“Dave, when can I start training properly?” Asked a new client as he came in and started warming up, “I mean, I definitely feel stronger, and I don’t get out of breath so easily, even though all I’m doing is a bit of stretching”
As he said this to me, it was clear that he was missing the irony in his question.
“When can i start training properly?”
Followed by: “I’m stronger and fitter”
I guess the problem was that when he looked around the room, everyone else was lifting kettlebells and barbells, doing more “gym” like callisthenics like push ups and pull up.
Where this particular client was just “stretching”
But he was getting stronger.
How and why?
His particular program is very similar to the one you received when you signed up to the newsletter, the Hip Mobility one (if you haven’t got it, you can get it by clicking on the image)
Similar, but tailored to his particular needs. And right now, he doesn’t need to be doing contrived “gym” movements.
So how is he stronger?
How has another client, this one a mountain biker significantly increased his power output on the bike despite spending more time on mobility work than ever and not actually lifting much of anything heavy?
Mobility work isn’t just stretching.
Specific mobility work that is based of an individual assessment is restorative in nature. It restores movements that the body may have chosen to avoid for one reason or another.
Injury. Neglect. Sports specific.
If we can restore these movements, we can stimulate the central nervous system into creating better intra muscular coordination.
And in doing so the brain spreads the forces going through the body more evenly by bringing more players to the game.
This is why mobility is so important.
And when good movement is present, then we load it.
This is where the traditional gym lifts come into play.
They load movement patterns.
But if those movement patterns don’t exist, how can we load them? What are we actually loading?
I don’t have an answer to that, all I’ll say is, getting stronger is not just about lifting heavy weights. That’s certainly part of the equation, but it’s not the only part.
Regards
Dave Hedges www.WG-Fit.com
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