Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › Back › What should I be doing?

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    • 12/10/2014 at 4:24 am #71205
      AvatarAnonymous
      Inactive

      I’ve recently started working on the snatch and over head squat but I’m having some issues with mobility. After watching this clip with Coach Burgener from CFHQ (WFS) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxaFhIpY4Qo I went to the wall to test my self. Well, it didn’t go too well. To be able to touch the wall with the back of my hands I have to raise my chest (over extend my thoracic spine?) a bit. 

      This might be related: I’ve always had problems with keeping my lower back touching the floor when doing situps and other exercises (leg extensions and other core-centric exercises in my pre-CrossFit-esque days) on the floor.

      What kind of mobility exercises can I do? I’ve got a foam roller, single and double lacrosse balls… Any other tests I can perform to help me narrow in on the real culprit(s)?

      Sure, I’ve got a nice and firm butt but I highly suspect that that cannot be the only problem! 😉

      Thanks in advance!
      /Marcus
    • 12/19/2014 at 8:18 am #75551
      AvatarDaniel Lugn
      Participant

      I am no pro, but I have been working on improving my overhead position since developing upper cross syndrome last year. A few things that worked were wall angels which I was shown at PT and soft tissue work across the pec minor, lat, shoulder blade area (think teres major/minor, infraspranatus, etc).

      One thing that made a noticeable improvement (something I found a couple weeks ago) was soft tissue work in the serratus anterior, expecially where it runs under the pec minor and lat. A couple minutes a side with a lacross ball across the serratus anterior, under the pec and against the lat and I can go from not being able to get my arms straight over head to being able to if not further. They can really get glued down to the serratus. Be careful in there as I think there is a bunch of nerves that runs along this area (correct me if I am wrong) so if you feel bad pain back off and reposition the ball.

      Hope this helps as its working for me. 
    • 12/20/2014 at 10:54 am #75552
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant

      echoing Bradley Betts – you should work on thoracic spine and shoulder mobility.  use a peanut or gemini along your spine, moving segment by segment and removing restrictions gently.  

      shoulder mobility is also important – there are tons of videos on mobilitywod to do that. if you can i would opt for something harder and more “pinpoint” than a foam roller. i think you will get better results if you can get a yoga tune up alpha ball or supernova and roll with that. smash anterior/medial/posterior delts, triceps, traps, rhomboids, shoulder blade area, lats. 
      test/retest the wall angel after every single area smashed. if you see change in ability to do it, note that area for further work. if you don’t, move on to somewhere else.
      as for the overextended lumbar spine, there could be many culprits. i would try releasing your hip flexors first as they could be pulling your lumbar spine towards your hips in the front if super tight. so gut smash the psoas, use a roller (battlestar works better than foam roller) on the top of your quads. also use the couch stretch and do that every day for at least 2 min each side.  
      the other thing i would try first is, before raising the arms in wall angel, achieve a good neutral pelvis position, and then brace STRONGLY in the lower abdomen, and then try to raise the arms but do not give up the pelvis position for greater height. if you can brace strongly and get your arms all the way up, then it is a motor control issue as well. all of it works as a system – mobility, motor control.
      good luck and report back your progress!
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