Yesterday I posted a gentle reminder about the importance of doing mobility and movement work as part of your fitness plan. But what does that really mean? Is it as simple as stretching or do you need to sign up for a dance class and start getting your twerk on?
The answer is always complicated because it really depends on the needs of each person. Some people need a little stretching in their life, and others just need to move. So for our purposes today, we’re going to focus on the movement part and I’m going to share with you my favorite ways to accomplish this.
Here we go!
The Lunge: I can already picture the look of concern on my clients face from just saying that word. At Golfletica, Friday is known as “Lunge Friday”. Although everyday of the week is a Lunge day because this exercise is so freaking awesome that it needs it’s own holiday. Your body is not symmetrical, especially if you play golf. So when it comes to loading movement patterns, squats can become tricky because you will tend to compensate too much. That’s why the Lunge jumps to the front of the line. With this one exercise, you can address unilateral differences while safely loading each leg at an appropriate level. Whether you can only handle your bodyweight, or you’re ready to start adding a more dynamic motion to it, the lunge will get you where you need to be. Key Coaching Cues: Keep the legs at a 90 degree angle, tuck the pelvis under, stay tall through your torso, focus on the glute pushing you upwards.
The Thoracic Foam Roll: I’ve posted this exercise on here before but it’s worth revisiting. We all spend most of our day doing things in front of us and slouching. As the Thoracic Spine rounds forward day after day, you begin to get tight and lose rotation. This exercise helps reverse that and just feels awesome. Key Coaching Cues: make sure you keep your rib cage pointed down, it’s always easy to flare it way open but to get the most out of the stretch, keep the core engaged, hold for 30 seconds.
Half Kneeling Rotations: This is one of my go to exercises for working on disassociation and core control. Plus, as an added bonus, you can work on some of those motor patterns needed for developing a good sense of what Thoracic Rotation actually is. Key Coaching Cues: Set the legs up at 90 degree angles at a width that allows you to maintain balance, tuck your pelvis under and squeeze the glute on the leg that’s down, as you rotate make sure to feel the tension in your obliques, only turn as far as your chest goes.
The Two Arm Open Book: Another great way to attack that Thoracic Spine and work on separating with core control. I love this version the most because it takes away the ability to cheat with the lower back or by using your arm to give the appearance of movement. Key Coaching Cues: Start in the fetal position with a neutral spine, keep the hands connected as you rotate, if they separate then you have reaches your maximum rotation, keep the legs stable.
The Spiderman: This is a cool move that works great for opening up the hips and the spine all in one. It requires a lot of mobility, stability and control. Key Coaching Cues: Start in pushup position with a neutral spine and the glutes engaged, step on foot up to the outside of your hand and let that stretch for a moment, once you feel stable rotate your chest towards your leg, reach the arm for the ceiling and look at it, rotation once again only comes from the chest here.
And there you go, give these exercises a try and let me know how you feel after. They are a great way to start your day or even just to calm the mind while decompressing at the end of your day.
Cheers!
-S
The Fitness Caddie Project 
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