Walk in to any globo-gym and you will see people "lifting weights" and "doing cardio". You know what you don't see a lot of? Mobility work! Mobility is a crucial aspect of everyday life and yet it is the easiest to ignore. You know why? Mobility work isn't sexy. Nobody walks in to the office or a MOPS group and says, "man, I mobilized SO hard yesterday". It isn't cool to brag about like lifting heavy or a 6 mile "run". Nevertheless, we should be doing it, especially moms. Here are my top 5 reasons for moms to mobilize.
1.) Brush Your Hair
I don't know about y'all but nursing a baby has taken a SERIOUS toll on my overhead position. In the first couple of weeks nursing, forget trying to take a movement overhead. I was so stiff from constantly nursing my 15 pound two month old that I could even brush my own hair. (Hence my very dramatic, 25.7 inch haircut) I actually had to ask my wonderful husband to help me brush out my ridiculously long mane. After a few times of this little routine my husband wisely suggested we check our favorite mobility book for option to help. After following Dr. Starrett's advice for a couple of days I regained my ability to brush my own hair. Now, I love doing the overhead band stretch to open everything up after a long night of nursing my son. Moral of the story?Unless you want to end up looking like Oscar the Grouch, I highly recommend that all new moms mobilize their shoulders and lats!
2.) Mom Hip
So you're in the grocery store right? Your child is in the seat, generally being adorable when you notice your hip is feeling a little tender so you shift your weight to the other side allowing you hip to extend outward... The result is the dreaded mom hip, and a serious no go. What you are doing here is putting all the stress of your body weight on your joints rather than using your muscles to hold everything in place, like it is designed to do. The muscles in your hips and your butt will get weak and then it will get even worse... It will start to impact your ability to squat. And as any good lifter knows, the squat is a fundamental movement not just for lifting but for life. So what can you do? Hit the foam roller. My favorite one can be found here. Spend some time working on your legs: front, back, and sides. Then roll your butt. I know it sounds silly but you will be grateful when you aren't standing like you have a newborn when your kid goes to college.
3.) Standing Tall
One of the number one things people say to me when they come in my gym is that they want to look slimmer. I totally get it. Having a baby is hard, nursing a baby is hard, being up all night is hard. It takes a toll on your body. The sleep deprivation tends to annihilate any semblance of self control when it come to food so you feel puffy and gross. The first thing I have a woman do when she comes to talk to me about joining the gym is have her stand up straight. First take a picture of her just standing. Then I tell her to imagine that someone has a grip on her hair and is pulling her to the ceiling. Now take another picture and compare the two. Let her see how beautiful she really is, when she stands the way that God made her to. She is beautiful right?! So what does this have to do with mobility? In his book, Dr. Starrett talks about thoracic extension over a foam roller. I have found that most ladies (especially moms!) that come in the gym have just forgotten what it feels like to fully stand up and open up her spine. This mobility movement will help women to remember what that feels like so she will be better able to stand correctly in real life.
4.) Get on the Floor
Have you ever been at story time and you see a mom trying to get on the floor with her kid? She decides not to and instead grabs a chair. I don't want to be that mom. I want to be able to get up and down off the ground quickly and easily with my kids. This is an important life skill, and pretty self explanatory. You need to stretch, roll, as well as tack and floss your legs regularly.
5.) Baby Wearing
So you are a new mom and you have big dreams of wearing your baby, that is totally normal. Then you get to the grocery store parking lot, put your baby in your Ergo... And you can't get it snapped behind you. Now you have to awkwardly walk up to a random person and ask them to clip you. Let me tell you, I HATE having to do that. I will do all the mobilization in the world in order to not have to ask a stranger to clip my Ergo for me. I like to use the foam roller and the lacrosse ball on my lats, that makes the biggest difference in being able to clip my Ergo on my own.
So these are my top 5 reasons that moms should mobilize.
Be sure to check out my Top 5 Reasons Moms Should Strength Train.
Let me know if you think of others reasons!
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