Magnificent Mobility vs Yoga

So i have some postural problems along the spine (i tilt towards my right) and i have completely shitty posterior flexibility. I still cannot touch my toes and anything to do with the stretching of the leg, i fail miserably.

I’ve been doing yoga for a little bit but i do not know if it is doing anything. i mainly go for the flexibility anyways, but some of the exercises stretch the lower back which might not be a good thing. my friend said yoga was bad (from a book). lol.

i don’t have all the time in the world, so i don’t want to keep wasting it. yoga, magnificent mobility, or both?

keep in mind the goal i am aiming for is flexibility, mobility, and posture/balance if that is possible.

2 different animals mate - MM or M2 whatever you want to call it is more of a warmup. I use it pre workout & static stretch post workout.

BTW, i think a revised version is coming out soon.

Have someone crack your neck while you sit down in between their legs from time to time. (They sit on a chair, you on floor)

Crack your neck side to side. Left to right. It can go way further than you might think just don’t go 180°.
Crack it tilting side to side.
And have the other person almost lift you up while holding your head only in the same position. This really helps in realigning the spine.

Also, have someone crack your back from time to time.

Oh and one more thing. Fix your posture

Get a trained personnel who deals with postural issues to fix your problem.
Neither yoga nor MM is gonna fix it.

But one thing for sure, do your foam rolling, static stretches and rehab exercises.

Uh. Cracking bones? Sorry but I wouldn’t…I especially wouldn’t ask just a friend to do it.

As far as the yoga thing goes…I’m a big fan of anything that gets people to a) calm the fuck down, b) move for 60 minutes, and c) stretch.

Only problem is…some of the stretches are definitely not ideal for lower back health. Check out Stuart McGill articles on this site. You don’t want to put a flexed lumbar spine under any kind of load. The “core” was primarily meant to brace against movement of loads, not move loads. Some very slow controlled flexion and extension movements of the l-spine are fine (as in “cat camel” - which shows up in mm btw - and I’d say even something like “gorilla pose” - basically letting yourself hang from the waist down to your toes.) But I’d be careful. If anything, doing yoga teaches me to know the difference between good flexion and bad…straining is always bad (aka - driving yourself forward to touch your toes…)

Basically…you can modify yoga for your own purposes. I do it all the time and eventually want to start teaching a kind of “active recovery class” that combines foam rolling, magnificent mobility at a “yoga tempo”.

Your postural alignment is definitely something to see a professional for and I’d say it has a lot more to do with making sure you’re not in anterior or posterior pelvic tilt, evening out single arm pushing/pulling movements in your upper body, and foam rolling/tennis ball rolling to make sure that’s not all you need to feel a little more mobile. Again, Cressey and Robertson articles on posture are great for all of the above.

Sorry if you all know all this already…but just one more thing: if you’d just like to be “more flexible”, “more mobile” you’ve got to know why, where, and how much. If you’re a long limbed/short armed soccer player and can’t touch your toes that’s really not the end of the world as long as you’ve still got enough mobility at the hip joint to kick through a ROM that allows you to deliver force. Being able to kick a soccer ball while in a “splits” position is really awesome until you realize there’s not every opportunity to do that when it comes down to it.

[quote]kickureface wrote:
So i have some postural problems along the spine (i tilt towards my right) and i have completely shitty posterior flexibility. I still cannot touch my toes and anything to do with the stretching of the leg, i fail miserably.

I’ve been doing yoga for a little bit but i do not know if it is doing anything. i mainly go for the flexibility anyways, but some of the exercises stretch the lower back which might not be a good thing. my friend said yoga was bad (from a book). lol.

i don’t have all the time in the world, so i don’t want to keep wasting it. yoga, magnificent mobility, or both?

keep in mind the goal i am aiming for is flexibility, mobility, and posture/balance if that is possible.[/quote]

Go and talk to a sports medicine doctor or a physical therapist for your postural problems along the spine!

TRAIN HARD

“BIG WILLIE” J.T. HALL

nice post renegaderose
if you mean no straining by not trying hard to stretch (statically i assume), how do i improve flexibility?

Why specifically do you want to improve your flexibility and at which joints?

Why don’t you post a picture of a front, back and side view pic.

Stand relax and as you would queuing up for a donuts.

[quote]Silverkin wrote:
Have someone crack your neck while you sit down in between their legs from time to time. (They sit on a chair, you on floor)

Crack your neck side to side. Left to right. It can go way further than you might think just don’t go 180°.
Crack it tilting side to side.
And have the other person almost lift you up while holding your head only in the same position. This really helps in realigning the spine.

Also, have someone crack your back from time to time.

Oh and one more thing. Fix your posture[/quote]

Silverkin-- You should be strung up by your balls for that…

OP-- As some have suggested, try to find a Sports Medicine specialist, a D.O., or preferrably a chiropractor. Your posture could be simple misalignment of your spine or other, or indicative of something else.

I can speak from experience that simple misalignments in your spine amplify shear forces under load-- think a miscurved spine under heavy squats.

You don’t want to mess with this. If money is an issue, those doctors may be willing to work with you.

Good luck!

hmm i will post pictures tomorrow, and consider a chiro afterwards.
i want to improve flexibility mainly in the posterior chain, but everywhere else is good too (shoulder-cannot touch hands easily with 1 arm over back and other arm behind back). I can barely touch my toes or strech my legs out wide and this is hampering me on squats and starting position deads/cleans and possibly other stuff as well.