Fluid yoga movement with many different movements to open and loosen up the spine and the body. It's time to get supple!
Hard training where you really grind and push the envelope is excellent for producing strength and muscle gains, but often you need to let the body heal and get loosened up.
If you only stick to one-dimensional movements such as the bench press and squat, you can expect to become stiff unless you do enough counter mobility work.
When you combine yoga and strength training, you start to get some interesting results. It becomes "movement" where both sides of the spectrum are present.
If you do yoga alone, you will get flexible but not very strong. If you do heavy lifting alone, you will get strong but not very mobile.
Movement 20XX combines both sides into one: there are serious strength training exercises paired with plenty of yoga and mobility. There are completely open movements that utilize the entire body and there are also mobility drills that specifically target certain parts of the body.
The purpose of the many movements presented in this video and article is to use the whole body, especially the spine, to generate the movements. This will stretch, mobilize and open up the spine.
The correct execution is what produces results (not just the exercise). Although several of the movements may look "easy", you need to make the movements effective by using a slow tempo, focusing on control and by fully utilizing the body (arching and extending the body etc. ).
All movements and exercises work and are beneficial to do (regardless of your training status) if you just utilize them correctly. This is why the basics will always be the foundation for every successful athlete.
Judo Push Up
Judo push up is one of the best push up variations for martial artists, athletes and movement enthusiasts!
In the judo push up you will both round and arch the back, but it's also pretty hard movement for the core, chest, triceps and shoulders.
You can expect to build pressing strength while taking care of the health and mobility of your spine.
Another good variation is to do the judo push up on your knees. That is how the BJJ legend Rickson Gracie did them.
Reaching Warrior
Ascension Pose
In the ascension pose you will round your back as much as possible at the bottom and then stand up by fully opening up your arms.
Try to open up the chest as much as possible by arching the upper & middle back and by pressing the chest out.
This is an excellent yoga movement for health because it really opens and loosens up the spine.
Headstand
Headstand is the easiest upside-down balancing movement almost anyone can learn relatively fast. For a full tutorial, see this video and article.
Headstand will strengthen the core, neck, arms and hips. It's also a fun movement to do and very impressive for others to see. Once mastered, it will give countless of amazing options to play with.
You should begin training the headstand against a wall or on a soft surface so that if you fall, it doesn't hurt.
The best tip is to move your legs as close as you can - this will make the jump to the headstand MUCH easier. Countless of people have learned the headstand by utilizing this tip!
Handstand
Handstand is much harder than the headstand and will require significantly more practice to learn. You can watch this video for the best handstand tips for beginners.
Practicing the handstand and learning how to balance may not be enough for everyone. For beginners it's more important to open up the body and shoulders before starting to practice the handstand.
The better posture you have and the more mobile your shoulders and spine are, the easier the handstand will be. For full body mobility, check out Movement 20XX.
Once your body is relatively strong and mobile, practicing handstands against a wall is a great place to start.
Table
Table will stretch and mobilize the chest, shoulders and upper back. You can do it with straight legs or your legs in a 90 degree angle.
Table will also strengthen the lower back, hamstrings and glutes. You can make the exercise much harder by lifting one leg up in the air.
You can increase the activation of your upper back by pulling your shoulder blades behind (scapula retraction).
Back Bridge
Back bridge is the ultimate test for your posterior chain mobility and strength. All the muscles around your spine need to be in an excellent shape for you to be able to do a solid back bridge.
Shoulders need to be open and mobile. Same goes for the middle and lower back areas. You also need to have strong glutes and hamstrings. Your quads, abs and hip flexors need to be flexible as well.
Back bridge is one of the static strength skills of Movement 20XX and lots of spine mobility drills are featured there to open up the body.
