ABUNDANT LIFE @ AC

So … I am making it my personal goal to start at the beginning of Kelly Starrett’s year-long mobility project, do four to six MWODs per week, and get a whole lot better acquainted with this fearfully and wonderfully made machine, the human body. (Not necessarily planning to do every single one; some of them are less helpful than others.) Anyone who is interested in feeling better and performing better is welcome to join me.

I’ve started this past week at the beginning, and have done the first four of them. All great stuff:

1/365: 10-minute squat test

2/365: Open up the front of your hips

3/365: Great calf stretch

4/365: Lengthen the psoas

This is an hour-long lecture Kelly Starrett gave to the employees at Google. If you work at a desk, it is well worth your time.

Here are three videos from KStar explaining how your shoulders work:

Part One : Today’s piece is the beginning of a discussion about how to think about the different components of the shoulder. Here is my take on beginning to understand the shoulder in an easy way; as a series of relationships. The first is presented here: The relationship of the scapulae to the torso/soft tissue edition.

Part Two : Today’s piece continues the discussion about understanding the shoulder as a series of relationships. Today, we are exploring some of the prime movers of the arm.

Part Three : Today’s installment of the Mwod focuses on the final shoulder relationship: The arm to the scapula. So, plan on grabbing 8 min and arm, break it up and go after the capsule as best as you can.

Fix your internal rotation : Today’s mission is to improve  the most significant shoulder range of motion for the athlete,  internal rotation.  If an athlete is missing IR, then the shoulder HAS to compensate by translating forward.  This loss of positioning affects mechanical advantage, the ideal length-tension relationship of the joint’s contractile features, joint congruency, and stability.

Reset your shoulder after a tweak, or fix brutally sore shoulders : Today’s mission is to have a quick MobRx for those times when you know nothing is wrong with your shoulder, but it just doesn’t feel right.  This sometimes happens after a fall or tweak, or after being brutally sore.  Many of the symptoms we associate with “something’s weird about my shoulder” is really just poor positioning.  ”Resetting” the shoulder into the back of the socket and freeing up some of the structural features that act like rigid struts, are a couple of easy ways to get that shoulder working again.

Pain ball for shoulders : Today’s mission is to collect 3-8 minutes a shoulder using your trusty pain ball.

From the New York Times:

“A number of factors have converged to heighten the risk of practicing yoga. The biggest is the demographic shift in those who study it. Indian practitioners of yoga typically squatted and sat cross-legged in daily life, and yoga poses, or asanas, were an outgrowth of these postures. Now urbanites who sit in chairs all day walk into a studio a couple of times a week and strain to twist themselves into ever-more-difficult postures despite their lack of flexibility and other physical problems.”

We have to be careful with the stretches.

Check out this video.