Get Mobile or Die Trying: Mobility 101

At the time of writing this post, it is Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s birthday. For this reason, as you may have noticed, the title bears resemblance to his debut album, Get Rich or Die Tryin. You may also know “Fitty” claims to have been shot 9 times but doesn’t walk with a limp. This is due, in total, to his workout regimen that he implemented throughout the course of his recovery. Aside from general strengthening movements, he utilized a variety of stretches and myofascial release techniques to break up scar tissue and revitalize his body. He then went on to develop a respectable, if a bit bloated, physique. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is another entertainer who suffered a serious injury. Most likely due to his lack of mobility training coupled with a break from heavy HGH usage, he tore his Achilles filming the movie The Game Plan. Amusingly, he partook in some ballet dancing which is probably what snapped his shit up.

LOL

Or maybe he was just enchanted by the ballet instructor, played by Roselyn Sanchez, pictured below...

While mobility work is a major part of rehabilitating injuries, it is also quite useful for preventing them. Mobility is the ability to move freely and easily, unimpaired by tightness or imbalances. Every joint should be able to move through its full range of motion. A person with poor mobility would have difficulty expressing themselves in an organized fashion (organized expression is basically any movement that has a proper form, a good example being resistance training). Over time, the impairments will most likely cause inflammation, tissue breakdown, and ultimately, a tangible injury. So, as you can see, keeping your body mobile and balanced is one of the greatest tools you can use to keep yourself injury free (second only to not being a complete retard).This topic can become extraordinarily complex as there are so many moving parts in the human body that exert some torque or force on so many surrounding parts but I’ll attempt to keep it fairly straightforward.

This is 100% broscience, backed up by my experience and conjecture only, but I believe that it’s much easier to maintain your form if you have the ability to achieve those positions without loading yourself with a resistance. Let me give an example. It’s common to see people who have decent squat form for the most part, but as they move towards either maximal weight or failure on a submaximal set, their form breaks down. This is usually attributed to a specific muscular weakness but I propose another possible cause is the inability to be in a proper bottom position squat without a bar on their back. They can get down there but their hips are tucked under, their back is rounded, or they have trouble putting their heels on the ground. Under light to moderate weight, the lack of mobility is kept under control with the compressive force of the weight on the back coupled with the active contraction of necessary muscle groups. However once the weight gets heavy, the priority shifts from maintaining positions (butt back, chest up, heels down) to just moving the weight up and re-racking it. Because of this, the immobility is able to express itself in the movement in the form of rounded upper back, rounded lumbar, and/or heels coming off the ground, depending on the specific mobility problem(s).

Words cannot express the horrible apprehension I feel when viewing this kid's form... 

 But wait!.. It get's better!

What the... I don't even...

Of course, lack of mobility commonly expresses itself in more obvious ways in the forms of poor posture and the inability to achieve proper positions before even beginning the compound lifts. The imbalances in these situations are generally quite glaring. There are various categories of causes, each with their own fix. First, would be the shortened or over-active muscle-tendon unit where the nervous system becomes accustomed to the structure being in a contracted position and sets it on “auto-contract”, sending a constant stream of innervation signals. Common “auto-contract” areas are the hip flexors and hamstrings due to the great prevalence of the highly detrimental activity known as sitting, and the calf/heel cord due to the prevalence of shoes with an elevated heel (which is absolutely fucking retarded). 

Retarded can look damn fine though.

 The CNS wants the muscle-tendon unit to be tight enough to create functional contractions in the positions it’s commonly in regardless of how useless that position is to actual physical activity. If the calf/heel cord area didn’t tighten up from the unnatural wearing of heels, it would be too loose to contract properly and the ankle would be compromised and easily damaged from any impact. But when the shortened heel cord doesn’t allow the heel to be on the ground during a back squat, it’s going to cause all sorts of problems. The best way to restore a muscle-tendon unit to full length (besides removing the activity that caused the tightness in the first place) is to stretch it! And I’m not saying hit it with your lame 10-20 second light stretch in a complex of useless stretches that you learned from whatever high school sports you played. I’m talking about a deep, almost painful stretch held for 3-5 minutes. If you stretch one calf deeply, but not the other, you should be able to see a noticeable difference in the range of motion between the two ankle joints. 

Important to note: Do not stretch a cold muscle. If you’re going to stretch out your calf, do some jump rope-like bouncing for a minute or stretch in a hot shower. You want to calm the stream of signals from the nervous system, not tear the muscle in half.

Your fate if you attempt hard static stretching of cold muscles.

The second cause of mobility troubles is sticky surfaces. The surfaces in and around a joint are supposed to be able to slide and glide over each other without interruption. When they get “sticky”, they obviously have a harder time sliding and this creates friction. Friction causes heat build-up which then causes inflammation which causes pain. Friction also causes micro-tears which causes more inflammation and more pain. Possible origins of this sticky tissue issue are dehydration (no fluid for lubrication), lack of movement (no blood flow), and scar tissue. I personally have experienced this between my heel cord and the skin covering it and it actually feels harder to move the skin around over the tendon. Fixes are obviously to hydrate, stay active, and massage the area. It’s like when you’re at the beach and are coming out of the water. Your swim trunks get plastered to your legs and the shape and size of your junk is on display. Due to the shrinkage factor from being in the cold ocean, you want to get that layer of air back between your crotch and the shorts as quickly as possible. So what do you do? Pull it away from the skin and shake your legs around. Now if you replace the words swim trunks with the skin over your heel cord, your junk with your heel cord itself, air with fluids, and pulling the shorts away with massage, you have the same thing going on. Once you’ve done this and the tissues are no longer sticky, you have successfully restored your sliding surfaces!

Yay!

              Another note: I thought I had decent flexibility but I always measured it out of context. Mobility only matters in the context of it's expression. Just like we express ourselves through language, our mobility (or lackthereof) expresses itself through movement. Don't sacrifice position to get what you would think is a better stretch. Sacrificing position includes letting the shoulder roll or twist forward when working on internal rotation, letting the lumbar round when stretching hamstrings, or letting the foot over-pronate when stretching the calf/achilles. These are all "out of context" because you don't (or shouldn't if you do) allow these things to happen in any organized movement pattern. Incorporate bands to provide "joint distraction" and get deeper into the joint capsule and use pressure (massage, foam roll, barbell, tennis ball) to restore sliding surfaces and promote blood flow. I'll go into more detail on this later.

           That's all for now, folks. In a subsequent blog I'll detail common problems and the specific methods used to correct them. Until then, a woman who I'm sure knows plenty about mobility training:

Questions? Complaints? Thoughts? Accusations? Post a comment below.