Circuit 2: CONTROLLED ARTICULAR ROTATIONS (CARS) FOR THE HIPS

Just like in Circuit 1, we’re going to do some Controlled Articular Rotations (aka “CARs”) in Circuit 2, this time we’re focusing on the hip joints.

What Makes “CARs” Different?

I like to think of training in this way:

There are the tools I use to build the patterns that are part of every exercise and skill I perform.

And then there are the patterns themselves that make up the exercise or activity.

Crappy Tools = Crappy Building.

Your Body – and Your Training – Are the Same Way. 

Your joints, in this case, the HIP joint, are the tools you have at your disposal to build great training patterns.

If your hip isn’t a very good hip, how good can your bridging or deadlifting be? Not very. Put another way, a “functional” exercise isn’t functional if the joints in question aren’t “functioning” as they should be.

So, as far as we are concerned, rule #1 in our training is, do our best to ensure our “tools” (namely, our joints: shoulders, spine, hips) are as good as they possibly can be. And that’s where Controlled Articular Rotations, aka CARs, come in.

If you’re a runner, would you like to be able to run faster and easier? Stronger and more efficient?

In order to run at high speeds safely with a low risk of injury, you need to be healthy, stable, and have very good mobility, especially in the hips.

What do I mean?

Having a large available range of motion in the hip joints helps to resist impact forces AND allows you to stride longer and easier.

Put simply, you can’t run safely and efficiently at a fast speed without a good range of motion in your hips.

Think about it: when you see a very fast efficient-looking runner, they appear to be covering a significant amount of ground with every stride. There are a few reasons why that happens, but know that it WON’T happen unless the hip joints can move freely, allowing the knees to drive forward during the swing phase of the stride, and the legs to push back powerfully.

Check out the image to the left as one example – that’s an elite Boston Marathon runner.

What you see during this “mid-flight” stage of the gait cycle is an obviously large range of motion at the hips.

Which again brings me to this simple and important concept, my friend. You can’t move where you can’t move. 

For this reason, make Hip CARs a focus in your training. The rewards will come back to you in many ways, especially faster running!

It’s not just moving a joint through a range of motion, it’s also an assessment, helping you to learn where you have your greatest areas of opportunity.

“CARs” enables each and every one of us to ascertain where we are with each and every joint.

For example, do you possess less range of motion than you should have? Or is it adequate range of motion? Somewhere in between?

The key is dis-association. It’s not easy!

So often when we move a certain part of our body with the goal of moving ONLY that body part, we “think” we’re dissociating that portion and not moving any other.  But if my experience counts for anything (and it does), in many or most cases, there is some compensation which ends up reducing our ability to separate out a certain joint or body part and move it independently of the other nearby parts.

Think about this: we need articular (joint) independence BEFORE we can have articular interdependence.

This is the central premise behind doing CARs daily. In other words, doing these well and religiously will positively impact every other single thing you do as an athlete and human being. Done on a regular basis, CARs will:

· provide signaling for tissue remodeling to allow for maximal tissue elongation and range of motion maintenance.

· engage and train all articular mechanoreceptors on a regular basis.

· prevent maturation of fibrotic tissue.

· delay or prevent the onset of osteoarthritis/arthrosis.

To summarize, let’s do everything we can to make sure our joints not only last us a lifetime, but that they also serve us well during our lifetimes and allow us to build some great patterns along the way, what do you say?