Lets bust this myth about how the body works

I think the only thing more corrupt and misleading than the fitness/sports performance/rehab world is politics.

The great philosopher, Meghan Trainor once said -  “If your lips are movin'

then you're lyin', lyin', lyin', baby”

I bet she was talking about either politicians or fitness people.

Much of what you and I have learned about fitness is wrong. It’s a bunch of misunderstandings, lies, or over-simplifications.

The human body is considered to be the most complex thing in the world.

We’re made up of trillions of cells, billions of neurons, over 600 muscles, over 200 bones… so don’t expect some 24-year-old gym bro named Kyle to know how it works.

Our body is an interdependent complex system of interdependent complex systems. The complexity of each system requires some of the most intelligent people we have to begin to understand how it all works. Often times, even these really smart people don’t respect how much all the other systems work together.

Point is, we’re infinitely complicated but for some reason we trust a dude in the gym knows what he’s talking about because he has a 6 pack and can deadlift a small car.

Here’s my hot take - Some of the dumbest people are in the fitness industry. Proceed with caution.

Unfortunately they seem to have done a great job at convincing the general public that they know what they’re talking about. They have over-simplified the human body to a point where they completely lost how it actually works.

Today, I’m going to point out one myth that need to be killed.

Stretching

Mandatory and mindless stretching is the first fitness myth that comes to mind  that needs to die. Not that it’s terrible, it just might not be necessary or effective.

We were all taught from an early age in gym class or before any sport events that we need to stretch our muscles so we move better. We reached one arm across our body and pulled our elbow to stretch that shoulder. We grabbed our ankle to stretch our quad muscle.

These things do work to increase flexibility… but only temporarily.

The improved movement from stretching is just temporary. By putting the body in a position where you feel a “stretch” in the muscle and hold it long enough, you will eventually get the connective tissues of the body to yield. But as soon as you begin to increase the demands for more dynamic movement, those tissues will lose the range of motion you got from stretching.

Here’s a better way

Instead of getting in positions and holding the stretch, I want you to get into that position and learn to breathe effectively for increased range of motion. Take this position (below) for example.

This Spiderman stretch is a great test of an athletes ability to organize the body and move freely. You’re going to move a lot of joints and muscles to their end ranges. (How well can you do this stretch?)

But, many people can’t do this, and it’s not because they have short muscles that need to be stretched.

More likely than not they have a center of gravity that is too far forward.

When this happens we will lose a ton of range of motion throughout all joints in our body.

Try this.

Stand up and notice where you feel the most pressure in your feet.

Let your arms dangle and just begin to rotate your upper body. Feel how much movement you have. Or better yet, record yourself with your phone. Notice how much your shoulders and hips turn.

Now, feel that pressure in your feet again just standing there. Reach your arms straight out in front of you. Did you notice how that pressure point moved back closer to your heels?

Try to keep the pressure there and do the same rotations with your upper body. Did that feel and/or look like you had more range of motion? If so then you probably have your center of gravity too far forward in space.

Rather than stretching tight muscles to lengthen them, maybe think about why they’re tight in the first place. They are holding you up so you don’t fall on your face!

So how are we going to shift that center of gravity back?

You can probably think about it all the time and remember to feel where that pressure is in your foot. But I think that would drive you insane and be pretty ineffective.

Here’s a better way.

Breathe

When we breathe in our body expands. Ribcage, spine, bones, joints, etc… will expand.

One universal principle is that things move into the direction of expansion. So if we want to move our center of gravity back, we should first expand the back of our body.

This will allow us to move back and reduce a lot of muscle tension that was needed to hold us up.

Try this

Stand up, soften your knees, feel that pressure in your feet again. Now reach your arms straight in front of you and make them long. If you felt your shoulders move closer to your head, relax your neck. Wiggle your whole body to allow the body to relax a bit. Keep your arms reached straight out in front of you and breathe in slowly but deeply through your nose. You should feel expansion somewhere. Hopefully you feel the area on your back from below your shoulder blades down expand. If so you probably felt that pressure on your feet move back too.

Now exhale slowly but deeply. Repeat this for at least several breaths. This arm reach breathing should open up mid and lower back.

So now lets expand your mid and upper back.

I like to do this seated with a table in front of me. Start by sitting tall. Maintain that height and just allow your body to wiggle a bit as you relax. Now bend your elbows and put them on the table in front of you. Reach elbows away from you a little. Bring your elbows in towards each other to a comfortable position. Now rotate your hands so you’re looking at your palms. Try to keep elbows in but palms out away from each other. Recheck to make sure you’re not holding tension anywhere. Hold this arm position breathe in slowly and deeply. You should feel the area between your shoulder blades expand. Exhale fully and repeat.

This opened up some space in the back. Now lets do something more difficult to reinforce that.

After expanding the back with breath, I will use a breathing squat to reinforce that. One of the best ways to do it is by using some heel wedges.

(I have absolutely no affiliation with this company but you can buy heel wedges here for really cheap)   LINK

By elevating your heels by putting your foot on a small ramp, you shift center of gravity backwards and instantly put your hips in a position where they have more range of motion.

Reach arms in front and take a few more breaths. Feel that expansion in the back. Now try to stay upright with a little more weight on heels. Exhale as you lower down to where you first feel some tension. Stop there, take another breath in, exhale and allow your body to sink just a little lower. Come back up and repeat.

If you have a hard time keeping the torso from falling forward, you can increase the height of heels or use a band attached pulling you forward.

You can take this another step and challenge your new mobility by adding some weight.

Holding weight in Goblet Position is my go-to. Grab a dumbbell or kettlebell and hold it right in front of your chest. This will shift your gravity back. If you stand on those heel wedges I pretty much guarantee you will have the prettiest-looking squat you have ever done.

Wrapping up

Play around with directing your breath and expanding your ribcage to gain mobility rather than hold a muscle in a “stretched” position.

Give the positions in the above video another try. Move into the place where you feel the first bit of tension. Take a few seconds to relax and expand. Exhale and see if you gain some more movement. Repeat this process as you learn that more movement doesn’t come from force and stretching tissues but rather from expansion/compression of the breath.