“Well, you get to workout all day.”
If there’s one thing that’s not true about being a fitness professional, it’s this. As a coach at MFF, I’m actively coaching for 4-6 hours per day, then I’ll spend another 4-6 hours doing the other things. That’s writing classes, programs for semi-private training, planning our next M/M LAB, and sending e-mails to the MFF team or Ninja Army. It is not the inherently active day that some would assume. That’s great, because I have some really good days!
When a lot of my work is done at a computer, that also means that a lot of my work is done sitting down. It’s on chairs of different heights, and sometimes on a bean bag, but it’s still seated. As anyone who’s been through a college lecture knows, sitting a lot can totally suck. Your body can feel stiff, tight, and not quite the way you’d please.
If this is you, I have a new move to shake off the cobwebs and polish your movement. Enter the walking glute mob with reach:
If we’re looking for a laser-focused take-away today, it’s a glute stretch. This drill will light up your glutes. We can also expand that to spread across the entire posterior chain, and allow the hamstrings, hips, and lats to open up with each step and reach. We’re going to connect all of these muscles with each step.
The walking glute mob with reach isn’t all that different from something we do on a very regular basis: Walking. It’s na exaggerated version of walking, where we reach our hips back to one wall while sliding our fingers forwards to the other wall. When we anchor our feet and take up as much room as possible across the room, we’ll find the specific deep stretch that we’re looking for.
A priority on movement like this is actually taking your time. Were you to walk at that pace anywhere else, it would be painfully slow. In this case, that slower physical speed aids in kinesthetic awareness. Do you feel this through the backside of your body, or are you moving without self-awareness?
There’s an interesting thing that happens with our body, and specifically the backside of it: Out of sight out of mind is a real occurrence with the posterior chain, evidenced by the folks who bench and crunch Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but will throw in a set of rows or deadlifts once every Blue Moon. Even when we’re aware of it, it’s an area of the body that tends to forget about itself.
If you’d like a reminder, try this: Spend a high-quality hour sitting down getting work done. Sit-down, turn off those pesky notifications, and #Hustle. After an hour, stand up, reach for the ceiling, and try to squeeze your butt. Seriously, try it. Nothing, right? Yea, those glutes are great at doing work, until you sandwich them against your desk chair and ignore them for 8 hours every day. When that’s the case, your glutes forget to do their job very quickly.
When In Doubt, Walk It Out
Within our hectic schedules, there’s always an opportunity to insert some self-care. It could be between sets of bent over rows, or between sets of “OMG today I’m going to get to Inbox Zero.” Whatever the case may be, the Walking Glute Mob with Reach can be a potent tool to open those hips, stretch your posterior chain, and develop a better connection with your body.
Let me know when you use it, and how it feels!
Harold Gibbons 