3 Tips To Staying Mobile While Working From Home
I’ve been getting a lot of questions — or comments, really — concerning how this sudden sedentariness has you feeling stiff or immobile. I've noticed this myself, with my job going from hustling around a gym all day to sitting in front of a computer screen these last couple weeks, only getting up to grab a can of diet ginger ale (yeah…) or a slice of pizza (yeah…)
As cruddy as this situation has been, it has me extra motivated to work out and to stick to my mobility routine.
So, without further ado, I'm bringing you my three tips to staying mobile while working from home.
BREATHE
Yea, you heard me — breathe! If you’ve spent any amount of time at Lynx, you’ve probably seen a trainer coaching one of their clients through what appears to be an exercise designed to put said client to sleep. They might be lying down, their feet propped up against a wall or box, arms reaching for the ceiling. They might have a ball wedged between their knees. The trainer might say, “now I want you to lift just the tip of your tailbone off the ground” or “Breathe in through your nose, in through your nose....Through the nose!” Sure, it might look like ten minutes of nothing but really the thing the trainer’s trying to get the client to do is maybe the most important thing they could ever do, inside the gym or out. Breathe. Just breathe. If the only thing you get out of it is to relax (or, as the trainer might say, pull you into a more parasympathetic state), that’s a major win for a human body that spends the majority of the day hunched forward in front of a device that, between the hours of 9 and 5, delivers constant stress. If you want the full shakedown on skeletal alignment, diaphragm stacked over pelvic floor, and all the ways you can arrange your limbs to facilitate the most optimal kind of breathing, feel free to reach out to a trainer. We can lead you through this programming virtually and ease days and weeks of tension in under 30 minutes. Redeem your complimentary virtual personal training session. Email us here.
WALK
The body needs to move to be mobile. Crazy — I know, but turn your iPhone on and see how many steps you’ve taken these last two weeks as compared to before the q-word. No amount of fitspo home workouts or holistic flowing is going to make up for the thousands of steps you took to your T stop, out to lunch or Lynx or Starbucks, or to the bathroom for the nth time a day! You move a lot more than you think and, now that you’re at home, you’re really just moving to take a nap on the couch five feet away or to grab a drink from the the fridge six feet away. You’re not moving as much as you were, so get out there and commit to a 30 min, 40 min, hour long walk every day. Get your 10,000 steps. You can do that and still succeed in social distancing, I promise. (*Always make sure you are following the guidelines set forth by the CDC, WHO, and your local government before going out for your walk!)
STRUCTURE A FULL BODY MOBILITY ROUTINE
So, you probably thought I was going to say something like “Stretch” or “Roll” next. Not to say stretching or rolling are bad options in structuring a full body mobility routine but, like everything that’s worth anything in life, it’s not that simple. If it was, I’d tell you to do what your favorite #fitstagram idol hawks as a “comprehensive full body mobility/flexibility routine” — mobility and flexibility are not the same thing and if a grossly overpriced program that took ten seconds to think up and a thousand takes to record could help you achieve either or both, you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Whether you practice functional range conditioning or really enjoy the heck out of foam rolling or static stretching, you need to really identify the problem which might not even become clear to you until you’ve done the first two things on this list.
Trainers see it a thousand times a year; some guy is splayed out on a foam roller with ridges on it because “the more it hurts, the better it works” apparently and says “I’ve got the worst lower back pain — like, you don’t even know.” Trouble is he never thinks to ask "Why?". Maybe it’s not his back that’s the issue, maybe he has weak hamstrings or cruddy core strength or he really enjoys deadlifting. The point being, you need to know why. Is a full body articular rotation routine going to help? Absolutely. Will static stretching help? Absolutely. Will you find a way to botch either or both without some thought and/or supervision? Absolutely. Yes, I wrote “Structure a Full Body Mobility Routine” but I could’ve just as easily wrote “use common sense and use the resources at your disposal.” Scroll below to see a variety of mobility CARs I suggest you incorporate into your morning wake-up routine to ensure a pain-free workday!
All joking aside, breathe, walk, stretch. Also, come check out my virtual class on IG live or check out the recording after it posts. I’ll walk you through effective mobility exercises that you can pick and choose from to help whatever you identify as your issue. If you have issues figuring out what’s ailing you, feel free to reach out to me at pjang@lynxfitnessclub.com. We can get in a kinetic stretching session or employ more aggressive isometric loading techniques to relieve you of tightness that might be inhibiting movement in some way.
Redeem you complimentary virtual personal training session with the form below! Until then, I hope you all stay safe and keep healthy!
Morning CARs Routine
Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) are essentially a series of exercises performed on a joint/series of joints to improve and maintain mobility. Before starting on any one joint, exhale and build isometric (or static) contraction in your entire body by tensing up all your muscles. Remember, if at any point you feel discomfort in the range of motion, skip over the area of discomfort rather than trying to push through the pain.
Neck (Cervical Spine)
Begin by relaxing the neck ever so slightly from the full body tension. Pull your chin down to your collarbone and scrape it left across your chest. Continue to scrape left until your head is turned over your left shoulder. Continue the rotation and make as if to empty the contents of your left ear over your left shoulder. Complete the rotation and reverse direction.Shoulder (Glenohumeral Joint)
Start with both hands by your side. Rotate the right hand open to face forward and lift across your mid-line as if gently lifting a baby bird or egg. As your arm approaches your head, rotate the hand counterclockwise such that when you reach directly overhead your bicep is in line with your ear and your hand is facing your mid-line. Continue the movement by reaching back and continue to rate the hand counterclockwise. As your hand approaches your hip, you'll know you've performed the rotation correctly because your palm and elbow will be pointing away from your mid-line. Reverse directions and repeat on the other arm.
Shoulder Blade (Scapulae)
Shrug your shoulders up and push them forward until you feel your shoulder blades protracted (or flat against the back of your rib cage). Descend the shoulders and, when you hit the lowest point, retract all the way and elevate once again. Protract, pause, and work in the opposite direction.
Spine (Thoracolumbar Spine)
Place your hands on your shoulders. Left hand to right shoulder and right hand to left shoulder. Retract shoulder blades as best you can. Arch forward without moving your lower body. Each of your vertebrae should articulate forward. When you can't Bend forward any more, rotate left and turn left as far as you can. The movement will mimic neck cars. Once you've completed the rotation in the counterclockwise rotation, repeat in the clockwise direction.
Hip (Acetabulum, SI Joint)
Begin by grabbing onto a chair or wall for balance with one hand. With the other, hold your fist out in front of you, maintaining tension. Elevate the right knee, keeping the knee itself bent at 90 degrees. Pull the ankle in towards midline for extra external rotation. Open the right hip by rotating the knee right as far as you can without rotating through the spine and/or pulling the left hip around. Without moving the knee, pull the foot back behind the knee. Continue by pushing the knee as far back as you can, squeezing through the glute and not extending through the spine. Bring the knee back in towards mid-line and bring the knee forward. Reverse directions, and repeat on the other side.
Shoulder IR/ER PAILs & RAILs
IR
Situate yourself in the fetal position, lying on the right side. Use a pillow to elevate the head if needed. Draw the right hand across the body to the left shoulder. Once the elbow is bent at ~90 degrees, push the hand down towards your groin. Assist with the left hand to feel a stretch in the shoulder. At end range, try to elevate the right hand but resist with the left. Resist for about 5-10 seconds and return to the stretch. Accumulate 2-5 minutes of stretching in this position. Repeat on the other side.ER
Lie prone on the ground, resting your head on your left forearm. Position your right arm, bent at 90 degrees, such that your elbow is in line with your shoulder. Place your wrist on a rolled up towel or yoga block. Actively press the wrist down into the towel/block and stretch the front of the shoulder. Raise the wrist of the towel/block for 5-10 seconds and return to the stretch. Accumulate 2-5 minutes of stretching in this position. Repeat on the other side.
Hip IR/ER PAILs & RAILs
IR
Sit in the 90/90 position such that your right leg is in front of you and your left leg behind. Orient torso over the right leg. Pull the chest and belly forward, (some lumbar extension is permissible here), actively pulling through hip flexor. Continue by grabbing your right ankle with your left hand and pulling. Reach forward with the right hand. Actively press through the right knee and ankle and engage glute. Press for 5-10 seconds and return to the stretch. Accumulate 2-5 minutes of stretching in this position. Repeat on the other side.ER
Sit in the 90/90 position such that your right leg is in front of you and your left leg behind. Orient torso over the left leg. Push the chest and belly forward, (some lumbar extension is permissible here) over the left knee, actively pulling through obliques. Continue by actively pressing through the right knee and ankle and engage the groin. Press for 5-10 seconds and return to the stretch. Accumulate 2-5 minutes of stretching in this position. Repeat on the other side.
