Breath, without air we don’t live, much less thrive. But without being able to find position, it gets really hard to breathe. I was listening to a podcast with the founders of XPT where Gabriel Reese brought up our fight or flight response to being hunched over (Time stamp 1:38:06 in this podcast). I realized that getting people to stop walking around in an anxiety causing position was paramount. Not only will it get people breathing (important stuff) but it allows them to find proper position. And we all know position is power.
There are always multiple ways to skin a cat. The following are my favorite, get you started, open those damn shoulders up and start breathing “mobs”. You don’t have to do all of them. You may need to do all of them plus some extra. Take what makes sense, put the others aside, don’t overcomplicate. But do, by all means, DO act. It’s 5-10 minutes of your day to make your life better. That’s a pretty solid ROI.
With all “mobs” remember our Rules of the Road, and don’t forget to read through our Mobility Starter Kit post to figure out the few pieces of gear you’re going to need.
Mobility : adjective mo·bile \ˈmō-bəl : 1: capable of moving or being moved
Our western world has created leagues of internal rotated, frozen thoracic, sympatheticly nervous individuals. Let’s start to fix that. My go to shoulder mobs are listed below. This is not an exhaustive list. This is not a prescription. This is not going to fix everyone’s discrepancies or aliments.
It is a good general place to start.
Start with one a day. Don’t over think it. Watch the video, do the homework. Next day move on to the next video, and do that homework. If you have the time and felt change from the day before, repeat that one. Day three, watch video 3, do the homework then repeat either day 1 or day 2’s mobility work. Over the course of a week you will build a basic understanding of how your upper girdle connets, found at least one or three mobs that work for you, and you’ll have started creating a habit of self care.
Foam rolling and friends to start opening up that thoracic region (along with a bit of internal rotation work). Don’t worry tomorrow’s mob gives you internal rotation work with out a barbell. VIDEO 1
Reclaim internal rotation with your balls. Trigger Point’s Cassidy Phillips showing the way, but you can use YT, Lacrosse, or Tennis balls. Some will be more effective then others, again don’t worry about that right now. Acting will be more effective then not acting. VIDEO 2
Using your Double YT Ball to find some Thoracic Extension (plus ungluing that super patella pouch and a little bit of gluteal work). VIDEO 3
Some “informed freestyle” on the rotators, lats, and pecs. Your better off using a YT Alpha Ball for the lat work, but don’t let that stop you.VIDEO 4
My favorite go to Upper Girdle Mob is the scapula ball work at the beginning. This is one that I perform weekly just to keep up shoulder health. There’s some band work in here too, again don’t sweat it if you don’t have access to the equipment. Do what you can, leave the rest (for now). VIDEO 5
Yoga Tune Up’s Jill Miller introducing a little anatomy and talk of the importance of your diaphragm. Then shows you how to use the double YT balls to start cleaning up some of diaphragm through some thoracic mobilization. VIDEO 6
Day 7! You’ve made it. We worked through some basic pectoral, rotator, rhomboid, and latissimus dorsi work. We’ve started ungluing the thoracic spine and scapulae. We’ve learned some anatomy and the interconnectedness of our upper bodies. What we have yet to work on are the trapezius and ghost arms. VIDEO 7a
Last but not least, some simple self love. A neck massage while laying down. What’s not to love about this one? VIDEO7b
Stability : noun sta·bil·i·ty \stə-ˈbi-lə-tē\ : 1: the quality, state, or degree of being stable: asa : the strength to stand or endure
Along with all that new found mobility and range of motion we need to make sure we understand how to create stability through our shoulders and upper back. Again, you will find these to be my go to shoulder stability pieces. Again this is not a prescription. This is not going to fix everyone’s discrepancies or aliments.
And again, it is a good general place to start.
My favorite all around shoulder stability piece is the Turkish Get-Up (TGU). It forces you to move through internal towards external rotation while under load for a long duration. You also get more bang for your buck by working core stability, hip & hamstring flexibility, and coordination. Like I said, it is my go to for building shoulder health.
The problem with the TGU is it’s complicated and requires full body awareness, coordination, flexibility, and stability. Something a lot of us are just starting to work on. Luckily there are ways to start.
The goal is to get to 5 TGU, 3-5x per week. The accessory work of the Arm Bar and Windmill can (and should) be continued once you’ve reached the goal.
In order to reach that goal you can start with a progression as follows:
Week 1 : 3-5x during the week
3x Through:
- Arm Bar, :30-1:00 hold
- 3 Windmill, :05 hold at end range of motion
- 1-3 Turkish Get-Up, :10 hold each position – extremely light or no weight
Week 2 : 3-5x during the week
3x Through:
- Arm Bar, 1:00 hold
- 3 Windmill, :05 hold at end range of motion
- 1 Turkish Get-Up, :10 hold each position – extremely light or no weight
- 1 Turkish Get-Up, light weight
Week 3 : 3-5x during the week
3x Through:
- Arm Bar, :30 hold
- 3 Windmill, :05 hold at end range of motion
- 2 Turkish Get-Up, light weight
And so on…
Do NOT be afraid to scale back to a lighter weight as you progress, to repeat the same cycle a few weeks in a row, or to continue to revisit the :10 second hold at each position of the Turkish Get-Up (it’s amazing how much it forces one to get comfortable in position). Slow growth makes deep roots.
This should give you a basic understanding of your upper girdle, a.k.a. the shoulder region. By the end of week 1 you should have 8 go to mobility pieces and have performed stability work at least 2x.
You’re looking at approximately a 2.5-3 hour commitment (watching video, reading, and practice) over the 1st 7 days. Or another way to look at it, 1.7% of your week. Less than 2% of your week to build knowledge, find better range of motion, and start finding room to breath better.
1.7% of your week, to me that’s a pretty solid ROI.
ryanrspeed 