Welcome to this eight-week video series brought to you exclusively by Whole Life Challenge in partnership with MobilityWOD. Each week, physical therapist Dr. Kelly Starrett will present you with a simple concept regarding anatomy and movement — as well as some techniques you can incorporate into your daily mobility practice. Note: These techniques are optional and are simply one of the many ways you can accomplish your ten daily minutes of mobility.
This week we’re going to introduce you to a concept we call “partner smashing.” If you go behind the scenes of world-class sports, you’ll often see athletes working together to help each other with their movement. Yet most of us have never attempted to help each other in this way!
So this week, we’re doing a drill that requires no equipment — just a workout partner, friend, or family member. Working with a partner will help you get familiar with what healthy human tissue should feel like. It won’t take you long to be able to discern between stuck tissues and healthy, mobile tissues.
Smashing allows higher pressures that are more diffuse. Said another way, because our foot is bigger than a lacrosse ball, it hurts less because you’re not drilling into the muscle. Watch the video for details on how this works, and then grab a partner. Experiment with using your own body as a foam roller and finding the places to work on that will most benefit your partner.
Note: This drill is great for people of all fitness and mobility levels because one of you is basically just going to lie there and breathe! But keep an eye out for your partner throughout this practice. He or she should be able to breathe comfortably and relax. If he or she cannot, then you’re going too hard.
Kelly is the co-author of two New York Times bestselling books Becoming A Supple Leopard and Ready to Run. He created the wildly popular CrossFit Movement & Mobility Trainer course and has worked with and lectured for every branch of the military, the NBA, NFL, NHL, professional soccer, ballet dancers, cyclists, Olympians, and more.
Kelly’s background as an athlete and coach includes paddling whitewater slalom canoe on the US Canoe and Kayak Teams, and leading the Men’s Extreme Whitewater Team to two national titles and competition in two World Championships. In his free time, Kelly enjoys spending time with his wife, Juliet, and two daughters, Georgia and Caroline, surfing, paddling, CrossFitting, and dancing.
