When YOU should do mobility corrections..

[Nic Branson]

Ok, there have been question about prehab, and correcting improper mobility, I'm not going to go into what to do for what as that depends on individual needs. I will however go into where you should be incorporating these for maximum benefit and where you typically should not be incorporating them.

I see many people doing all these at the end of their training sessions. There is a fundamental flaw with this. You just spent an entire training session reinforcing the bad movement you have! Why? To fix a movement pattern you need to break it first. Training with resistance in a bad pattern does nothing but continue to teach to you move poorly and create gradually increasing levels of compensation until greater dysfunction that prevents proper training or worse injury occurs. Do not fall into this habit.

Movement correction typically involves some light foam rolling or stick massage. LIGHT. If you use a stick and it is "U" shaped then you're not helping yourself. Followed by the mobility drill for your given problem or focus of prevention. I am NOT telling you to work on every movement problem, every time before every session. Prioritize what you need, it might vary by day. Asymmetric problems always trump anything else.

Corrections are just that, mobility drills and movement work. Use it as your warm up, if you're tiring yourself out to the point that your training is affected then you're doing too much. They should be challenging from a neuromuscular coordination stand point not a strength / resistance one. In some cases you might superset your training movement with the mobility drill for better feedback.

Brief note for your consumption, don't want to put too much info out at once.

[Aaron Griffin]

I know this is a terribly vague question, but do you have any preferred mobility drills that most people would benefit from?

[Nic Branson]

You benefit from what you need. Typical needs vary from one population or sport to another. Most gymnasts tend to end up getting work done for mobility associated with T-spine problems. While not the only concern it tends to be the main one. Often the lack of shoulder mobility is in fact due to T-spine causing the shoulder tightness and all the stretching in the world won't really help. The tightness is a response by your body and it will fight to maintain it.

[Rikke Olsen]

I really encourage anyone to go check out http://www.mobilitywod.com - they have an awesome amount of mobility drills. ANd Kelly Starrett is freaking hilarious!

One thing people often lack is internal rotation in the shoulder. That and the really deep squat. Check them out.

[Nic Branson]

Some good stuff there but also a few that I completely disagree with personally. As always even with people here, use you're brain with what you read or listen to.

[Brian Li]

Doesn't the transition in the muscle-up take plenty of internal rotation in the shoulders?

[Eric Kamhi]

You benefit from what you need. Typical needs vary from one population or sport to another. Most gymnasts tend to end up getting work done for mobility associated with T-spine problems. While not the only concern it tends to be the main one. Often the lack of shoulder mobility is in fact due to T-spine causing the shoulder tightness and all the stretching in the world won't really help. The tightness is a response by your body and it will fight to maintain it.

Is there a particular pattern that causes T-Spine problems? Or a more prevalent 'wrong form' exercise that causes worsening? I ask because I already have lower back problems dating from my early 20s (wake boarding killed my lower back) which I have been able to adapt, take care and improve on. Now if gymnastics will cause me problems with the higher portion of my back, I'm going to be in a world of pain. I'd like to know what to avoid doing or what the common mistakes are that cause this problem so I can prevent this bad behavior from taking hold and causing problems.

[Cole Dano]

There are many things to do to help T-spine mobility. The king of which is backbends, from archbody to bridge.

Rolling over a foam roller, basketball (or similar) or a gymnastic ball is also outstanding.

Another more subtle type of movement is 'circling' and it does wonders for me, check out a clip here - http://yoga-horizons.com/2011/04/keep-y ... nal-waves/

[Nic Branson]

That's one portion of T-Spine the other neglected part which is typically the issue is when you rotate. The Bretzel 2.0 would be an example of something I might use for this, but it is a more advanced method. Tool used depends on the individual needs. That's why I am not posting blanket info. Would be irresponsible to post corrections based on generic information.

[Cole Dano]

Twisting movements, should have mentioned that. The Bretzel w/o grabbing the foot is already a good one, there a a few variations from that position that work well. And it's very safe for just about anyone.

It's pretty easy for twists to get into the lower back if your'e not paying attention. They work much better when you twist from the upper body and starting from the side, then when you're on your back and twist from the lower body. You'll see both variations, the from the on the back position one is very common in yoga classes, essentially a supine windshield wiper. It take much more control to get that to cover the whole spine rather than just the lumbar.

[Nic Branson]

Yeah the change to the 2.0 version moves the hand on the backside leg (to an under the ankle position)to minimize lower back twisting. We never start with this though for most people. The start is always with no foot grab and the lead knee is supported on a foam roller for instance, then you can utilize a "rib pull" with exhalation to relax and let it open up with your breathing.

[Cole Dano]

I've never tried it as a combined movement, there are some similar twists in yoga but done from a seated position.

Which goes back to the other important point Nic makes, you can't really dispense the perfect mobility set via a forum post. Particularly if you are looking for a corrective set. There are too many variables and even as I post there are more options than I can mention, so every post is no more than a snippet.

I wish I could just say with confidence - 'Do this' - but it just isn't like that when dealing with correction.

[Nic Branson]

Yeah exactly. I really posted this to be more an awareness post and some information about timing if you already know what you need to do.