Mobility: Be More Dog

Nate messages:

"Mate, I need to get into some daily mobility habit.

I get so stiff in my shoulders and back if I don't change positions constantly and I feel too young for that!"

There's a lot we can unpack from this, but we're going to stay on a single point: mobility snacks

What Nate describes is common, most of you on this email list will have felt similar at some point, some more than others.

And the answer is quite simple, and is summed up from a phrase I stole from a 2013 advertising campaign for O2 when they said "Be More Dog"

And I love dogs!

My wee Meg

So what can we learn from our 4 legged furballs?

First, they rest. Actually lie down and properly relax, even my Border Collie (yes, I had to teach her to do this when she was a puppy, but right now, she's curled up and fast asleep as I write this).

Now, when they get up, what's the first thing they do.

And it's not just dogs, your cat, Gerbil, Hamster all do the same

The do a "biiiig streeetch!" don't they.

Now, by contrast, what do we do? Us, the so called "higher beings", what do we tend to do?

We just get up and we go.

Who does it right?

Modern humans or our pets?

My money is on the pet.

If we can "be more dog" and get in 1-5 reps of some kind of mobility drill at several intervals through the day, I think we would be healthier as a whole.

If you're a current or former client of mine, you will have selection of movements to choose from already.

These may be Anatomy in Motion (AiM) drills, warm up drills, specific stretches, whatever.

If you're not a client of mine, you follow my work, you can go to my media outlets and see some examples of what I mean, you can go to other peoples outlets and you can explore both my Joint Mobility and Resting Squat online courses for inspiration

The magic isn't in the specific motion you do, the magic is doing the movement.

Now, what does your Dog actually do?

It is, funnily enough, Up Dog and Down Dog from Yoga.

Again, the position isn't the important part, even though Up & Down Dog are superb options (see also the Pump exercise), it is the manner it is done, and I guarantee you have used the same principles.

It's called Pandiculation

And it's using strength or tension to pull yourself into a stretch.

It's muscles squeezing as you try to expand the body

Watch yourself next time you yawn, like a proper big yawn

Notice how you actually contract muscles?

THAT is Pandiculation

For my traditional martial arts guys, think Sanshin, Seisan and the way Bruce Lee did his poses in his movies

The next part to take from your Dog, is they really don't care who is watching.

Self Consciousness is not a thing in your Dogs head, it may well be in yours.

The good news is, you don't need to drop to the floor and knock out a quick sun salutation in the middle of your open plan office, or stop in the reception to bang out half a dozen Bootstrappers

You can use subtle movements.

If you're familiar with my work, you'll have used an exercise called "Suspension", this can be done so subtly when out in public

The Cogs movements can be done one arm at a time sat at the desk, standing in line at the coffee shop

A door frame offers you chest stretch every time you go though it, or, as we did when we were kids, just reach up and pat the top of it as you pass.

Yes, just reaching up really high to pat the doorway - shoulder elevation, scapula upward rotation, spinal lateral flexion, hip drop, just by playing a "silly" game

The key is frequency

The more often we can experience some movement, the better. It's not 10 reps now, it's 10 reps over the next 2 hours.

1 rep here, 2 reps there

1 rep held for 3 seconds

Don't think of it as a workout, it's just allowing your Human Animal to do it's thing.

On that, I do believe that this kind of behaviour beats 90% of the mobility advice out there on the internet, solely because that advice usually very gym-centric, or at least training focused.

When we train well, there is a mobility aspect, be our warm ups or the fact we lift through full ranges of motion.

Now, get out there and "Be More Dog"

And let your Human Animal feel a "Biiiig streeeeetch!" or rather a pandiculation

Your Human Being side will be very grateful if you do

Simple

And Easy

Dave Hedges

www.DaveHedges.net