Four of My Favorite Back, Hip and Ankle Mobility Exercises for Hikers
With our mostly meh skiing season this Winter in the Seattle area, thoughts turn to Spring hiking. Trails are already opening up and clearing of snow. Are you ready? Hopefully, you are building your core, hip and leg strength. As a precursor to that, attend also to your mobility! Why is this so important? Well, think of it this way. You won’t be able to use your strength (or even build effective strength) if you don’t have full range of motion at your joints. The way to ensure that range of motion is to address your mobility, joint by joint.
Hey Hikers! Get ready for hiking with the Unstill Life crew in our outdoor workouts. We are chock full of hikers who like to build and maintain fitness for outdoor adventures. Your community awaits. And now, on with today’s post…
For example, attempt to come down into a low squat (with your hips going lower than your knees) and keeping your heels on the floor and your torso upright. If you can’t get that low without your torso coming forward or your heels coming up–it could be because you lack mobility in your low back, but it could also be lack of mobility in your hips, or even in your ankles.
And think of this: when you don’t move in a particular range of motion, you lose that range of motion, and you become more limited in what you can do. You might be thinking that’s just normal aging, and it could be to some extent. But you have a lot more control of that than you may think. You can maintain a huge segment of your range of motion if you put in some work on the mobility front.
All of that to say, here are four back, hip and ankle mobility exercises that are seriously worth doing, particularly for hikers! Video demos of each one including a wee test to see if you could benefit from that movement. Who doesn’t love a test?
Frog Stretch and Hang
Addresses stiffness in the pelvis. Improves lower back, hip and ankle mobility.
Test: Can you squat with a straight back, arms out-stretched, to a level of hips lower than knees? (You can modify by putting heels at a slight 1″ elevation.)
Adductor Stretch on All Fours
Addresses poor knee tracking, collapsing inward. Improves alignment of knee tracking over toes.
Test: repeated forward lunges – does your knee stay within the big and little toe?
Knighthood Stretch
Addresses: ankle stiffness and restriction. Improves ability to go into a deeper squat or lunge. Bonus stretch of the hip flexors and adductors.
Test: With your foot one fist-width from the wall, can you touch your knee to the wall without your heel lifting?
Shin Box (or 90-90) with Thoracic Rotation
Addresses: pelvic and back stiffness. Improves internal and external hip rotation, thoracic back/torso rotation.
Test: as you do the shinbox, notice hip limitations and asymmetries.
Get ready for hiking with the Unstill Life crew in our outdoor workouts. We are chock full of hikers who like to build and maintain fitness for outdoor adventures. Your community awaits.
