3 Signs You're NOT Doing Mobility as a CrossFit Athlete

crossfit mobility movement mechanics Jul 09, 2024
A crossfit athlete performing toes to bar and showing why mobility training is important

3 Signs You're NOT Doing Mobility as a CrossFit Athlete

Hear me out for a second…

I’ve been training Jiu Jitsu for almost 2 years now, and in one way in particular, it really reminds me of how I feel about Crossfit.

Some days I feel like I’m on top of the world, kickin ass and taking names…

And other days (or weeks) I feel like I am not improving at all.

The amount of times I hear “I hate jiu jitsu” coming from the people who show up every single day for years is hilarious.

Now, If we take a step back and look at Crossfit from a bird's eye view, we can see that the intensity and sheer variety of movements exposes our mobility in nearly every way imaginable.

(I mean, besides the splits I guess…but honestly, at this point I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw some kind of loaded split hold at the 2030 crossfit games)

Seriously though…
-Pistol Squats exposing the deepest limits of ankle dorsiflexion
-Snatches that show us every single joint that isn’t performing up to par
-Don’t even get me started on handstand pushups.

This is one of the main reasons why “mobility” is such a buzzword in the Crossfit world.

Not only is it huge for Crossfit performance, it’s crucial for injury prevention, pain management, and recovery as well.

In this article we’re going to be discussing 3 signs that you (or your athletes - if you’re a coach) are neglecting mobility training.

Let’s dive in.

 #1: Struggling to Get into Specific Positions

Difficulty with Overhead, Deep Squat, or Front Rack Positions

I think this first section is certainly one of the most obvious ones, but I wanted to lay this out in a way that makes it clear as to why it’s an issue.

When going through a Crossfit workout, it’s common to be exposed to 1-2 movements that feel…”off”, based on current movement skills and mobility restrictions.

Whether that's kipping, cleans/snatches, or any kind of burpee/jump combo, there’s bound to be something that throws you off and takes more gas from your tank.

While there are an abundance of ways to scale any movement to help you bring it down to a manageable place based on your current ability, we all struggle with a little too much ego from time to time, and inevitably push ourselves a little further than we probably should.

This first sign isn’t just about “struggling to get into positions”, it’s more about FORCING positions, leading to pain and potentially even injuries, over time.


Forcing Positions and Experiencing Pain

 To be clear, when I say “forcing a position”, I’m not just referring to pushing ourselves into particular ranges of motion that aren’t yet available…

What I’m really talking about is excessive movement compensation.

Let’s say the hips and ankles are restricted, in that case it’s pretty uncommon to just willfully push yourself into deeper ranges of motion to help you get into a deeper squat.

No, what does happen though, is we start to try to “pull” range of motion from other areas to help out.

For example, when the ankles and hips are limited in movement, in order to squat deeper we recruit movement from the lumbar spine.

See, humans are master compensators when it comes to movement.

We’ll always find the most efficient way to get the job done, regardless of how it feels.

This not only leads to shoddy performance and poor development of strength as a whole…

It can (and eventually will) lead to pain and discomfort as well.

Compensations definitely aren’t always bad, but if they lead us to believe that we’re capable of going further and doing more before we’re actually prepared to, it clearly poses a bit of a problem.

This is where Crossfit injuries start to accumulate, causing members to eventually pause their membership and sometimes even giving up on Crossfit altogether, joining the “Crossfit is dangerous” club.

If you’ve read any of my other articles, you’ll know that I talk about mobility related pain A LOT, and how the site of the symptoms we experience are rarely where the root of the issue truly is.

So again, while “forcing positions” may sound like an incredibly obvious pillar to this article, remember that this is where most athletes get stumped.


# 2: You Need More Gear than a Games Athlete

Overuse of Wrist Wraps, Straps, Weightlifting Belts & Shoes, and Knee Sleeves

Crossfitters get a bit of a “wrap” for having every single accessory out there.

When you struggle to close the zipper on your gym bag because it’s stuffed with goodies, you know you have a bit of a problem.

The funny thing is, none of the things listed above are inherently bad in any way, but the reliance on them is.

If you feel like you NEED these things in order to be able to perform without pain or discomfort, then there’s a real issue here.

Even though I’m sure this will ruffle some feathers, here’s how I laid it out on a podcast I did recently.

*If you’re in emotional pain for whatever reason, does it make sense to drown those pains away in alcohol?

Sure that might feel like it’s solving the problem and relieving the pain in the moment, but as soon as you wake up the next day..you know where this is going.

We call this a “bandaid fix”.

Instead, taking the time to process the emotional damage and work through it is the only way to really improve the situation.

This is a lot like mobility training.

We can spend all day throwing metaphorical bandaids at our physical pains (*cough* foam rolling), but until we take the time to actually work through it and build up our weaknesses, it won’t truly solve the problem.

#3: Needing an Extended Warm-Up

Needing Extra Reps/Sets to Feel Ready

If you’re an athlete, there’s no doubt that you’ve likely experienced how it feels to go through the class-led warmup and still feel like your body isn’t quite prepared to go to war with the barbell.

And if you’re a coach, you’ve definitely seen this happen time and time again.

Sure you may still feel tired, weak, sore from yesterday's workout, whatever..but to feel uncertain whether or not your body can handle the work that’s to come without feeling pain or discomfort is a whole other story.

I regularly work with athletes that used to literally warm up for 60 minutes before throwing down with the barbell.

I’m not sure if you or anyone you know is at that point, but it truly wears on an athletes mentality when they feel like their body can’t perform without doing a mini workout before the workout.

Sure, if you are an elite athlete, you’re pushing your body far beyond what most people understand.

Lifting heavy as hell 5+ days per week will naturally wear on the body in a big way, so longer warmups may be necessary.

But a real goal of mine is to help you get to the point where you feel confident in your joints as you get under the barbell, while reducing your warmup time.

At the end of the day, I don’t want you thinking “I’m just going to keep it light today, my knees/low back are bugging out”.

While Crossfit gear can be helpful in many ways, using them as a “bandaid” to mask any underlying mobility issues is a problem that should be addressed.

Now, I’m not saying that using Crossfit gear to solve your mobility pains is as bad as using alcohol to numb yourself, but it’s a relatable analogy to use in this case.


Effective Mobility Warm-Ups

If you’re one of those people that show up early to foam roll before class, good on you, but know that there are better ways to feel your best during the workout.

While foam rolling can definitely help you reduce the perception of pain, it’s not really going to help you feel like you’re ready to kick some ass and throw a barbell around.

Instead, try thinking of what you can do to get ACTIVE.

When you’re preparing to lift heavy weights, your nervous system needs to “wake the fu*k up”.

Here are a few exercises that I love to use in Crossfit warmups, give them a try if you’d like (I’ll organize them by positions to help you know where to use them):

Overhead:
Overhead Rotations
Primal Shoulder Reapers

Front Rack:
External Shoulder Liftoff
Front Rack External Rotations

Deep Squat:
Tactical Frog
Pigeon Hold

Identifying the Root Causes

I didn’t want to leave you without at least considering this, as it’s something we often talk about and is crucial for long term success with your pain management and overall performance.

As I mentioned briefly above, the source of the pain is NOT always where the symptom will present itself.

Just because your knee or your low back hurts, doesn’t mean that is where the underlying issue resides.

Just like success leaves clues, so does pain.

Although I could write another 10 articles on how, why, and when to perform a mobility assessment, just know that it’s likely more simple than you think.

At Primal Mobility, one thing we look for during our assessments is to see how the joints above and below the pain point are performing.

For example, if you had knee pain, we would be looking at how the ankles and hips move.

There’s certainly more complexity to it than that, like you’ll want to also analyze how those particular joints are performing during particular movement patterns that seem to flare up the pain, but otherwise it truly can be that simple.

Take some time to peel the curtain back and see how your body is performing up and down the chain and see if you can find a correlation.

If you’re well in tune with your body, you’ll likely find something to work on and make some real progress.

Otherwise, you can always hire us for professional mobility help to solve the problem with you, as well…(we always have your back)!


Incorporating Mobility Work into Training

One thing we hear a lot at Primal is “I just don’t have the time for mobility”.

We’ve worked with over 6000 athletes…I’m sure you can find the time.

But I get it, I have two young kids, a business to run, my own fitness to attend to, relationships to foster, a house that we’re personally renovating, etc.

Life gets hectic real quick.

One of the best ways to continue to work on your mobility without taking extra time to expedite the results, is to incorporate it into your training.

Sure, you can add mobility-specific exercises together to create supersets, but that can be incredibly challenging to do in the world of Crossfit.

But it can be way simpler than that, even.

Think of it this way - mobility is just the expression of deep ranges of motion.

If you’re looking at it through this lens, then you can see that applying your deepest ranges of motion with relative control and intention can have a large influence on your mobility.

For example, if you have a shoddy front rack position, and it’s something you want to improve, consider getting into your most ideal front rack position and holding it for the duration of your front squats, without compensating.

When you start to let the elbows dip down and the finger tips are the only thing holding the bar, that’s when you’re no longer expressing your range of motion from the shoulders.

Keep those elbows high and aim to have more fingers on the bar.

You’ll likely feel a stretch in the shoulders, and at first it might make the weight feel heavier, but over time this will naturally improve your front rack position because your shoulders are being forced to adapt to the deeper ranges of motion.

This approach applies to all of it - deep squat, overhead position, etc.

 

The world of mobility is often glamorized as these fancy movements that have you twisting and bending in the weirdest ways, but it can be so much more simple than that.

And that’s our real goal at Primal Mobility, to make it so simple that it’s a no brainer to get the work in.

Crossfit is good great at exposing your mobility weaknesses in a way that can ultimately lead to pain or even injury over time, and hopefully this article was helpful in exposing some ways that you or your athletes rely on things as a result of poor mobility.

If you’re struggling and want our support, we would be more than happy to guide you to pain-free performance.

Just check out our coaching options here.

If you want to dive into more of our articles, you can find those here.

Ultimately we want you to have more days of kicking ass and taking names instead of being on the injured list. Whatever your choice of fitness is, we are here for the long-game of being able to do the things we love (in life and the gym ) well into our aging years. If you learned anything new about mobility or yourself while reading this, please share with your gym peeps!

See ya on the next one!

 



 Find Your Ideal Squat Stance

Access the FREE E-Book to learn the anatomy of the squat stance and how to find your ideal position!