Matt gets his hips behind the bar so he can bring his knees to his elbows.
Flexibility is one of the 10 General Physical Skills we seek to develop through our strength and conditioning training. However, everyday in class we devote a section of time to developing our mobility. What is the difference between flexibility and mobility? Flexibility is the ability to maximize the range of motion of a joint and/or muscles. Mobility is the ability to move through a functional range of motion while maintaining balance, strength, alignment. Functional movement uses more than one joint and muscle group and is movement we do "naturally." Squatting, overhead pressing, pulling, pushing. throwing, running, walking, rowing, are all movements we naturally do. In fact, we start off in life with the ability to squat below parallel, raise our hands overhead, and do all manner of movements uninhibited. As we age we stop playing, stop moving, and develop movement limitations that prevent us from doing all the things we were born to do. We spend 8-10 minutes at the beginning of every class working on mobility and flexibility. We stretch our muscles to improve flexibility, and use bands to change our joint position to improve mobility. At the end of class we use foam rollers, lacrosse balls and other implements to work on the physical structure of our muscles to improve our mobility. We do this work on our tissues after we workout because that is when they're warm and are best able to be physically changed post-workout. Flexibility is a physical trait that is improved through regular training. While, we regularly train to improve our flexibility in class, to truly improve flexibility it takes daily training. A few minutes in the morning, a short mid morning stretch, a post lunch flexibility session, and pre-bed calming stretches can improve your flexibility. Want to touch your toes, which is normal range of motion, you need to work at it daily. Mobility can also be improved through regular training and practice. Sometimes it just takes focus and concentration to improve your position and alignment. Spend the time improving your functional movement and watch the rest of your sports, e.g golf, skiing, climbing, etc. improve.
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Sam has a nice front rack.
Remember when dumbbell front rack walking lunges were new and scary? We were introduced to this potent movement during last year's CrossFit Games Open. Now, these are a regular component of our lunge repertoire. The front rack, be it with a barbell or dumbbell, can be such a struggle for many of us. While holding dumbbells in the front rack is certainly easier than a barbell (because of the neutral wrist position) it does require mobility in the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and flexibility in the triceps and lateral muscles. The banded front rack distraction shown in today's Mobility Monday video is one of our favorite movement preps. If you have a band at home, you can do this by fixing the band to a banister or door handle. Don't worry, we will also do this in class today. Our INFAMOUS Femme Fatale Week starts in just one week! Next Monday through Saturday we will test our vigor by doing 6 ladies in a row. You can brag about doing all the ladies if and only if you sign up for Femme Fatale Week. Signing up buys you a t-shirt or tank and unlimited classes for the week. We will have 6, 9, noon and evening classes everyday and our special Saturday Marguerita and Mimosas grand final at 9am on Saturday. You have to do 5 of the 6 ladies to earn your shirt and bragging rights. Sign up by completing the RSVP form below. Be sure to join us Saturday evening Feb 17 at Bozeman Hot Springs. Sarah K. demonstrates the ankle, knee, hip, shoulder, elbow and wrist flexibility required for the clean. By now I should no longer be surprised one someone assumes that lifting weights will make you bulky and inflexible. However, after several years of talking to people about CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting I understand many folks don't understand the difference between weightlifting and lifting weights. Weightlifting is a sport, in fact there are two competitive weightlifting disciplines. Powerlifting which consists of the deadlift, back squat and benchpress, and Olympic weightlifting which consists of the snatch and clean & jerk. Olympic weightlifting is an Olympic sport and is governed by the International Olympic Committee. Powerlifting is not an Olympic sport, and has several national and international regulatory committees. Lifting weights is not a sport, but rather a fitness pursuit. We do not lift weights. We practice the sport of weightlifting. Like any sport, weightlifting requires flexibility, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy, power, speed and strength. All of these physical characteristics, along with stamina and endurance are specific adaptions we try to illicit through the demands of our training program. Flexibility (which we often call mobility) is a physical trait that can be trained and it is ESSENTIAL to the sport of weightlifting. You simply must have full range of motion of your ankles and knees to squat to depth. You must have full range of motion in our shoulders, elbows and wrists to support and receive the bar. One of our favorite methods for flexibility and mobility training is the physical practice of yoga. Yoga asana (the poses) develops flexibility, balance, coordination and to some extent strength. If you don't believe me, take a look at Dmitry Klokov's warm-up in the video below. You will recognize the plow (halasana), seated forward bend (paschimottanasana), wide-angle seated forward bend (upavistha konasana), and the squat (malasana). Klokov is a Russian Olympic weightlifter who won Silver at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His flexibility is so good he can do the splits. So, tell me again why you don't want to lift weights because it will make you inflexible. Ben, Laurie, Mercedes and Siri do some banded mobility during the Snatch Clinic. What a GREAT Snatch clinic we had yesterday! Thanks to everyone who attended. We are offering a Clean & Jerk clinic 9-noon on Saturday. Feb 4. Class is capped at 8, so sign up soon! Our New Year Whole Life Challenge started on Saturday. Are you bummed you didn't sign up for this challenge. Well, don't have FOMO! You can still sign up! Sign up today and take an important step toward a healthier lifestyle. One of the 7 healthy lifestyle factors we practice in the WLC is daily mobility. The WLC supports us by providing weekly, follow along mobility videos. These videos can be followed along at home, on a work or school break, or at Goals and Goats on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today we are doing our WLC workout and taking measurements (if you haven't already taken them in your New Year Check-In.) Remember, Complete Nutrition will be at the 5:30PM class giving free InBody body fat and weight measurements for all WLC players. They are also support our WLC with free meal plans and at home workouts. |
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