Mobility, Flexibility and Movement Competency

There's a common thread with successful individuals. They've worked hard, but they've also made hundreds, if not thousands, of mistakes. What if you could learn from their mistakes without any consequences? What if you could hear from talented individuals who have achieved great success in their given field? Well, we've got you covered. It's time to shorten your learning curve, learn from the best, and truly understand how to achieve your goals without spinning your wheels.

and wasting precious time. I'm your host Mike Perry and welcome to the Minimum Effective Dose Podcast. Welcome to another episode of the Minimum Effective Dose Podcast. I'm your host Mike Perry and today we're gonna talk about mobility, flexibility, movement complex Mobility and flexibility have been a hot topic for gosh, at least the last decade. And

There's so many systems and there's so many different ways to improve the way you move that I think for a lot of people looking to improve their overall movement quality, they just get confused. So today I want to talk about some different strategies and my thoughts. And we're gonna dig a little bit deeper in into how to achieve those things, but

Really how much do you need, right? And that's a big part of it is what is your end goal? And that's when we really need to step back and understand how to approach our own programming, but the programming We're gonna dive right in. Um if we're talking about mobility in general people talk about joints. So they're just talking about the essentially available range of motion of the joint. Now we have active and we have passive. I always want you to think of passive as potential, so P and P.

Your passive mobility is the joint's movement potential. You don't actually have ownership of that movement yet, but we know that it's available. Think of it as credit, right? It's something that you can work up to, but you do not currently. And when it comes to active mobility, that is a range of motion. So those are really the two differences in a nutshell. And it's important to understand the difference. So in order to have really quality active mobility, you need to have potential first.

passive mobility or there's actually movement availability there and then you can start to work on actively owning that. In addition to that, we have to talk about flexibility. And when people talk about flexibility, they're usually talking about So flexibility tends to be more about muscles and mobility tends to be more about joints. And oftentimes people

terminology, which is which is fine to be honest, because really what's the end goal, right? The end goal is to move better so you can do whatever it is you want to do. So but we have to understand that a lot of these Drills and these exercises to improve flexibility and/or mobility, they take a lot of time. And the question you need to ask yourself, and you have to have this discussion with

How much time do you really want to dedicate towards these drills? I mean, I've seen people say that they spend 35, 40 minutes a day working. And if I'm being honest with you, um if you're spending that much time day in and day out on your mobility, it's probably not working because if you spend a ton of time, let's say you dedicate three months.

to quality mobility flexibility training and movement competency training, it should improve. But if you're finding that you have to do forty five minutes a day, um, it's probably an overkill and it's probably a I'm not saying that you can't take time to improve the way that you move.

Not at all. I think you should. And I think you should have deliberate times where you're focusing on improving range of motion in general. But I think a big mistake people make is they chase these these drills that look fancy or they they say they wanna do X and Y and Z or they see these genetically gifted people online that are doing this fancy stuff.

Um and they wanna they wanna replicate that or they wanna learn how to do that. And a big part of it is genetics, right? Um if someone is hypermobile, well guess what? They're gonna have a much easier time getting

Now, whether or not they have control of that mobility is a different conversation, but you get someone that's genetically hypermobile, uh look at the bite and bright scale. That'll give you some great insight on that. They're going to do things that are much more impressive than the average person.

That doesn't mean you're gonna be able to get there because genetics do play a role. So if you are someone that in general, let's just call you a quote unquote type person, and then you're trying to emulate some guy That's hypermobile, that also spends a ton of time on his active mobility. It's not going to work. It will not work for you, so do not chase.

Now that's not to say that you shouldn't try to improve the way that you move. It's just you have to understand the reality of the situation. You're never going to move like that individual. Not going to happen. And if you try to chase that, you're gonna find yourself frustrated and wasting a ton of time. But we have to understand a few other things when it comes to mobility and flexibility and improving your movement.

The most important thing is taking that newfound mobility or newfound flexibility and using it in larger patterns and integrating it into the standing.

Because guys, I've seen so many people lay on their backs and do a bunch of cool drills. I've seen people in the half-kneeling position do a bunch of cool drills. I've seen people in the quadruped position do a bunch of cool drills. I've seen people in 90-90 position do a bunch of cool drills and there's nothing wrong with that and they look they look cool and they feel good don't get me wrong I use them myself but at a certain point most sports most sports

you have to develop that that movement competency in the larger patterns, in split stance patterns, single leg patterns, and and bilateral stance patterns. Most people don't need to sit on the floor and do a bunch of mobility. Now with the exception would be grappling, because grapplers do spend a lot of time on the ground. Um, so that would be the exception, right? And that's when I would actually argue that

Active mobility is super important, but also just be really, really being really strong and being really durable is is super important as well. But We have to understand that in sport, with the exception of grappl and ground based activities, which, you know, MMA is partly on the ground, partly standing. I don't know, you know, how it breaks out.

is standing, but it's important to understand that most people, when it comes to their sport, are going to be in a standing position. They're gonna be running, they're gonna be cutting, they're changing levels, etc. And for those people, that is the type of movement that they need. They don't need to do a bunch of floor-based movements when they're running, cutting, changing directions. It simply doesn't make sense. Now, you can do those floor-based movements.

to improve your active mobility, but immediately you need to go and work into larger patterns. So what do I mean by larger patterns, right? So for example, if you can have a really nice beautiful deep squat, I don't care if it's with A kettlebell, two kettlebells, barbell, sandbag. If you can have a just a beautiful looking deep squat, we all we all know what that looks like. That is gonna be one of the most advantageous ways to improve your health and your function.

And you're gonna get a hell of a lot stronger, right? Same thing. Um if you look at like split stance patterns and rear foot elevated split squats, um, some of my favorite ways to improve Movement competency within those patterns is by simply doing like split squat ISO where you, you know, you start in the half-kneeling position, you take a big stride forward, and you do some isometric hold.

That's gonna give you uh positional strength and that's also gonna improve your stability. It's gonna be an awesome drill. Same thing with um I do rear foot elevated split squats, I do front foot elevated. Um those are just two different ways that you can cement

that that mobility that you need. But it's with the larger patterns. And then if we look at single leg squats or single leg patterns, um, like a single a true single leg squat, if you can do a single leg squat to parallel or below, I'm pretty sure that you've got decent ankle mobility. Mobility, etc. And guys, we all know what a good single-leg squat looks like. Uh, people that can do really, really good pistols, which again, pistols aren't for everybody, but that's just an example.

And Mike Boyle has done a great job of showcasing some of his athletes doing single leg squats with a ridiculous amount of weight. So I guarantee if you've got 80 pounds in each hand and you're doing single leg squats to parallel, you've probably got decent mobility, but you can also control that. Um and then lastly, um we have to look at multi-planar uh movements because a lot of people do tracks. Right. So people are doing their squats on train tracks and they're even doing their split squats.

Um I would argue that uh implementing exercises like a a lateral lunge or lateral squat, whatever the heck you want to call it, I really don't care, or a Cossack, those are awesome drills because it just gets you moving in very

Um there's also some people call it the curtsy lunge, whatever you want to call it. I don't really care. That's another nice one. Um But I would argue that if you really want to improve your overall movement competency You have to start with yes, you can start with ground-based movements, start by looking at your your passive uh mobility, then try to control that passive mobility with active, but then immediately go into passive

And if you can do that, you're gonna cement that mobility. It's like hitting save on the document and you're gonna move that much better. And and I'm gonna be honest with you guys, that that systematic approach that I'm telling you about is exactly what we do in FMS. It's just it's just

Worded a little bit differently. But we want to improve our overall mobility first, and then we're going to go into various types of motor control and then larger fundamental patterns. That is the exact algorithm. Just worded a little bit differently. And that is how most people will improve their overall movement quality. Um, so we have to also look at the upper body and and how that works, right? So if you're trying to improve

let's call it shoulder mobility in general, right? We just can't look at the shoulder and we can't just look at shoulder flexion, which is the big one, right? So I can go overhead. Yes, that's awesome. But you have to understand In order to have quality shoulder flexion, you have to have good control of your thoracic spine, um, good extension of the thoracic spine. And and I would argue that when we're talking about the thoracic spine, you need to understand

The thoracic spine is a kif is a kyphotic um curvature of the spine. So when I talk about extension, you're actually not moving into true extension, you're just moving into a With less flexion of the thoracic spine. But we want to optimize the positioning of the thoracic spine. We want to gain as much extension, quote unquote, as you can and rotation as well. And then we can address scapular position. Lastly, um what's going on with the gleno humor joint?

Again, we have to look at patterns. So let's say that you are a football player and you're a receiver. And you wanna be able to catch that ball safely and effectively when it's going overhead. Well, now we're looking at a bunch of different movements and a bunch of different patterns. So if someone's running, okay, they're running down the sideline, they have to turn. So they're in gate, which means you have to have good quality. Um

Hip flexion and extension, right? If you're in the NFL, you're a high level player, you're gonna have to have good Simple as that. Probably have to good it have to have good ankle mobility as well. That's another conversation about spats, etc. But and now look.

So the quarterback throws the ball, you're gonna be in gate running, you have to rotate your T-spine right, you have to rotate your T-spine left to see what the heck's going on. And then maybe at some point you're gonna spin completely around, you're gonna jump in the air. When you jump in the air, you're probably gonna leap off of one leg.

And you're probably going to extend way overhead and you're gonna have this global extension-based pattern where you're gonna be in in let's just say universal spinal f uh spinal extension where you're arching your back. In this big position, you're reaching overhead, you're going to extreme shoulder flexion, and you grab the ball with one hand, you wrap it up, and maybe you score a touchdown, whatever. But my point is that if we just focused on static.

Shoulder flexion in a standing position, it's not gonna happen, right? Just reaching your hand up is not how. create resiliency. So we have to understand that in order to really develop resiliency with an athlete, we have to look at larger patterns. And Those patterns need to be specific to the sport. And that was just one example. But there's a different way that we can do it. So We always want to work on general movement quality and movement competency first, but eventually

Depending on the athlete, you're gonna have to go down some rabbit holes and you're gonna have to get really specific because we really have to look at what the athlete is asking of their body. And um Eric Cressy does a great job of this with his pitchers and He he really breaks down every single component of pitching and then he looks at the parts of that and then goes from there. So in a way, he's looking at parts, but he's also looking at patterns in positions.

And um I really admire that about about Eric because It never hurt. So um, but anyway, so if you look at a a baseball player, right? So and and again, I'm not a I'm not as well versed on this stuff as is Cressy and Reinhold. Those guys. Those guys are on another level, but if you watch a pitcher, let's say this is a right-handed pitcher, they're gonna start in a bilateral stance with their feet together. Okay, then they're gonna go into single edge.

Usual uh in this case being a right handed pitcher, they're gonna be in single leg stance with their right leg. The left knee is going to come up at pretty much end range hip flexor. Um as they deliver that baseball, they're gonna be in this T-spine rotation, uh they're gonna be in that layback position.

ask their shoulder to be in horizontal A B duction and external rotation. They are going to deliver the ball in whatever arm slot that they have. Uh they're going to land on their left foot, which requires a bunch of hip stability, a ton of internal hip uh a ton of internal um hip uh mobility on the stance leg, which in this case would be the left leg, and he's gonna follow through and he's gonna move the arm into uh good on humor internal rotation.

That's going to kind of finish the pattern. Actually, it's not going to finish the pattern. Then the the um the right leg would come up and do that big circular. As he falls through. Now, again, I'm not gonna break this down as well as Eric can, but you guys get the idea. That's how you specifically look at what an individual needs based on what they're trying to do with themselves or what type of load. So now we have to ask.

What does the person need and what are they going to act? Uh, what are they going to ask of their body? So the average person trying to lose 10 to 15 pounds, trying to look better in their bathing suit. has very, very different needs than the baseball player or uh major league baseball pitcher. Very, very different needs. So that's why you need to understand how much do they need? Because if you're trying to get someone to lose 10 pounds and look a little bit better.

In their bathing suit. I'm not sure they need the same. Actually, I'm positive they don't need the same active mobility as the Major League Based.

They just do not. So stop trying to force these. High-end mobility drills on people when they simply don't need it. Now, I'm not saying that you can't improve their movement quality. I'm saying that if they're doing goblet squats, some lunges, some rows, some push-ups, some pull-ups,

And that's all they're asking of their body. You need to give them enough movement competency to do those safely and maybe give them a little bit more, maybe give them a buffer, right? Uh give them more than they need. So if if a rep or two goes wrong, they're not gonna hurt themselves, right? Because we don't want them. Essentially taxing their system to the point where if at any point something goes wrong, they're going to get injured. That's not exactly what we're looking for, right? So

Give them what they need and and give them enough movement competency, flexibility, mobility. So if they do ask a little bit more of their body, they're gonna be okay. They're not gonna get injured. But the problem is when people max out what they're what they're capable of all the time and that's when that's when injuries happen. So It it's important to really understand what the client needs.

And and what they want. And and some people guys, if you're having that conversation with people and and and I had a a nice talk with my staff the other day about this, is some people care about moving better. Some people care about improving their their quality of life, in improving function, quote unquote, whatever you want to call function. Um, but at the same time some people don't.

Some people do not care at all about that and you need to have that conversation early with your client because if your client does not care about moving better, they just want to go, they want to exercise, you're gonna approach their They're programming very, very differently than the individual that does care, right? So let's say you have that individual that

They don't care. They just wanna come and let's be honest, they wanna get their butts kicked. They wanna get a great workout. They have zero interest in acquiring a new skill. They have zero interest in in spending time on flexibility. Um and they have they don't even have much time in general.

Giving that person 30 minutes of hip mobility drills, I can guarantee you they're out they're out. They are out and they're not gonna come back. But what you have to do at that point, if they're not going to focus on those things, which is okay. That's totally okay. You need to make sure that you're giving them

Exercises in a program that will allow them to train to get that training effect that will allow them to burn some calories safely. So then you have to pick exercises that aren't gonna jack them up. And how do you do that? Well, that's that's when I use my movement. MS guy. Um that's how I determine what is going to be an appropriate exercise for that gen pop individual. So you have to understand that. It's as simple as that. If the client has zero interest in

improving their flexibility, mobility, or movement uh competency, don't give them a bunch of drills, right? Now, what about that individual that comes in? And this happens to me all the time. Hey Mike, I've done uh a bunch of physical therapy for my back, nothing

Um, you know, I've been in and out of this and uh nothing seemed to work. I go to the Cairo, I get an adjustment every week and nothing seems to work. Well, that's when I I I have to have that conversation with someone to say, hey, listen. Um What you've been doing hasn't been working, but yet you're frustrated and you know that something needs to change. And that's when you have to.

Educate people on what they need. And I would say nine times out of ten, um, what they need, they do need flexibility. They do need better mobility, but we don't spend all the time on there. They need to get stronger and they need to get stronger through ranges of motion. And guys, I'm gonna tell you right now, when it comes to like low back rehab, um You can follow all of these fancy algorithms and stuff to do, but I'm gonna tell you right now.

If you get someone that's coming to you and they're they're out of pain and yes, you understand their their medical history and their background, if you can honestly do a really good job just getting them to squat, getting them to hinge. Getting them to lunge, row, and educating them on how to warm up and how to take care of their body. That is going to be the best way to let them live a lifestyle that will not

Because and again, nothing against physical therapy, but a lot of clinicians are just bound up by coding and insurance and you've got a knee issue, they're th they gotta treat the knee, right? Um Who knows, you got a you may have a really bad ankle issue. I mean, you may have a a knee issue which is coming from a jacked up ankle or a locked up ankle or a locked up hip, right? So

But the problem is that a lot of the times they can't treat certain things because of coding and insurance, et cetera. So their hands are tied. So this is why. A really good strength and conditioning coach that understands movement can be so beneficial. Because we can take that information and I say we because I've been doing this for a long time and I know a bunch of other strength and conditioning coaches that are really good at analyzing and programming movement.

We can obviously, if we know what's going on and we we work hand in hand with that physical therapist or we know the diagnosis. we can just dive right in and not only can we work on helping that individual with with their their issues. But at the same time, we can do other stuff. We can get them stronger, right? Someone comes in with a with a grumpy knee. You're not just gonna focus on the knee, you can do a bunch of core work.

you know, do a bunch of upper body work, you do a bunch of uh joint-friendly conditioning, etc. So Those are the things that a really good strength and conditioning coach or personal trainer can really help you with is they can take that information from the clinician and continue that process.

And that's where the beauty happens. And I've said this a million times. If if if personal trainers spent more time understanding rehab, and physical therapists spent more time understanding strength and conditioning or strength training, our clients would be in much

So um it's important to to understand that it is a process. But Oftentimes, we need to look deeper and we need to have a skill set that will allow us to take that individual to the to the next level. So The last thing I wanna talk about is um a lot of people I've seen wanna do this in pr these impressive types of exercises.

Um again you see some really cool stuff that looks like it belongs in Cirque du Soleil. Um people doing these crazy handstands and contorting their body and you know people doing split

With chairs and this and that. And and guys, there's nothing wrong with that if that's a goal of yours. But I'm telling you right now, the average person does not need that, nor do they want to do that. I've never in eighteen years of being a strength coach had someone say, My goal is to do Split like Jean Claude Van Like that's never happened, right? But then again, I've never had someone come in and go,

Um my goal is to get a higher FMS score. Even though I'm an FMS guy, peop people just want to feel better and they want to move better. And here's the cool thing is if you understand what you're doing, you can help. that individual and it actually will be reflected um with with a with a nicer fms score as well. Um but we need to we need to really look at what the individual needs and we under we need Um and there are a bunch of ways that we can wait.

Um but we really have to talk to the client and see what their goals are and see what they're willing to put And Same thing with yourself, right? How much time do you want to spend on improving your movement quality or do you not care? Or are you simply going to as a strength coach personal trainer? Are you just gonna not improve things and just work around it? And either way's okay. But you just have to be honest with yourself. Um I will end with uh with a little story about myself. So

When I started Brazilian jujitsu, um I'm not a big guy. I've never been a big guy. I've been moderately strong, but I've never been a big guy. Um when I started jujitsu, I was like 185, um, decent amount of muscle, and but I was doing a lot of the power. Um, you know, it's a lot of time with the barbell. Um, and I was decently strong. Again, I I w n nowhere close to a power lifter, but I was I was decently strong. And when I started grappling

Every single person I I went with was like, dude, you're wicked strong. Dude, you're wicked strong. And I'm like, Cool, thanks. Meanwhile, I sucked at jujitsu. I totally sucked at jujitsu. But I was strong. And and I actually took it that as a

As a negative comment in a way. And and and hear me out on that. There's nothing wrong with being strong, but most of the time when you're a white belt and and someone says you're strong, they it's not a it's not a compliment. It's usually they're saying, dude, relax. Or maybe potentially they're frustrated because you're so much stronger than them, even if they're a higher belt, you're doing things to them that maybe

So, but back to the story. I did a bunch of uh, you know, I went to competition class and um Because my my schedule didn't allow me to train at any other time. When I started I was going at like seven o'clock at night, I'd go and you know, I'd train hard after a twelve hour day and I'd get home and I'd be wound up. I literally would be

staring at the ceiling eyes wide open and I couldn't fall asleep and I'd fall asleep at two in the morning, get up at five and it wasn't it wasn't working for me. And not to mention the fact that I was so beaten up Chucking down Advil and having to drink a beer or two just to kind of get myself to relax at the end of the night. And guys, that is not that is not a good idea. But at a certain point, I started getting a bunch of.

I was just I have a history of low back issues. I s I injured my my low back when I was in my early twenties, but I was I was literally found myself over the course of like two to three years, you know Just going on prednisone, getting muscle relaxers. I had three to four rounds of cortisone shots in my low back. And then finally, um, this this is this is where it hit me.

And I forget exactly where it was, but it was in the wintertime. Um, probably a couple years into jujitsu as well. It was snowing out, we had a foot of snow, and my boys are like My boys were like, Dad, can we go out and uh can we play in the snow? And I was s in so much discomfort and pain that I just couldn't do it. I was like I I'm I'm like, I'm sorry guys, I I just can't, my back's really bothering me. And that having to say that to my kids is what made me

Completely rethink about what I need to do for my body if I'm going to continue my journey in jujitsu. And at that point I said, you know what? I'm not gonna worry about squatting heavy. I'm not gonna worry about deadlifting heavy right now. Um I'm just gonna worry about getting as healthy as possible.

Now over that time I I did a lot of jujitsu. I I lost some weight. Um and and again I was never I was never heavy by any stretch, but just due to the fact that I was so inefficient at jujitsu, I was burning calories. I couldn't even keep up with the food. I was just burning calories.

I literally couldn't get the food in. And I dropped at first about 10 pounds. I'm probably down about fifteen now, walking around about 170. But um but h here's the difference. I I finally said to myself, Mike, like put your ego aside. Trying to train uh on the mats three to four days a week and lift really heavy did not work f it didn't work for me. It simply did not work for me. And that's when I had to make a change. And then what I started to do is at first I didn't say to myself,

I'm going to do more mobility work or do more flexibility work or this and that. I simply said I'm going to eliminate the things that I know that are bothering. And I'm gonna add in excuse me. And I'm going to add in other things. That was simply my approach. I didn't I didn't go on this global uh not global, but I didn't have this

long drawn out plan of oh increasing, you know, improving your soft tissue and doing this and doing that and breathing and blah blah blah. It was simply I just I just basically stopped doing those exercises. that were bothering me. And I spent a lot more time on on bodyweight training, on split stance patterns, um a lot more dumbbell work, a lot of the stuff that was a little bit more forgiving for me. And And a bunch of kettlebell work as well, because uh kettlebells have always

made me feel really good and really resilient. Um and and there's something to be said about that because a lot of the times I'll I'll take time off of kettlebell training, but I shouldn't because every time I I do it consistently I feel really good. So that's just me

That's besides the point. But so here's the cool thing, right? So over time I started feeling a lot better. Um I will say this, I was also getting better at jujitsu too, so I wasn't beating the hell out of myself as much. I wasn't as reckless as Um and then I got my uh my blue belt and then same thing when I got my purple belt. Um

I was more efficient and I had a little bit more skill, and I wasn't just basically beating on my body as much because I knew I knew what I was doing. I didn't have to rely on And conditioning and effort, I started to have actually some technique. Now, I mean, I'm just a purple belt, I'm not amazing, but I'm I'm getting better and it's it's a work in process, uh work in progress. But here's kind of the cool thing is, you know, I'd go out and I'd teach for

all the time. And I was, you know, I'm I'm fortunate enough to to be surrounded by some amazing people and um in the FMS curriculum, uh you know, Gray Cook, uh Lee Burton, Diane Vives, Eric Degotti, uh Brett Jones, uh just a bunch of amazing people and those guys and helping me out. But here's the cool thing, as we started to like demo these exercises and get screened live. A bunch of my my scores went up and I started to move a little bit better.

So I did I didn't actively do correctives. I didn't try to focus on certain things. All I did was remove certain exercises and I was feeling better and I I scored a little bit higher. And for those of you that think the FMS is rubbish. Yeah. That's cool. Respect your opinion, but I'm telling you right now, um, it it's the basis of what I do. But I've also seen that changing your programming can absolutely reflect in and moving a little bit better, and that's that's simply how I.

So it's pretty cool to see that process, right? So what it boils down to is what are you asking of your body? What are your goals? How much time do you have? And then lastly, hire someone that understands how to put all of that together because Need to be able to do something that is sustainable and repeatable. And that's really the key to success: sustainability and repeatability. Um, so take your time. Check your ego at the door, be smart and

Follow people and and take advice from people that have been there that are giving you constant quality information. And I'm talking over years. I'm not talking over months. Because anybody can sponsor a post and give you some stuff and be gone. I mean I've seen trends come and go. So just be consistent, guys, and understand that it's an ongoing journey when it comes to improving the way you move, but just remember.

You have to start incorporating the things that will allow you to to consistently make improvements and There's a bazillion different ways to waste time. There are so many different ways where you can just simply do stuff to do stuff. But Follow that recipe of improving your your your you know improving your mobility indoor flexibility, but immediately go to patterns and immediately try to get as strong as you can within those patterns, like they talked about the squat.

and uh working through various planes as well. So um there's my ramble on on uh mobility, flexibility, and movement competency. And uh thanks for listening. And if you have any uh any topics you want me to ramble about, shoot me an email at Mike at Skill of Strength or you can send me a message on Instagram at coach Mike Perry or you can find me on Facebook at just Mike Perry. So appreciate it and enjoy the rest of your

Hey there, it's your host Mike Perry from the Minimum Effective Dose Podcast. I just wanted to take a few minutes to say thank you so much for listening. We truly appreciate your support. If you do like the podcast, do me a huge favor and subscribe, but also share this with your friends, colleagues, and family. Have an awesome day.