Mobility Tools You Should Have for a Productive Cross Training Workout
For most people, the idea of mobility is more or less like rowing upstream. You need consistency and focus for you to make progress. With minimal effort, you won’t be able to do much; probably you will just maintain your current level of flexibility and mobility. You need to put to push yourself from rigidity into fluidity.
Many CrossFit training routines incorporate mobility drills. It is important to spend a few minutes each day to work on your personal limitations. While it is appreciated that not everyone comes early or leaves late, to work on a few stretches and drills, there is absolutely no excuse for not improving your mobility.
At an affordable price, you can put together a personalized mobility kit that you will use throughout your workouts. The following are some of the recommended tools that you should have on hand at your office or home so that you can gradually and consistently move towards mastering your mobility.
Foam Roller
This is an excellent CrossFit workout equipment targeting the larger areas of your body such as upper back, hamstrings, quads, and lats. The market has all sorts of foam rollers from different manufacturers. Do not be tricked into buying cheap rollers that are made from low-density foam. This is because such rollers are too soft and they do not last as long. The best are high-density rollers as they enable you to dig in. The approximate cost is $15 to $50.
Lacrosse Ball
If you want to get into hot sports such as the pec major, calves, deltoids, and plantar fascia, foam roller may prove ineffective because it is the relatively larger surface area. This is where the lacrosse ball comes in. It is recommended that you tape two balls together to make a peanut. This will give you an effective tool to deal with the thoracic spine irrespective of its stiffness. The cost is about $5 to $10.
Stretch Out Strap
A stretch out strap is used for different types of stretches in every area of your body. The beauty of this piece of equipment is that it has numerous loops that are built in to help you have lots of options when stretching out. The muscles targeted by stretch out straps include quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, shoulders, and adductors. You can pack your stretch out straps together with your luggage and do some stretching after your long flight. The cost of this mobility tool is just $12.
Theracane
Theracane is more precise in hitting the target areas than foam roller and lacrosse ball. Simply defined, it is a dip pressure massager that enables you to reach out to areas that previously were harder to reach such as your mid back, pec minor, and traps. The cost of theracane is approximately $29.
In addition to the above incredible mobility tools for WOD training, you can invest in compression floss bands to facilitate your recovery in case of injuries. Floss bands compress your tissues thereby increasing shear that in turn glues together your tissues for quick healing. The compression also moves metabolic waste products and lymph out of your targeted muscle tissue. All said it would take consistent effort to improve your mobility. Push yourself hard and never lose hope!
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