Change Your Steps: Three Movement Drills To Improve Your Strength, Mobility, and Performance
Submitted by Got Strength? Blog
The human body is designed for a wide variety of exercises at the basic level. We have a large number of joints, and many of them move through a large range of motion. We, as in other physiological qualities, are biomechanic generalists.
At least, that’s how we’re born. Stepping into the way back machine, let’s take a look at early man. As Og was pounding away at life, he had to perform a variety of tasks to survive. He would sit cross-legged to light a fire to keep warm. In order to have something to cook over that fire he would have to crouch low and sneak up on unsuspecting prey, throw his spear, and then probably chase after it over roots, trees, hills, and dales. Spears aren’t exactly “one shot kill”-type weapons, you know. Then he’d have to pick up is quarry and hump it back to his waiting fire before something bigger and meaner showed up and he REALLY had to run.
So let’s see… Og has sat in a stretched position for some time (when was the last time you were comfortable sitting cross-legged?), he walked, crouched, crawled, threw, ran, jumped, lifted, carried, twisted, and goodness knows what else. Our body was adapted to that type of lifestyle.
Enter the modern world. Og has disappeared to be replaced by Justin, Tom, or Andrew. They sit at a computer terminal (as I’m doing now) for the bulk of the day. Then they wander to their car, where they sit for the drive home. They putter around the house or the grocery store and then sit at home and watch TV. Maybe they go to the gym, but chances are they walk, jog, or ride an exercise bike. If they lift weights it’s with some half range of motion flailing because they don’t want to “stress their joints”. Riiiiight. Now they’ve got back pain, knee pain, their feet hurt, and that one time they were fired up enough to join a racquetball league they tore their rotator cuff.
If the body does not work through ranges of motion the joints soon change their parameters. Through the use of Golgi Tendon Bodies and Muscle Spindles the body changes not necessarily the actual flexibility of a joint, but it’s idea of the flexibility. The body decides that if a muscle lengthens by a certain length, there’s potential for tearing. If the muscle stays short for a long period of time, the body will adapt to make that the only effective range of motion of the muscle. If it’s pushed further, it reacts with pain and clenching the muscle against the stretch.
Here’s a little test for you. Stand comfortably with a chair or a bed to one side of you. Now raise your leg and rest it on the chair. We’re looking for about a 90 degree range of motion. Not that big a deal, right? Well, now imagine your other leg at the same angle. That’s almost a full split! I bet that would hurt. Now, there’s no muscle or tendon that runs through one leg to the other, so why shouldn’t you be able to stretch that way? Because your body doesn’t think you can, that’s why. You started out being able to do it when you were very young and now you’ve adapted to a more constricted position because you don’t do it.
As much as my clients hate it I have a variety of drills that are designed not only as flexibility exercises but as methods of pushing them into different types of locomotion. These activities stretch the muscles and joints, force stabilization to occur, and work on coordinating the limbs in ways they probably haven’t done in a while.
The first drill I introduce my clients to is called a Bear Crawl. To Bear Crawl I want you to crouch down and support yourself on your feet and hands. The knees are not to touch the ground! Now crawl forward, while keeping the legs bent at the knees and the feet wide. Try to maintain a flat back. Crawl either for distance or time. For further challenge, crawl backwards on the return.
The second drill I work into a client’s program is an Inchworm. To perform the Inchworm the client stands comfortably with their feet about eight inches apart. Maintaining as straight legs as possible (as flexibility develops the legs will become straight), the client bends forward and places their hands on the ground. They crawl forward on their hands until they are in the push-up position. Using small steps and straight legs they crawl their feet up until they are in the starting bent-over position. They then walk their hands out again and repeat, never standing fully.
The third is a Spider Crawl. Think of this as very similar to the Bear Crawl except the client will crawl sideways. Again, do this for distance or time and maintain a flat back. For an additional challenge the client can move the hand and foot on the same side at the same time. They will have to take care not to move their leg quite to full extension as most people have longer legs than arms and will end up going in a circle.
To help combat the lack of movement and mobility in our society there needs to be some element of free movement in training. As a society we’re not as active as we used to be, and it shows in the physical issues that are manifesting. Seek to work with your body and what it was designed for, not against it.
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