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Rog Law Fitness - The Art of Sexification

The Art of Sexification

The Minimalist Guide to Mobility: Moving Like a Ninja in 5 Minutes or Less

May 23, 2012 by Roger Lawson II 64 Comments

Courtesy of N1NJ4

9-5 desk jobs.

Epic back and forth commutes that are longer than a Lord of the Rings movie.

A never-ending stream of emails and messages.

Keeping up with the relationships that matter most to us.

With all that’s going on, we’re all busier than a one-armed man in a 5-on-1 boxing match – I totally get it

BUT! *waves finger in the air with much zest and vigor* that doesn’t mean we should sacrifice our health in the process.

Just a few years ago I was “that guy.” My days consisted of sitting in class for several hours, sitting at the library desk where I worked for several more hours, walking to the gym and doing a light jog on the treadmill before hammering my body, all before heading home to sit around more until bed time.

It’s no wonder that I moved like a tin man, my form on some exercises suffered, and I had the random aches to go along with it.

If this story sounds familiar and you’re finding yourself moving down the same path of movement lameness, consider this your intervention.

Movement Intervention

Below you’ll find a series of mobility drills to do at the beginning and end of each day. Simply pick one exercise from each category and perform 5-10 reps, cycling through them for 5 minutes.

If that seems overwhelming at first, just start by picking one of those times and a few less exercises. Set an alarm, turn on a movie/music, write yourself a note, or have a friend come by and slap you in the face as a reminder, whatever you need to do to make sure it gets done.

Many of these are mobility drills that I’ve added into my clients pre-workout warm up, and their experiences have been fantastic. Their form has improved, they’re moving better throughout the day and they’ve drop kicked nagging pains in the chest, all from doing them a few times a week – imagine what you’d gain from just 5-10 minutes a day (or more awesomely put, 35-70 minutes a week). The cumulative effect is oh so sweet.

 

Ankles

Rocking Ankle Mobilization (1:11)

Upper Back/Shoulders

Quadruped Thoracic Rotation (beginning of video)
Foam roller extension (1:47)
Wall Slides (2:13)
Band Pullaparts (2:28)
Sleeper Stretch (2:43) – 15 to 30 second hold earh arm
X-Band Walk (2:52)
Scap Pushups (3:50)
Band Shoulder Dislocations (4:05)

Hips

Spidermans  (0:11)
Hip Flexor Mobilization (0:22)
Rear Foot Elevated Hip Mobilization (0:35)
Reverse Lunge (0:49)
Knee to Knee Stretch (1:35) – this can also be a 15-30 second hold if necessary
Quadruped Hip Extension (1:04 – targets the glutes very well)

Full Body

Squat to Stand (1:22)
Bodyweight/Assisted Squats (3:25)

Bonus: Static Stretching

*Hip Hinge Hold (3:06)
*Hip Flexor Stretch (3:17)
*Quad Stretch (3:21)

* 30-60 second holds

You can also order the red resistance band (and others) here.

Did I miss anything? Want more mobility drills?
Let me know in the comment section or  e-mail and I’ll film some more exercises, because I love you more than a unicorn loves rainbows.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Comments

  1. Steve Bergeron says

    May 23, 2012 at

    Great stuff Rog, that warmup would even make a ninja blush!

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 24, 2012 at

      A ninja blushing is a surefire way of getting killed!

      Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 28, 2012 at

      Ninjas don’t blush, they kill!

      Reply
    • T says

      July 12, 2012 at

      Ninja’s don’t blush, their cheeks only get rosy with the blood of the slain!

      Reply
      • Roger Lawson II says

        July 12, 2012 at

        True, very true!

        Reply
  2. Anthony J. Yeung says

    May 23, 2012 at

    Wow. I love the comprehensiveness. Activation work, mobility, and in different planes — awesome stuff. Being more ninja-like is the dream. What else do you use in your client warmups? And how long does it take for them to warmup?

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 28, 2012 at

      Hey Anthony,

      A ton of stuff actually – it all depends on how much some areas need work vs others, current limitations, etc. Foam rolling and all, I’d say the warm up takes about 5-7 minutes max, or 10 if they really want to get involved with the foam roller.

      Reply
  3. Matthew Paladino says

    May 23, 2012 at

    Awesome variety! This is a great list to keep handy, and thanks for the video demo’s

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 24, 2012 at

      Thanks as always, Matthew. Is there anything else that you’d like to see?

      Reply
  4. Nick Chertock says

    May 23, 2012 at

    Rog: I just shared this with the whole internet. You’ve done the world of desk jockeys a great service today.

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 24, 2012 at

      THE WHOLE INTERNET?! Your check is in the mail, sir!

      Reply
  5. Toni says

    May 23, 2012 at

    I wish you had this on a poster (or flash cards!). This is great though 🙂

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 24, 2012 at

      How good are your drawing skills? =)

      Reply
  6. Sean says

    May 23, 2012 at

    As a current client of Roger’s, and I’d like to give a personal testimonial to just how well this works. I’m a 9-5 desk jockey myself, and I have suffered from many of the flexibility issues that go along with that. My most notable issues have always been in the shoulder/chest/scapular area. Prior to working with Roger, I had only worked with shoulder dislocations and doorway pec stretches, and I was seeing enough improvement to (mistakenly) believe that was enough.

    Since I began Roger’s protocol, I have followed his mobility work to the letter, and I’ve seen a marked improvement in my flexibility. Not only do my lifts feel more natural, but my strength has increased as well. More importantly, this newfound limberness is carrying over into my everyday activities and has improved my overall quality of life.

    Almost every movement I go through is on this list, although I do not do all of the above. Including the pre-mobility foam rolling that Roger described, I usually allow for 15 minutes to complete my warm up, making sure not to cheat myself by rushing through. I tend to err on the side of a longer warm up period since I’m an early morning lifter and try to factor in the effects any lingering grogginess before I start lifting, but I can usually finish in less time unless it’s a really rough morning.

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 24, 2012 at

      You’re the man, Sean!

      Reply
  7. Von @ VonsFitnessTips.com says

    May 23, 2012 at

    This right here is exactly what I’ve been looking for! Everything (well, mostly everything) in one video! Good stuff Rog.

    By the way, call me weird, but for some reason I found it funny how you kept the part where your glasses fell off. Took me by surprise haha

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 24, 2012 at

      Thanks, Von!

      I figured I’d leave it on lol, part of the blooper real.

      AND I muted the volume for the entire video because one of the exercises made me fart pretty loudly – now you know all my sekretz.

      Reply
      • Von @ VonsFitnessTips.com says

        May 29, 2012 at

        HAHA you should put up an un-edited version.

        Reply
  8. Kujo says

    May 27, 2012 at

    Great stuff. I do many of these mobility drills pre-wo, and on off days . I see some new ones to try. Thx for this.

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      May 28, 2012 at

      You’ve got it, Kujo!

      Reply
  9. Nancy C. says

    May 31, 2012 at

    I’m adding this to my Summer of Sexification Challenge (that’s me challenging myself to maximize the sexy this summer). Two sessions of mobility drills every day to get me past the hip and shoulder problems. Can you post some more drills, especially for the hips and ankles? I want to move like an agile ninja-ette and I got work to do!

    Reply
  10. Dexter Morgan says

    June 2, 2012 at

    Thanks for sharing this! I do mobility work pre-workout only but I should probably incorporate this into my off days as well, just 10 min. each morning. Great list!

    Reply
  11. Krista Julienne says

    June 3, 2012 at

    Thanks for this, Rog! I will definitely be adding many of these in throughout the week. My favourite part of the video is when his glasses fell off, because this happens to me all the time. And because us nerds are hot. :p 🙂 😀

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      June 4, 2012 at

      Nerds unite!

      The glasses blooper was a little easter egg for those awesome enough to make it to the end of the video haha. I also hate water fountains for this very reason.

      Reply
  12. Susan says

    July 12, 2012 at

    Would it be possible to get a printout that I can take to the gym?

    Susan

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      July 12, 2012 at

      Hey Susan,

      I’ll definitely see what I can do!

      Reply
      • Toni says

        July 12, 2012 at

        Ditto!

        Reply
  13. Blurple says

    July 12, 2012 at

    you think you could come up with one of these for people in wheelchairs who have no other option but to sit all day?

    Reply
  14. Ryan says

    July 16, 2012 at

    I noticed a lot of knee movement when doing these exercises. Would these be tough on the knees at all?

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      July 16, 2012 at

      Hey Ryan,

      Not if done correctly (as shown in the video). If you have some pre-existing knee pains then it might be best to avoid the lunge and squat exercises shown or find a variation that doesn’t cause you any pain.

      Reply
  15. ALice says

    July 23, 2012 at

    The video is gone! can you re-post?

    Reply
  16. Lando says

    July 24, 2012 at

    Found this via Lifehacker story. Great idea! I’ve always had horrible mobility, flexibility, balance, rhythm, endurance, posture… I could go on.

    I’ll be adding that 5 minutes in the morning and evening!

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      July 29, 2012 at

      Glad to hear it, Lando!

      Reply
  17. Kay says

    July 24, 2012 at

    Thanks for these exercises; am desk bound for at least 10 hrs a day, so these are really good. Could not do the lunges and unassisted squat because of ankle / knee injuries (doc says should be able to do those too in about a couple of weeks). Do you have any exercises for the wrists, would really appreciate some tips for those.

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      July 29, 2012 at

      Hey Kay,

      Here are some great wrist stretches!

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfat8z_tX1I

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6LHC3vyxZc

      Reply
  18. Lobomobo says

    July 26, 2012 at

    Do you have to wear shoes when doing this or can you also do it barefoot?

    Reply
    • Roger Lawson II says

      July 29, 2012 at

      You can do this without shoes as well – feels pretty good, too!

      Reply
  19. Antony says

    December 10, 2014 at

    After this i feel as ninja 🙂

    Reply

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