Fast and Functional Mobility: By Coach Chris Provost

If you’re anything like me.. you hate to warm up. It takes time, it’s boring and more often than not it showcases serious mobility flaws. 

I’m not saying stretch and mobilize for an hour before you lift, no one wants to be a loose rubber band. Just a little bit more than nothing is better than a whole lot of nothing you were doing before. 

You’re not too cool for warming up, you can run through this little piece in 10-12 Minutes and your body will thank you! 

1. Foam Roller

T-Spine – Spend 1 minute or so rolling this out to start, feel free to add a medium weighted kettle bell to your chest to add some additional pressure.

Lats – Spend 30-45 seconds per lat while mashing the muscle as you roll up and down.

 Quads – Spend 1 minute rolling up and down your quad from hip to the top of your knee.. please don’t roll over your knee cap unless you don’t want it inside your body anymore. After 30 seconds start to perform “snow angels” moving your legs in and out as you roll up and down.

2. Shoulder Warmup

Banded Shoulder Stretch – Place a 1” band around a rig and place it just behind your elbow. Walk forward letting the arm travel up while keeping your elbow/bicep as close to your head as possible. DO NOT allow your hips to have an anterior pelvic tilt, keep your hips neutral and your ribs tucked down. Slowly release your shoulder letting the band do it’s magic. Spend roughly 45-60 seconds per side.

Scorpion Stretch – Lay flat on the ground with your arms out creating a “T”. While keeping your chest on the ground bring your left foot over to the right side of your body opening the Hip, Lower Back & Thoracic. Try to have the foot reaching to be as flat as possible. Alternate sides completing 5 per sidewith a 10 second pause on each repetition.

3. Shoulder Activation

Dead Hang – Grab a pull-up bar with inactive shoulders, let your body pull through your shoulders and hold for 10 seconds.

Active Hang – Immediately after the dead hang pull yourself into an active hang position. Activate your scaps and traps while keeping your arms as straight as possible for 10 seconds.

Kip Swings – Right after your hangs go right into 10 Kip Swings, Hollow body focusing on the movement in the shoulders.

…repeat this set 1 more time!

4. Hip Warmup

90/90 Stretch – To get into the 90/90 position, your lead leg should be directly in front of you, bent to 90 degrees. Line it up with your heel. The trail leg should be to the side also be bent to 90 degrees, with the heel lining up with the back leg.

When you’re in the position, extend your back. Try to get your belly button to hover over your knee. If you lean forward keeping your chest up high, you’ll get a deep stretch in your lead leg. What you’re stretching here is the forgotten muscle, the gluteus minimus.

…Hold each side for 30 Seconds!

Seated Straddle – In a seated position, open your legs as wide as needed to feel a stretch in your inner thighs. If you’re really tight, try sitting on a pillow to decrease the stretch, or try doing this stretch one leg at a time.

To increase the stretch, walk your hands forward while keeping your back straight, hinging forward from your hips. Hold this position for 20 to 30 seconds.

5. Hip Activation

Assisted Cossack Squat – Grab a rig or something you can hold on to. Take a wider than shoulder width stance, and turn one foot out to the side with the toe off the floor. Keep that knee straight, and squat to your other leg, trying to keep both heels on the ground and keeping your spine as straight and tall as possible. If needed, raise the toes of the straight leg off the ground, keeping the emphasis on the leg/hip that is squatting. Perform 10 reps per side.

Glute Bridge – Bend your knees and put your feet flat on the ground just close enough that you can graze your heels with your fingertips when you stretch your arms down by your side. Your feet should be about hip-width apart.

Bend your elbows to 90 degrees so that only your upper arm is on the ground.

Then drive up through your heels and upper back to lift your glutes off the ground. Drive your hips up as high as possible, squeezing the glutes hard. Keep your rib cage tucked under. Squeeze your glutes for a second or two at the top and lower all the way back down to the ground before repeating.

Perform 10 reps with a 2 second pause at the top of each.

Repeat the 10 Cosack Squats and 10 Glute bridges for another round, you can add a small dumbbell to the glute bridges to add some weight.

Your body will love you for it!