Its amazing for me to think that many of us have lost awareness of our bodies, but I’ve recently come to see that quite often when I give prompts to people and ask for feedback they have no idea where they are meant to be feeling it, or they feel nothing at all. This says to me that many of us have lost a subtle awareness of our bodies, and this worries me because it means we are losing touch with ourselves.

In my programs I often try to get my clients to do really simple awareness drills. These drills are basically a way of isolating certain muscles and allowing you to feel that particular muscle working, so that when you are doing more complicated movements you know how to integrate the movement of that muscle with the rest of your muscles.

One of the most important movements I think many of us have lost recently is the ability to control the movement of the pelvis. In my experience a lot of back discomfort and injury comes from instability and stiffness in the joints above the pelvis, cause by lack of mobility in the pelvis. Here is a simple drill you can do to mobilise your pelvic tilt and gain a greater awareness of it:

1. Assume  a horse stance on hands and knees.
2. Try and tilt your pelvis forwards to accentuate the lumbar curve in your back.
3. Try and tilt your pelvis backwards (tucking your pelvis under) causing your back to arch like an angry cat.
4. Now integrate these to opposites with your breath.
5. Firstly, breathe out and tuck your pelvis under. Arching like and angry cat and tucking your chin toward your chest.
6. Now, breathe in and tilt your eyes to the sky as you push your bum backwards and accentuate your lumbar curve.
7. Always stop if you feel discomfort, but continue to synchronise your breathe with your movements for 5 – 10 repetitions.

This will mobilise and free up your pelvis and lower back and is a great way to start the day!

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

In my experience as a personal trainer I have found that a lot of issues that people have with mobility stem from stabilisation of the feet and mobilisation of the ankles. This usually leads to stabilisation problems in the knees and mobility problems in the hips.. As you can see, when there is a problem with one link in the kinetic chain it generally has a flow on effect up the chain to another area.

To increase the mobility in these joints there are a number of joint mobility exercises that you can do, and Steve Maxwell has done a fantastic job of compiling the “Daily Dozen” – The daily dozen is a joint mobility program consisting of 12 exercises that you can easily do anywhere, any time and EVERY DAY to increase the mobility in your whole body. If you think of these movements as your daily warmup and try and do them every day for a week or two I guarantee you will feel the difference in the way that your body moves.

The topic at hand today though is Ankle to Knee (A2K) alignment in the specific context of exercising or physical work.

A2K alignment refers to the alignment of your knee and ankle when viewed from the front and from the side. Lets look at these two alignments separately.

The Front: When viewing a squatting or lunging movement from the front, your ideal alignment is that your knee should travel in the direction that your toes are pointed. The reason for this is that your knee is a hinge joint and only has maximum mobility in one direction. To check this alignment you can watch yourself in a mirror face on while you squat or lunge. Ideally your knee will always line up with the direction that your toes are pointing and will not deviate medially (toward the midline) or laterally (towards the outside). These deviations can be caused by flat feet, weak arches, weak gluteus muscles or a number of other reasons, but the important thing is that you can recognise the problem and correct it yourself.

The Side: I don’t recommend turning your head to the side to watch yourself in a mirror but if you aren’t lifting any weight and are just checking alignment it should be ok. Your ideal A2K alignment from the side is that your knee should NEVER ever travel forward over your toes. I try and get all of my clients to lunge UP and DOWN instead of forward and backward, this stops you from transferring your weight forward too much and over your toes. A really good way to remember how to do this properly is to maintain a mid foot balance in your feet with 80% of your weight through your heel and only 20% on the balls of your feet. If your bodyweight (and knee) travels over past your toes your weight will automatically distribute to the ball of your foot. We don’t want this to happen.

In a perfect lunge both front and back knees will be at 90 degree angles, your body will be erect and spine lengthened with your bodyweight distributed equally between front and back legs. There will be perfect alignment of the knees from the front and side, and if you interlace your fingers behind your head and pull your elbows back slightly you will have good crown to coccyx alignment as well.

If you have any questions or would like some FREE advice on how to lunge or squat properly then please contact me.

By Steve Maxwell

Mobility, or joint mobility, is the ability to move a limb through the full range of motion–with control. Mobility is based on voluntary movement while flexibility involves static holds and is often dependent upon gravity or passive forces. Mobility demands strength to produce full-range movement, whereas flexibility is passive, thus not strength-dependent. Some authorities refer to mobility as ‘active flexibility’. It is possible to have good mobility without being especially flexible, just as one can be flexible with poor mobility, i.e., control. Of the two, mobility is more important. It is better to be inflexible with good mobility than flexible with poor mobility. The percent difference between your mobility and flexibility is the same percent chance of creating a musculo-skeletal injury during physical activities.

Sports, recreational activities and other daily physical practices can result in reduced range of movement in any participating joint. When the joint is unable to move through its full range, we call it compromised. When compromised movement is present in a joint, surrounding joints take up the slack, creating extra stress all around. A typical example are immobile ankles and feet underlying stress and injury to the knees, hips, and lumbar spine. It’s a cascade effect, albeit in reverse:  the body tissues are held together with sheets of connective tissue called fascia, so stress extends upwards from the feet. Poor mobility in one area can cause pain and stress in seemingly unrelated areas, but once fascial anatomy is understood, the idea that immobile feet could cause neck or shoulder stiffness is no longer a conundrum.

Mobility work reduces the potential body imbalances inherent in our athletic and recreational pursuits. For example, it’s widely accepted that running for distance shortens the hamstrings, calf muscles and hip flexors, resulting in decreased free movement in simple full-range exercises, such as bodyweight squats. Well-documented is the compromised range produced by heavy weight-lifting and body building strength sports–yet, properly conducted, weight training can improve range of motion! All too often, in practice, weight lifters endow themselves with tight, restrictive movement by over emphasizing short-range movements and excessive hypertrophy.  Worse, especially in the U.S., is that ubiquitous non-activity: sitting. Sitting in a chair, at a desk, while hunching over a computer is a recipe for a compromised structure full of imbalance and continual pain.

The solution? A joint mobility program. Joint mobility exercise stimulates and circulates the synovial fluid in the bursa, which ‘washes’ the joint. The joints have no direct blood supply and are nourished by this synovial fluid, which simultaneously removes waste products. Joint salts, or calcium deposits, are dissolved and dispersed with the same gentle, high-repetition movement patterns. Properly learned, joint mobility can restore complete freedom of motion to the ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, neck, elbows, wrists and fingers. It’s especially important to keep the spine supple and free and if there were such a thing as a fountain of youth, joint mobility exercises come very close.

Use mobility exercises as a warm up, an active recovery during other activities, or as a stand-alone workout. You can rejuvenate yourself and reclaim the movement of a child with a good joint mobility program. Joint mobility makes a wonderful, energizing morning recharge and sets the day up on the right foot.

The Maxwell S&C Daily Dozen

Mobility Exercises for Health & Well-Being

1.  Hula Hoop Hip Circles

1. Feet hip-width ie, feet, knees and hips in alignment
2. Body erect, circle the hips in a large movement without bending the knees, moving the upper torso or head
3. Go both directions

2.  Pelvic Tilts and Rolls

1. Feet hip-width; knees soft and unlocked
2. Rock the pelvis forward and back
3. Then side-to-side by slightly bending one leg and straightening the other–it helps to keep the hands on the hips
4. Now, roll the hips by combining front, side and back tilts
5. Imagine “drawing” a circle with the tail bone between the hips
6. Go both directions

3.  Front-and-Back Bending

1. Feet hip-width
2. Exhale while bending forward as far as possible, keeping the legs straight
3. Inhale while straightening back up, stacking each vertebra, neck and head last
4. Move into an upper-back bend, lengthening in the lower spine and keeping the knees straight

4.  Lateral Bending

1. Feet hip-width
2. Sliding the fingers of one hand down the leg as far as possible without twisting
3. Imagine the spine elongating as you wrap around the side of a barrel
4. Both sides

5.  Qi Gong Waist-twister

1. Feet hip-width
2. Lengthen and straighten the spine and exhale, turning sharply to the left
3. Allow the arms to whip around, the back of the wrist striking the opposite kidney and the other arm striking the opposite shoulder
4. Allow the arms to hang loosely, effecting the swing by the centrifugal movements of the torso
5. Exhaling sharply with each twist to twist as much as possible

6.  Spinal Wave

1. Starting with the head and neck, slowly roll the spine forward and down, one vertebra at a time
2. Reaching for the toes with the finger tips
3. Pausing for a moment, flex the knees and roll back up, neck and head last

7.  Shoulder Shrugs

1. Shrug up the shoulders and slowly roll back
2. Arms hanging loose at the sides
3. Drop shoulders and slowly roll forward
4. Reverse directions

8.  Arm Circles

1. With straight arms, make maximal backwards circles (like swimming double back-stroke)
2. Reverse, circling maximally forward (dolphin stroke)

9.  Relaxed Neck Circles

1. Chin lowered, let the head hang and circle through the full range of motion, using gravity, not muscular effort, to create the stretch
2. Move very slowly
3. Reverse direction

10.  Slow, Flat-foot Squats

1. Squat down slowly while exhaling, holding the arms forward for balance
2. Keeping the heels flat, feet parallel and kneecaps aligned over the second toes
3. Exhaling while lowering the buttocks as close to the ground as possible
4. Inhaling while rising back up to the starting position

11. Bear Squats/Boot-strappers

1. Squatting down on the toes, palms flat on the ground and knees inside the elbows
2. While keeping the weight on the palms,  maximally straighten both legs
3. Inhaling while squatting; exhaling while straightening the legs and folding the body in two

12.   Pumps

1. Starting in the “downward-facing dog” position, hands shoulder-width and feet hip-width
2. Find the floor with the heels and straighten the legs
3. Pushing back with the palms, arms strong and shoulders relaxed
4. Lowering the pelvis towards the floor while keeping the arms straight
5. Looking forward
6. The only points of contact are hands and feet on the ground

Baker’s Dozen—If You Have the Time

13.  Cossack Stretch

1. Feet wide and angled 45-degrees outward
2. Squat to the left while keeping the right leg locked, keep the palms down flat and fingers forward
3. Maximally lower the pelvis while keeping the heels on the floor
4. Use the the elbow to press the bent knee back in alignment over the second toe

14.  Table-maker

1. Sit on the floor with the torso upright
2. Feet hip width, legs extended
3. Palms flat on the floor alongside the hips, fingers pointing toward the feet
4. Keeping the legs straight, raise the butt off the floor
5. Now, bending the legs and lifting the hips as high as possible
6. Pelvis in line with the chest; head in line with shoulders or look back if the neck is ok
7. Exhaling, swing the hips down and between the hands
8. Repeat without letting the hips touch the floor

Make sure you check out Steve Maxwell’s new website at: http://www.maxwellsc.com