If you have had any experience in sports or training, you have probbly done some streetching. We are told from a young age that we need to stretch in order to prevent injury. Stretching is viewed as a precursor to working out, just as brushing your teeth is a precursor to going to bed. Not suprisingly, most people approach stretching routines halfheartedly.
There IS tremendous value in traditional stretch-and-hold, or "static" stretching, if executed properly, and it's part of our program -- but only when done AFTER a workout. After all, a warm rubber band stretches a lot farther than a cold one, right? So it's best to stretch when the body is warm, which is after training. (This is covered more in detail in teh REGENERATION section). Movment Prep (Preperation) is the replacement for preworkout static stretching. Movement Prep prepares the body for movement, boosting heart rate, blood flow to the muscles, and core temperature. It also improves the function of the nervous system. In addition, Movement Prep includes mobility drills that will loosen up tight areas of your body, moving them through full ranges of motion, which keeps us injury free. Movement Prep also 'activates' some of the less used muscles of the body, throwing on the light switches so they are available and participating all the time. Many athelets have at least one musle group that's completely shut off. This can cause other areas of the body to compensate, which ultimatley leads to injury. An example of this would be one of the small muscles of the hips, the gluteus medius, which if not activated will lead to lower-back problems, knee pain, and groin train. It's as if someone flipped the circuit breaker, cutting of the power to these little muscles. Fortunatley, with these exercises, you enable your body to recall those movments that perhaps haven't been used in a while, and make sure you mantain the ability to perform these movements. |
MOVEMENT PREP |