Mobilizing for Movement Efficiency, How your mobility restrictions are hindering your performance in
What’s this about positioning?
From the beginning of onramp, to your most recent class, coaches are constantly stressing the importance of position. What does your starting position look like? Where are your hips and shoulders halfway through the movement? Is your finishing position a strong position, or are you compromised? The reason for this repetition is two fold. First, it is the coaches’ jobs to make sure that you are completing the movements correctly to keep you safe. The movements we perform, when done correctly, are inherently safe. The second reason is for performance. These positions are not only safe, but they are the positions that are the most stable and will allow you to support the most load.
Higher loads are always supported by optimally loaded joints. What do I mean by optimally loaded joints? Here is a simple test you can do right now to experience what optimally loaded and compromised joints feel like.
First, get into the top of a pushup position. Place you hands on the ground so that, if you were standing, your fingers would be pointing straight up. Wind up your arms by trying to point the inside pits of your elbows in the same direction as your fingers. Maintain the torque in your arms and do a pushup. What you have done here is placed your shoulder in its optimal loading position for a pressing movement. The ball of your upper arm bone is seated properly in the back of your shoulder socket. The torque you are creating allows the ball to be wrapped in the soft tissues of the shoulder, keeping it in place.
Next, get into the top of a pushup position, but this time I want your hand placement to be different. If we were looking at the face of a clock, I want the fingers of your left hand pointing at about 10:30, and the fingers of your right hand pointing at about 1:30. Try to create the same torque by twisting to have your elbow pits forward, and perform another pushup. This time you should feel a little less stable. Your ball is not sitting in the best spot in the socket, and the soft tissues cannot be wound as much to keep everything “tight”.
Finally, get down into a pushup position with the fingers of your left hand pointing at 9:00, and the fingers of your right hand pointing at 3:00. Try to create the same torque, and do a pushup. This one should feel pretty unstable. Your ball and socket are not aligned at all, and your soft tissues are basically spectators of the circus performance that is the pushup.
Now you have an idea of what a good should position feels like, and what a bad position feels like. If you were to look at bone structure and characteristics of movement, your hips and shoulders are very similar. Complete the above test substituting the squat for the pushup, and your toes for your fingers. The results should be similar.
Ok, I have a better idea about stability, but why is it important?
Now that you have felt the stable positions in the hips and shoulders, let me fill you in as to what is going on. In the pushup, the stable and properly loaded shoulder allows for the activation of the most muscles to help in performing the movement. By properly loading your shoulder, you gain the usage of your chest, triceps, and even back muscles. In the squat, properly loading your hips allows you to engage your posterior chain. I like to refer to your posterior chain as your main motors. The posterior chain is the largest group of muscles in your body. These muscles are responsible for the opening of your hip joint, which is the movement you perform when going from a seated position to a standing position. The posterior chain starts all the way up in your spinal erector muscles, works it’s way down to your glutes, connects to the hamstring, and ends down in your calves and Achilles tendon. By placing yourself in a proper position, you are setting yourself up to open the taps on these power-generating machines of your body.
How will this help me in the WOD?
Properly activating the muscles and other tissues in your body to place your joints in their most optimal positions will increase your capacity for handling loads. In simple terms: if you can squat X amount of weight with poor positioning, you can squat more with good positioning.
In a WOD type environment: if you can squat a certain amount of weight X number of times without resting while using bad positions, you can squat that same weight more times without resting using good positions. Proper positioning leads to increased performance. The performance increase comes from an increase in efficiency. Your muscles are working together to perform the movements, and therefore you are maximizing their potential.
I thought this was about mobility?
Here is where we bring it all home. What do your good positions look like? Where are your hips at the bottom of the squat? Can your ankles flex enough to allow you to get into the bottom of a squat without rolling onto your toes? Does your pelvis stay composed on the entire ride down and up in your squat? What does your overhead press finish position look like? Is the bar directly overhead? Is your back arched while trying to overcompensate for your shoulders that are rolled forward?
Earlier we discovered that optimal positions are expressed with stability, and stability ultimately means more power/work output by utilizing our main motors. You may have all of the best intentions on staying in those optimally loaded positions, but your body doesn’t want to cooperate because of a lack in a joint’s range of motion (ROM). This is where mobility is paramount. Mobility to me is the ability of a joint to reach its full designed ROM. This includes standing (always with a straight and stable spine… including your neck!) with your arms straight overhead, supporting a load. Also including squatting down with your feet directly under your hips, weight evenly distributed throughout your feet, all while maintaining an upright spine posture.
As coaches, we get questioned all of the time by students as to why a particular movement of theirs is not coming together. My answer is to usually break down the starting and finishing positions. Are they good stable positions? Is there a lack of ROM in one or more joints? Once we locate a problem area, we can work to restore some of this motion, and continue to put together your movements.
Ok, we’ve found my problem areas, now can you fix me?
Absolutely not. The coaches run classes through mobility drills in the beginning of class to try and break up some of the stiffness caused by everyday life. Sitting at work, driving in cars, wearing high heels… they all contribute to stiffening up our bodies. The coaches are going to get you loose and warm to make sure you are ready to work. It is your job to come in before, or stay after class to resolve incomplete ROM.
We have the tools and knowledge readily available at the box to help you on your journey. Just like gaining strength and stamina, gaining mobility takes hard work and discipline as well. Almost all of our coaches carry a certification in CrossFit Mobility.
Once upon a time, I was flexible. What happened to me?
That’s a whole other article in itself!
Thanks for reading Mobility Minutes, with Coach Jimmy, and stay tuned for next time.
Stay nimble,
