Wednesday Workout Series: Mobility Circuit

BostonBruins.com - We're officially into Week 3! The first two parts of this series presented a challenging core and full body weight circuit you can do at home with no equipment. If you missed the first two parts of this series, you can check them out here:

One of the most important aspects of your physical health is your "mobility." For our purposes, mobility simply refers to the range of motion you can control. This differs from flexibility, which typically involves just "hanging out" in stretched positions, as true mobility work involves active movement or active tension.

Mobility, just like strength and conditioning, requires a focused effort to improve and maintain. The old adage, "if you don't use it, you lose it" rings true here.

Losing mobility in certain areas forces your body to move differently. For example, if your hips lack healthy mobility, it may force you to move excessively through your knees or low back to perform basic everyday movements like picking something off the floor, or more athletic movements like swinging a golf club.

In general, each joint has an optimal movement capacity, and anything that limits a joint's motion or forces a joint into excessive motion, is likely to cause some nagging aches and pains. In the above example, a lack of hip mobility may be an underlying cause of a golfer's low back pain.

The mobility circuit below includes exercises that specifically target joints/muscles that are commonly restricted.

We integrate these exercises regularly into the warm-ups for the players before practices, training sessions, and games, so feel free to use this as a warm-up.

However, performing 2-3 cycles of this circuit in the morning or as a break from sitting at a desk or on the couch can be a great way to get some blood moving, free up some range of motion and generally feel better to help you attack the rest of the day!

Mobility Circuit

1. 3-Way Wall Ankle: (6 per side)

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2. Couch Quad with Reach Over: (6 per side)

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3. Diagonal Hip Rock with Reach Across: (6 per side)

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4. Lateral Kneeling Groin with Reach Under: (6 per side)

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5. Side Lying Reach Back: (6 per side)

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6. Spiderman Lunge with Reach & Hamstring: (6 per side)

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7. Cross Body Lat with Reach Under: (6 per side)

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