Setting up a mobility program

[dflevy]

i'm looking forward to "Liquid Steel™". But in the meanwhile I'm wondering how to set up the mobility portion of my training. I've had many low back and hip problems, and, while these areas are ok right now. they do tend to get stiff, and limit my lower body mobility and training. How much time should I put into training these areas? what frequency? what are the best methods? do yo'all know of any good gymnastics strategies for keeping back and hips loose and how these strategies tend to be implemented?

[Blairbob]

Foam roll. Even foam rolling my upper back will loosen my lower back.

I use yoga pushups to stretch out my back and shoulders. Cobra and downward dog n all that.

We do leg swings and lifts in our warmup. These will also loosen up your lower back. we also do hip circles either standing or hanging.

Hang from a bar in your warmup and swing from your hips lightly back in forth. Hell, I do this every day if not twice a day. Good for shoulders, too.

sit on your butt and roll back towards the yoga plow. if your back is tight, you don't need to hit your toes to the ground ( or force them ). simply keep your knees tucked and roll back and then forward until you are sitting on your butt.

remember how they roll back to the deck squat in the book. exactly that. we sometimes call this rocking out your back or rolling to a candlestick( shoulderstand in yoga ).

do a google on " snaking your way to a better back " basically cobra in yoga and some modified stretches

you'll probably want to setup some static stretching at the end of your workouts like standing pike stretch ( good morning BB ), hip flexor stretch ( knee lunge/ " Samson stretch " in CF/ warrior position in yoga ).

[Scott Kane]

I'm in the same predicament as you. I have spondylolisthesis, which basically means one of my vertebrae is slipping past the one below it. If you have this or any other facet type injury you should probably avoid any lumbar extension, especially hyperextension. Blairbob's recommendation of the cobra stretch would probably not be wise for someone in my position, but I am open to other positions or research on the matter. Stuart McGill writes some good stuff specifically on low back disorders and their treatment/management. I am debating on working any arch holds at all to complement hollow holds in my warm up. So any feedback is welcome.

As far as hip tightness, many people (read Westerners) experience this. Mainly from sitting on our bottoms all day long. It can be especially troubling due to antagonist deactivation (gluteal). Check out the links below to help combat hamstring dominance and reactivate those glutes.

http://stronglifts.com/how-to-optimize-posterior-chain-power-glute-activation/

http://www.sbcoachescollege.com/articles/HamstringDominance.html

I am in the process of fixing these problems myself and this is what I have devised thus far based on the above referenced links, CF, Stuart McGill (google his name and "big three" or buy Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance) and Blairbob's stretching regiment (below). This may be an old regiment and perhaps Blairbob can give us some new insight.

http://agt.degreesofclarity.com/stretching/

This is what I've devised so far:

I warm up with ~2min jumprope or DB swings then do some basic mobility stuff (wrists, arm circles, shrugs, trunk twists, etc)

Cat-camel (to loosen lower back) (10)

Hip Mobility

*Leg swings

-Front (10)

-Side (10)

*Samson stretch (20-30sec)

*Standing hip flexor stretch (20-30sec)

*Hip flexor heel lift + hold (pike) (5-10)

*Hip flexor circles + hold (straddle) (5-10)

Glute Activation

*Supine bridges (band) (8-12 x3 sec hold ea) or Cook hip lift (single leg bridge) (5-8 x3 sec hold ea)

*Bird dog (8-12 x3 sec hold ea) or Fire hydrants (10-15 ea)

*Kneeling squat (10)

*Clam Shells (band) (8-12 x3 sec hold ea)

After this I plan on doing some pre-strength type work that will include push up variations, pull up variations and squats.

I think squats are very important for both stretching your hip flexors and also relearning proper gluteal activation.

The whole warmup process took me 23 minutes today (factor in having to remember where I was in sequence and referencing the computer screen, so I could maybe get it down to about 15). Stretching took another 15, but same deal with probably being able to cut the time down. I plan on doing this in the mornings and before workouts, so I'd really like to get things to 20 minutes. I started my own post here http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1402.

[Blairbob]

http://performancemenu.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3536&page=2&highlight=warmup

that link has my day to day version I use after getting up and my short or long version for my workouts.

that's pretty much what i use for myself. Brandon's ATG program is what I used for the boy's post workout. Most girls or boys will do something similar to my warmup minus the barbell related stuff, lunges, burgener wu, cuban presses and swing on dip bars for back.

honestly, i don't work my splits flexibility much anymore. i should, but it's not a huge focus of mine. i'm short about 10 degrees on all my splits with. i hopped on the beam the other day and worked a beam split ( while talking on my cellphone ) because the girls were working one and i hadn't tried in a long time. I work my middle split flexibility a lot more than my front splits and it shows. I still do a fair amount of pancake/middle split stuff and lots of sumo leg squats from one side to the other ( like a side lunge squat ). I focus on my back and shoulder flexibility and keeping my hips loose enough.

those boys were compulsory levels 4 and 5. pretty green with many young, so it was easiest and best to keep it simple.

I like cat and camel but I forgot about them. Sometimes I throw them in there when I do my yoga pushup variant. I actually call it the yoga frog since it sort of blends with a frogstroke. It's weird, but sort of straddle and tucked and I can loosen up my legs at the same time. I generally get weird looks while doing them but that's typical anyways.