Joint Mobility Exercise | Physical Living

Q+A: Can You Get Injured From Gentle Exercise?

QUESTION:

Hey John, I’ve never contacted you before but your website has been instrumental in shifting my training focus from Dragon Door and Kettlebells towards Circular Strength Training with a long-term view to MovNat or Parkour-style movement skills.

Grandiose plans to be sure! A journey with a thousand steps and all that, I decided to concentrate on Intuflow and for the last 3 weeks have been doing the beginner level daily. My problem is that I’ve started picking up some injuries even from that! Lower back and shoulder. Some parts of me, like my wrists and knees, feel great from the practice. Is it normal for some folks to pick up niggles even from simple mobility drills?

It seems that no matter what I do lately it, aggravates some part of me. I shall be going through the video again but I’d appreciate your thoughts given that I know you went through a steep learning curve with mobility stuff yourself.

Thanks, Colin

ANSWER:

First off, I can definitely relate. I’ve been there, and I’ve been frustrated just like you. You’re only in three weeks (which is great!), and that’s enough time to learn quite a bit about your mobility. You’re facing resistance to the changes you’ve made in your training program, and you’re asking for help, which means that you’re committed to seeing this through to success. Keep it up, Colin!

Now, that is a GREAT question because you bring up a very important point concerning the nature of Intu-Flow joint mobility training (or any prehabilitative training, for that matter). Nobody starts a new training program with a blank slate. We all carry a lifetime of tensions, hidden or known pains, weaknesses, stored deficits, and general limitations throughout our bodies. These are issues that are present in the body before you even started your Intu-Flow training, and for most people, this is exactly why they start an Intu-Flow practice in the first place. Prehabilitative training is, in part, a process of cleaning the slate to remove these impediments. In doing so, you directly confront your restrictions on a daily basis, seeking to slowly unwind them through gradual tension release and the recovery of basic ranges of motion.
Continue reading Q+A: Can You Get Injured From Gentle Exercise?

Joint Mobility Training: my first steps toward athletic enlightenment by John Sifferman

Steve Maxwell, World Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Champion and Joint Mobility Trainer

Joint mobility was something I was definitely NOT naturally gifted at. One of my first exposures to joint mobility was an enlightening experience, but it certainly didn’t go the way I expected or wanted. All throughout my first class, after being taught each exercise, my body still did not know what to do. I would think to myself, “I can’t move my neck like THAT,” and at the time I really couldn’t. I had a plethora of pre-conditions, one of which is called Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA) – what happens when certain muscles forget how to contract properly (or at all). It really frustrated me seeing someone else being able to enjoy the freedom of movement that I couldn’t even mimic – the coach, Steve Maxwell, being 54 years old at the time. When Steve was tilting, I was twisting; when he was bending, I was rolling. I was even used as a class example of what NOT to do!

The beginner level joint mobility exercises were excruciating. I was aghast at how something that looks so easy and is at a beginner-level could be so challenging for me. I was accustomed to performing well at fitness or athletic activities. Well, joint mobility broke me down. And I don’t even want to bring up the intermediate exercises – bad memories. Thankfully, we didn’t advance any further than the intermediate level. I already looked pretty goofy by actually trying to keep up with the rest of the class.

Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.

The only way I can describe my first joint mobility experience was that it was like wearing a straight jacket around my entire body, all wrapped up in agony and immobility.

While I had used joint mobility exercises in pieces, here and there, I had never taken an entire class before. It was a humbling experience, and I knew that I had to work on restoring my range of motion. Little did I know that I was about to unlock a door to movement mastery and lifelong benefits.

Continue reading Joint Mobility Training: my first steps toward athletic enlightenment by John Sifferman

Q+A: Can You Get Injured From Gentle Exercise?

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Joint Mobility Training: my first steps toward athletic enlightenment by John Sifferman

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