EP 2 | What I Hate About Stretch & Flex - crossbody arm pull

Next up on the chopping block- the Crossbody Shoulder Pull.

No one needs this move unless you've killed it in the gym days ago and you're still sore. But even then, the muscles don't need holding, they need movement to circulate out the soreness.

Physical work gets done in front of the body so holding tools and lifting materials means the arms are forward and the chest is closed. On top of that, the worker is often bent over. Every part of their day is already pulling them into a head-forward, shoulder-forward posture — why should the stretch and flex reinforce the exact same position?

The fix: yoink it from the routine (technical term) and swap in a chest opener instead and pretty please make it move.

A dynamic warm-up doesn't just warm up tissue. The movement trains the body to actively move itself into the posture you want to maintain on the job. A passive stretch just forces the body into position for a few seconds and lets go; it doesn't teach anything. Active movement is what fires up the brain enough to prepare the body for the work ahead.

This is the second in a series I've been sitting on for a while. My main beef with traditional stretch & flex is that it's static and only part-by-part. I have many other things I hate about it that I will get to in this new video series, so if you're the one trying to get a stubborn crew to actually care about their bodies, this series is for you.

More fun on the way! What do you think is next?