The Elephant in the Room: Mobility

Mobility is the elephant in the room. We all know we NEED to work on it, but few of us actual do. We would rather spend 20 minutes trying to max a snatch than spend it stretching. The truth is, mobility is one of the single most important factors in CrossFit. Not only will it maximize efficiency of your lifts, it will allow you to lift more weight and with fewer chances of getting injured. Many of you heard us talking about “ROMWOD” or seen us struggling doing simple stretches on the blue mats. ROMWOD is a daily stretching routine geared towards CrossFit. It helps with your range of motion needed for the sport. It takes you through a “WOD” each day concentrating on opening up and stretching different parts of the body - hips, lower back, shoulders, ankles, etc. Each session is about 15-20 minutes with one 40 minute session (Thursdays) each week. The reason we love it so much is that it gives us a routine to follow every day (and that it works). Spending time stretching each day will help you achieve optimal positions - getting lower in a squat, comfortable receiving a snatch, etc. The better your mobility, the easier a lift will be for you. Think about the thruster - if you have a poor front rack position, lack squat depth or struggle overhead, this lift is going to be a nightmare (even more than it already is). Now, compare to the person who can rest the bar on their shoulders, use the bounce out of the bottom of their squat and fully open up overhead - I think we can all agree this is a much more efficient way to perform the lift. We have ROMWOD set up in both gyms (www.romwod.com - the login and password are saved) for everyone to access. Come early, stay late or spend some time during open gym on your mobility. Here’s 3 exercises you can do at home to help open up your hips and lower body. Spend 4 minutes on each exercise - concentrate on relaxing into the position and taking long, deep breaths: Standing Straddle Seated Straddle Pigeon Pose Dedicate the 15-20 minutes each day to stretching and mobility and see how much it helps your lifts. For more info on ROMWOD, ask the coaches!

http://www.romwod.com