Mobility

Mobility vs. Flexibility

Flexibility is being able to touch your toes.

Mobility is being able to move weight and move athletically while in that position.

If you’re not able to control your movements, breathe, and support a load in a position, there’s room to improve.

Why it matters

1) You go faster by having access to more muscle fibers

If your muscles are “tight” or “knotted”, that is because they are constantly partially contracted. If some of your muscle fibers are already contracted, you can’t use those when you try to move a weight/exert force.

Therefore, tight muscle = less force (am I oversimplifying here, probably)

2) You go faster by using your body more efficiently

Your body is a magnificent machine. If it’s able to move freely, your muscular and skeletal systems can work in beautiful harmony to accomplish extraordinary feats of strength and speed.

It’s also amazing in that, if you cannot get into a position correctly (a deep squat, for example), it is able to compensate to get you there (by rounding your low back or collapsing your ankles/knees, for example). In the moment, this compromised position allows you to lift more weight because, well, you literally cannot get into the right position in the first place.

However, not only does this compromised position increase your risk for injury to discs, tendons, ligaments, etc., but all things being equal, you will better be able to repeat that movement under load if you can move properly.

For one example, in the rowing stroke, if you can sit comfortably with your hips rotated forward, sitting up on your sit bones on the recovery, this will allow you to breathe better, so you can repeat a harder drive each stroke down the course.

And if you can move properly on the drive, then you can use your quads, hamstrings, and glutes in harmony to drive the legs down and open the hips, instead of bracing against each other as your back opens.

3) You get faster by being able to train more

If you are constantly training in a compromised position, your body will fight back sometimes. You’ll either damage something inside yourself, or a muscle will spasm to protect itself or a nearby structure.

When this happens, you can’t train. When you can’t train, you don’t get faster.

Minimizing time out of the boat is crucial. This is something that I have learned the hard way through the years.

How to work on it

Seeing a PT or certified strength coach to measure your current mobility and develop a plan for how to improve is a great place to start.

You have to know what you’re doing now in order to develop a plan for the future.

For at home work, the King of Mobility (in my opinion) is Kelly Starrett. He has written multiple books, the first, most influential, and most useful is Becoming A Supple Leopard. His website is called The Ready State. And on his youtube channel, there are hundreds of videos showing you ways of mobilizing every imaginable muscle, joint, and fascial structure.

One thing that I’ve gotten frustrated with and have to keep in mind is that this takes time. Correcting movement patterns that you’ve developed for YEARS will not happen in just a day of work. It won’t happen in just a week. And even after months, it takes constant work, especially when you’re training for twenty hours per week.

Most common deficiencies in rowers

*just in case you forgot, I’m just relating my experiences, I’m not a medical professional

Tight Hips - Using your low back as a second set of hips

Tight and overdeveloped quads from using them in a seated position in the boat (then going to sit in a chair/couch the rest of the day) pull your pelvis forward (anterior tilt). Glutes and hamstrings are weak from being squished all day in those chairs and pulled tighter bc the rear of the pelvis is being tilted up (from the quads pulling the front down - anterior tilt).

When your hips can’t move from this position, your low back (lumbar spine) acts as a joint instead. Not great for your discs.

So, some things you can do are 1) learn how to use your glutes and hamstrings, 2) strengthen your glutes and hamstrings in a full range of motion, 3) roll and stretch those quads and hip flexors, 4) strengthen your deep core — transverse abdominus, pelvic floor, etc — to teach your lumbar spine to brace in a strong position again and NOT move.

Tight Shoulders - Using your back and ribs as a second set of shoulders

In a rowing position, as well as a desk/computer/texting position, your shoulders are rolled forward. Even at the finish of a stroke, most people don’t get their shoulders behind their chest.

The pecs shorten and get tight, and often the upper traps are being used to pull your arms and shoulders back, so they strengthen and roll your shoulders up to your ears as well.

We want the shoulder blades to be able to slide around the rib cage. With your shoulders down, away from the ears, the serratus anterior works to slide those shoulder blades forward, and the mid-and low traps should work to pull them back (posteriorly).

If your pecs and upper traps (and others) are so tight, and your serratus and low traps locked tight/weak, that your shoulder blades cannot move around your rib cage, your rib cage, and, by association, your thoracic spine, will just move instead to get the job done.

This (in my opinion) is one contributing factor to rib and low back injuries. We want the skeletal structure (spine and rib cage) to be in a strong position, able to support those repeated loads.

Don’t use your rib cage to move your shoulders. Stretch out those pecs and the front of your chest (without just spreading your rib cage open and extending your thoracic spine!). Strengthen the serratus and mid- and low-traps through a FULL range of motion and stop using your upper traps to finish the stroke.