By Miguel J. Ortiz
Everyone wants to have a stronger core, but no one is doing enough mobility. I’ve mentioned before that primal core strength yields distal joint strength, so to help your joints you absolutely need a better core. However, you cannot continue to tighten something up if it is to over active and doesn’t have a quality range of motion. So, before you continue to crush your core with planks, crunches, legs lifts, squats, deadlifts, farmers carries and all your favorite movements, focus on some mobility and protect that central nervous system.
Let’s start with some basics, we are going to foam roll, aka SMR (Self myofascial release), your T Spine. This exercise is wonderful for loosening up your multifidus, erectors, thoracic spine and opening up your shoulder blades. The shoulder blades are key here because if your shoulders are tight you can almost guarantee there is something going on in the kinetic chain which could be leading to bad posture or poor movement patterns. I would highly recommend that everyone do this about 5-10 minutes a day. You can do this before a workout to prep and wake up the body or maybe take your time and work some specific areas to help you relax before going to sleep. This rolling practice will increase blood flow, loosen up your back and kick start your journey to a more mobile spine.
I mentioned that if you have poor shoulder blade mobility it could be coming from your core and bad posture. It also could be that you have tight lats and you may need to open them up to allow for more quality activation. I think this muscle group is generally stretched, but I rarely see people really opening up this area on a foam roller. It could drastically change your core activation because of how the lats and obliques work together. It could really improve your shoulder range of motion. SMR Lats & Seesaw. Take your time with this movement, a lot of pressure could be difficult to handle as it’s not an easy area to roll. I sometimes tell clients to wrap your foam roller in a towel to soften up the pressure, remove it when you can handle more.
This next exercise is a great test of quality mobility within the spine and will challenge how well a person can rotate through different ranges of motion. I give you the Half Kneeling wall assisted T spine rotations. This will challenge hip stability, core mobility and shoulder control. Your ability to fully rotate through a full range of motion will have you feeling stretches in several different areas of the body and can help you recognize where you need more work. For example, I’ve had clients not be able to maintain pressure into the roller which made them realize they weren’t as strong in their glutes. Others noticed during the rotation that they couldn’t balance well and needed more hip and core stability. Some couldn’t get their elbows all the way around without hitting the wall and noticed their shoulder and back were too tight. This last movement is one of the best spine mobility tests. I still do it regularly and you should absolutely add it to yours.
Foam roll about 5 minutes for each total, and preform about 5-8 reps per side when doing the half kneeling rotations. Have fun with your movements and stay active.
