Mobility Work is a Waste

Kelly Starrett, the MobilityWod Sensei

It's boring, annoying, and time consuming, and it takes forever to see any progress. No need to waste your time.

That's what I used to think anyway. I'm reasonably flexible, I can reach difficult positions, I can hold my back tight when I need to. I do have one ankle that's a little bit of a problem child, but no need to worry. 

Lawl. 

Here I am, 6 months and 5 bulging lumbar discs later, about to head in for my third epidural steroid injection, utilizing spinal decompression techniques 2 times a day after spending 6 weeks in physical therapy, mobilizing my ankle daily, strengthening my core daily, unable to squat or load my spine due to the pain. 6 months ago I was squatting 360 for 10 triples when something happened. I'm not exactly sure what it was, though it doesn't even matter; most injuries are accumulations of prior workouts' poor positions, and that's absolutely key to understand. Up until that day I felt completely fine, just as you feel completely fine. 

In 7th grade I sprained my right ankle playing basketball, and I've since sprained it 7 more times. Needless to say, my ankle is weak. It's permanently swollen and far less flexible than my left ankle. Because of this, when I near the bottom of my squat, my right ankle dead ends and I incidentally shift slightly onto my left ankle. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. Absolutely wrong. It was this little shift, multiplied over years of squatting and hundreds of loaded pounds that put me where I am today. 

Speak of the devil, there it is. Note the leftward shift.

Where am I? 

I'm sitting at my house, that's where. Sitting at my house praying my third injection will work, because if it doesn't, I'm going in for a disc replacement or a L5-S1 spinal fusion. What does that mean? It means I likely won't ever get back to weightlifting, a sport I've deeply grown to love. It means I won't get to squat, clean, snatch, jerk, jump, run, etc etc etc for fear of permanently damaging my spine. 

Note that I say "likely," however; you'd better believe I'm doing everything I can to get back to the sport. I'm having withdrawals like you wouldn't believe. But that's beside the point.

The point is, had I worked this minor issue out before it became a major issue, I'd be on my way to competing in the American Open this weekend. But alas, there I will sit in the crowd, wishing I had mobilized.

Don't let this happen to you.

You know what mobility issues you have. You also know that you feel perfectly fine and you don't think you need to work on them. You'll also also remember this post days, months, or years down the road when you hurt yourself after neglecting your mobility work. 

Don't make that mistake. 

Make your way to mobilitywod.com and/or go buy K-Star's book of excellence, Becoming a Supple Leopard, and get to work. It's worth your time, take it from me.