Let's not pretend that mobility is important.
I work on athletes every week that are absolutely shredded but have intense pain and the range of motion of a 80 year-old because they don't do basic muscle maintenance.
It's an easy enough fix, have better mobility = hurt less.
Do you want to be able to press more?
Move quicker?
Minimize pain and maximize what you can do?
Stretch.
And no, you don't have to do 30 minute hot yoga with old ladies to get these benefits, although I've seen some ancient things move like water.
Here's your muscle on the right if you don't stretch.
Why is that an issue? Well you're not able to fully use your muscle fibers. This means less bounce back on fast twitch muscle (aka NO POWER) and less ability to move weight where you want it.
You want to be in the middle, which means you need to do the left.
Just do these once a day every day for 1-2 minutes and I promise you will see results.
1.) DOORWAY STRETCH: Open your shoulders/pecs
The idea behind this movement is to loosen your pecs and allow full function of your shoulders.
Just take both hands on a surface (or even just one) and step beyond to put the chest muscle before the shoulder.
This stretches your chest out which means your shoulders can stop pulling forward.
Benefits:
- Stronger bench
- Ability to get out of arm bars easier
- Ability to have full function of the shoulder
- Stops that hunch back noodle neck thing
2.) FIGURE 4 STRETCH: Open your glutes/hips/low back
This movement releases the periformis (ass muscle) and allows your low back and hips to balance.
This means you're less likely to have an SI joint out (almost everyone does) and you can use your hips correctly.
- Maximize hinge movements
- Quicker take downs
- Faster leg drive
3.) IRON CROSS: Low back
First off, this one just feels great. That's because it's pulling all the tension out of your low back and spine.
- Better hinge
- Maximizes rotational force
- Maximizes leg drive
- Better core stability
4.) HANGS: Decompress your spine
Not only does this decompress the spine, it pulls tension out of every part of your body. It also strengthens your:
upper back
shoulders
core
forearms
hand and wrist flexors
So you basically get to build while also recovering.
It's very simple. Hang for something as long as you can, dead weight.
And that's it.
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