There are a few great things about learning how your body moves. Learning concepts of how your body should function and what it is doing during movements is key to fixing common faults and errors. I want to teach you 3 concepts of how to assess some common mobility issues and how you can work towards fixing them.
To start fixing your mobility, you need to understand these practical mobility lessons:
- Take action and own your mobility and lack there of.
- Ease in and be consistent with your efforts.
- Always practice proper mobility and learn about your body.
So lets look into the first lesson, taking action and understanding your own mobility issues. Don’t wait until you are in pain or get hurt before you start working on your mobility. There is a way to avoid potential mobility issues, unnecessary pain, and in the worst case, injuries. Get a proper assessment before you start adding in random mobility movements so you know what you should be doing to correct the issue. You do not need someone in person to assess you, there are many tools online and techniques to check your form and range of motion.. Educate yourself and learn about your own body. Pick up only the most basic tools to start, and then work them daily, and with intention. The top 3 most common issues to check first are tight ankles specifically, dorsiflexion, poor thoracic extension which is a tight and rounded upper back, and poor shoulder flexion that causes trouble in the front rack position, and inability to raise the arms completely overhead.
Step 2 is just being consistent. You need to approach your mobility in steps and not just going in and fixing EVERYTHING all at once. In order to get better in your mobility, you need to make small changes and see if those changes are working to benefit your problem. This concepts is a better strategy than trying so many things that you have no idea what worked and what didn’t. If there’s something you need to improve, work at it simply and consistently. Track your efforts, take progress photos so you know how much work you’re actually doing. And most importantly, keep working at it until you’ve made real progress.
Last step is learning new mobility concepts and applying them to your practice. You should try to work hard to make positive changes towards better mobility and helping others along the way as long as they are willing to learn. Also, make use of your coaches because they WILL help you with any issues you are having. You can learn a lot by having someone watch and identify issues along with the proper knowledge to teach you why you should be doing something !
Make sure you are always on your learning game. As a coach, I love when I have athletes who come to me asking me about something they went to research themselves is an amazing experience. It’s important to want to learn as much as you can and knowledge is power !!!