A few years ago, I took a course sponsored by Dr. Andreo Spina for Functional Range Conditioning (FRC). This course teaches a curriculum for joint strength, mobility development and body control. His system is to move your body, specifically your limbs, through their full range of motion articulating around a joint to maintain stability (strength) and control. What attracted me to this system is that it requires no equipment, isn’t overtaxing on the body and doesn’t require a lot of time. I’ve observed at the studio how people in general can lose their ability to move well if they don’t incorporate some kind of mobility work into their self-care.
I started to notice my own mobility beginning to decrease a few years back. I’m just like everyone else and can gravitate towards the things I like to do and avoid the things I need the most. What I enjoy is strength training. What I need to spend more time on is mobility. Mobility isn’t a priority for most, until they start to lose it. We added a shoulder drill to our general warmup at the studio a year ago because of it’s importance. I started performing three reps of controlled articular rotations (CARs) for my ankles, hips and shoulders every morning and quickly noticed improvement. I should state that the first goal should be to stop things from getting worse.
The key is consistency. I believe that if you give this simple 5–7-minute routine a try you should experience some improvements quickly. It’s not a panacea, but I do believe these drills can make a difference and provide positive benefits.
Here’s three videos demonstrating the three exercises.
Ankle CARs
https://youtu.be/L8RNyoggG-0?si=uYnBxTUtk_NjqCgC
Hip CARs
https://youtu.be/qagSc8y_jpc?si=fj4zqysy17_u3rgD
Shoulder CARs
https://youtu.be/8gpryi_W1GU?si=ohTfrAmJzaYnqBDs
Have a great weekend and please share this with anyone you feel may enjoy the read.