Resistance Band Work for Flexibility and Mobility

Despite not looking like a skinny runner, this guy gives some great tips and pointers-along with excellent reasoning.

This one is suburb for me. I put the band around a bedpost and wrap it around the top of my legs. It really get you working on the glutes and a proper hip hinge.



This one is great for my foot. It helps keep my foot for rotating out further than it already does.



I am working on this and still evaluating it for use on my hip joint (due to arthroscopic surgery), but it is a better explanation than other videos I have followed for opening up my tight hip joint.



This one is a killer for me. I did it one night and felt good, but the next morning my lower back and hip was so tight I could barely put my shoes on. It did seem to target some weak lower back muscles, so I will keep working on this to see how I progress.

ELDOA Stretching and More Joint Mobility

I have found a couple of PDF files that give some background information on myofascial stretching and joint mobility. The first PDF is called "Myofascial Stretching" and is on a stretching system called ELDOA. This system was developed by Dr. Guy Voyer and it is the system that many of the stretches used in "The Ming Method" are based upon. These are just demonstrations but they give you an idea of how the stretches do work (and how different and complicated they can be).

The other PDF file is called "Get Free to Move". It shows some of the moves in Scott Sonnen's Intu-Flow DVD. You can get a pretty good idea of the stetches and the joint mobility work that are on his Intu-Flow DVD. I have the DVD, but I see he has a book out now. There was only one review (interesting cons) on Amazon.

How important are the hips for injury-free running?

I know if I could get my hips working together as a balanced unit my running would be much more efficient and fun. While some people say that money is the root of all evil, I have found someone else who mirrors that weak hips are the root of many running injuries. In this article found at runninginjuryclinic.com, which is based on a study at the University of Calgary, hips are often the culprit when it comes to leg injuries in runners. In fact 92% of the runners who came to the clinic over a seven month period of time had weak hip muscles. By strengthening the hip muscles runners may be able to overcome other injuries such as knee troubles. Reed Ferber, who runs the clinic, said that, "89 per cent of the patients reported a significant improvement in pain within four to six weeks," after undertaking the hip strengthening exercises and other recommendations. "While strong hips aren't a guarantee against future running injuries," Ferber says, "improving the strength in your hips is a great way to reduce the number and severity of lower-leg running injuries."

What is helpful is that the clinic shows the hip strengthening exercises here. This is nothing new to me as I had these same exercises given to me by a PT many years ago. It is a reminder that they may be a good thing to implement in my routine to keep them strengthened.

I got this from an email from RMAX (Scott Sonnon) and it is an interesting hip mobility drill. I have not tried it at this level yet. I have done the leg swoop on the Intu-Flow DVD at a more beginning level. This is supposed to open and strengthen the hips. Here is a video of the movement.



From the same RMax email was this post concerning called "The 4 Myths of Joint Mobility".

Speaking of mobility and flexibility check out this 6 year old kid in India. That is taking things to the extreme!

Z-Health I Phase: Joint Mobility with Athletic Movement Drills

Today I received in the mail my order of the Z-Health I Phase DVD and Manual and the Neural Warm up DVD and manual. I am intensely curious as to what the next step in the program looks like and even though I probably haven't spent enough time with the R Phase program I had to see what is next. When I undertook Rolfing sessions a couple years ago my my body often sensed and felt ready for the next stage and that is how I felt with the Z-Health program. It was time to move ahead.

The R-Phase teaches you the basic movement skills of joint mobility, but you are doing the motions in a basic standing position. The goal is to learn how to move each joint independently and and in every direction and pattern. Athleticism, however, involves movement and motion. The I-Phase takes the basic movements and integrates them into the movement patterns of life and sports. That is where my body, and I would think most bodies, let their owners down. We move, bend, rotate, and participate with stiffness and imbalances. To protect pains of the past and of the present our bodies have readjusted and do not work in optimal patterns. Sometimes we think a muscle need stretching when it may be that a joints mobility needs to be addressed and as well as the neural component. The brain needs to allow the joint to move in the way it was intended to move rather than allow it to protect some perceived problem.

I was going to take the day of from running. I had a very hard run the previous day and while things went well, my left hip was feeling very tight today and I figured that I didn't want to train on it without fixing it first. Then when I got home I noticed the arrival of the DVDs. I popped the R-Phase DVD in the player and gave it a look. The movements now included lunges and rotations as well as new angles of movements on the drills I had learned earlier in the R-Phase program. Started at the feet, and moving up the ankles I heard a light pop and release in the right ankle and shortly thereafter another little pop in the left knee region. Wow, the hip tightness was gone. It felt really good doing the mobility routines in different directions and patterns. I finished up with the drills to the thoracic region, slipped into my runner gear and hit the treadmill (rain today). I did a 40 minute run, had dinner, noticed a pulling feeling at the inside right hip (never had that before), sat down to read the R-Phase manual, and fell asleep. Whether I was tired from a hard week of teaching I am not sure. I remembered having another nice nap after doing the AGELESS MOBILITY: Pain-Free Wellness For Longevity DVD the first time too. Anyhow I woke up very refreshed but most of all I noticed how great my hips felt. The strange tightness was gone but so was a lot of the normal tension. I will continue to explore the R-Phase and mix it up with some of the new I-Phase movements (particularly from the hips on down). I do have to report that it is good stuff and while it is something that not many runners have heard about or consider, I believe it may be a good direction for many runners and athletes to pursue if their bodies aren't working as well as they expect it should.

Getting in the Flow: Joint Mobility Re-Education

I am really enjoying discovering (or recovering) the movement of my body around my joints. First I started with Z-Health which introduced me to the idea of joint mobility. Stretching is something that works on flexibility issues by lengthening your muscles. Mobility issues are cured by mobilizing the joints through motions. I sense that some of my joints are "stuck" in repetitive motions and they need to be retrained back to the original and normal movement patterns.

I like the Z-Health approach and its focus on working all body joints through their range of motion. It also has a neural component that retrains the nervous system so that your joints will remember how to move correctly. I have gained success through using the R-Phase DVD.

I am still learning and adapting to the that system but wanted to know more so I then checked out Scott Sonnen's Ageless Mobility DVD. This also worked on mobilizing the joints but also worked on the surrounding connective tissues around the joints. It supposedly lubricates the joints and "flushes the body with nutrition". Well all I know is that it was pleasant and tiring at the same time and when finished a lot of tension within my body had eased.

Ageless mobility was working but was a long DVD and I wanted to learn even more so I next ordered the Intu-Flow DVD through the RMax website. I have used the beginner level (their are 4 levels) each day for a week now and boy do I like this program. It has some similar exercises to the Z-Health routines (you are working all the joints) but they are done at a more difficult intensity. They feel real good while doing them and my body feels relaxed and more and more in sync each time I run through the routine. I also notice a warm feeling around the tissues surrounding certain joints after doing the routine as if those parts are feeling the good effects of the movements. A lot of the minor aches and pains from my imbalances disappear and I feel that I am getting in control of things for the first time in a long time. I am noticing more looseness throughout my body. Particularly pleasing to me is my hips are loosening up and my knee is not knocking in but starting to be more balanced to the outside. I also notice how I stand more balanced and now that my calf pain is gone the running movement is feeling improved.

So far my experiment with adding the joint mobility component to my routines is paying off and I hope it continues to improve my movements and running. I look forward to moving up to more difficult levels of the Intu-Flow system in particular, I am looking forward to learning how to use the clubbells that came with the DVD I ordered. It is not sold on Amazon, but it is through Scott Sonnen's website. I wasn't sure what they would do but since I am also experimenting with and enjoying kettlebells I decided to see what these could do. They feel a lot heavier then you would expect and feel fun (in a Star Wars sense)when you start whirling them around but I am holding off on learning exactly how to use them for now.

Joint Mobility Through Z-Health

Here is a picture before the start of the 1983 Cape Cod Endurance Triathlon (a full Ironman distance race). That is BAA Marathon Race Director Dave McGilliray in the blue shirt (I would later run the entire Boston Marathon with him in 2000).. The TV reporter is Robin Young - remember her?. I am the skinny guy behind Dave's right shoulder. This is the start of all the bio mechanical issues I would later have.


Back when I was just a runner (high school and college) I basically ran injury free. There were a few bumps along the way, but I didn't have to think about running, I just ran. I knew my knees knocked and I had been told I had a short leg, but I was able to run cross-country, track, and even 8 marathons in college (as well as 50 miles on the track a week after one marathon).

Then I found triathlons. There was no sports medicine that I knew of in 1983. I got a $300 bike, started swimming in the ocean and in a few months of self training did 3 triathlons including my first Ironman distance race. I fit myself to my cheapo bike and made some (years later I figured this out) huge mistakes. I twisted my saddle a bit to one side, and tried to get one bike cleat pointed away from the bike rather than straight ahead. I was trying to compensate for the short leg and the twist in my foot. For 5 years I was heavy into triathlons and still playing with getting comfortable on the bike and training my foot to pedal in a toe out position. Around and around I pedaled until my left lower back was so bad I could barely stand up straight. It was funny, I could do an Ironman distance triathlon yet constantly wanted to lie down and adjust my back. I am still trying to unravel from that damage.

Having tried every therapy and exercise I could I am now working with joint mobility through the Z-Health system. Hopefully this will get me running free again.

Here is why I like Z-Health. Z-Health is a simple set of exercises that work every joint in your body not the muscles. Having pummeled my muscles with every routine and therapy I could find, I am left with the opinion that my muscles are not the problem. If my joints are stuck and refuse to work through their intended range of motion then the Z-Health exercises will retrain them so that they can work like they are supposed to and get the correct range of motion back. When my joints work correctly then the muscles will feel better and work correctly too! Just as important Z-Health re-educates the nervous system to get rid of all those poor movement patterns. The goal is to let my body relearn how to move and not move in the way that it was trained by me when I did all those incorrect pedal revolutions on that bike.

When I first started Z-Health a month ago things improved immediately and everything felt great for a couple of weeks. After doing the two long treadmill runs my body sort of lost the plot. I was falling back into bad patterns even though I was doing the exercises.

So I called the Z-Health phone number today and spoke with Shannon for quite a while (great customer service!). I have a page chock full of pointers and tips. I tried a couple and right away was feeling better again. In brief I learned to do the exercise more slowly. I know this is mentioned in the book, but they go so quick on the DVD so I was doing them quickly all the time. I learned some different rehab positions and how to tell which direction to hold my foot. I learned a quick skin stim to recognize the joint that I am working on and to move that joint first. When I did the knee drops after doing this, it felt so much easier than the way I had been doing them previously.

So the rehabilitation goes on as I try to recover my stride. I am just a beginner at learning how this system works but it makes a lot of sense for my body. I hope my body continues to respond as well. You can learn more about Z-Health here: