The past decade I created a habit at the end of the day to do a few minutes of stretching. Some days require more movement and stretching than others depending on the activity completed earlier. One of my best creations since I turned 40 was the Mobility Day - it is life changing - not only for guys like me who still like to get after it, but the younger tactical / spec ops candidate has seen big results in performance after taking a mobility day late into the work week (typically Thursday). This makes Friday and Saturday workouts much better versus going into it somewhat beaten up from previous work days. Also, the PST or PT test is greater for better performance to be placed after that mobility day or after a rest day (Sunday).
The End of Day - Mini-Mobility Day
Here is what we do for the end of day Mini-Mobility Day:
Repeat 2 times
5 min of walk, bike, row, swim, dynamic stretches, etc..
Stew Smith's FULL Mobility Day
(Workout, Tools, Events)
Once a week (sometimes twice a week) I will do this workout myself as well as our group preparing for various tactical professions. I personally, like to make this a Thursday workout as it makes Friday / Saturday workouts SO much better vs dragging into those days with 50% energy levels. After a few two a days in a week, a mid-week "easy day" looks like this:
Warmup with non-impact cardio - We use bike, elliptical, rowers, or swimming as our cardio set to keep the body warm during this 50 minute session of stretching, foam rolling, and massage tooling.
Repeat 5 times
Easy Cardio of your choice - 5 minutes
Stretch, foam roll, massage tool - 5 minutes.
Here are some of our tools of the mobility day:
HyperVolt, Ryobi Orbital Car Buffer, massage balls, foam roller, hard plastic half balls to help work out any knots that are not loosening with just stretching.
After the full or mini-session above, we like to cooldown in the pool with some technique swim for 10-15 minutes, treading water for 10 minutes, then doing all the dynamic stretches you can think of in chest deep water for 5-10 minutes.
After all of this, you will feel glorious! Like I said, if you listen to NOTHING I recommend and just do this once a week, you will notice a huge difference in your life, pain, and stress levels.
Now is the time to take a hard look at this if you prefer to stretch in the comfort of your home or want to build up so you can maybe one day join a local yoga class. Remember - fitness is a journey and so is flexibility and mobility. It takes time, consistent effort, but is really not that difficult. Learn the foundation of flexibility / mobility with this weekly program..
To Take Your Mobility and Flexibility to the Next Level...
For more details Check out StewSmithFitness/com BOOKS section and you will see Tactical Mobility next to it's companion books - Tactical Fitness and Tactical Strength by Stew Smith.
In case you don't know, Tactical Mobility makes it easy to maximize your results in the most effective, efficient way possible. Tactical Mobility shows you how to break through personal barriers and reach your absolute physical peak!
Tactical Mobility was created by Stew Smith, Gwen Lawrence, and Nick Benas and is available at StewSmithFitness.com. Navy SEAL Veteran Stew Smith, CSCS, helps struggling Military, Special Ops, Law Enforcement, and Firefighter candidates get TO and THROUGH intense tactical assessment and selection programs. Using specific training books, ebooks and online coaching, you will qualify for service and crush fitness tests and selection in the tactical professions.
Mobility and flexibility are critical to the tactical athlete (and all of us). The stretches, movements, and mindfulness training is also stress relieving and a useful tool any time of the day to help with overall stress mitigation and physical recovery. We should all be actively pursuing recovery in order to metabolize the effects of stress. Plus, just read more about the Stew Smith Mobility Day - even if you do not buy this book, add this once a week and you will see this is LIFE CHANGING and will increase performance!