As a CrossFitter, it’s so common to preach about being mobile and stable. However, you need both of these movements when trying to train your body to move as a unit. You need to train movement. Mobility and stability, which are also know as motor control units, are important concepts to understand and work with. You need to take these two small components and focus on the BIG picture of movement.
So which side are you on? There is one group of people who live and breathe mobility exercises: rolling, smashing, and stretching. Then there is the stability group, whose proponents feel everything can be fixed with stability work by using different motor control techniques to strengthen the muscles. Each group has amazing benefits but just think if you combined them as a unit and worked them together. The one thing you have to understand is the direct correlation between mobility work and stability. You can foam roll some painful spot but until you address the body part that is lagging, your efforts in mobility is just covering it up and not fixing the underlying issue.
So what do you need to do ? You need to create a program that has both mobility and stability work in it for you to function without stiffness, soreness or pain. Just think of this example. If your lower back hurts, you need to think of areas above and below that can also be causing this issue. Perhaps it’s your hamstrings that are super tight and that is causing the lower back pain. By combining a massage technique along with using stabilizing exercises, you can now teach more movement which will result in less pain overall.
But why does our motor control become poor overtime?
- Sedentary or deconditioned state (if you don’t use it, you lose it)
- Previous injury, instability, or structural deformity
- Predisposition to hypermobility (the joints don’t communicate as tightly with the muscles)
These things lead to poor movement and poor motor programming. This is why we need to intervene and train proper motor control to stay injury resilient and to rehab from any current injuries .Strength training your stabilizing muscles is a waste of time and energy. These muscles aren’t strong to begin with which is why you need to add in movements like overhead carries, farmer carries, turkish get ups and overhead holds into programming. They are anticipatory and reflex driven and need to be trained as such. Proper movement and motor programming is key and will make the difference that allows you to be an injury-resilient athlete in the gym.