Toes to Bar

Toes to Bar 8 reps

Overhead Squats 115/75 8 reps

Sprint Row 250m

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Thanks to Neil for training with us from CrossFit Champions in Houston!

CrossFit and the Balance of Strength and Mobility I

Every athlete has to struggle with the balance between developing strength and maintaining mobility. I know when I first started CrossFitting I rarely stretched less frequently due to a lack of perceived need. The more I CrossFitted the more I realized that my mobility and movement patterns were beginning to suffer due to tightness in some areas such as the latissimus dorsi (lats), illiopsoas (hip flexors), and hamstrings. 

Due to the high volume of pullups, and hip work that CrossFitters perform, these are common areas of limited mobility. Some individuals are more mobile in these areas than others. I was one of those athletes that the more I trained and developed great capacity to excel in pull-ups and other movements, I neglected maintaining or improving mobility. I began to hypertrophy these muscle groups and in the meantime, their length became shorter and shorter and the tendons became less elastic. 

So, recently I began to work with a CrossFit and Olympic Lifting coach to develop a program specific to improve my capacity. And wouldn't you know it, he explained to me that he thought my lack of mobility was one of my greatest weaknesses. So, needless to say, mobility training is a significant part of my training regime now and I am paying for those months of not focusing in this area. The moral to this story is not to neglect mobility! It may be the very thing that limits your capacity or athletic development. BTW, I was a competitive gymnast. You would think that I would have been more flexible. 

In the next sequence of Strength and Mobility, we will review normal flexibility and mobility ranges for the lats, hip flexors and hamstrings and a simple program to increase mobility.