Enhance Upper Body Mobility and Strength with These Exercises
In Part 1, we established that increasing the flexibility of our tissues does not instantly improve the way we move. If we don’t add other ingredients like strength and motor control, we won’t improve our mobility in any meaningful way. You can learn about this principle in part 1. This is especially true with the areas on today’s list: the muscles of the spine and the upper body.
Historically, mobility in these areas is a matter of some debate. There are some who believe more flexibility is always better, while others feel these two areas should be permanently locked into a “safe” position. As always, the answer lies somewhere in the middle: you need to be able to take joints through range, but you also need the strength and control to make sure this happens at the right time, with the right limitations. Being very strong in just one position is almost never the answer.
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Back Mobility and Jefferson Curls
Ask anyone what they should be wary of when it comes to exercise and they’ll tell you it’s the lower back. Having suffered from my fair share of strains in the back muscles (the erector spinae and quadratus lumborum), I do feel that some caution is justified. However, losing your spinal mobility because you’re afraid to move can be harmful too.
After those injuries in my early training years, I started to move like a robot. I would lock my back up and hinge perfectly from my hips, even to pick up a 2.5kg plate. I even got a reputation for it among the athletes that I coached at the time. It makes sense, right? Rounding the back is a well-known lifting sin, and every manual handling course ever tells you not to lift with your back. Surely I was onto something.
