MOBILIZATIONS
“A movement-based, full-body approach that takes into account all the elements that limit movement and performance.”
Reclaim Control
Conventional wisdom tells us that if we want to optimize human performance, improve mobility, prevent muscle soreness and reduce the potential for injury, we have to stretch. Stretching is not the answer. Instead, you need to deal systematically with each of the problems that are preventing you from getting into ideal positions and moving correctly. Few people think in terms of body systems because the “just stretch it” paradigm remains so prevalent. It’s time to move beyond this simplistic, outmoded notion of flexibility and start thinking about the factors that impede position and how position relates to performance.
Here’s an analogy: If you pull on both ends of a T-shirt, what happens after a minute or so? It becomes all stretched out, right? what do you think happens when you take your beautiful tissues to end range and keep them there? They get all stretched out, just like your pitiful T-shirt. Imagine lengthening your hamstrings and then sprinting down a field or attempting a max-effort deadlift without developing the strength or motor control to handle that new end range-position. You might as well get down on your knees and beg to be injured. “Lengthening” a muscle is not a bad thing if you have the motor control to support that end-range position and you are expressing that end-range position with load-bearing, full range exercises. This is why we deadlift, squat, and practice full-range functional movements in the gym. Put simply, performing exercise movements not only improves your range of motion, but also helps you develop motor control in newly developed ranges of motion gained by performing mobilizations.
Our philosophy is simple. We start to improve your movement through fundamental strength and conditioning exercises. In addition, we incorporate mobilizations during the workout to reinforce full physiological function. As we continue to develop we start to see improvements in joint and tissue health resulting in improved range of motion that become permanent when combined with loaded end range strength and conditioning exercises. The idea is to improve function to enhance movement then maximize performance.