Mobility Monday: Cat/Camel for Improved Back Mobility
Ask any elite athlete how they got to where they are, and the three things they will tell you are hard work, consistency, and goal setting. Since we have just begun the new year, many of you probably have a few official or unofficial resolutions or goals set for this year. Hopefully, a few of them are related to your fitness or athletic performance!
We typically do a great job of jumping to the BIG goals, but the truly successful athletes are the ones who can set small goals along the way. One of the key tenets to improving performance is increasing mobility, but it tends to fall by the wayside when we get in a time crunch. We get in a hurry, and might do a quick warmup, then jump into the meat of our workout. Sometimes we don’t even get a proper cooldown in, but it is probably rare that we actually do some mobility work.
The thing is, I GUARANTEE that we all have 10 minutes we could set aside while binge-watching New Girl on Netflix to work on one of the most important components of performance.
I challenge you to set a goal to increase your time spent on mobility work by 10 minutes daily. This can involve stretching techniques, yoga, foam rolling, or whatever you desire. The key is to perform very focused work on an area that is limited for you and to train your muscles to control that area.
One of my favorite exercises to get you started is called cat/camel. It is great because it allows you to actively move into the end-range of both flexion and extension of your spine and can also improve your posture, which is huge for proper breathing during intense exercise. You can be as general or as specific as you want, but the key is to move slowly and pause at end-range in each direction. You want to visualize each segment of your spine moving through its entire range of motion.
If you have any pain with this, then you want to make sure to stay in whatever range of motion you have that is pain-free. Typically, as you do this, you will find that pain-free range will gradually increase. If it seems to worsen, then stop and rest and monitor how you feel over the next couple of days. If that pain continues to worsen, then rest and consider getting your back checked out. If it gets better, then you are free to continue following the same rules.
If you want more guidance on how to improve your athletic performance and reduce your chance of injury, or need help with a nagging injury, feel free to call or message us at Peak Performance so that we can help you achieve your goals!
