Goal:
Open up the front of your hips. Try and get 4 min each side.
Test: Air Squat
Mobilize 8 min
Retest: Air Squat
Note changes in quality of your squat/depth/etc.
Enjoy the feeling of undoing years of sitting in a chair.
And for crying out loud. Don’t go into the pain cave. I can’t stress this enough. Your Totem Animal won’t be in there to help you. You’ll be on your own. The Pain Cave is for cowards.
Pain is your companion, don’t go hide from it.
It’s ok to do a mobility wod every day.
Homework: Make someone in your office of family do it too.
Post non-pain cave based experiences to comments.
Kstar
125 Responses to “Episode 02: Don’t Go In the Pain Cave”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- 16 Tips for Desk Jockeys: What to Do About Sitting All Day | Mark's Daily Apple
- 16 Tips for Desk Jockeys: What to Do About Sitting All Day | CrossFit Fever | Fuel Your Addiction!
- Have a desk job? | Walk A Mile In My Boots
- What To Do About Sitting All Day - 042811 | CrossFit Truckee
- Workout #17 « OGFitness
- 5-10 WOD « CrossFit 208
- A simple test take 4 minutes of your day. « Scrubs go to the gym. Macs go to the rack.
- August 11th: Snatch Pull | Crossfit Westside
- Get Off Your Ass: It Could Save Your Life! | Nerd Fitness
- Nerd Fitness: Get off your ass - it could save your life. | GeekForThought
- A Beginner’s Guide to Running | Nerd Fitness
- Position, Power and Mobility, a 1, 2, 3 punch in fitness. | The Blog of Archie D. Cunningham
- Lördag - 120107 - Vila/Rörlighetsträning. | CrossFit Linköping
- The (week)End « Fitness, die funktioniert!
- Pain Pt. 4
- Hyphy | gnu fitness
- IF is becoming more comfortable. « Getting better at life, one WOD at a time.
- Couch Stretch MWOD - All Things Gym
- Let’s start at the very beginning… | CrossFit Woodstock
- WOD - 4/12/12 | CrossFit Regeneration
- WOD 120410 | CrossFit Queens
- A New Program « 夫妻廢篇 - Husband and wife lung slices
- 2012.06.18 Monday - Workouts ‹ Pittsburgh Rowing Club
- Tuesday 10th July « CrossFit Central Helsinki
- My Favorite Mobility: Running Edition | CrossFit Fenway
Mobility Courses
In the Media
MWOD Named a Top Blog of 2011 by...
Friends of MWOD
MWOD Banner
Add our banner to your page. get the code here
Thanks Dr. K-Starr. You should get a Helmet cam and film your entire day.
surely you can co-opt one of the girls from the couch (if only to mix your paleolibation!)
thanks again kelly, this was as necessary as yesterday's!
Awesome stuff. Opening up the hips and watching tv are a great combination. The tv actually kept me preoccupied just enough to prevent entry into the pain cave. Thanks for the tip, who knew my bottle noised dolphin totem was not in the pain cave - me!
Thanks Kelly, great stuff!
Pure Awesomeness! These WODs are now my homework assignments for all my athletes.
Ahh, the one I avoid, but know I should do the most. Using a bed instead of wall helped fight the cramp I usually get in this one. Definite improvement in the depth of my squat after. Keep up the awesome posts! Btw, I want my copy of K-Star Pro Skater so I can play it on my iPhone while I do these.
Done. Will do it again after training tonite. Did an extra minute focusing on the quads wich really seems to help the old knees.
BTW. Buying skateboards for the kids.
Thanks for this blog Kelly, hope you keep it up! This is exactly what I need.
Amazing!!
Will someone please explain "totem animal"? I'm a tad lost on that one….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totem
MobilityWOD is my new favorite website.
KStar: Thanks. I cannot thank you enough. I am signed up for the mobility cert in a few months, because this is a huge limitation of mine (among the hundred other limitations) thanks so much!
This looks killer and I love the "paleo treat" w/ or w/o run, nice!
Some P recipes here to return the favor: http://paleolickinggood.blogspot.com/
Holy hell… KStar, I cannot thank you enough for setting up a site like this. I'm one stiff mofo, and things like this will help me a ton. I've lately been exclusively working on thoracic and shoulder mobility, but will add these "mobility wods" into my routine.
Get your sweet mobility-lovin' butt out to the mid-atlantic area, so I can attend a cert
Thanks!
This is going to be AWESOME Kstar. Mobility and flexibility are where I've found myself struggling with following CF over the past 2.5 yrs. We know we need it and we want it, but we don't know how to get it or implement it into our daily WOD routine… this has the potential to solve that problem for the entire community.
Very much looking forward to this!
Best idea since pants with pockets!!! Awesome!
KSTAR- thank you so much for these awesome videos!
Anyone having trouble actually getting into the second position today? It's KILLING my thighs … obviously I am tight as a tick but WOW!
hottest new website in crossfit.
kstar for president!
-ec
Great start! Will be reading and following everyday from now on. Thank you for taking your time and sharing.
Hahahahaha. While the video is awesome, the mini-Stars totally steal the show. The tone of the "what are you doing dad?" pretty much tells the whole story: not surprise that Kelly's waltzing through the living room filming himself stretching, but more of a "great, here we go again."
Very excited about this blog; I'm making it required reading for all CFNYC members.
Kstar,
Awesome. I enjoyed the skateboarding action sequence! Looking forward trying this today! Thank you!
-Jeff
It's already been said plenty but wanted to thank you for this. Great addition to anyones training regimen. One question though, what the hell is the pain cave? I get the metaphor but don't quite understand the direction. Are you saying don't do it to the point of pain or don't be a bitch and man up to the pain? Perhaps a simpletons question, but a necessary one for me none the less.
This is at a level of awesomeness that can't even be described.
My right leg I did as Rx'd (up against wall) then when I moved to the second position on my left leg I was unable to get my chest up without severe discomfort so I went to the couch and finished off the 8min. Retest of the air squat resulted in a better feel in the bottom (chest more upright).
Thanks for this Kelly, I now have no excuse not to do this stuff!
Lovin' the blog, KStar & can't wait to meet you in Milford in October. We do this stretch often as part of our dynamic movement warmup, but never for this long. I know what I'll be doing tonight.
And as for the folks confused about pain caves and totem animals, go watch Fight Club while you do your stretches.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boj75h3urLU
This is great! Thanks KStar!
Did before todays WoD. Front of hips are really thight on me so I knocked on the door to the pain cave several times. No totem as you said.
Will work more on this one!
Love the new site KStarr! Great stuff!
WTF is a pain cave and what does it mean not to go there? P.S. Great stuff, thanks.
Awesome! Thank´s Kelly!
Done. Really, rally useful. Pain. But good pain.
This blog might end up being the best blog to come out of CrossFit ……. ever. As a 40-year-old CrossFitter, mobility is not only key, it's paramount. KStar is the man, and all of you should listen up.
finished my 4 min in on each side. Man my quads were tight. I had a hard time just coming up into a lunge for the 2nd 2 minutes. My right side was tighter than my left for sure. Biggest change between beginning and ending squat was that my knees seemed to make less noise on the after sqat.
Thanks!
Holy Wow that is some crazy burn & stretch. I am def incorporating this into my daly regime. Mobility it my pitfall.
I do feel and incredibly uncomfortable pain on the later side of my knee though. My quads are insanely tight and I could not get up into an upright position it just sent me flying into the pain cave. I did pus has long as I could.
I managed the 10 min of accumulated squats in 4 sets though.
I peaked inside the pain cave, but there's a big a$$ bear in there so I stayed out. Great stuff.
I did today's and yesterday's WOD just now. Legs are feeling it. Now that I've done two workouts, it's time to go and eat a big thing of ice cream… But in all seriousness, should I be doing these WODs directly before/after my football WOD?
This is perfect. I asked for something like this in CF mainsite message boards last year, and it looks like you've answered my prayers! These old hips are hurting from sitting all day.
http://www.board.crossfit.com/showthread.php?t=47487
I love it!
Brian
In case you are still wondering about the pain cave here is another scene in fight club that explains how going into your pain cave is not a good thing. WARNING: NOT work or family safe (cursing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuiKJ0rRTAo
This felt terrible - especially on the left side - quad and anterior hip much tighter. Was very close to the pain cave and then both my hamstrings seized up in an unpleasant fashion. Doing the stretch on the bed was a great tip.
4 minutes each side
Saw K Starr do this one on a CF video at Filfest. Good stuff.
Kelly, you keep making posts this good and I'll be linking you up on the CFNYC blog every damn day. Thank you for being so entertaining while teaching such worthwhile of stuff. Kinda like a spoonful of sugar helping the medicine go down, or something like that…
Done. Much tighter on left side, which doesn't surprise me, as I've been battling tendonitis in my left knee, and stuff on that side's a bit out of whack. Felt much better by end of WOD.
Wow! I thought I had pretty good mobility. This was great… definitely found some limitations. Thanks for starting this blog, will be visiting and doing mobility WODs everyday!
was being dealt a shaman's on this one.
notes:
could feel some tightness in an old appendectomy scare on my right side! epic improvement is coming!!
Loving this blog. This is now on my list of "must visit daily." We are talking about petting the dog - LMAO.
Great great blog.
Actually doing it however:
Couldn't remotely get past position 1 on either leg.
Left leg was tough, but I could rest my elbow on the right knee.
Right leg I was questioning how well your parents knew each other and comparing your mother with a canine. Sorry Dr. KStar's mum. Couldn't remotely get up on the opposite knee. Both hands on the ground.
On to the calf work from today.
This was awful. A god awful movement.
Afterwards my squat felt great - so totally worth it.
Got everyone doing this at our classes today. The first time I was wailing and gnashing like everyone else and couldn't get upright. By the third class there were such improvements I could go 'bam' into the upright bit. Thanks so much Kstar!
Had some residual tightness through the hips from the last few days of training- feels awesome now though!
Huge improvement in 'freeness' of my squat.
Rad.
Jolie.
Agreed. Totally aweful. Felt it all in the quad and only secondarily in the glutes. Didn't even have either knee all the way to the wall. Boy do I have some work to do (but at least I now have some direction). Thanks Kelly!
(2:00, 1:00, 1:00), (2:00, 1:00, 1:00)
Had a very hard time mobving from position 1 to position 2
That was horrible…which I guess means I need a ton of work. How often can/should we do this? I don't want to over do it but I need to do it much much more!
Oooooweee!! That was wonderfully painful! Thanks for this blog and keep up the great work!
Did the "10 min squat MobilityWOD", took me 14:05 to complete the 10 min squat. Had my feet much closer together, and more vertical than normal. Tough WOD…thanks KStarr!
I don't want to discuss my experience in the pain cave, but this is officially my new favorite blog. Thank you!!!!
DUDE! Did 1 minute per pos'n per leg. I can't even get close to 180 degrees on either leg. Well, maybe 165 degrees.
Left hip was more restrictive than the right.
Terrible. Right leg was easier than the left. 1st try with my left I was getting a significant amount of knee pain. Didn't think that was normal so I stopped after ~0:30 rewatched the video and tried again and felt knee pain after I finished all 4:00 but not during. much harder staying upright with my left hip.
Kelly is the man your man could stretch like
2 minutes each side. right leg worse than left leg, really feeling the stretch more through the quad than the hip. couldn't go to position 2.
Did the full 2 min at ea position (4 min ea side). Very tight (L>R). I really need to visit this one more frequently.
A heartfelt thank you (and a question). I've dabbled with various types of stretching and yoga, but this is leaving them in the dust. It targets the areas I need the most help, the timed holds are difficult, but VERY effective. I am the posterchild for grody joint mobility - but not for long!
Question - the pain cave reference - does it mean to suck it up and work through the pain - or don't stretch if it is causing pain?
Thanks again !!!!!!!! I've forwarded this link to a number of dist lists and friends. Good to see it on CFFB blog too!!!
OOps. I was that guy… I should have googled pain cave before asking the question. Best blog ever.
Awesome Stuff Kelly - Keep up the great work - we are all so very very grateful - THANK YOU
I'm so tight, I had to lie down and inch back to the wall - and couldn't get my other knee up enough to bring my foot out to support my hips. I'm afraid of what's coming tomorrow…
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I do a lot of heavy lifting for my job. I’ve never been seriously injured but I have had a lot of aches and pains over the years. I used to be an athlete so I know the importance of stretching but I must confess that I have taken stretching for granted for the past 20 years. This is only my second day following your video blog and I have already experienced less pain as I have started my work day than I have in a long time. I cannot wait to reach the level of flexibility that I had in my younger years if not better. I have challenged myself to work through the stretches and I have to say, it’s worth it. Thanks for your dedication to bring to the world greater mobility.
This was hilarious and useful at the same time. Great job. Thanks for the stretches.
Love this! I obviously need to do it more but I felt so good afterward. Thank you!
Just starting this and my God, I’m taking what I thought about my flexibility and throwing it out the damn window.
Can’t wait to tackle this everyday, clearly my body needs this.
I found a Goat today.
If you didn’t get it from the helpful videos posted above… “don’t go into the pain cave” means stay present in the feeling. Keep your awareness with your body and in the feeling of the stretch.
Note: this is not about recklessly breaking yourself - respect your body. If you remain connected with your hip you’ll know where your limit is. Don’t back off from that edge and don’t let your consciousness abandon your body.
Could sitting all day explain why my legs feel so weird?
Thank you for this, I really needed this excercise. I’m preparing for a half-marathon, and I’m blogging about lowcarb, excercising and running. Could I use this video on my blog? I would link to you, off course! Btw, it’s a Norwegian blog
I think this will be my biggest haul with the year! Luckily for my wallet I’m not planning on getting much around the other limited edition collections due out in the next couple of months. I am really curious to notice them. Kathe Galvis
Having suffered this gem before, and crawling so embarrassingly in the pain cave, I opted for the couch stretch. It still did the trick though. I blame way too much ass-to-chair time at the computer for my lack of flexibility in this area. I’ve been using a standing-desk lately. Hopefully between that and more MWOD I can regain much lost mobility.
Knee was probably 8 inches from wall, forget about position 2. This one needs some work, as I’m sure most of these will.
oh my god it hurts so good. i mean, now that it’s all over. thank you again good sir!
I noticed a big difference between legs. The right leg i had trouble holding the 2nd position and had to come back into the first every now and then. On the left leg i couldn’t even get into the 2nd position, and when i finished found a numb patch on my upper leg leg/left hip area that has lasted several minutes, which is probably not a good sign.
Ay Carumba! Hurts so good! Very humbling. Just getting into the position felt like an effort. Forget about extending the hip angle 180; mine was at about 135. Had to tell myself “NO PAIN FACE!” Cant wait for manana’s helping.
Did day 2, much improved squat after. No pain face but there was some discomfort
I have a question after doing this. My right leg did not hurt as much as my left leg did during this stretch. I had trouble with even position 1 on my left, but my right did both positions no problem.
Why is this?
wow! I couldn’t even get my chest off my knee without thinking my hip flexor would just rip. Gotta work on these for sure!
still hurts so good. Thanks again!
25/m/6’2/286.2 lbs
Good Lord. This WoD made me feel out of shape and inflexible as heck. I couldn’t even proper form on the stretch on my right side and could only hold it for a few seconds at a time when my left leg was on the wall. Had stability issues, flexibility issues. My considerable stomach girth didn’t help either. Can’t wait to revisit this one 30 lbs from now. This one HURT. In a good way though.
I’m tired of my aches and pains. This exercise was great and I haven’t felt this refreshed in ages.
I am horrible at this stretch, no way can I go up. I think I found my problem area, the high quad is super tight and I never knew it. I can’t wait until I can go 2 minutes at this.
I’m trying to rehab from ITBS right now, and this one made my knee sore - just a heads up for anyone else in this situation. The squat before and the ankle flexion after this one are fine though.
This site is awesome. I like sports and coach youth soccer. I have implemented routines over the past few years to help the youth avoid and recover from needless injuries; the amount of video game/text messaging time has created some very immobile youth. I hope to learn alot by followng this program for 365 days with my 8YO son; I also plan to bring the rest of my family along with me as I become better at coaching them to better health. I intend to comment after ever Mobility WOD completed.
Oops, supposed to leave a comment on the WOD. The WOD made both my feet and ankles sore after about the 6 minutes mark. I kept my feet turned inward slightly [5 deg] from the knee position.
Good lord… I can’t even get my knee off the ground… I am certain I’m in the top 5% LEAST flexible hips in the world…
Wow this one was awesome. It was really tough to stay throughout the whole stretch. When I got up though I started giggling like a little girl. I think my hips and glutes were real happy with me cause they felt freaking great. Thanks so much!
Back thigh burned both times, but made it through. Glute on the up leg hurt and it crept up my back both times. Both 4 minutes were fine, however. DEEP air squat afterwards.
Just started this with the 10 minute squat yesterday (which sucked), now this one today. At first I was so tight I wasn’t even sure if I could get into the first position. I got there with quite a bit of discomfort, but the longer I held it the more I loosened up and after two minutes I was able to open up into the second position. Great stuff.
now that’s a man. Oh man.
Great stretch but after about a week of doing it on both sides every day for 3-4 min, the skin on the front of my left thigh has gone numb. If you were looking at my thigh from the front and divided it into quarters, it would be the bottom left quarter to mid-thigh- all numb. Note- it is only numb skin-level, not any deeper. Any suggestions? It’s been that way for about 4 days now.
Clocked my 8mins for this one.
8 minutes done..the couch stretch makes it much more tolerable.
Remembered being shown this stretch (And the blog) years ago by my coach.
I’d almost forgotten how awful but effective this stretch is. Even the first position is a struggle at first! Works though.
Thanks for the blog, good stuff.
I tossed the kickity kick ball back n forth with my lil girls while doing it. Beats the pain cave. Tough movement, my form was not perfect to say the least. Had to call time out with the girls as I went into position 2, that was challenging. Like everyone else, as I held it, things loosened up and got easier.
Awesome. I’m sitting and standing with better posture immediately after this exercise. Lots of work to be done!
I just found this site and am working my way through the WODs backwards. Held the 10 minute squat this morning and thought “That was rough but doable.” Saw this one and thought “That looks like it might hurt a little.” Got down with my knee against the wall, straightened up and my eyes just about popped out of my head! The pain cave looked pretty damn inviting about then but I managed to sweat it out. My thighs are now twitching like a dog chasing bunnies in his sleep. Awesome, thank you for putting this program together!