Last weekend I was fortunate to attend Kelly Starrett’s Mobility seminar at Trident Crossfit.  Trident Crossfit is an amazing facility run by my good friends Chriss and Andrea Smith.  Chriss, or Quattro Deuce, was one of the Navy Seals who ran the recent SEALfit challenge that I did with my close friends.  I really appreciated Chriss and Andrea’s focus on providing continual education for their staff and how efficiently their facility ran.

Now, the good stuff.

I wasn’t looking forward to the 6 + hour drive, but I was really looking forward to hearing Kelly speak.  I had never met him in person, but I have watched a ton of his videos.  I knew he was a smart guy, but didn’t realize how smart until I spent 8 hours with him.

I think his goal of teaching coaches and athletes how to “perform basic maintenance on themselves”, which will allow them feel and perform better, is one of the most important in the industry.  You don’t realize how important your movement and mobility is, until you lose it.  And the key for maintaining good, unrestricted movement is consistency and patience.  This is critical for not only active fitness enthusiasts and athletes who train intensely, but also for sedentary people who rarely get out and move.

Here are just a few knowledge bombs Kelly dropped during the seminar:

1.  Assume a position.  Challenge that position.

2.  An athlete who can overcome challenges in various positions is the best athlete.

3.  Adaptation, your body will protect you.  It is all about survival.

4.  We need motor control through a full range of motion.

5.  Can’t rely on pain or completion of a task as an indicator for quality of movement.

6.  You should argue what program is best for you but you should never argue about technique.

7.  It is not always about you being tight, you’re just moving poorly.

8.  2% decrease in hydration can lead to 10% decrease in VO2 max.

9.  How do you know you’re more organized and in a better position?  You’re able to produce more wattage, i.e., more lbs and more power.

10.  You must test and retest.   Otherwise, how will you know there was a change.  Always assess.

11.  Movement errors include stable to unstable, change in spinal position, and change in head position.

12.  Load ordering – whatever muscles get loaded first, get loaded maximally.

13.  Hyperextension and hyperflexion, you should be able to move through these ROM’s, but don’t use them for stability.

14.  Hips and shoulders are the same joint.

15.  Walk with your feet turned out.  Your foot, knee and hip become unstable.

16.  Don’t change position under load.  Enter and leave the tunnel in the same position.

17.  Maximal efforts, I’m either going to stabilize or I’m going to breathe.

18.  Screwing your feet into the ground (during a squatting pattern), winds you up and creates torque.

19.  You lose torque if you’re feet are externally rotated greater than 5-10 degrees.

20.  When you miss a lift, the body protects the spine and burns the extremities; shoulders and knees.

BONUS

21.  Mobilize at the position of restriction.

I literally took 20 pages of notes over the course of the lecture and hands-on sections of the seminar.  I really liked how simply Kelly was able to explain complex ideas and concepts.  I would definitely recommend attending his mobility seminar if you have the opportunity.  With a better understanding of proper positioning and how to achieve more stability in these positions, you can program for every athlete’s individual needs.

I look forward to learning more from Kelly and possibly collaborating with him in the future.  Great job!

Rage!

Smitty