No Pain No Gain
Most of us have probably heard this saying too many times when it comes to working out and getting in shape. People often run themselves into the ground trying to do too much or exercises that are too difficult.
What Ends Up Happening
You’re left feeling beat up, sluggish, and dreading the next day after your workouts for years to come.
It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way
We still need to give our workouts a lot of effort, but we don’t have to feel overly tight because of them.
P.S. You will still get sore and that’s okay. I still get sore and I have been training for years.
Here’s How We See It
Our passion is helping you move better and achieving your fitness goals. Strength and mobility aren’t exclusive and never should be seen as being such.
When it comes to choosing your exercises one place we start is learning how you move. What ranges of motion do you have and how strong are you in them?
For example, if you have 100 degrees of shoulder flexion, that means that you can only reach your arm that far overhead without compensation. Here is how we measure that:
If people don’t have “genuine” shoulder flexion, then they’re going to take the path of least resistance. This usually involves arching the back excessively to get their arm overhead:
And then your back gets stiff. And then your shoulder mobility actually gets worse, because you’re overly tightening your back muscles. Over time this restricts how much your shoulder blade can move.
But let’s say you still want to overhead press. We will work within your specific ranges to keep improving your strength and movement quality.
While still working to improve your range of motion over time so you can overhead press without restriction or limitations. In this case, that could be something like a wall-referenced alternating dumbbell press.
Why’s This Important
If we have access to a range of motion without compensating to get there (this basically means we don’t twist or do something funky trying to do a movement like raising our arm overhead). Then it’s a great place for you to train.
If we don’t have access to a range of motion without compensating, we probably don’t want to spend a lot of time there. Training in those compensatory ranges is likely going to push up further into them.
When we compensate to get into ranges of motions, we can stiffened up in some areas and lose some of our mobility.
Improving Your Mobility
Once we’ve learned how you move and where your mobility is limited…We Can Improve It!
By performing a well structured warm up and workout routine, you can work to increase your ranges of motion and remove those compensations.
We Have The Tools
The position of your body during an exercise can help improve mobility in specific areas. We have two main types of movements which are external and internal rotation. You need enough of each to move well.
In our clients programs both are present at all times, but we will focus on giving them more of whatever they’re in need of.
For example: If we want to improve your shoulder mobility, we can use something like a goblet or zercher squat to do. These have a lower arm reaching position that gives the upper back the opportunity to decompress.
Short and Sweet
We want to prioritize working within the ranges of motions we have access to without compensating.
How do you find out what your ranges of motion are? Easy, we’re going to do a movement assessment. With that information, we can get you working smarter by picking exercises that are within your ranges.
You’ll get the most bang for your buck doing these and walk out of the gym feeling less beat up.
As you train, we’ll progress your exercises to improve your mobility and keep you progressing.
