Welcome to our first Mobility Monday! We have teamed up with our resident Range of Strength expert Matt MacNeil to bring you Mobility Monday, a weekly segment from Renfrew Range (more on Renfrew Range in a future post). We will provide you with a simple mobility workout each week that you can do in 15 minutes or less. While these workouts are meant to be followed weekly, they are also meant to help you add tools to your fitness toolbox. Take note of which exercises have the biggest impact on you and use them to help in your workouts during warm-ups and cooldowns.

The workouts are purposely starting out simple to help get everyone started. You may already be familiar with some of these exercises and stretches but stick with it, you may learn something new about them. Some may be completely new and you will wonder where it’s been all your life. In either case, rest assured that the workouts will slowly get a little more advanced as we go. 

This first week’s workout contains some basic stretches to help with your lower body mobility. Next week we will cover some basic upper body stretches. From there we’ll get into some mobility warm-ups for specific workout types and exercises.

So without further adieu, here is the very first Mobile Monday workout.

Workout: Lower Body Mobility

• Calf Stretch – 60 secs per side
• Piriformis Stretch – 60 secs per side
• Elephant Walks – 60 secs per side
• Wall Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch – 60 secs per side

Perform the above once through three times this week. We recommend separating each workout by a day if possible, for example do it Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Exercise Details

Calf Stretch

1. Find a ledge, wall, slant board or rack to elevate your toes.
2. Keep your heel on the ground throughout the stretch.
3. Keep your leg straight and slowly move your hips forward until you feel the stretch in your calf.
4. Hold stretch for 60 seconds and then switch sides.

Piriformis Stretch

Level 1 and 2 (Beginner and Intermediate)

1. Start by lying on your back with your feet flat on the floor.
2. Cross one foot over the opposite thigh creating a figure four position.
3. Clasp your hands behind your raised knee (Level 1) or behind the thigh of the leg that’s on the floor (Level 2) and gently pull towards your chest.
4. Breathe and relax in this position until you feel a stretch and hold for 60 seconds.
5. Repeat on the other side.

Level 3 (Advanced)

1. Put your leg onto a raised surface that is suitable for your mobility level with your calf flat and perpendicular to your body. 
2. Keep your other foot on the ground.
3. Lean gently forward until you feel a stretch.
4. Settle in and hold for 60 seconds.
5. Repeat on the other side.

Elephant Walks

1. Start with bent knees with hands pressing down on an elevated surface that is suitable for your mobility level.
2. With an engaged core, straighten one bent leg and hold for 3 seconds and then re-bend that leg and straighten the other and hold for 3 seconds.
3. Alternate between your two legs for 2 minutes.

Wall Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch

1. Start with your knee away from the wall and toes curled against the wall.
2. Move your front leg forward to a comfortable position.
3. Tuck your tailbone under and move into hip extension while keeping your tailbone tucked.
4. Press into the wall  and move hip down toward the ground.
5. Push hips forward.
6. Settle into stretch and hold for 60 seconds.
7. Repeat on the other side.

Wall Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch Advanced

If comfortable you can bring your chest up into a tall position after 60 seconds and hold for an additional 30 seconds.

And that’s it for this installment! If you would like more information, have questions or are interested in more help with your specific mobility issues feel free to contact us. 

We hope you enjoyed our first installment of Mobility Monday!