Control Yourself
When training mobility, we have two primary goals: to create new ranges of motion, and to control our range of motion.
In my previous blog ‘Flexibility vs Mobility: What’s the Difference?’, you may remember that mobility is how much range of motion we can actively control.
The goal of improving our mobility is to increase performance, and decrease the risk of injury. This happens in a few ways:
Reducing load on other joints that are compensating for a lack of function. Example, if I lack rotation in my shoulder, and my shoulder can’t do shoulder things, other areas have to pick up the slack, and now my elbow or my back has to do shoulder things, which it’s not meant to do.
Reducing constant repetition of a certain range motion by a single joint. If we have better range of motion and better control over our joints, we have more ways to move, and more ways to solve moment problems.
Improving load tolerance of tissues. Applied force > tolerance = injury, so by improving my load tolerance I can mitigate the chance of injuries.
Internal Training vs External Training
Internal training is when we train our nervous system through various movements to improve range of motion and control, using the stuff inside our body. If you’ve ever been through a kinstretch class, or done a proper PAILs/RAILs set, you know that mobility work can be very taxing. You get fatigued, you may cramp, and you can strain hard trying to improve your end ranges.
External training is everything else. Lifting, running, sports, you name it. Using stuff outside our body to train or perform. This is not an either or situation, or a ‘pick one’ scenario. The goal should be to have a balance between both internal and external training.
This can look a few different ways. In the gym, you can perform a set of bench press, paired with a set of shoulder CARs for example. You can alternate days running with days doing kinstretch. There isn’t a right way to lay it out, but what is important is that they both have a place in your overall training, and you’re not neglecting either aspect.
When done right, internal and external training compliment each other. If I am a runner, I’m going to use my internal training to improve my hip, shoulder and spine function, so I can perform and run better. I can open up new ranges, and then put those rangers to use and train there. If my hips lack extension and internal rotation, my running form will be directly affected. I will compensate and use areas like my back to gain that missing extension, I will add wear to my hips and knees from altered mechanics, and I will have to work harder to do the same amount of workload which will decrease performance. A 1% drop in performance over the duration of a 5k, 10k, or especially longer distances makes a big deal.
The goal isn’t to become Gumby. The goal is to improve my mobility so I can put it to the test doing the things I love. Golf, skiing, swimming, pick your flavor, they all have movement requirements, and if I do not have fully functioning joints my body will find a way to get it done regardless of if that way may be harmful in the long, or even the short term. Whether it’s a part of your warm up, cool down, intra workout, recovery days, or all of the above, if you are neglecting your internal training, you are leaving performance on the table and increasing your chance of injury.
As with my external training, I want to follow a set plan with my internal training. If I want to run a 5k in under 24 minutes, I am going to follow a structured outline to get me to my goal. This is exactly what we have done with our mobility programming launching on June 15th. We have structured a plan, to attack different ranges in our hips, shoulders, and spine to compliment the training you are already doing, and get you moving better than ever!
Only a couple days left to sign up, so sign up now!