Wonderful community,
As a means to share the many gifts mobility has to offer to our community, we will be highlighting a Mobili-Buddy each month! Becky Kane graciously accepted the opportunity to be highlighted as our first. Here is what she has to say about her experience with mobility, athleticism, and how incorporating gentleness and patience with her body has benefited her in the gym:
What first drew you to adding mobility into your routine?
What was your first mobility experience like?
I was totally sold my first time going to mobility. It was with Liv. I was the only one there. She asked me which areas of the body I wanted to focus on and helped me scale positions to fit where I was at, just like Crossfit. I left feeling really light and relaxed, which wasn’t exactly the way I was used to feeling when leaving a workout at Solcana.
What are the benefits you’ve noticed from incorporating mobility?
Physically, it’s helped me a lot with movements I couldn’t do at all before. The first time I did Nancy, I could barely do an overhead squat. Now I’m able to get into a much more stable position. My kip is a lot smoother. I’ve still got a long way to go with olympic lifts and gymnastics movements, but with mobility at least I’m aware of where my limitations are and can work to improve them. It’s also helped me “discover” muscles I had never given a second thought to before (who knew that lats did so much??). Taking time to engage, stretch, and relax muscles outside of workouts has given me a lot more body awareness when I need to engage or relax those muscles in lifts and metcons. On the mental side of things, mobility has turned out to be an awesome complement to Crossfit. I’m pretty competitive and always want to test my limits in workouts, which is great, but mobility reminds me to be patient and gentle with my body too.
Is that anything that gets you really jazzed about mobility?
I love when you feel an immediate difference in your muscles during mobility. When you do long holds, you end up able to sink farther into it as you go. You can really feel tension release. It feels awesome, especially after sitting hunched over a computer all day.
Any embarrassing mobility moments you want to share?
I wish I had a good story to tell, but honestly I can’t think of one. Probably because no one at mobility would ever make me feel embarrassed when I make mistakes. It’s like Crossfit at Solcana in that way. You can just explore your limits and do what you’re able to do that day.
What one piece of advice or insight would you share with someone that may be reserved about mobility?
Just try doing it once a week and see how it feels. Don’t think of it as a rest day or that your slacking off if you go to mobility instead of a WOD one day. There’s a reason that elite athletes spend so much time doing mobility and getting massages and treating their muscles right outside of workouts. You can be strong AF, but if your muscles are tight and your joints are sticky it’s going to be hard do complex movements and recover quickly after workouts.
Big thanks to Becky for being our first Mobili-buddy! If you’re interested in sharing your story about how mobility plays a role in your life, send me an email at [email protected].