A Wall Stretch: 12 Minutes in Shoulder Opening Heaven

For this series of neck, chest, and shoulder opening stretches, we will use the wall to increase our spine and shoulder awareness. After 12 minutes of delicious articulations and closed-chain movements your shoulders will sing.

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Exercises in general are things we do to improve at something, to ingrain habits. There are strength exercises, team-building exercises, breath exercises etc. We can exorcise the demons, but that's a bit different. When it comes to physical (ya know, body stuff) exercises, they are categorized in many ways. One of the most basic categorizations is closed chain vs. open chain.

In closed chain movements, the free limb (hand or foot) is fixed to an immobile surface (like a wall or floor). For clarity, being fixed to a floor or wall is a choice, not a terrible super glue prank. If I stand on two feet, my feet are fixed to the floor. Open chain movements are the opposite; the hand or foot moves about freely. Standing and reaching upwards is open chain. A downward facing dog is closed chain.

When it comes to flexibility training, we want to include both closed and open chain stretches into our routine. They not only feel different; the results are different.

As I often say, awareness and breath are imperative to improving our alignment and flexibility. After all, if we are unaware of our patterns how can we change them?

We need feedback, and not just from another set of eyes. This is the power of using the wall or the floor. By having something to push against, we feel and know more about what we are experiencing.

When it comes to the shoulders, closed chain movements that challenge our ROM are a powerful way to increase awareness, alignment, and function.  The shoulder joint is comprised of three bones and four joints. If your shoulder is tight, we want to not only get those bones moving well, we want the supporting musculature to be active. And guess what, when we push into something, muscles are happy to come to the party.

Under the increased tension of a closed chain exercise, the joint is not only getting signals about its safety, we are inclined to breathe deeper.

Closed chain movements also encourage multiple joints to move synergistically to achieve a desired movement. We run into a lot of problems when we try to get more "shoulder flexibility" by isolating the movement of the arm. In my experience, adhesions (sticky spots/scar tissue/muscle demons) and sub-optimal movement patterns are harder to work through in open chain movements.

So...as you perform this new video, "A Wall Stretch: 12 Minutes in Shoulder Opening Heaven," PUSH into the wall, spread your fingers wide, and breathe fully. Oh, and smile more than I do in the video. Apparently filming videos is very serious stuff.

Primal Squats

Squats are one of the most basic movements of the human body. Primal squats with the knees and ankles together regularly improve the state of my knees and ankles. This is because developing control at the end range of joints (especially in positions essential to the health of the human body) creates balanced flexibility (and more potential do to cool things). Here I paired this exercise with alternating back shoulder rolls...and a wee bit of musicality.

Pants by Flow Movement.

Squats are one of the most basic movements of the human body. Primal squats with the knees and ankles together regularly improve the state of my knees and ankles. This is because developing control at the end range of joints (especially in positions essential to the health of the human body) creates balanced flexibility (and more potential do to cool things). Here I paired this exercise with alternating back shoulder rolls...and a wee bit of musicality. Pants by Flow Movement.

Posted by Flow Movement on Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Bodily Awareness is Possibly the Most Undervalued Element of Fitness

Photo by Christian Buitron Photography

By Marlo Fisken, Creator of Flow Movement

For as many magazines, blogs, and memes on fitness as there are, there is a general lack of understanding on what fitness actually is. I am not at all surprised; people value different things when it comes to aesthetics and lifestyle. But fitness is more than most of us realize. Let's have a look at the definition of fitness before I share some of my recent thoughts with you.

Fitness is a measure of how you adapt to stressors. It is often defined as the combination of your strength, mobility, endurance, body composition, power, speed, balance, and agility. Fitness, however, is also a measure of how efficiently and effectively you work and play, your emotional well-being and how well you avoid the diseases of inactivity. It is your reaction time and how you adapt to diverse environments and challenges. Fitness is important to each and every one of us (whether you choose to care now or not). 

Your fitness level is evidenced in all aspects of your life. 

Yet few broad-reaching fitness outlets (outside of the mind/body sphere) talk about the importance of awareness.  I believe that bodily awareness is the most overlooked aspect of fitness. 

Bodily awareness is key to improving alignment, and healthy alignment is key to growing our skill set, meeting many physique goals, and avoiding pain.

Science has shown that poor postural habits negatively impact mood and stress.  Beyond that, postural issues can cause pain, leaving us wondering why we cannot meet our fitness goals. In my experience, there is a strong correlation between your ability to move without pain and making progress. I have usually had to learn something about my patterns and make a priority of staying aware of them (both during training and daily activities) in order to remedy pain and injuries (and even a poochy belly situation).

Body awareness helps you to fully engage in your training and find joy in the process. Not only can you can train more if you feel good, you can do it for much more of your life! 

In case this body awareness talk doesn't sound flashy enough and doesn't seem to have anything to do with your goals of "being hot," consider this:

Even across many non-human species, strong posture, (which is the same as good alignment), gets noticed. The strong and robust are in demand because they appear to have the best health and genetics. Confidence is ultimately a way of moving, and often is a projection of awareness. 

I feel the most confident after physical training that requires absolute focus and immersion. When I practice movements that require me to tap into detailed self-awareness, I move better, I breathe better, I stand tall and sit better throughout the day.

So, What do you do to develop your body awareness?