By Andy Huegel
We all know and understand the importance of staying consistent in the gym and having a trainer, but I feel as though the importance of “movement snacks” or “movement hygiene” gets often underappreciated. Often times, in order to keep our bodies feeling great we need to have quick exercises that we do throughout the day on our own. A good analogy here is how we brush our teeth to keep our teeth from rotting, we also must do certain movements to keep our joints from “rotting.” Also, we need to think of offsetting bad postures as soon as we get out of them, if possible. For example, being on a long car drive puts us in a seated position for an extended amount of time. Instead of waiting until the next day at 5p.m. when we plan on going to the gym, we can do some things such as hip hinges and robber position holds as soon as the car trip is over, or at rest stops. I look at this as “nipping the bud” of the problem before it has a chance to become a long lasting problem. Below are some great examples of “movement snacks.”
The cat camel is unique in that we aren’t necessarily trying to “feel” something like we do in a stretch or an exercise. This movement is primarily for spinal health and mobility. The cat camel can help hydrate and “prime” the discs to be in a better state for a workout or to begin your day. It also makes you more aware of the way your spine moves.
Hip hinges, I believe are the best way to stretch the hamstrings. A seated position puts our hamstrings in a contracted and shortened position, so it is important that we work them through their full range of motion often to keep them at a healthy length.
This position also helps to offset the poor posture of sitting. Sitting rounds our back and rotates our shoulders inward. The robber position does just the opposite. We want to hold our shoulders back, down, and rotated outward. This will help keep the shoulder joint centered, which is the only way we can bring our hands overhead without causing damage over time.
A deep squat is a position we should all be able to get into and out of comfortably. Throughout life we will inevitably squat either to air up a tire on our car, or tie our shoes, or so on. If we aren’t comfortable in this position then entering it fast in a life situation can cause something in the body to hurt or become injured. We should work on getting comfortable in a deep squat and then spending some time there each day to maintain it. If you watch any baby as they learn to walk they will enter a squat effortlessly and comfortably. Poor postures throughout life tend to settle in and make us lose this.
Lastly, I believe neck retractions are a vital movement snack. With the rise of smartphones we all spend too much time with our neck tilted down. The stress on our lower neck in this position is significant. We need to do simple retractions of the neck to help offset this stress throughout our days. It is simple and can be done whenever you’ve been looking down at a phone for awhile or you’re feeling that stress in the lower back of your neck.
In short, to improve or even just maintain our joint’s mobility, which prevents injuries from popping up and keeps us feeling great, we need to do more than what we are able to do in a gym for an hour a few times per week. We need to have a conscious effort to offset poor postures that we all inevitably are in on a daily basis.
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