Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 227: Can you be TOO flexible?

Episode Date: January 28, 2016

Foam rolling, static stretches, dynamic stretches... what's best? And is it possible to overdo it? Sal, Adam & Justin break it down for you. Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Learn more about Mind Pump at www.mindpumpradio.com

Listen, go to minepumpradio.com. Why? Click on the green button. We've already put out two videos. The first one. Awesome videos. The first one highlights the problem in the fitness industry. Yeah.

The second one, we highlight the four pillars of performance. Four pillars of performance. Okay, so these are the four components we think make up broad spectrum performance. Peter, pack a pack of pickles. Pillars. Pillars. Thank you.

And the third video is about to be released, or actually when this comes out, it will be released Like a pickles, p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p- It explains it. The last video tells you everything breaks it all down for you. It's the big reveal. Do it. Believe the hype. If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind, pop, mind, up with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. Welcome to Mind Pump, you're listening to Salda Stefano. I'm here with Justin Andrew. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Adam Schaefer Who who and they always hand some dog eggie Douglass for Doug. We haven't done that a long time I know that's why did it can we do can I do the Instagram plug right now to you know?

I called Doug the repeater and nobody called like Tell me out on the repeater that was such a weird name the repeater Repeater that was such a weird name the repeater. Yeah, I don't know why every once in a while your one-liders are like We know for everybody said that sounded funny, but I'm not sure what the fuzz that meant. It's a real thing So yeah, no Instagram. Uh, we have it. We have not been doing that. We have not telling people we are on social media actually You can find myself at mine pump atom at on Instagram. You can find sal to Mind Pump Adam on Instagram. You can find Sal de Stefano at Mind Pump Sal, Sal deeznuts, de Stefano. Yeah.

And you can find Justin Andrews at Mind Pump Justin. Now we do post lots of. Just in your mom. Wow. We post a lot of information on our Instagram. So different stuff that you might have here on the show. Not really, just you do. Well, I don't wanna see bad about you guys.

I don't wanna shit on your guys. Handles or anything. What, my? Basically, basically everything you need. Basically, one of us has a lot of good content. On our Instagram pages. One of them's a little bit humorous. I just feel so serious all the time. I I'm so serious.

I just say, man, cool shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

I just look good. Constantly. Yeah. That's pretty much all I show these apps. Yeah. So Adam, you're going to tell us something about mornings that you hate. Oh, do you know what's, uh, this, this, you guys ever, um, do you guys take your shit on the regular basis on a regular time?

Like it's like you said. Yeah. It's on a regular time, like it's like your set time? Oh, yeah, it's not a cycle. So, what's your time real quick? Ooh, when do you guys shit? This is 8 a.m. You're 8 a.m. for sure. Wow, that's late. It is.

Yeah, aren't you in the road at 8 a.m.? Oh, I guess it doesn't matter. It's after the client and then like the coffee kicks in and then boom, run for the motor. No, so mine is at six, probably then boom. Run for the motor. So mine is at six, probably around six, 30 in the morning. So I wake up, I drink a glass of water right away. And then I go boom, and that's usually

when you'll see me do a post on Instagram. That's because I'm shitting. It's a stinky post. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm shitting everybody. Yeah, it's so funny you say that because I always tell my buddies that they're gonna be shit for not like return their attacks. I'm like, I haven't shit yet today bro. Wait. I think Instagram isn't scratch and sniff

What do we do before right before the toilet like just read the back? I feel time now bro. I used to read the backer. I used to read that shampoo bottles Yeah, when it was around me like yeah, remember that shit Like you'd be lucky if there was like some kind of like national geographic or a Victoria secret cat like Oh, I saw I saw a meme one time and it was like forgot your phone and the guy It was a meme of a guy on the shitter and he was like he's reading the back of the air freshener I'm like, oh my god, that's so true. That's back in the day, bro Because you got nothing

I'm like, fuck, no phone, what do I do? I'm gonna think thoughts in my head right now. Let's read all the chemicals that are in this air freshener So let's see, here's the thing back when you were a kid, so you're like, 10, you'd go over people's houses and they wouldn't censor the magazines and next to the shit it, right? So you'd go in there and you'd sit down, you're 10, and you're reading Cosmo Palt and how, how to give your man a mind-blowing orgasm. So I would read these all the time, bro.

I'd go to the bathroom and just read these articles on. So are they true? That's where you get that. So they true. I don't remember what, you know, you ever read Cosmo? No, of course not. I don't know but sad that the neat is flawless It is like the playbook for the other team But some of the advice that they give the women for men is like stupid

It's like tickle is tickle the back of its knee that'll totally drive them. Oh, well, it's not the point that it's wrong The point from a name and slap them in his face the point is you're getting the you're getting the playbook So you get to know you know, I'm saying this is what they being taught so you know, Whether it's true or not, you're like, oh, okay, you're gonna run the ball to the left. Oh, okay, I got you. I got it. Maybe start like seeing their moves. I read that. Yeah, why is she tickling the back? Why is she in a feather? What the fuck in like feathers? You're like, read up bitch. That was January's edition. It's fucking March. Chuck it syrup. Sticking gross. It's that's after food. It doesn't matter if you put ice in your mouth before you blow me honey.

All right. So you're going to do you're going to tell us about your role. So because of my Tuesdays and Thursdays, I so I don't have a I don't have a time. I have a timing. So by about the I'm like Justin more like Justin where you giving him a hard time for the eight o'clock. I'm about three hours after I have woke up. So the minute I wake up, three hours later, about three hours later. What'd you got to go?

This fucks me, man. When I teach him Tuesdays and Thursdays. Oh, cause you're in class and it hits you? Yeah, well, because I had to teach back to back four hours. And there's, and it's like, and if I don't have to be all mic'd up, just pinching it. Well, what a,

I'm running girl. Well, I submitric's speaker. What? Adam, how do I do this exercise? it well what a run girl I some metrics speaker Adam how do I do this exercise just you just got down your core hold on a minute so I'm going back the part that pisses me off is if you're right I have figured that out so I don't so I don't have to be like that in my class now I have to take one before and it's just when you have to,

when you have to make a shit happen or rush a shit, it is just, it sucks. It ruins most of your day. It really processes. It does. I mean, because there's nothing like it's a beautiful process. You have your breakfast, your coffee sets in like Justin says, it's time to relax. You get to to Instagram I could probably get two Instagram posts of return five to six text message text messages to clients and friends I mean I get a lot done During that little time right there and when it's on schedule It just sets the tone for the day one Tuesday and Thursday

I have this problem because I'm up at four o'clock in the morning and my it's not ready. I'm not ready yet So it's it's not ready. No, it's not it's in and and I and then I'm up at four o'clock in the morning and it's not ready. I'm not ready yet. So it's not ready. No, it's not. And then I might try to rush it so I can teach a class for four hours. So here's what happens when you're a dad. When you're a dad, sometimes you go in the bathroom instead of the toilet and you don't have to shit. You can get away.

You know what I mean? You know what I mean? But I just give it away. And what I can do. Yeah, every one of our male listeners like fuck you sound Should the way to sell us all out? Shut up. Yeah, no, it's true. It's true. And all our women listeners are like Master bait. No, it's not the way for me. Is everything okay there?

Everything is great Actually perfect. It's always like the right time, right after dinner. I'm just gonna sit on the crapper. Oh, the dishes are done. I was in the bathroom. Why don't you tell me I'll help you. I would have been crazy shit to just came on a North. So, what do you guys think about talking about fitness today?

I have something I really want to talk about. This is twice this last week that I've been asked questions regarding flexibility. And I think it's a great segue to talk about, this is twice this last week that I've been asked questions regarding flexibility. And I think it's a great segue to talk about functionality. And I think that I'm very fascinated with the whole dynamic flexibility world and doing that now and not foam rolling right now at all. I've been continuing that for quite some time. And I have to say I'm pretty happy with what I see. It's working. Oh yeah. Well, so before we do that we should

we should define flexibility because there's passive flexibility and there's active flexibility. Yes, yes, yes. And there's a big difference between the two of them. So passive flexibility would be Adam is stretching my hamstring and I've got great range of motion in it. Active stretch abilities. I'm stretching my hamstring myself and I'm having to use other muscles to put it in position or at least support myself in a stretch position. One of them is functional and one of them isn't. You could have excellent flexibility but have no strength within that range of motion that you have and you've not only done yourself, you haven't done yourself any favors,

you've actually given done yourself, you haven't done yourself any favors, you've actually given yourself a problem, you've actually created a more unstable, too much travel. Yeah, it's instability. That's the important. And some of the worst injuries I've ever seen were from hyper flexible weak people. And that's when joints dislocate, that's when crazy stuff happens. Well, because it's the muscle that holds it all in that place. That's right. That's right.

And if it's weak, but you're really flexible, you just have more things to stabilize. I remember when I tore my ACL, my MCL, and I was really fascinated with that. I didn't think I really did anything wrong until the fucking pain set in the next day, but as the day of when it happened, and I remember asking the doctor that, I was like, it just, I can't believe that I tore both those and I, it just doesn't feel like it. And he said, well, you have a lot of muscle that you've built around there. And it's holding it in place, even without that. Just take somebody on the other side who, you know, great flexibility, anything like that. And that gives out. And you don't have a lot of muscle or other supporting. You're

not going to be able to hold, hold yourself up in place. No, if you're constantly depending on your tendons and ligaments to hold joints into position or to prevent them from hyper extending, you will injure yourself. You want to depend on the muscle to hold things together because muscles much better at it. It has a better range of motion. It gets stronger. It stretches.

Ligaments, you can stretch them. You can get problems. Tendons, you can stretch them a little bit, but it's the muscle that you increase range of motion, but you want it to be strong. So if you get really flexible, make sure you train that muscle and it's new range of motion as well. Otherwise you're just giving yourself, like if I can squat down, let's say I can squat down to just below parallel and keep everything tight.

But then I work on, you work on some kind of passive stretching for three months. I have someone stretching me real deep and I get really, really good. And I go to the squat and all of a sudden, I'm like, I'm gonna go real deep in the squat with the same weight that I used before when I was squatting as deep.

And I drop in that hole with this new depth. That weight is gonna hurt me. Yeah, it's gonna hurt. Because I'm not gonna have stability within that range of motion. So functional flexibility is the ability to, a long-age a muscle, but with strength and control. Almost have anchors attached, right?

So one thing that I think of when I get, when I'm maximizing the stretch is, I'm tensing specific areas of my body in order to maximize where it is, like as far as the alignment where the muscle insert an origin. Where I wanna make sure that like, I'm lined up and I'm tense and now I'm pulling correctly. So I'm also staying tense to, you know, support it.

Right, and certain types of yoga are actually excellent for this. Yes, because you know the phrase. A couple different, yeah, schools for that. Exactly, because you'll got to see a couple different yeah, schools for that. Exactly, because you'll get into a stretch, but you're also supporting your body and having to hold yourself, and that's that. Yeah, exactly.

And if you guys haven't done yoga, I've done a little bit of yoga, but I was actually kind of shocked at how fatiguing it was also like to my muscle, because you'd have to support yourself in some of these standing positions, but so requires some strength, which is good when you're stretching.

You wanna have the ability to access that range of motion with strength to keep you safe. I really like this topic too, because it's something that has evolved in how I coach and train people. I remember I actually is so embarrassing. I used to tell my clients that like, because there's different types of stretching,

you know, so in first of all, you tell people, you know, learn to stretch for the purpose, you know, if you're active, you're corrective, and then you have dynamic, and I used to tell people to stay away from dynamic until we would stretch you statically, because I was concerned that you would do something erratically or ballistically and tear something or do some like that. Well, describe static and dynamic. Yeah. So, different types of stretching, static.

So static stretch is a stretch that we are going to hold for a long period of time, meaning like 20 plus seconds. So, like, standing on the floor, touch your toes. Yeah, and you're going to hold that deep stretch. Old school stretching. Yeah. And you want the, what you're looking for is for your body, it's for to release, to go to the tendon to release, and then it for to go in a corrective phase

So if you if you're simply just stretching like stretching and going back stretching and going back or only holding for a few seconds That would be what's called an active stretch and you're really only working on like circulation and blood flow right there You're not really doing anything corrective Which is where like you'll hear the term flow and flow patterns and stuff like that. That's where that sort of, yes, out of, yes, right. And then, dynamic, which is the last one, which is, it is, it's taking a muscle through full range of motion and in a ballistic type movement. So what would be an example for hamstrings?

Wind meals. Okay. So wind meals would be an example for that or what are your cheerleader kicks? Yeah, high kicks, high kicks. High kicks. Like a can can go under kicks, dude. Yeah, sorry, cheerleader kicks. Yeah, sorry. Come on, bro. You probably call them grape vines, too.

No, no, grape vines. What's a grape vines? We're karaoke's, dude. Oh, karaoke's. They're not grape vines. Yeah, so that's a dynamic. So, yeah, so those are your different stretches. Now, like I said, I used to weigh heavily on South Mile,

so foam rolling, so I still say it. And foam is such a bad habit, right? I used to weigh heavily on foam rolling and corrective or what's called static stretching to help with all these clients that have that would be super tight. And now I have completely eliminated both of those from my routine, and I only dynamic stretched, and I feel better than I have felt in years by 10 plus years. I haven't felt like this, and so it was in my early 20s.

Well, no, I mean, that being said, there is a place for the other types of stretching. Oh, absolutely. Like, static stretching is excellent to get a overactive muscle to chill out a little bit so that I can get other muscles to fire Right, so I'm not having a cramp. I mean the only thing you can do is to really just sit there and try and stretch right right So they all they do have a play well Let's talk about it. Let's use that Let's that's a very good point because it's I say that and then I act like I would if I was teaching a client Okay

One of the most common syndromes found in somebody is up across syndrome, which is basically a protracted shoulder girl, which is your shoulders are rounded forward. So imagine somebody with like the hunchback a Notre Dame look, right? So the shoulders are rounded forward. Your pectoralis major, your anterior deltoise, all those muscles up front are tight and pulling and rounding your shoulder girl forward. So that being said, the ones that are in the front are all overactive and the ones in the back

are elongated and underactive. So let's say I'm coming in and I wanna fix this person, I'm gonna work on their back today. So we're gonna work on their rhomboids or traps and their rear delts and their back. I wanna try and pull that back. Before I even get into working their back out, I'm going to open up their chest and shoulders.

So like Sawa's saying, or they can activate their back properly. Otherwise, because you're gonna use static stretching. And I'm gonna do static stretching. You do that because in this case, I want those muscles to relax a little bit so I can retract and squeeze my scapula together and actually start to work and fix that. Right. Because what it does is it weakens them temporarily, which is why static stretching is not

a good idea before you let him bench press. which is why static stretching is not a good idea before you lift heavy bench press. It's not dudes do all the time. Right, it's not a good way to warm up for heavy lifting, dynamic stretching is much better. If you're trying to warm up, if you're trying to correct an imbalance, like Adam was saying, then you do static stretching.

But it's interesting, I read an interesting article in science daily about stretching. And they still, scientists still are not quite sure how it works and why people increase flexibility. But the number one theory is that it's all about central nervous system adaptation. It really has nothing to do with the muscle. Like the muscle, they say, doesn't change.

It's the fact that you're central nervous. Now, I don't know if I buy this completely. I've heard that, I've heard that too, dude. I've read quite a bit of articles about this too, because I've been researching a lot too about how the central nervous system gets involved and just how to enhance that process and how to really rehabilitate somebody who has had an inactive muscle or has never really felt what they need to feel in the exercise and the movement.

And so they've really found great promise in certain techniques that help to amplify that process. Interesting. Yeah. And so in terms of stretching, I'll give you an example as to why I think the central nervous system is playing a major part, if not the whole part, but a major part.

Because I don't know if I buy the whole part theory. But when you're doing a long static stretch, you talked about it releasing. That's the central nervous system, just chilling the muscle out. And all of a sudden, I have a longer range of motion. If I could train anybody, and I could increase the range of motion

within one stretching session, I would go away the next day. But I think over time, when you do that, you're training the central nervous system to allow that muscle to travel within that range of motion. I like that very much. And it makes sense, right? When you think about it that way, doesn't it?

Yeah, it does. I remember, like you just talking about that, this study that they were actually showing that, you know, over time, elderly, that it looks like they've lost a lean muscle mass, like over the years, if they haven't been trained, but in reality, they've actually found that they've lost a lean muscle mass, like over the years, if they haven't been trained. But in reality, they've actually found that they've kept the mass of the lean muscle mass, but it's that it's ability to take.

Yeah, the neuromuscular firing there has been dampened. And so now they have less active response there. Yeah, I think this is what gets me all a hard on for the stick mobility. I mean, and that I'm so I'm so glad that we shout out to the stick mobility guys. Yeah, so it's guys. It's on the forefront of what's really functional. That is very functional. And I'm so glad that we incorporated as our first mod inside of our program because I think

that is something that it's already, I mean, just the little time that we've been a part of it and around it, we've seen it already start to explode. And when we talk about topics like this, because this is recent for me, I, I, I, I's already, I mean, just a little time that we've been a part of it and around it, we've seen it already start to explode. And when we talk about topics like this, because this is recent for me, I'm, this has only been going now for, I'm on, probably seven or so of no static stretching and no foam rolling and all dynamic. And like I said, I mean, it's,

and I, I, I'm right with you with the theory on the central nervous, I believe that. I believe that that's for sure true, because I can feel, I can feel so immediately now when I even get into the dynamic stretch, I'm already, it's, it's, I almost don't need to do it, but I keep that pattern up. I know the importance, I can tell the importance of me continuing just to do that. You know, it's, you know, it's crazy. It's just came to me right now. Now that as we're talking, because dynamic stretching is more likely to stimulate the

central nervous system than it is to dampen it. This is really coming to me is that a warm-up, we talk about, oh, we need to increase blood flow, we got to get the heart rate up. No, it's not. It's all about warming up your central nervous system. That's what I'm starting to come to the conclusion that your warm-up is all about your central nervous system. Well, just think about it.

When we talked about doing the first set, like, versus the second set where a lot of times you feel like, oh, wow, that was easier. Yes. I felt better that second set. That's right. Because you were able to get better connected. This is actually, there's actually a technique

to use plios for that very reason. Yeah. So like, if I'm gonna do a squat, they've done a explosive jump for... Do a couple sets of plyometric jumps on a box and by the way don't do them to fatigue if you do, you're doing them wrong. You just do it to focus on how high you can jump. Then go to the squat and they find a better,

stronger, neuromuscular patterns in the squat. So we're getting a very loud, intense signal right away, like it's max. And then you're going in and the squat. So when you're getting a very loud, intense signal right away, like it's max. Right. And then you're going in and doing this. Right. And it's the more amplitude. And it's the reason why, look, when you talk to anesthesiologists, for example, I train a lot of anesthesiologists and they'll work on people who are completely out, you know, under drugs or whatever, you can manipulate their body way more than you would when they're when they're when they're conscious. Like you can manipulate their body way more than you would when they're conscious.

Like you can move their leg and, you know, these are people that are normally super, super tight. So it's like there's central nervous system kind of shut down and we've all heard the stories of the guy, you know, guy or girl that'll get in the car accident but pass out before they crash, not get injured because their body was so loose. So it's really the central nervous system, I think,

is the kind of a common denominator with all this. And warming up, really, this is just a, you know, ladies and gentlemen, this is a paradigm shift for me, literally on air right now. A warm-up is 100% or more, or close to 100%, excuse me, all about getting your central nervous system ready to work out. And so if you're going to do that, dynamic stretching makes way more sense than foam rolling and static stretching. I have yet to try it, I know you have been at them,

but now I'm gonna start incorporating myself. I have been religious about it for quite some time now. And part of it's because it wasn't very long before I noticed a big difference. It might have been a couple of weeks before I started to see a huge difference and then it continued. And I just was like whoa this is crazy right now and it's I've seen it improve my my form on my squad and how comfortable I am

sitting down in there now like it's it's been wonders for me and I really had given up kind of in this area I really have felt like I was just gonna be this tight guy forever and not flexible and you know I was gonna have to spend hours on the foam roll and static you know I mean the it was getting daunting how long I was having to stretch for bro I was going to have to spend hours on the foam roll and static. I mean, it was getting daunting how long I was having to stretch for, bro. I was having to stretch like 30 minutes. Yeah, I was in the same boat. And I'm actually doing the same thing. It probably for longer now.

So it's just been like something I've been doing. And now that I come back and think about the process of it, like when we were talking about foam rolling and what we found out as far as it's just compressing and lowering that pain signal, you know, as far as like the tight muscle and the overactive muscles concern, I could see that because my my piriformis, so we get really tight, I would foam roll it. I would have temporary relief, right? I would have temporary relief and then later as I would go on through my routine and I would squat and I would keep up these heavy lifts and as I was driving home I would still get that pain, that nodding that

would happen. And then me going through more of just like a dynamic stretch and then movement in circulation and doing that process before I have not noticed that. Well, here's the thing. So I have a theory with the foam roller. I think the foam roller pressure in general pressure does get the central nervous system to relax a little bit in that area. And that's why you feel like that's why you feel a muscle not, you know, go away or you know, you know, she worked that knot out. It's gone now, type of deal. So I think there's that. But also when you flex a muscle, the opposing muscle tends to relax. Okay, it's called reciprocal inhibitions. So if you have a type pair of formus, and I'm doing those high kicks to stretch out my glutes or whatever, I'm getting

that my, my pair of formus, my glutes or whatever to move in a full-arrange emotion, but I'm also activating my hip flexors and quads, which are kind of opposing. And I'm wondering if them being active kept the, you know, the overactive muscle, less active or just made it chill out a little bit because maybe the reason why I was hurting so often was because it was this constant kind of state of tone. It was it was, you know, fired a little bit. Had to be always on. You know, something else I think we should talk about it and you lightly grazed over it

about the, because it made me laugh because I see this a lot. That sounds sexy. It is. It is. Well, when you lightly grazed over the guy in the bench press, I said the bench press guy, right, in static stretching, we shouldn't do before heavy lifting. And I don't know how often I see this.

It's very common with the guy who's, you know, throws the three plates or more on the bench press and he wants everyone to know what he's doing. So he throws it on there, then he goes and he stretches for like two minutes in between sets. And he's doing the chest stretch against the machine. Go get some water, go get some water. Come back.

He's just the chest some more, you know, let everybody see how much weights on there and then gets under there and hits it. And he's really doing a lot of harm to himself as far as like by stretching like that and holding that before he gets in there because that's how somebody gets injured because you're basically sitting a signal to the muscle to relax. And then you're going to ask you're going to put a crazy amount of demand on it and activate it like explosively. So that's normally where somebody gets hurt and is doing something like that. So keep that in mind when you're lift and heavy weight, you don't want to be stretching

that muscle in between sets. No, you could do that stretch dynamically rather than holding your hand in the wall and turning away from it. You could just bring your arm out and bring it forward, bring your arm out and bring it forward and stretch things dynamically. And you might be better off, I've always had people warm up, I mean you talked about the bench press, but do a light set of rows, do a real light set of rows and then go bench press.

It always makes a big difference for people with shoulder mobility because it keeps it well. That's first move. Think about that, that's first move. That's like a dynamic warm up for your overactive. Yeah, that's right. I mean, that's exactly what you're basically doing right there.

That's right. I mean, that's why I'm a huge, I don't know, I've gone, I've definitely evolved my training in that direction where I have put a lot more emphasis on. And right now, honestly, it's been a goal of mine to get even more versed in that because it's because I've been someone who was so anti-dynamic flexibility. There's a lot of moves and exercises that I don't know.

So I've been kind of experimenting with a lot of them. I know my big area is my whole hip complex, so I'm primarily focused there, so I know a lot in that area, but I want to even get better with opening up my shoulders and other parts. I've got some issues that I'm dealing with in my upper right back right now, so up in my rhombods and trying to figure out some stuff to get that firing correctly too. It's also, I think we also need to be clear that strength, we've said this in the past, but I'll say it again, is the base of all physical pursuits.

It's the ultimate foundation for all of them. Because without strength, all the other physical pursuits, it's very difficult to express them like flexibility. If you're not strong and you're really flexible, you're just unstable. I mean, look at a baby. Like infants are extremely flexible, but they have very little neuromuscular control and very little strength and that makes them very unstable. And so you've got to have that strength within that range of motion to make that flexibility work for you, to translate, because it doesn't matter if you could fold yourself in half, but you don't get strong in that position. When you go to lift that box and you've got this great flexibility and you try to lift

within that flexibility, you're hurting yourself. And now think about that as far as patterns, like, you know, if you're an athlete, and all you're doing is training where your knees are right under your shoulders, and I'm squatting down, and I'm keeping everything within these 90 degree angles, and everything's nice and clean and perfect.

And I'm never training myself to adapt with load when my legs a little bit further away from me, I'm not tense in that position. I'm just looking at pursuing flexibility for that. You're going to have run into problems because it doesn't translate like that on the field. And as a matter of fact, yeah, because if you have that flexibility that doesn't translate on the field to get hurt again. But again, when you're stretching and the static stretches, we used to teach this, when you

have someone stretching, let's say they're hamstring, and you have them flex it real quick, and then relax it, it gets the central nervous system relaxed, and you get a couple more inches of flexibility. Or you have someone tense the opposing muscle. These are techniques that we've used in the past, and the reason why they worked is because they were all manipulating the effects of the central nervous system, which is the most important driver for your entire body. Your muscles are secondary. The central nervous system is 100%.

Well, you give my favorite analogy, given I use it all the time now is that, you know, think of your central nervous because a lot of that makes no sense to most people I that probably listen is thinking about your central nervous system like an amplifier and all your muscles are speakers. Right. You know, I think that's such a great analogy. Right. Because if you have a weak amp, then those big speakers aren't going to produce any sound. You could have 16-inch woofers and hope you're going to base the house out. But if you got some little puny little amp that ain't going to push those things that won't even push a little iPhone home, like speaker, you're going to have to be very well.

It's funny too, because resistance training, weight training, believe it or not, can be a very effective way to increase functional flexibility if you do it with that goal in mind. So, like, again, we'll use a squat as an example. If I want to increase the flexibility of my glutes, hamstrings, my hips, I can get a weight that's lighter than normal because I'm going to go down to a deeper, ranger motion. And I could get into a very deep squat, not sit on my heels, but try and keep my pelvis tilted the way I want.

Position myself so I can feel muscle stretch, but then hold that position for a little while with weight, so like five, six, seven, eight seconds, and then come up and then do another rep. And with weights, you could do that with lots of muscles, chest. I could do a fly with dumbbells, get into a deep, deep, deep, deep stretch and bring the way back and just use a lightweight and practice that real...

Did you? Yeah. Yeah, and you can just get connected that way. Right. And then the second set, you do it, you know, like, oh my God, wow, like that signal's there. And then it gets really intense. And it increases your strength within that range of motion. That's it.

I think we kind of answered that whole functional, you know, functional flexibility. Yeah, I know. I said, know that is what it means really. Yeah That's why I'm I'm excited. I'm excited for this this program to drop. I'm excited for people to see all that because for me It's a it's a big piece of what I'm doing how I'm training and by far probably one of the coolest baddest fucking programs I've ever true sure. Yeah, I feel like that that the mobility sessions that we added in there, which focus on some of the stuff Yeah, are going to be kind of game-changer. Yeah, game changer for sure So thanks for listening to Mind Pump. Please subscribe and leave us five star rating and review Thank you for listening to Mind Pump

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