BehaviorFit + MobilityWOD: 18 Things I Learned In A Course About Movement

In my quest to better understand the mysteries of sitting and inactivity, I am always seeking out new ways to learn about a familiar topic.

You may have noticed on my Instagram feed (@behaviorfit) that I completed an online certificate program by Mobility WOD (WOD is CrossFit jargon for workout-of-the-day). Dr. Kelly Starrett is a physical therapist and creator of the Movement and Mobility coursework. Kelly is well-known in the functional fitness and sports worlds.

Starrett believes that everyone should know how to “perform maintenance on your body.”

I am very familiar with Dr. Kelly Starrett and his approach to human movement problems. However, when the opportunity presented itself to take his formal course, I jumped at the chance.

Why did I take the course?

My expertise is sedentary behavior or excessive sitting. I have found that this area intersects with these scientific disciplines: behavior analysis, nutrition, metabolism, ergonomics, and exercise. The Movement and Mobility 101 course supplements each of these areas by teaching you how training good positions (or postures) translates to everyday life.

Here is what I learned…

1. Pain is often responsible for behavior change – How do you know that any health prevention system works? You are never in pain! Unfortunately, pain becomes the ultimate motivator to clean up the quality of our movements, or even beginning a physical activity routine.
2. Quality movement begins with the spine – Safe and efficient movement patterns require stabilizing the spine and then moving out to the arms and legs. Before you worry about your arm and leg positions, you need to take care of your back first.
3. Practice makes permanent – This is a well-known phrase, however, as it relates to movement, simple movements like walking accumulate 1000’s of reps every day. If you are walking or moving inefficiently, then before you know it, you have a faulty movement pattern. For example, walking with duck feet (feet turned out) may lead to other “upstream” issues like poor knee and hip problems.
4. A good movement practice requires us to be strong in various shapes – Quality movement requires consistency and the ability to change/transfer shapes (e.g., in a burpee, you move from a pushup to a squat). When these shapes break down by adding speed, load, or a transition, decreased performance quickly tells you something needs to be improved. A strong foundation in movement mechanics allows you to be strong and safe in as many variations as possible. Sure you can squat perfectly in place, but can you do it with weight on your back? Or after running 400 meters? CrossFit essentially speaks to point as its definition includes “constantly, varied functional movements.”
5. How you end is how you start – For even the simplest of movements (e.g., the push up), ending in a bad position or shape, puts you in a bad starting position for the next repetition. This point relates to the quality of movement versus the quantity. If the first push up in a set of ten is perfect, but the remaining nine are not, then it is imperative before starting the exercise to determine what your goal is. Do you want to perform 1-2 quality pushups? Or complete 10 crappy ones? As you introduce other variables (e.g., speed, load), your movement quality will soon be exposed. Consistency is key, and I side with quality first.
6. Thumbs and toes matter – Toes allows you to generate torque and distribute you weight evenly while walking. Correct thumb placement gives the shoulder stability which translates to more force production when doing a pull-up or an Olympic lift.
7. Sitting presents mechanical issues – You want to maintain a good relationship between your legs and hips. Sitting puts us in a position where this relationship is compromised. As a result, our bodies make numerous compensations like increased knee tension and tightened muscles in your core. I am not talking 6-pack abs here! After long periods of sitting, our trunk muscles tighten. We often feel “stiff” and have poor spinal mechanics after we stand up and walk around.
8. Exercise shapes are categorized – Most workout shapes or positions fall into 3 categories (see Supple Leopard). Each movement follows a progression. As you change categories, you can expect new demands to that shape. For example, increased speed, or changing to a new shape altogether.
9. Movement shapes should look the same across different exercises – Does your squat look the same under max load? Or does it fall apart? Do you have the same movement patterns when jumping rope as you perform box jumps?
10. A good mobility program is all about consistency – Kelly mentions that 10-15 minutes per day is the standard for everybody. We should avoid being “heroic” when it comes improving our mobility. Progression takes time!
11. Stretching is an active process – For many people, a common “warm-up” routine is to perform static stretches (e.g., hamstring stretch) before you exercise. Kelly points out on severals occasions that this alone is not the best strategy to get your body ready for exercise. Instead, we need to “contract and relax” to get the nervous system firing. You should contract for about 5 seconds, and relax for 10 seconds. So, warm-ups should include a balance of changing shapes (not just hanging out at end ranges of motion) and actively firing your muscles.
12. Pain indicates that you need to mobilize – Pain is not the natural state of the body, but an indication that something has been compensated. In general, your body tissues should not be painful to compression, or stiff at all. Mobilization is Kelly’s bread and butter and that’s what MWOD is all about.
13. Kelly’s mobility rule of thumb 1 – If something is not moving, then you need to get it moving
14. Kelly’s mobility rule of thumb 2 – If something is not in the right place, then it needs to get in the right place
15. Our body asymmetries teach us what to mobilize – We all have imbalances. We write with one hand, we grab and hold things with the dominant side of our body, and have histories of playing (asymmetrical) sports. I played baseball and pitched left-handed, so my right arm and left hip do not have the mobility experience and movement history that my left arm and right hip do. I notice when warming up that different sides need different work. Let these imbalances guide your movement practices.
16. Foam rolling should occur post-workout – Why? Foam rolling is not a mobilization technique to increase range of motion. Also, it does not prepare the body for intense activity, rather, foam rolling increases parasympathetic (or relaxation) signals to the body. Are you getting ready for a workout or ready to cool-down?
17. Incidents and injuries are different – Incidents are the everyday aches and pains which could be a signal to an impending injury. Injuries prevent you from exercising or playing the game. There is a continuum of movement mechanics, incidents, and injuries. Poor movement mechanics could increase pain and in turn create an injury. Injuries can prevent ideal mechanics altogether. We all have to monitor our quality of movement, how painful or pain-free it is, and the likelihood of injury. This is our reality.
18. Listen to your body during mobility exercises – “If it feels sketchy, then it is sketchy” – Kelly Starrett.
19. Seek professional help – As this blog is a not substitute for medical advice, we should always seek out professional advice when certain things happen. Use the experts, it’s what they know!

The impression of the Course

Overall, I am very satisfied with the Movement and Mobility 101 course. It taught me foundational concepts that I can integrate into my own series of workshops and services. I own two of Kelly’s books, Supple Leopard and Deskbound, which were a great supplement to the online videos.

Going into this course, I had 3 1/2 years of CrossFit experience accompanied with as many years reading research articles, blogs and listening to podcasts about health, strength, and functional fitness. This experience was a huge advantage when taking this course.

Although the course does not mention any prerequisites on its page, I recommended that anyone interested in this course do the following:

• Know basic anatomy and related terms – Kelly bounces back and forth between terms like internal/external rotation, posterior/anterior, and extension/flexion. You may get lost quickly if you cannot keep up.
• Know basic functional movements – This course is heavy in Olympic lifting. My personal experience with lifting allowed me to understand the material that much better.
• Have Supple Leopard or DeskBound close by – These texts allowed me to quickly cross-reference Kelly’s points with other pictures and examples. This was a huge benefit.

Dr. Kelly Starrett’s Movement and Mobility 101 course supports my knowledge in the areas of physical activity and sedentary behavior (sitting). This certificate program brought tremendous value to my own training program and future BehaviorFit endeavors. I am eager to incorporate the above principles into movement practices of individuals and organizations!

(check out my review posted on the MWOD site here)

Keep moving my friends.

Nick