All right kids. Here you go - the first of many beat downs.
Think of the 10-minute squat test as a daily dose of fish oil for your mobility.
Good luck kids.
Post experience to comments.
-Kstar
epilogue: Tight hips? Here’s a great video on hip mobility to help you out. Ankles the problem? Check out this video about tight ankles. (must be an m|wod pro subscriber to view these videos)
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I love that accumulating 10min of squat position was your first episode. Love what you do. Keep up the solid training KStarr. Thanks for everything.
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How many times a week should this be done?
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Okay, so my flexibility is terrible. I’m almost 40, I didn’t do any exercise from the age of about 12 to the age of about 38, and I had a bad motorbike accident at the age of 29 that did a lot of damage to my right leg - in particular I have no right ankle dorsiflexion, I can barely put the foot flat (they’re not sure why not - x-rays don’t show any bony obstructions, but physios say it doesn’t seem to be soft tissue either. Go figure). I also can’t hit 90 degrees of hinge at the hips, just through general disuse and years of sitting in office chairs I think. Knee flexibility is poor too, although not as bad as the hips and ankles.
So, to get into something resembling a ‘full squat’ position, obviously I need to hang off something in front of me. Once I do so, my weight is so far back of centre that the only thing I can feel getting stretched is my arms and shoulders, stopping me from falling over on my arse. All the relevant joints (hips/knees/ankles) feel like they’re actually being pulled open by my weight falling backwards - I have to work to keep myself in the position, rather than being able to relax into it. More of a static hold than a stretch, all in all.
So… I guess this isn’t doing much for me, other than working on lat strength or something. Or am I wrong, will it still be doing some good despite the really poor starting position?
I’ve been digging through the WODs a bit, and in general I’m seeing this problem in a lot of places - I’m too inflexible to hit the basic starting positions you describe, let alone ‘move around’ in them, so I don’t know where I go from here.
Hy Denny.
I’m from Switzerland, please excuse my following english.
I know your problem pretty well. After years of marathon training my hip flexibility was also very bad, my muscles and ligaments seemed to be shortened from one-sided training.
But there is a good other option to improve your range of motion on your hips.
1. Lie back-sided on the ground in front of a wall, put your feeds flat an the wall and come with your butt as close to the wall as possible. (Know you should find yourself in a horizontal squat position.)
2. Then press your knees apart so you will feel the strech. Held this position for 10 to 20 seconds, release und repeat for about tree times.
I hope I could help you. With best greetings from Switzerland.
Raphael
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Do you maintain muscular tension at the bottom? I found if I went lower (releasing muscular tension) my knees were quite stiff at the end of my 10 minutes, however knees were less effected if tension was kept but lost the good stretch feel through the hip capsules!
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this is what started it for me but I didnt catch on till about episode 50 or so.
Problem with generic advice like this is it doesn’t account for the structural discrepancies that exist from person to person. For example and individual with external tibial torsion or retroverted femur without torsional compensation at tibia is going to end up with some cranky ass hips if you get them with their feet forward.
Hi Kelly just seen your ‘Sitting wrecks your hip action | Feat. Kelly Starrett | MobilityWOD’ video
I am 20, 6″3 and do alot of cycling, race competitively just like Levi Limpiar but not at that level
I feel I have tight hip flexors, but I seem to have flexible hips since I can get into alot of positions
Hamstrings feel tight, left hamstring is tightest with a trigger point feeling behind and above the knee cap
I have slight anterior pelvic tilt
Glutes feel tight especially on a lacrosse ball but they don’t fire much so I’m not sure weather to strengthen or stretch?
Quads are pretty flexible but I’m quad dominate
Lower back feels tight especially with lacrosse ball some big trigger points in low back! cant feel stretches with low back stretches.
Calfs are tight
The first picture is neutral spine but with me on my toes.
The second picture me trying to force a neutral spine cant do it, this is flat footed
The third picture is me just naturally sitting in the sqaut position but not a neutral spine I am a cyclist, and this bend you see in the 2 and 3 picture is the part I hinge at on the bike. Are you able to guess what is up my back? Possibly over developed spinal erectors? This is the area that causes me pain on the bike. Cheers
Pictures:
http://puu.sh/5ugsh.jpg neutral spine but on toes
http://puu.sh/5ugAw.jpg on heels but not neutral
http://puu.sh/5U1f0.jpg Trying to force a neutral spine on feet but just wont happen!
You might not feel that your hips, ankles, whatever interferes with a full squat are tight, but they definetly are. You can squat with a neutral spine to a certain depth, but if you want to go deeper after that you have to round your back because you are stiff in some places. If you squat slowly down and try and keep your abs and back really straight(neutral) you should feel stiffness in either the hip or ankles, usually the hip, at some point, and that should give you some ideas of what you need to stretch/mobilize.
You might overeestimate how flexible you are with a straight back which I think can decrease the effectiveness of some of the mobilization excerises if you cheat with slightly bad technique/rounded back while doing them. Maybe have to do some type of core excerises so you better can control your back and not round it when you don’t want to, or just stiff, or a combination of those two.
I’m no expert but that’s my idea after looking at your problem.
I feel it in the hips like compression kinda of thing and the below the shins connected to the foot Superior extensor retinsaculum I think?
Any lower then that and I start to bend at the low back If I hold on to something If I force it to get really neutral I feel mid back tightness but my low back is tightest!
http://puu.sh/5WqV6.jpg
I think I may have antior pelvic tilt to? What you think?
http://puu.sh/5WrzI.jpg
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So the goal is to accumulate 10 minutes. I wasn’t able to do so all at once and had to stand up a couple of times. I pretty much had to hold on to the couch almost the entire time, and I couldn’t really get my feet pointing forward. My plan is to do this every other day, working up to getting into the correct position. My question is, what is the best way to go about building up to it?
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Awesome video! But… I couldn’t do it. I could do it for about 4-5 min. Then I had to come up, then I did it for another minute and a half. Whats that mean in all honesty? haha I knew I was bad, but I want to get better! I will get better! Should I go to the next video or master this one day by day?
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That was tough…way tougher than it should have been. I knocked this out at about a minute at a time before having to stand up. Halfway through I used a band to keep my feet straighter, is this a good idea?
As someone at least 50 lbs overweight:
Is this something I can do 2-3 times a day? Safely?
At what point of mobility/stability would it be wise to add barbell training into the equation? (e.g. If i can maintain a proper bottom squat position with feet together for five minutes, it’s time to add weight)
P.S. I was weight training, but stopped when I was compensating with really bad form (knees in, toes out). It’s also really hard for me to activate my glutes, like, no activation whatsoever, will this come in time once I lock in proper form?
6’2′ 250ish lbs and falling.
Well maybe I’m late to the party but I love these Mobility WODs. This stuff has been around in some form for hundreds of years but three cheers to Kstar for codifying and compiling them here. A huge help for me, my training staff and our clients. Thank you!