Posts tagged Yoga
Mobility For Athletes: The Benefits of a Spinal Twist

A strong and healthy spine is paramount to a healthy body and for a Olympic weightlifter, it's critical for stronger and more stable lifts. A number of nagging complaints can hinder performance including; lower back pain, instability, fatigue, and general stiffness. Any of these can lesson an athlete’s ability to stay braced when squatting, catching a Snatch, Clean, or while dipping and catching in a Jerk. Spinal health is to say the least, IMPORTANT. This week we shift our focus to twisting the spine using the Marichi’s Pose.

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Mobility For Athletes: Low Lunge With Shoulder Opener

Are you the type who prefers to stretch more than one area at once, getting more bang for your buck, while working your mobility? Or are you limited for time, so working multiple areas at once is a plus? OR, are you traveling through Costa Rica like I am this week and want to mobilize but don’t want to take away time from your vacation?

Today’s stretch, a Low Lunge with Shoulder Opener is a good example of how you can perform one stretching movement while gaining many benefits at the same time. This particular variation of the Low Lunge works the quads and hamstrings but you can also get a psoas stretch and finally an added shoulder opener when done correctly.

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Mobility For Athletes: Runners Lunge

Tight hamstrings are an area of concern with most athletes and can become problematic if they aren't addressed on a regular basis. The hamstrings are a catch 22, the harder you work in the weight room the tighter they become. As a result, tight hamstrings can lead to a limited range of pelvic motion adding additional stress on your lumbar spine which ultimately results in lower back pain. Alright, that sounds bleak I know but there is a stretching solution that should be implemented daily to maintain mobility in your lower body and increase your hamstring flexibility.

DEMO VIDEO INCLUDED

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Mobility For Athletes: Intense Shoulder Stretch

This intense shoulder stretch is a great warm up to open the front of your shoulder, from your Deltoid down through your Subscapularis (see image below). Lengthening of the muscles in the shoulder area will help reduce the possibility of overuse injuries that are common in sports like Olympic weightlifting and football. Perform this stretch daily to maintain a healthy, stable and pain free shoulder!

Video Included

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Mobility For Athletes: A Twist For The American Open

If you're attending the first meet in the American Open Series this weekend, this stretch will open both your hips and your spine having you ready to take the platform. The following stretch can be done easily without any props, perfect for the hotel room or training hall.

Demonstration Video and Cues Inside!

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Mobility For Athletes: Hip Opening Adductor Stretch

Pain in the groin area is not uncommon for Olympic weightlifters and athletes across varying disciplines and is often the result of tightness in your adductors. The heavy weight room training combined with quick lateral and linear movements found in sport, the adductors can easily become overused and result in your hips compressing causing additional tightness. Sounds painful but how does this impact your training?

Click through to learn why adductor tightness happens and how to fix it!

Video Included

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Three Stretches Every Weightlifter Should Know

We can all agree that routine stretching of the muscles is important to the overall health of any athlete. With the constant grind of heavy weights, Olympic lifting takes a serious toll of your body and as a result it's important to keep your joints mobile and muscles flexible. Through the California Strength Blog, we have built a library of stretches to help with and maintain the overall health of our Olympic weightlifting athletes and have put together the TOP THREE stretches that every weightlifter should implement on a daily basis.

Videos Included!

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Mobility For Athletes: When You Have No Time To Warm Up

It happens to all of us at one time or another, sometimes more than we would care to admit. Still, stepping on to the platform is hard enough on the body and with no warm up at all, you are more susceptible to injury. This quick flowing series is easy to remember and can serve as a warm up for those days when you just don’t have time to complete your full warm up.

Demo Video Inside!

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How To Stretch Your Shoulders and Triceps

Tight shoulders and triceps are a common occurrence among Olympic weightlifters and are often one of the first areas that we need to address when on boarding a new member to the California Strength team. As a result of the sheer volume of overhead movement that every Olympic weightlifter undertakes, the upper body is often left feeling stiff and tight. To combat this stress, it is important to maintain a mobile upper body with a particular focus on opening your front rack position. In today's post, we break down two different stretches demonstrated in the video below.

Demo Video Inside!

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