EvolvingHealthConceptsStretching – A Little Goes A Long Way
Coach Kelly Starrett of the Mobility WOD
Stretching does increase flexibility if you take the time to do a little maintenance every day. Two years ago I could barely touch my fingers to the top of my feet, but now I’m able to completely place my palms flat on the floor. I’ve increased my flexibility by warming-up before each workout by completing a series of Joint Mobility Drills taught by Jeff Martone of Tactical Athlete in his Kettle Bell Certification. I follow these drills with a few of my favorite stretches that I’ve picked up along the way. If you’re consistent, you will notice a significant improvement in flexibility over time. Tight, inflexible muscles not only decrease performance but also greatly increase your chances of injury.
Recently I came across a new blog by Coach Kelly Starett of CrossFit San Franciso. Coach Starlett is not only a well known Coach having trained “Olympic gold-medalists, world-class extreme skiers and X-Games medalists, dancers with Smuin, San Francisco, and Sacramento Ballet Companies, military personnel, and competitive age-division athletes”, he also has received a Doctorate of Physical Therapy. Coach Starlett is well- known for combining his extensive knowledge of physiotherapy and strength training to greatly increase mobility, flexibility and performance.
Coach Starrett’s states his new Mobility WOD blog “is intended as a jump off point for athletes to systematically begin to address their nasty tissues and grody joint mobility….every human being should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves. You know what to eat, how to train, and what to do if you have a cut; you should also know how to fix your tight hips, painful knees, and stiff shoulders, and how to make yourself faster and more powerful. It’s too much to mobilize everything, all the time, every day. Start somewhere. The Mobility Wod should take you four to 10 minutes to complete. Do it every day.”
Each day he posts a new mobility stretch. I’ve already started incorporating these stretches into my pre-workout warm-up routine. Good stuff. Check out his new blog here:
