Mobility Training for Rehab and Recovery
Show your joints some love
For the last few weeks, the topic of recovery has been front and center during my client visits and with my own fitness. This is what inspired last week’s post on the importance of hydration. This week, I wanted to highlight mobility training.
This becomes more important during midlife for several reasons. First, joint pain is a very common complaint during perimenopause and menopause due to hormonal changes that can contribute to inflammation and changes in pain perception. This often leads to decreased activity, which leads to joint stiffness and more pain, marking the start of a vicious cycle. To learn more about joint pain in menopause and practical tips on how to manage it, check out this post by my friend, Selene Yeager: How to Keep Your Menopausal Joints Healthy and Happy.
My personal experience with this came shortly after the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020. I was on the cusp of menopause and dealing with shoulder pain like I had never had before, without any specific injury or precipitating event. I couldn’t do a single push-up without pain, and overhead squats with just a PVC pipe were excruciating. As a CrossFitter, this was devastating as these were movements that I never needed to think twice about.
I had a very difficult conversation with my coach @Erika_Snyder_ where she told me that I needed to go back to “pain-free range of motion”. Being in the midst of that vicious cycle, my reaction was, “Then I’m never doing a push-up again.” I cried, I kicked, I screamed about it, because all I wanted to do was push through it and be done with it. Being the great coach and friend that she is, she pushed back - hard! So I trusted her. And she was right!
The first step of breaking out of this vicious cycle was making a mobility training plan. Before every workout, I used my warm-up time to find my pain-free range of motion and work within that. My go-to tools were Crossover Symmetry and The Ready State shoulder protocol. I spent an extra 20 minutes before my workout, 4-5 days per week, for about 3 months, and simultaneously eased back into the push-ups and overhead work. Long story short, it worked, and I’m new and improved! This past Memorial Day (5 years later), I rocked out 100 strict push-ups during my scaled version of Murph.
So now I’m a believer, and mobility work is an integral part of my training for maintenance of my joint health so that I never go back to that difficult place of pain and despair. But it’s not easy, and it takes an enormous amount of patience. There are no “quick-fixes” that are sustainable during this stage of life. But the 3 months of what felt like an eternity were just a bump in the road to this new level of shoulder stability, strength, and stamina that I will take with me for years to come.
Today’s workout features the single dumbbell overhead squat which is an excellent core strength-building movement that also challenges shoulder, hip and ankle mobility. Watch the video carefully, taking care to focus on even weight distribution over your entire foot and keeping the biceps muscle of your extended arm close to your ear, which maintains the weight in the midline along your center of gravity.
Select a very light dumbbell or even a shoe, or a can of vegetales if you are trying this for the first time or have limitations. The most important thing is to execute solid mechanics within your pain-free range of motion.
If you have hip or knee limitations, set up a chair, bench, or small step as a target for the bottom of your squat. Remember! The goal is finding your pain-free range of motion, wherever that may be.
Do this movement in the mirror first and compare it to the video points of movement. Once you are ready, select a weight (or even just a shoe!) that will allow you to do the repetitions of each round in 1-2 sets. This weight will be different from what you choose for the single-arm kettlebell/dumbbell swing.
Warm-Up
AMRAP 5 minutes (perform each movement in sequence for as many rounds as you can in 5 minutes)
10 air squats
20 high knee runs (Right + Left = 1 rep)
Single arm kettlebell/dumbbell swing and overhead squat progression
5 single-arm dumbbell deadlifts (each side)
5 single-arm kettlebell/dumbbell swing (each side)
TIP: Watch the video!!! Keep the back flat, chest up, hinge at the hip, engage the hamstrings and squeeze the glutes and quads as you swing the dumbbell to eye-level. The lower back is rock-stable (as if your spine is a steel rod) and is only providing stability. There should be no pressure here.
10 single-arm overhead dumbbell squat (using a light dumbbell or a shoe)
Movement Practice
Take 5-10 minutes to select your weights for the single-arm kettlebell/dumbbell swing and the single-arm overhead squat. Select a weight that allows you to do 7-10 consecutive repetitions (without alternating sides) unbroken.
Tip: The overhead squat weight may need to be much lighter than you think as this is more of a mobility challenge than strength. You may need to stick with the shoe, and that’s ok!
Workout
How To: Perform each movement in sequence for 15 repetitions, then each movement for 12 repetitions, and so on)
For Quality Repetitions (not for time)
15 - 12 - 9
Right side: Single-arm overhead squat
Left side: Single-arm overhead squat
Right side: Single arm kettlebell/dumbbell swing
Left side: Single arm kettlebell/dumbbell swing
Cool- Down
Jump-start your recovery with this 20-minute Neck and Shoulder Release yoga segment from Five Parks. #dontskiptheyoga
NOW TAKING NEW CLIENTS!
If you are an active woman or competitive midlife athlete who feels abandoned by mainstream medicine, I’m here for you!
It is with great excitement that after more than 2 years of preparation, I have FINALLY launched my Telehealth Consultation Medical practice focusing on the Reproductive Endocrine needs and Menopausal Care for active, athletic, and high-performing women.
Active and athletic midlife women have needs and risk profiles that are different from the general population. These needs often go unmet by the mainstream medical community due to a lack of understanding of fitness and sport and their impact on mid-life hormonal physiology or even a lack of acknowledgment that this dynamic exists. We put your health, fitness, and performance at the center of the equation so that you can achieve your healthiest, highest-performing self!
You will find all my service offerings on my website including a link to my calendar so that you can reserve your place in my schedule!
Another inspiring post and workout!