By: Jerry Trubman, Owner and Founder
I probably don’t need to tell you this, but we live in a physical culture that glamorizes muscular development. Ever since the start of the modern bodybuilding movement, every gym poster and supplement advertisement displays chiseled, muscular physiques in their photos. Even us ‘functional fitness’ nerds still have to admit to loving the idea of building a great looking, firm, and muscular body.
Cardiovascular training is glamorized too. If one of your friends posts a photo of themselves at the finish line of their 5k race-to-cure-everything-and-everyone, it gets hundreds of likes and congratulatory comments. Oh, and if you finish a marathon? You are hailed as a god amongst men (or a goddess amongst women).
Gym culture is certainly a reflection of this as well. Walk into any big-box gym and ask for a tour. You will be shown rows and rows of cardio equipment, and rows and rows of fancy machines designed to strengthen every little muscle on your body… even a couple you didn’t even know you had!
So…
Muscular development: Lots of priority
Increased cardio capacity: Lots of priority
Maintaining healthy joints, tendons, and ligaments: Not so much priority
“Maintaining healthy joints? C’mon Jerry, that’s for when you get old. My grandparents go to the gym to stretch!”
Let’s take a look at this from another angle: If God decides to give you 95 years, on your 95th birthday, would you rather…
1. Be ‘shredded’
2. Run a marathon
3. Be completely independent and not need any help doing daily tasks.
If your answer is anything other than option 3, you probably haven’t thought that far ahead. Mobility guru Steve Maxwell, who is turning 65 this year, and is still banging out pistols, one-arm pushups, one-arm chin-ups, and is in better shape overall than most 20-year-olds said it best…
“What good is all that muscle if you can’t move?”
The reality is, if we don’t know how to perform basic movements and maintenance to strengthen and protect our joints, it doesn’t really matter what we do with the rest of our training time.
Increased mobility = increased ranges of motion in which to build strength (ex. deeper squat = more muscles recruited)
Additional capacity to build strength leads to an increased ability to lose fat.
The less fat you are the more mobile you can potentially become. (it’s hard to have full ROM with a belly in the way)
It all kind of works together.
If you’ve attended as many high-level powerlifting meets as I have, you may have noticed something: The highest-level judges are all a bunch of old-timers that have been involved in the sport of powerlifting for decades. Many of them still hold national and world records that still stand to this day. Unfortunately, some of them also have another thing in common… they are broken. In other words, these days they can barely deadlift the newspaper off their front porch, much less a heavy barbell.
I’m not saying that I don’t respect or admire these guys. Sacrifices must be made if you want to excel at anything at a high level. I’m just saying that’s not where I want to be when I’m their age.
I’m also not saying that you should immediately stop all weight training, kettlebells, jogging, biking, swimming, etc., to become a monk and do nothing but tai chi for the rest of your life.
…but there is something cool about seeing little 80-year-olds in the parks in Beijing every morning doing things that if a typical American 80-year-old were to try, they would end up in need of immediate medical attention.
The point here is that when it comes to mobility work, waiting until you need it is too late. Our joints do not carry a blood supply; they are lubricated through synovial fluid. After years of non-use, calcium deposits begin to accumulate, and after a few decades, there is so much calcium build-up, that it becomes significantly more difficult to unlock. If you watch how some elderly people move around, you can see what I’m talking about.
“Your body is concrete waiting to harden. Motion is lotion.”
Mark Reifkind
If this is a message that resonates with you, I would encourage you to consider attending my Restoring Lost Mobility one-day workshop. In this 8-hour course, we discuss in great detail how to perform simple daily things to get yourself moving well, out of pain, and performing at your absolute best.
I will be teaching this workshop in Tucson, AZ on Saturday October 28th alongside my friend Franz Snideman’s Primal Speed workshop on the following day. This is the last week for early bird pricing (up to $100 off for both days). Click here to sign up.
Hope to see you there,
Jerry Trubman is a coach, clinician, author, blogger, and powerlifting state champion. With over two decades of lifting experience, he has devoted himself to seeking out better answers, and distilling them into practical programs that produce great results. Jerry has coached "Team Protocol" to 4 National Powerlifting Championships in the 100% Raw federation. He writes the internationally-read blog, “The Healthy Addiction” and lives in Tucson, Arizona with his wife Marie and dog Sadie. To subscribe to his blog, click here.
