Most people wake up feeling awful.  They have a tight neck, tight upper back, tight hips and tight shoulders.  They stretch a little bit, mostly just raising their arms over their heads or pushing their pelvis forward, but they don’t ever address the issue.

Tightness and a lack of mobility affect all of us. Some more than others.  Unfortunately most people don’t know how to properly address the issue, and therefore it never gets resolved.  They are bound to a thought pattern that reinforces their mobility limitations or painful tightness.  They think “my neck always hurts, I better not use it.” They are afraid and will never fix their predicament.

Here are 5 simple tips and movements that will teach you how to feel better. 

1.       Breathing and Awareness.

A lot of people have “dysfunctional breathing patterns”.  When they take a breath they breathe into their chest, you can see their ribs flare up.  This type of breathing barely utilizes the diaphragm and over utilizes the lat muscles.  It can cause a lot of upper back and shoulder pain and mobility limitations.

As I’ve discussed before you need to teach yourself how to breathe properly.  You don’t have to do this 100% of the time, but you need to be well versed in it.  Breathe slowly and make sure your stomach expands, not your chest. 

Our minute to minute posture can also pose a great hazard for feeling good.  Next time you are walking around the city notice how many people walk with their head down.  It’s at least 60%.  A posture like that puts a much heavier load than normal on the neck and thoracic (upper) spine.  This causes a lot of pain and discomfort.

Be aware of how your body is moving at all times.  Make a conscious effort to keep your eyes up, whether you be walking, running, or lifting at the gym.  While walking imagine you are a marionette being pulled up by your head and upper back.  This will keep you tall, aligned and in proper posture.

2.       Cat Cow

Even if you follow the previous two suggestions you will still probably have a tight upper back.  Your traps, lats and shoulders bear a lot of the brunt in the gym and will get tight and sore from time to time.  This recovery or warm up movement will help alleviate the tightness.  This is the second stretch I perform every morning. 

This mobilizes the entirety of the spine, and forces your upper back muscles to “wake up”.  You are essentially lifting the spine into flexion, and then dropping your stomach to force your spine into extension.  Explaining it in words will only complicate the situation, but this video should clear this simple movement up:

3.       Couch Stretch

Hip Flexors are awful.  They are the tiny muscles that runs for about 3 inches on the front of your hip.  AKA they are the part that ALWAYS hurts.  They are involved in nearly every lift you perform, every stride you take, and are even a major part of sitting.  Such an important yet tiny muscle certainly takes a beating, and will routinely become tight.  Especially on men.

Unfortunately stretching this little guy isn’t as simple as it would appear.  Most people think getting into a long lunge position will open it up, no matter how tight it is.  This isn’t true.  To truly open your hip flexor we need to dig a little deeper and actually put ourselves into a position where we are manipulating our pelvis.  It’s not as gross as it sounds. 

As you’ll see in the picture, the knee is directly beneath the hip.  He's making himself tall and not leaning forward.  It almost looks like he's just hanging out.  What you can’t see is that he is squeezing my glute to hell. 

This glute contraction is slowly forcing the pelvis back into its natural, neutral position and forcing the hip flexor to stretch in its natural position. 

At first you will feel this in your quad, but as you sit longer the stretch will make its way up to your hip flexor.  If done properly you should feel it in your oblique as well.  Sit in this one for a LONG time, 2-3 minutes.  Maybe even more.

4.       Wall Slides

Dysfunctional Scapula would be a great name for a metal band, but it’s a condition that hinders a lot of people in the gym.  Your scapula are a very important part of your anatomy, and therefore can be the cause of a lot of pain if not properly cared for.  Scapula is the proper name for your shoulder blade.

Scapular Wall Slides encourages your scaps (that’s what the cool kids call them) to move in their proper alignment.  By keeping our hands against the wall we are working in our true extension capability.  Do not force anything with these- your mobility will come with practice.  The worst thing you can do is hurt yourself while trying to fix yourself. 

Stand about 3 inches from the wall.  Make contact with your butt, upper back and head.  Put your hands up, knuckles against the wall, as if you were a cartoon being caught by the police.  Now lift your arms as high above your head as you can while maintaining those 4 points of contact.  Slowly lower down. Repeat about 10 times. 

5.       Deep Squat

This is the mother of all movements.  It is a natural human movement that has been completely lost as we’ve evolved to a more static culture.  Most people can’t just stand up and squat down to the ground, it’s going to take some practice and regression.  Teaching yourself how to deep squat will make your tight hips feel better, help to alleviate your cranky knees and ankles plus help your upper back function better.

I know a lot of that flies in the face of conventional “if it hurts don’t use it” wisdom, but that’s ok.  The only way we can recover a   lost range of motion, or heal a joint is by using it, not ignoring it.  By ignoring it you are only prolonging the cycle of pain and fear.

If you can perform a deep squat with no problem or pain, do it.  Do it often and sit at the bottom for a long time.  If you can’t squat at all, hold onto something and squat down as far as you can.  Sit there for a long time, until you feel comfortable.  If you can’t do that, lean against a wall and squat down as far as you can.  There are a million different regressions you can take to start your path to a deep squat.  Don’t worry if you need some extra support.

Some things to keep in mind.  You must have your feet flat on the ground, rolling onto the balls of your feet or lifting your heels off the ground will cause more pain and cancel out a lot of the knee related benefits.  Relax your spine but try to keep your chest slightly elevated. 

There is also no ONE perfect foot position for a squat.  Don’t worry about where your toes are pointing or how far apart your legs are.  We each have a distinct anatomy and our stance and width are a product of that anatomy.  Experiment with both and see what feels best for you.  If anyone tries to sell you on ONE position they are wrong and should be ignored.

It took me a good 3 months to be able to perform a deep squat.  I would practice every day and sit as long as I could at the bottom.  It’s now a movement I can perform with no problem 99% of the time, and has opened doors to new mobility I would not have discovered otherwise.

These 5 practices will not turn you into a super mobile ninja, but they will fix a lot of the common problems that come with modern life.  They will limit the tightness you feel in your hips and upper back from sitting at your desk, and hopefully teach you to be more aware of how your body is feeling and moving throughout the day.  Fitness isn’t always about big muscles and six packs, it’s simply about moving and feeling better. 

These movements and practices should be performed every day, even if its for only a few seconds.  Only through patience and persistence can you change the way your body feels and moves.  A small improvement every day will lead to a huge improvement over time.

Movement is life, and I want you to move well so you can live well.

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