With the holidays coming people try to get in and out of the gym as quick as they can, because of this they neglect the most important aspect of being active and involved in strength training, mobility. Mobility is a keystone strength training it can help with recovery, decrease stress, and help with life in general. Bear Canyon CrossFit hopes to help with this by releasing different mobility exercises you can do to help optimize your fitness level and keep you happy and healthy.
- First we will focus on the upper body specifically the serratus anterior muscles, serratus posterior inferior muscles, external abdominal obliques, the longissimus muscles, and finally the latissimus dorsi muscles. All these muscles comprise from the armpit to the hip. Start by setting up the band on a pull-up bar, next we bring our hand up through the bottom and grab the band. The step away far enough where there is tension in the band and slight stretch down the side when hand is lifted to 12 o’clock. From here we cross the foot furthest from the rig behind our closer leg and lean directly into the stretch. Try to focus on having the bicep behind the head which will allow for the best stretch. 20-30 seconds is optimal then switch arms and repeat for two sets on each arm. This is perfect after workouts with lots of pull-ups or muscle
- Next we focus on the adductor muscles. There are more than one so we have to make sure we cover them all. These muscles are the pectineus, adductor brevis, adductor longus, and adductor magnus. First lay on your side, knee and hip flat on the floor. The barbell angle is the same angle as shin, this means the bar will be perpendicular to our thigh and the muscles we plan to mash. Roll these muscles out and if you find a specific spot continue to roll over it until it loosens up. This is perfect for the end of the week after numerous lunges squats and sumo deadlifts.