Remember that old saying “No pain, no gains?” Who’s the genius that came up with that statement? My guess is it’s that guy in the gym grunting obnoxiously as he does his tenth set on the bench press (you know who I’m talking about).
Here’s the thing…
You don’t get a medal for limping through a race or sitting on the couch with ice on your low back because you tweaked something during a game of golf.
All you get is…pain.
My name is Coach Matt Pippin.
I’ve been a Strength and Mobility Coach for 16 years, helping over a thousand professional, collegiate and everyday athletes move, feel and perform at their highest level and I’m excited to share the most powerful tool you can use to decrease pain and increase gains.
My Go-To Style of Training
Over the years, I’ve found that the game changer for me and my clients has been with a style of training called mobility training. It’s the most simple and effective way to:
• Relieve aches, pains, and tightness
• Reduce severity and frequency of future injuries
• Increase sports performance
What Is Mobility Training?
A lof of people think it’s stretching, yoga “flows”, or using gadgets like foam rollers or massage guns, but it’s not.
The basic definition is that mobility training is joint training. Just like you have strength training to build muscle and cardiovascular training for your heart, you have mobility training to create stronger, healthier joints.
Why It Should Be a Staple in Your Routine
Mobility training is incredibly powerful because it attacks things at the most basic level…the joints. All movement and all injury stems from your joints.
And yes, even if you feel like you have a muscle problem like knots, tightness or strains for example, it was put there because your joints aren’t functioning the way they were meant to. Unfortunately, when you stretch or foam roll, you’re only reaching the surface level and aren’t getting to the root of where the problem is coming from…the joints.
Think about it…
Healthy joints support your muscles, which move your bones and allow you to safely run, take a long ride on your bike and use your Gorilla Bow…all without pain.
So let’s dive in and take a look at how it can help the most common (and annoying) problems for those of us who enjoy being active.
Relieve Aches, Pain and Tightness
Let’s look at tight glutes, which at one point or another has been a problem for us all.
The standard protocol would be to stretch or jam a lacrosse ball on it and don’t get me wrong, you might temporarily feel better, but what happens the next day? It comes back and you go through the whole process again.
The actual cause of those tight glutes, is your hip joint. If it can’t performing at least one of the functions it’s supposed to like flex, extend, abduct, adduct, internally, and externally rotate, your body will put movement restrictions, tightness or knots in your muscles to prevent you from going in unsafe positions.
Improve movement in the hip joint with mobility training and I guarantee your aches, pains, and tightness will be a thing of the past…fast. Pretty awesome, right?
Reduce Severity and Frequency of Injuries
We’ve all dealt with injuries of some magnitude. They’re a part of life however, that doesn’t mean we can’t reduce the chance and severity of them. Injuries happen when you ask a joint to do an action it’s not capable of performing.
Take the squat exercise for example. It requires a mobile ankle, knee, hip, and spine. If any of these joints aren’t functioning optimally, (meaning they lack movements that they’re supposed to have), they’ll eventually start breaking down.
For this squat example, let’s say your hip lacks flexion, (the ability to pull your knee toward your chest).
When you go to squat, your lower back will step in and pick up the slack. What a nice guy!
The problem is that the low back isn’t meant to perform this action so inevitably pain will set in. I call this “the victim and the culprit.” The low back is the victim and where you feel the pain but the hip is the culprit, and his lack of function is what’s causing all of the problems.
Once your joints start getting stronger and moving the way they’re meant to with mobility training, your joints become bulletproof and you can avoid injury while you focus on setting your next PR in your squat.
Increase Sports Performance
When working with athletes, something pretty awesome starts to happen shortly after they’ve started mobility training.
At first, they can’t quite seem to put their finger on it but they feel something different with how they move. All of the actions required in their sport are now easier, more efficient and even more powerful.
If you take a step back and look at what mobility training is actually doing, it makes perfect sense. If we make our joints stronger and more resilient, than we’re essentially making our hardware better.
Think of it like a race car. Would you rather race with Ferrari parts or busted old Pinto parts. Of course, you want the Ferrari parts!
Want a bigger squat or deadlift……build better hip joints.
Want that huge bench or overhead press….. build better shoulder joints.
With mobility training, we’re building better hardware (joints) so you can go perform at your highest level.
How You Can Get Started
Now that you understand the benefits of mobility training and are looking at your movement through a different lens, it’s time to put it to the test and see for yourself!
I’ve put together my 3 must-have mobility moves where we’ll target the areas of the body that take the most use and abuse; the hip, shoulder, and spine.
You can use these before, during, and after you train to bulletproof your body and get the most out of your next Gorilla Bow workout.
CLICK HERE TO GET MOVING
So the next time you find yourself cringing through a set in the gym with a pinch ….or taking time off to rest an injury…or scratching your head about why you’re hitting a plateau during training, remember that mobility training is your secret weapon to making all the gains, without the pain.
