Flexibility

ptrlcop

Established
I turned 30 this year and am starting to notice that some of my joints hurt, particularly my hips. I think most of this discomfort would be relieved if I became more flexible. I also think that this will help me remain resistant to injury as I get older. My current stretching program is little more than a pre/post workout ritual that is done more because that's what I've always done than for any real purpose and benefit.

What do you guys do to gain/maintain flexibility.
 

TomF

Member
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I've found three or four main mobility exercises that I do regularly, but it's nice to have a library available if/when something else tweaks out. A good chiro who understands athletic performance and your goals can be helpful too.

Hip flexor mobility in particular made a huge difference for me. Sitting causes shortening and tightening of the front of the hips which throws the whole pelvic girdle out of whack. It's like turning your basement on end and expecting the house to remain standing. Keeping that in check made me stronger and eliminated some nagging pain I was having.
 

AMK

Newbie
There are some great articles on The Dragon Door website about flexibility. They focus on the kettlebell, functional movement and strength.


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Bourneshooter

Blue Line Sheepdog
This book, buy a copy.

Get a Trigger Point therapy roller and Ball. If you want, get the voodoo bands for some real help.

IMG_2887.jpg


I've found three or four main mobility exercises that I do regularly, but it's nice to have a library available if/when something else tweaks out. A good chiro who understands athletic performance and your goals can be helpful too.

Hip flexor mobility in particular made a huge difference for me. Sitting causes shortening and tightening of the front of the hips which throws the whole pelvic girdle out of whack. It's like turning your basement on end and expecting the house to remain standing. Keeping that in check made me stronger and eliminated some nagging pain I was having.
 
If your hips hurt, and you know it's not related any form of arthritis, dysplasia or degeneration of cartilage, it's highly probable that your hip pain is related to tight tendons and ligaments in your hips. Stretching will help, but you should be rolling out your hips and legs with a foam roller. There are plenty of foam roller videos on YouTube, so check it out and work accordingly.

In terms of flexibility, it's very important for injury prevention. I learned that many moons ago playing high school and college rugby, where I would all of a sudden be folded up in half at the bottom of the ruck. If I wasn't flexible, I'd have been injuried many times over. I continue to be nearly as flexible, which helps with my weight lifting and has helped prevent injury while chasing or fighting on the job.

I would also back up what Chad said about strong abs, but go one further and say that it should be a full strong core. This includes abs, obliques and lower back. Too many people have weak cores, and it is the #1 cause of back problems in cops and other professionals. You should be doing planks at a minimum, but it helps to do other exercises for your core.
 
Short answer, current core practical application is moving away from stretching hip flexors and hamstrings. Focusing on specific breathing positions is currently what's working.

Not to say flexibility and mobility don't need work, only that it's a complex equation than tight area=stretch/mobilize area. Even the above/below philosophy isn't quite rounding out the picture, but it's a better start.

Brutally honest, Starrett's stuff is pretty mediocre in results from the professional prospective. I've yet to find a single coach say his stuff was more successful than what they were already doing and generally it didn't have any impact. This includes the guys that promoted his book because they like him as a guy.

At 30, you gotta kill this stuff now. I'd seek out a Active Release Technique practitioner and sports massage therapist. Self diagnosis can work.....with a few years of medical/PT/training background. Usually it results into something that 'works', but never addresses the actual issue, hence years of nagging and random seemingly unconnected issues. At the root, nothing you do in 1 hour a day can make up for what you subconsciously do the other 23 hours. Address the roots and everything else works its way out. Fail to address the root and nothing ever really changes for very long
 

Blake M

Newbie
Try Joe Defranco's Limber 11 or Agile 8. I think the Limber 11 is a bit more comprehensive. I write this routine on my white board at home and try to hit it at least 3 times per week when I can. It is great for mobility and durability from the hips down. You can add a few shoulder durability/flexibility and thoracic spine stuff and be all set. If you don't know who Joe Defranco is, look it up. He knows a thing or two and his clients play on Sundays. It takes about 10 minutes'ish to get through, but it will really help with hips, hip flexors, low back, hamstrings, etc.

 
Do you mind expanding on this?

I can attempt to as best as possible on a written platform. If you hit a search for training the extended athlete, you might get some of Mike Robertson's stuff or another practitioner.

As a general rule, most people don't stretch the hip flexors during typical hip flexor stretching. Instead they are stretching the hip capsule, shutting off the abs, hyperextending the lumbar spine, all of which closes off respiratory function.

So for the past few decades we've been recommending stretches to hit what's 'tight', but it missed what's actually the issue. Tight hamstrings are over lengthen hamstrings.

What determines laxity or restriction of a joint or muscle is the nervous system. The unwritten goal of stretching is to get the muscle comfortable with a range of motion. How you get it comfortable is irrelevant. Sometimes a static stretch might do it (typically temporarily unless reinforced often enough), and other times just strengthening a surrounding muscle is enough for the 'tight' muscle to say 'my job here is done, I can go back to what I'm suppose to be doing'. And sometimes you can use breathing as a method of restoring spine and rib position, which then results in both the physiological change of position along with the parasympathetic change from respiratory to chill everything out.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Many tools, some tools kind of worked, but not the way we thought and led to misapplication
 

Runcible

Runcible Works
Staff member
Moderator
Vendor
Whether bashing together something from past experience, outsourcing it through a specialist, or being exposed to options in a group context; you've got to make it your own, and you've got to integrate it with the required frequency of sustainment.

Despite being a former support dude who's now in a different profession, I've got to do hip and shoulder mobility routines weekly to maximize functionality and minimize daily discomfort. It's somewhat crappy, but some circumstances do not improve with rest and healing, but rather with deliberate conditioning.

My goal is to push off inevitable surgery and reconstruction until such time as its either optimal by other commitments or no longer delayable.

I'd post my routine if I could describe most of the movements succinctly... A 12 pack of Lacrosse balls from Amazon and a Triggerpoint brand 3" foam roller goes a long way, for most.
 
The foam ball info is gold, I'm shortly going to be transitioning from a long term desk job back to patrol...and I'm rather older than I'd like to be for that but needs must. My hips suck and I'm really just discovering why, I've been stretching wrong all this time. Laugh all you want but I got to talking with a professionally trained ballet dancer and she corrected all the stupid shit they told me to do in the academy 24 years ago. I'm starting to feel better and that is helping the workouts, next up the supple leopard book.
 
New guy here, but as a 47 Y/O professional firefighter with god knows how many injuries under my belt with 9 years left to work, I can only recommend a few things. Squat to depth with weight, as much weight as you can while maintaining good form. AFAIK, unless genetic, or injury related, most pelvic/hip flexibility issues can be attributed to either hamstring or quadricep inflexibility and strength imbalance. This creates the pelvic imbalance that generates low back pain and pelvic pain. Stretching is all well and good, but it doesn't correct the strength imbalance or weakness that created the issue to begin with. We won two world wars without stretching. I've never once stretched before jumping off the engine or truck and going to work with 65 or 70 pounds of gear on.
Don't forget front squats, dead lift, RDL, and as your flexibility increases over time, cleans. In my early 40's, I was noticing significantly more back pain, and hip/pelvic pain. I was squatting heavy, but not to full depth, often only to 3/4 depth. I dropped weight, and for almost a year, did nothing but ass to grass squats. It has changed my life. I now split my squat days with low bar back squats to depth (crease of hips below top of knees) and ass to grass front squats. That with including RDL in my deadlift routine had pretty much eliminated any knee or back pain I had. This is just my personal experience, but I've seen it work with quite a few of the other older Firefighters at work.
 
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