Mobility Essentials – 5 Tips From K-Star

Recently I had the privilege of attending Mr. Mobility WOD, Kelly Starrett’s Mobility Seminar.

The day was straight packed with great information and funny jokes to boot.

There wasn’t a single dull or boring moment that most seminars tend to have.

Not only is K-Star one of the smartest dudes I’ve ever met, he’s also one of the funniest guys I’ve met as well.

<——-  The guy is unreal!

If you haven’t checked out his blog before, you’ve got to…

>>>  MobilityWod.com

I say this is mandatory reading and I suggest you frequent K-Star’s blog at least 2-3 times a week to see what he’s got going on over there.

Great stuff!

Anyways, with all of the great knowledge that was shared (it was straight up mind blowing) I thought I would pick out the 5 tops things that I took away from it and let you in on it.

This stuff is important in regards to YOU performing better, feeling better, and just being more f-ing awesome.

Mobility is way more important then what most people make it out to be so read up and take notes!

Mobility Tip #1 – Hide Your Reps

One of the things K-Star talked about that I really resonated with was how you can “hide your reps”.

I like to do this with movements I’m weak at or skill movements, but it also works great with mobility movements too.

The BIGGEST excuse I get when it comes down to why people skip out on mobility work is that of having no time. 

Most people tend to say they don’t have the time to get in extra mobility work after their done training.   I can agree with this as I too get busy and don’t have all the time in the world to fit in an extra 15-20 mins after a training sessions to get in some extra mobility.

Well, no one ever said that you have to wait to do your mobility work at the end of your training session. 

An easy solution for this problem is to “hide your reps” within your training session.

I’ve been doing this for sometime now and it’s worked out great.

A quick and easy example of how this would work would be to pair up or superset a mobility movement with one of your main movements within your training session.

What I often do is pair up deadlifts with some sort of mobility movement.  I may hit some foam rolling for my upper back or hips in between sets of deadlifts or hammer out some lacrosse ball work on my calves.

The main mobility superset I use is when I squat, I’ll hit sets of ankle mobility drills to help loosen up my ankles so I can squat a bit deep more easily.  This not only helps me get in some extra work on my ankles, it help instantly improves my training session.

It doesn’t matter what you do, just that you actually do it.  Simply throw in some different mobility movements within your actual training session and you’ll reap the benefits.

Mobility Tip #2 – ATTACK your mobility like you do your training.

This tip is simple and I’ve had to really focus in on it and if you’re a SERIOUS athlete and you want to take your results to the next level, you’ll want to put some major focus into it as well.

In short, start treating mobility sessions just like training sessions and ATTACK your mobility work with the same focus and energy that you do with your actual training sessions.

I’ve personally added in 2 extra mobility sessions during the week where I’ll come in and spend 30-40 mins on just mobility alone.

It’s made a HUGE different in my overall results.

Mobility Tip #3 – Do 10-15 Minutes Per Day MANDATORY

Tip number 3 is all about priorities.

If you don’t have an extra 30-40 mins to devote strictly to mobility work as I do, this tip will be the most help in that regard.

If you want to get better by being able to move more efficiently, you’ll MAKE the time each day to get in your mobility work.  All it takes is 10-15 mins.

If I’m not doing an actual full length mobility session on a particular day, I still know that I’ve got to at least get 10-15 mins of mobility work in somehow, someway.

It doesn’t matter when I do it or how, I’ve just got to make sure that I get it in.

Most of the time I get in at least 10-15 mins of mobility work at night before I cash in for the night.

For me, it’s easy to chill out in front of the TV while I rock out some mobility work.

I wake up feeling a TON better and less stiff and if I don’t this at night, I wake up feeling the complete opposite.

By now, it’s become a nightly ritual where I’ll stretch and mobilize right before I go to bed.

A great way to end the day.

Bottom Line – Find the time to get in a bit of mobility work each day no matter what!

The minimum is 10-15 mins which honestly isn’t that much time and if results and being able to perform at a higher level are important to you, you’ll MAKE the time. 

Mobility Tip #4 – Pick 3 And Just Go

This mobility tip is a great way to help simplify things.

I for one used to get overwhelmed and stressed out when I would think about all of the different areas I would need to get mobility work done on.

If you think about it, doing focused mobility work on all of the different areas of your body from head to toe would take forever.  I don’t think devoting 30-40 mins a day would even be enough time to get this done.

So, instead of stressing out about having to do your whole body in one sitting, do what K-Star suggest and “Pick 3 and Just Go” meaning, choose three areas on your body to focus in on and hit just those 3.

For example, what I typically do each day is pick 3 main areas I want to work on and just go.  I may hit my upper back, shoulders, then end with my hips.

I won’t worry about my calves, hamstrings, chest, ect…  I’ll leave those areas for the next day.

This way of thinking and approaching mobility work makes things a ton easier and the best of all is that it doesn’t stress you out.

Just pick 3 and go!

Mobility Tip #5 – Stretching is NOT Mobility

For the last tip, I want to discuss something that a lot of people tend to get mixed up.

If you didn’t know, stretching and mobility are two totally different things.

I use both together but, it’s important to know that they are in fact different.

A lot of lifters and athletes out there think that stretching and mobility work are the same things and to be honest, a long time ago before I learned the difference, I too used to think this same way.

The truth is, there’s a major different between  mobility work and stretching. 

The main difference that you need to focus in on and understand is that stretching only focuses on lengthening our muscles while mobility work does way more then just that.

Mobility is more of an “all out” approach in that it’s a dynamic, full-body approach that zero’s in on hammering out short and tight muscles, improving soft tissue restriction, joint capsule restriction, motor control problems, joint range of motion dysfunction, and neural dynamic issues.

In simple terms, mobility focused work is a way to improve all movement and performance problems.

To state it clearly – Mobility work is KING.

When you stretch, you basically just hold different positions to help lengthen the muscle being targeted and when you’re done, the muscle being stretched often times just goes right back to the resting length it was at beforehand.  This does little to help us out at that point in time.  Stretching WORKS, but it takes longer to be of benefit.

Mobility work on the other hand can be instantly beneficial.  Since you’re moving and actually going through the range of motion that you want to improve, depending on what type of mobility work you’re doing, it can have instant effects.

While you go through mobility work, you’ll get the best of both worlds – increased length of the muscles being work as well as improved movement ability.  This is a ton more critical in regards to instant improvements in performance which is what YOU need to know.

Now, don’t get me wrong here as both stretching and mobility work are important, it’s just that when it comes to instant results and improvement, mobility work is the way to go.

Just know there’s a difference.  This is why you NEVER want to stretch before a workout, instead hammer out some focused mobility work and you’ll be good to go!

And there you have it!

Use these 5 tips to help improve your performance and overall results.

Live and Train Aggressive!

The “BATTLE Prep” Total Mobility and Warm Up System