Why You Need A Morning Routine If You Want To Improve Mobility
This article explains WHY, but for the actual routine — click here
Hey, Juha here -
So you want to improve your mobility, great! But why is a morning routine so important? How will this really help you? Don’t worry… I got you!
***What is mobility? Mobility describes your usable ACTIVE ranges of motion. This is different from Flexibility which describes how ‘bendy’ you are aka PASSIVE range of motion.***
So What Is This Morning Routine Exactly?
A morning CARs routine. CARs stands for Controlled Articular Rotations. Visibly — they may look like your grandmas morning joint circles but they’re actually more valuable than the phone you’re reading this on.
CARs involves moving an individual joint (ie. hips, shoulders, ankles, etc.) through the largest pain free range of motion you can. If you read this and decide to move through pain, i’ll throw a foam roller at you… respectfully
The practice of moving through and exploring full range of motion is a skill that translates to every other skill. So if you’re new to mobility and don’t know where to start — start with CARs.
CARs really is like the swiss army knife of exercises. Here’s what I mean.
From the outside, practicing CARs is going to just look like circles. (A)
From the inside, practicing CARs is going to explore every single degree of range of motion your body has access to at that moment. (B, C)
Practicing CARs overtime will allow you to keep track of the general health of your joints. Generally, the larger the circle — the healthier the joint. (C)
As you can see… CARs will quite literally teach you more about yourself and how your body moves. Not only that, but you’ll notice things about yourself on a deeper level.
Imagine I was reviewing a guitar but I didn’t know how to play one. I would probably comment on the colours, shape or maybe if i’ve seen a certain artist play the same one.
What if I then handed the guitar to you and you were in a rock band? You would know to comment on the pickups, the wood, the neck shape, etc. The information I would gather from it would not compare. The same can be said about human movement and physical literacy.
WHAT YOU PUT IN IS WHAT YOU GET OUT
Opinions shape what you want to train. CARs narrows in on what you need to train.
I’ll end today’s post by connecting the dots in a real world example for you. Why do you need to have a morning CARs routine if you want to improve mobility? Consider this…
- If body control and physical literacy is important to you → find a routine you can do daily (ie. CARs)
- If you don’t know where to start → practice moving every joint in full pain free ranges of motion daily (ie. CARs)
- If you don’t know which ranges of motion are limiting you → start a daily practice that prioritizes exploring & learning how your body moves (ie. CARs)
TL;DR → The routine is moving each joint through a full pain free range of motion. You’ll work head to toes, 2 repetitions in each direction (clockwise & counter-clockwise). This should take you between 7–13 minutes. For the full routine, click here.
Let me know any comments or questions you have below!
I’ll talk to you soon,
Juha