintain that position.

(I was gona make a thread about stretching and myofascial release (foam rolling) a little while ago but I've been to busy and you've done the job! I pulled this stuff from http://people.bath.ac.uk/masrjb/Stre...etching_4.html i think. Got a lot of stuff on stretching if you want to throw that into the mix).

[djartek]

Active Recovery

Light activity between sets can improve recovery. In a study conducted at University of Kansas, subjects completed six sets of squats (85% 10RM) with 4 minute rest periods between sets. Rest periods consisted of either sitting quietly (passive recovery) or cycling at 25% or 50% of VO2max (active recovery). Blood lactate was significantly lower when cycling at 25% of VO2max compared to the other two types of rest periods. Following the initial workout, the 25% VO2 recovery group continued to perform more repetitions to exhaustion (65% if 10RM) compared to the other two recovery groups. Also see Dodd (1984).

Corder K, Potteiger J , Nau K, Figoni S, Hershberger S (1998). Effects of active and passive recovery on lactate, RPE, and performance during resistance training. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 30(5), Supplement abstract 194.

Corder KP, Potteiger JA, Nau KL, Figoni SE, Hershberger SL (2000). Effects of active and passive recovery conditions on blood lactate, rating of percieved exertion, and performance during resistance exercise. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 14: 151-156.

Active Recovery-A Three Fold Break Down: http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/magaz...verecovery.htm

Big Gains with Active Recovery
by Nick Tumminello: http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_a...ctive_recovery

7 Secrets to Rapid Recovery
by Christian Thibaudeau: http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_a...rapid_recovery

[kev120782]

This is definitely a nice thread! I admit I didnt see it stickied, but didnt think about looking for this particular thing because its my knees that are bothering me, not my hips. Which one of these would be good for the knees?

I will try most of these because I am poor on my flexibility anyways. Also because I am beggining to lean forward a bit in my squats, Id say these are all very important to do. Thank you for taking the time to share what you have learned and your knowledge.

[djartek]

This is definitely a nice thread! I admit I didnt see it stickied, but didnt think about looking for this particular thing because its my knees that are bothering me, not my hips. Which one of these would be good for the knees?

Its all interrelated bad knees can be a result of poor hip mobility and flexibility as well as incorrect muscular balance and poor recruitment of your glutes. Everything is connected in a way so if you think that its just your knees I bet your ass it has a lot to do with your hips and ankles/feet.

[400Lb Gorilla]

5 stars..... reps on recharge hit you tomorrow

[kev120782]

Its all interrelated bad knees can be a result of poor hip mobility and flexibility as well as incorrect muscular balance and poor recruitment of your glutes. Everything is connected in a way so if you think that its just your knees I bet your ass it has a lot to do with your hips and ankles/feet.

Alright, that makes more sense to me. Just had to have it put another way thats all! I also will lower the weight a lot more and stop trying to increase the weight until that pain goes away. This thread deserves 5 stars! Thanks again!

[djartek]

Alright, that makes more sense to me. Just had to have it put another way thats all! I also will lower the weight a lot more and stop trying to increase the weight until that pain goes away. This thread deserves 5 stars! Thanks again!

Also I would start to do some unilateral leg work as well with and without weights. This is a good change of pace and will help you build some stability in your legs and help you recruit your muscles better!

[Tyciol]

I love the ones where they can present their wisdom in nice bite-size youTube clips, it's the worst when it's some 10min monstrosity that ends up sucking but you already downloaded it so you sit through it all.

I like the acronyms too.

[whiteboyy09]

great thread, just bought a foam roller this weekend. It hurts like hell but it feels great after

[djartek]

I love the ones where they can present their wisdom in nice bite-size youTube clips, it's the worst when it's some 10min monstrosity that ends up sucking but you already downloaded it so you sit through it all.

I like the acronyms too.

I swear I hate those long videos and when you get to the end you're like what was he talking about or trying to prove.

great thread, just bought a foam roller this weekend. It hurts like hell but it feels great after

Isn't it

[FryDude]

What am I doing wrong if I don't feel anything besides my body rolling up and down on the foam roller?

Maybe it's too big?

[Gzus]

What am I doing wrong if I don't feel anything besides my body rolling up and down on the foam roller?

Maybe it's too big?

Get in a position where you can relax the muscle completely, breathe and roll along slowly.

I use a small diameter piece of PVC pipe wrapped with yoga mat (device of death) instead of an actual foam roller, on my hamstrings. But even with that I hardly ever get anything out of my hamstrings.

[SandMayne]

bumping this thread.

I've been working on mobility/flexibility drills and stretches twice a day along with foam rolling. My squats feel so much more smoother, less lower back pumps, more glute activation, less glute/hip stiffness and no knee pain at all.

I encourage anyone who isn't doing any of these to start doing them.