WOD
For time:
15 Strict Handstand Push-ups,
25 GhD Sit-ups,
35 Box Jump Overs 30/24,
45 Calorie Row,
35 Box Jump Overs 30/24,
25 Ghd Sit-ups,
15 Strict Handstand Push-ups.
Tuesday Night Musings with Coach Kris.
Mobility as part of the Recovery Process.
Hey Helo Fam, first of all I wanted to say I am so proud of your efforts during the Open. It was amazing to watch everyone stretch way out of their comfort zones and hit personal bests! Now that it’s over I thought it would be a great opportunity to talk about the importance of recovery. Specifically, I want you to think about adding mobility as part of your recovery process.
We all have the warm-up and workout part down because it’s built in to our hour at Helo and most of the time mobility is also included as a precursor to the WOD which is great. The mobility we do before a WOD is tailored to getting you ready to have the best position and therefore perform better at the particular movement in that day’s workout (ex: wrist mobility if we will be using the front rack, we’ll hit shoulders before overhead movements, hip mobility before squats etc). The mobility we do as a class is definitely valuable as it is tailored to that day’s movement but because of the time constraints of a class period it’s not enough. Here’s where I want to encourage you to go a little beyond what we can accomplish in that hour and prioritize it as part of your recovery as well.
Kelly Starrett is a physical therapist, CrossFit coach/box owner, and the creator of mobility wod and the guy showing you all those stretches on the posters hanging above the GHDs at the box (go take a closer look at those now that you remember they’re there). I won’t go into his entire bio but if you haven’t heard of him, he is pretty interesting, so do a quick google search and you can fall down the rabbit hole of his story and work, it’s a deep one but worth it. One catch phrase he is known for is “All human beings should be able to perform basic maintenance on themselves.” What, are we cars? No, but as CrossFit athletes I’m assuming we want to be able to move well so we can perform better and avoid injury in the process. According to Kelly, mobility is the key. The key to better position which leads to better performance and less injury while you’re getting there. Obviously this goes far beyond how we move in the gym because our daily life movements and body positions take up far more of our time than our workouts but for the sake of this post let’s just say we are focusing on mobility to become better athletes (and if we are moving better in the gym then hopefully that is carrying over to moving better in life as well). In your effort to become a better athlete try devoting 15-20 minutes to mobilizing as part of your daily recovery process and notice the difference. As for how you approach this goal there are paid subscription apps you can use like Kelly’s very own mobilityWOD or ROMWOD is another popular choice. However, you can also find TONS of free resources for mobility; some of my favorites are…
*Check-out Kelly’s book Becoming a Supple Leopard from the library.
*Kelly himself on YouTube
*Dr. Tim Simansky aka WOD doc on Instagram and www.thewoddoc.com
*Dr. Shante Cofield aka Movement Maestro on IG and www.themovementmaestro.com.
*Last but not least, your coaches at Helo! Hit us up.
I know we are all pressed for time but adding in just a few minutes of mobility “maintenance” to your day will pay dividends in the long run. Your janky hip, wonky shoulder, and tight ankles will thank you.
Thanks for reading!
Sincerely,
Coach Kris
