Yes, there is something wrong with mobility WOD’s and movement screens. I’ll get to that in a second.
Let me start by saying that they’re not all bad or useless. There’s something useful in just about any system but methinks they’re missing a secret ingredient.
This guy I know, who shall remain nameless, became a Crossfit coach. And, although he focused on perfect form, he started, and then continued, to have back pain.
It came and went over the years. Sometimes it was crippling to the point where he couldn’t do anything. Other days it appeared to disappear completely.
Doing Crossfit workouts was one thing that regularly made it worse.
He even worked with Kelly Starrett and did lots of mobility work, but the pain has persisted.
Contrast this to me. I deadlift fairly heavy, with my record being 505 lbs. at this point. I do it in form that most people think will leave me crippled.
I’m going to blow out my back…or am I?
In fact, this guy saw some of my videos and criticized my form.
But let’s contrast results.
He’s in crippling back pain that he can’t overcome.
I am not. And I can lift far heavier things and move in many ways he can’t, like the crazy bridging work I also do.
If you can do this move, chances are you won’t have spine or shoulder problems
So just maybe there’s something going on…
The “spine experts” will tell you not to round your back when you deadlift.
They say never to twist it under load.
I say the opposite. I say “bad form” can make you stronger.
If you want to be indestructible you can’t rely on perfect form.
Here’s why?
Your training, from time to time, will take you out of perfect form. Any time you train hard, even if you’re focused on form, things don’t go as planned.
And the people that get injured in this way blame not being in perfect form. But the truth is its because they can’t perform outside of it, that is really at fault.
After all, I’ve seen plenty of people get injured even when doing perfect form.
Secondly, life will throw things at you. This is unavoidable. Accidents occur.
I don’t know about you. But I don’t walk around with my abs properly braced and my spine in a load bearing position at all times.
If you are, maybe you’ll avoid injury. But what if your body is properly prepared to go into these “bad” positions?
Like falling from six feet up in the air onto your head…
Wouldn’t you be happy you’d done tons of bridging work then. While people screamed at me, “you’re going to break your neck!” or “you’ll be paying for that years down the road”, I did it anyway.
And I firmly believe it was that work that saved me from having to go to a hospital because, yes, that happened to me.
Or rolling your ankle on a root while running through a trail…
And just keeping on running because the ankle was properly prepared to move in that way.
You can be “ready” by maintaining proper form at all times. But try as you might, I don’t think this is actually possible nor effective.
Or you can be “ready” by sometimes intentionally moving into bad form.
Plus its not just about form. Its about strengthening your weak links (we all have them). Just a little bit of work in this manner can go a long way.
The key is to LISTEN to your body as you do them. As you do so, you’ll get better, not break yourself in the process. More about this in my next article.
This is the work I do regularly that makes it so I’m more injury proof.
These are also the same exercises I recommend for people looking to overcome an injury.
Here’s another article covering a couple drills across the entire body that was quite popular.
That just scratches the tip of the ice berg.
It really takes a wide variety of exercises, some focusing more on mobility, others on strength, some on stability, while others build flexibility, some with loads, others without, to get to a place of indestructibility.
And it doesn’t have to take an hour a day.
Just a tiny bit of this work goes a long way. Plus it can be cycled. I’m certainly not doing all of this stuff all the time.
You can grab my ENTIRE Indestructible Body Program here, along with much else as you become a member of the Strength Health Mind Power Inner Circle.
Stay tuned for my next article where I dive deeper on the component that makes this work, listening to your body, biofeedback training and some of my recent “EUREKA” moments in how this can change the game entirely.