Mobility 2

MOBILITY 2.0

Joe Hashey, CSCS

Mobility 2.0 Introduction Mobility 2.0 was created to give people a simple solution to tightness and lack of mobility. The reason I am going with the “2.0” name is just like the phrase “web 2.0” this manual was created to make mobility efficient. Are you looking for wacky exercises where people twist themselves like pretzels? Well this isn’t the place. Mobility 2.0 utilizes proven movements and exercises to create a healthier body. After using the protocol in this manual you will: • • • •

Recover faster Move better Feel less pain Enjoy training more!

Let’s start moving better and firing your muscles more efficiently!

Mobility 2.0 Quick Start Guide Your procedure 1. 2. 3. 4.

Watch the Mobility 2.0 Video Print out the next few pages Put them in your gym bag Refer to the print out and be consistent with your mobility training

When Mobility? EVERY workout session should contain mobility. The more consistent you are, the better your improvements will be. Specifically you can do mobility work before training as part of a dynamic warm up, after training, and on deloading days. To help you out, I wrote up a few sample mobility programs. You may use those, assess where your issue areas are, and then add to the program.

Shoulder Mobility Exercises Choose any 2 to go WITH your warm up • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Prone T Prone Y Prone W Push Up Plus Hindu To Regular Push Up Disco Fever Casting Tea Cup Face Pulls w/ retraction Halos Shoulder Dislocations Wall Circles Wall Slides Thoracic Mobility Choose any 2 to go with your warm up or deloading

• • • • • •

Seated Side Mobility 90/90 Extensions Reach Throughs Cat to Camel Ball Crunches Hip and Lower Body Mobility Choose any 3-5 to go with your warm-up on a lower body day

• Flexor to Glute Stretch • Elevated Hamstring Reach • Hip Flexor Stretch

• • • • • • •

Leg Swings Hurdle Mobility Knee Circles Standing Knee Circles 3 Way Roll Overs Standing Foot Circles Tin Soldier Extra Mobility Drills Insert as needed (once your problem areas are identified)

• • • • • • •

Neck Circles Neck Holds Ankle Rolls Static foot stretch Wrist circles Wrist Flexion Wrist Extension

Shoulder Mobility – Prone T Bend over by pushing your hips back. Retract your shoulders and extend your arms out to your sides to form a “T” with your upper body. Repeat for 8-12 reps.

Do not over swing your arms, progress the range of motion each rep.

Prone Y Bend over by pushing your hips back. Retract your shoulders and extend your arms out to your sides to form a “Y” with your upper body. Repeat for 8-12 reps and progress the range of motion each set.

Prone W Bend over by pushing your hips back. Retract your shoulders and extend your arms out to your sides to form a “W” with your upper body. Repeat for 8-12 reps and progress the range of motion each set.

*All the weird faces I make during mobility are completely optional!

Push Ups Plus Set up in a normal push up position. Make sure your spine is in line and you are contracting your glutes. Let your shoulders retract without bending your elbows or dropping into a regular push up. Extend by pushing your hands through the floor and pushing your shoulders towards the ground. Repeat for 4-8 reps.

Push Ups Plus Retracted Position

Regular to Hindu Push Up I categorized this as shoulder mobility, but it actually includes your hamstrings and hips as well. Set up in a pushup position and walk your hands back towards your feet as if you were doing to perform a Hindu pushup. Keep your legs straight and your spine in line (do not curve your back when you walk in). Push your head through once you get to the Hindu push up position, like locking out a military press, and repeat for 4-8 reps.

From here I would walk back to a pushup position and repeat.

Disco Fever Oddly enough, that’s not the scientific name, but it is how I get my athletes to remember the movement. I did pick this up from a local physical therapist and it feels GREAT! Plus, it is extremely simple. Point the thumb of your right hand down towards your left pocket, across your body. Turn your thumb over, cross your body, and extend. Repeat for 8-12 reps each side.

Starting Position

Extension while keeping the shoulders square

Shoulder Casting This movement can be done with a sledge hammer, club, bat, or just your hand. Take your hand and push it over your opposite shoulder. Circle it around the back of your head and pull it back to the front.

Repeat for 8 – 12 reps each side.

Pushing over the opposite shoulder, circle around

Tea Cup Mobility I picked this up from a Steve Cotter video and have enjoyed it ever since. This will also be a good way to measure your mobility after a few weeks of using Mobility 2.0. The video is going to be your best explanation of this movement. Essentially you are rotating your hand in towards your waste then looping it around in a circle by your head to come back to the starting position. It is called “tea cup” because you should be able to keep your palm up towards the sky so if a cup of tea was on your hand it would not spill.

Finishing the Movement

Face Pull With Retraction Set up a pulley or band around chin to forehead height. Use varying heights over the weeks to see which feels better for you. If your gym does not have a cable crossover, you can set up the pulley on the lat pull down machine to do the same. The rope cable attachment is usually the best since it is flexible. Retract the shoulders, pull the band or cable to your forehead while keeping your elbows out. Repeat for 6-10 reps.

Halos Halos are one of my personal favorites. I can really feel my upper body loosen up during each rep. Take an object that you can hold with two hands: med ball, plate, kettle bell, dumbbell, etc. Rotate it around your head and across the front like drawing a circle with the object.

Halo with a 25 lb plate

Halo with a 10 lb medicine ball

Shoulder Dislocations Don’t worry, this sounds worse than it is! Hold a band, broom stick, or unweighted short bar, by the ends in front of your waist. Keep your arms straight; put it over your head all the way until it hits your butt. If you can’t make it, use a longer object. If the movement is too easy, then bring your hands in closer. Perform 10-12 reps.

Putting the object overhead with straight arms on the way back

Wall Circles If you are especially tight, start with wall circles! It is simple, but can be surprisingly difficult for some people. Extend your arm fully against any ball. Press the ball against the wall and without moving the location of your hand on the ball, make small circles. Perform 5 circles each direction.

Wall Slides Wall slides are a great mobility drill, but unfortunately they are usually done incorrectly. Press your hands, wrists, AND LOWER BACK against the wall. Move your heels as close to the wall as possible. Starting with your hands by your head, extend them overhead while keeping these contact points. Return down in the same path. Perform 8-12 slides.

I perform wall slides nearly every workout.

Thoracic Mobility - Seated Side Mobility Sit with your legs crossed in front of you – “Indian style.” Lock your fingers behind your head and sit up straight. Just getting in this position may be difficult for some people. Perform 3 side crunches, rotate 45 degrees and repeat, and then once again. Make sure to do both sides in the same pattern.

Keep the lumbar spine neutral while bending just the thoracic spine.

90/90 Maybe I just enjoy lying down, but I enjoy this stretch! Lie on your side and bring your knees up to a 90 degree angle. Extend your hands and place them on top of each other in front of your body (arms fully extended). Keep the arms locked out, take your top hand, and rotate it to the other side of your body and then back. Repeat for 5-8 each side.

Extensions Start by getting on all fours. Take your right and place it on the side of your head so it leaves you with 3 points of stability. Tuck your right elbow down towards your left side, and then extend to point it at the ceiling. Repeat for 6-10 reps each side.

Reach Through Start in the same position as the extensions. This time instead of taking your right hand and putting it on your head, reach underneath your body as if you were trying to grab something on your opposite side. To increase the stretch, you may roll some of your body weight onto that shoulder while reaching. Alternate arms and repeat for 6-10 each side.

Cat to Camel While on all fours, pull your abs in and try to touch your belly button through your body to your back. Then slowly push your belly button down towards the floor and arch the lower back. Repeat for 6-10 repetitions

Sucking it in

Pushing towards the floor

Flexor to Glute Stretch Start in a standard hip flexor stretch. Hold this stretch for 30 seconds and then drop right into a glute stretch. Repeat in this pattern until you have done both muscle groups 2-3 times. Alternative – if you are already warm, you may decrease the stretch time and perform these movements as a dynamic stretch.

Drop the front foot underneath and drop into the glute stretch

Elevated Hamstring Reach Place for foot on an object that is around waist height. Gently reach with your arms and rotate your upper body in various positions for 60 seconds. Keep both legs straight during the entire movement and keep this exercise to a post workout mobility movement due to the static stretch on the hamstring.

Hip Flexor Stretch The hip flexor stretch is a classic stretch that has stood the test of time. Take a knee and push your hips forward for 30 seconds. Repeat on the other side. Two common mistakes are not putting your front foot forward far enough and leaning forward at the waist instead of pushing the hips forward. Make sure to avoid those errors!

Leg Swings Hold onto a post or power rack. Swing your leg from side to side while attempting to keep your shoulders square to the post. Try not to compensate for tight hips and hamstrings by bending all over the place with your upper body. Perform 6-10 swings each leg.

Hurdle Mobility I first put out the hurdle mobility drills approximately 2 years ago and they have been used by power lifters and athletes with great success. Simple explanation – set a bar high on your thigh. Step over it frontwards, backwards, and sideways. Repeat for duck unders shown below. Perform 2-3 sets of 6-10 reps each. Extend your arms overhead to make the movement more difficult.

Knee Circles Set up on all fours and draw a BIG circle by rotating your knee forward. Repeat backwards for 6-10 reps each direction on each leg. Do not over compensated by bending at the back; try to maintain the integrity of the mobility drill.

Standing Knee Circles While standing in the upright position rotate your knee up and back, again drawing an imaginary circle with it.

Perform 6-10 circles both forward and backward on each side.

3 Way Roll Overs Sit on your butt then roll your feet over your head to the ground. Roll back, spread your legs into a “V” and reach down to the middle. Repeat by then rolling your feet over and to the right, then over and to the left as shown below.

Rolling over and to my right, repeat middle and left.

Standing Foot Circles Hold your leg at a 90 degree ankle. Hold your quad in place and rotate ONLY from the knee down. Make a big circle with your foot in both directions for 6-10 reps. You will feel this movement in your hip.

If you have poor balance, lean against a wall to start.

Tin Soldier This is a simple and effective stretch. Stand straight up and then kick as high as possible to your opposite hand. Repeat on the other side for 6-10 reps each.

*MAKE SURE not to bend with your planted leg just to kick higher.

Ankle Rolls Put your foot against a ball and rotate around in a circle. You may also perform this exercise by simply placing your toe to the ground and rotating in a circle. Make sure to rotate in both directions for 6-10 circles on each ankle.

I prefer using a ball for some light massage during the mobility drill

Wrist Circles Place your hand flat against the wall with your arm straight. Slowly rotate around in a circle until you feel a stretch. You may assist the stretch with the off hand. Hold the stretch for 30 seconds. Do the same with the BACK of your hand against the all instead of your palm.

For added static stretching, you may hold your wrist in flexion or extension and hold for 30 seconds. You may use a wall or your off hand.

Conclusion Mobility 2.0 was created as a simple solution to your flexibility and mobility needs. It is NOT made with every single mobility movement under the sun (who has the time to read and memorize all of those!) Instead I opted to give you the most effective movements I use with my athletes and clients on a daily basis. Each movement serves a purpose and no time will be wasted!

Print this manual out and throw it in your gym bad as a reference tool! If you don’t want the entire manual because you already know the movements, just print out the program on the first few pages and carries that with you! Enjoy your training and have fun being more mobile!

ABOUT JOE HASHEY HASHEY, CSCS Joe Hashey is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA. He is a former D1AA football player at Colgate University, and owner of Synergy Athletics in Endicott, New York. For THREE MORE BONUSES, visit www.Synergywww.Synergy Athletics.com and sign up for the free newsletter!

OTHER PRODUCTS FROM JOE HASHEY, CSCS Joe is also the author of the Bull Strength Training Manual, found at www.BullStrength.com.. Bull Strength explains the creation of real world strength and elaborates effective training protocols. The program has been used by athletes, trainers, coaches, and other professionals looking to gain an advantage in the weight room. Joe’s Bull Strength Conditioning Manual, Manual the addition to his Bull Strength method, is packed with the most effective and proven conditioning methods. Everyone from professional athletes and strength coaches right ght down to weekend warriors have all joined the Bull Strength Conditioning Movement! .