FROM 20-MINUTE biceps workouts to 7-minute ab workouts (fun fact: these don’t actually get you abs) to soul-crushing CrossFit WODs, social media is always full of sweat sessions designed to get you jacked. But if you do a deeper dive on Instagram and TikTok, you’ll discover a handful of trainers who are building different content – and they’re moves are underrated keys to helping you feel (and look!) your best.
Yes, you need to build muscle for longevity. But you also need balance, agility, and an ability to comfortably twist in different directions. And that’s precisely what Dr. Aaron Horschig, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., Vernon Griffith, C.S.C.S.*D, and Rischad Whitfield teach all their followers. Integrate their favorite moves into your workouts and watch your gains skyrocket.
Thoracic Rotation
The future of mobility training involves more than basic dynamic stretches like cat-cow. Vernon Griffith, C.S.C.S., wants you twisting your torso, a key action you’ll do more with moves like this.
Set up in a half-kneeling stance, left shoulder, hip, and knee touching a wall, hands on your head, back arched. Staying close to the wall, shift your torso forward and rotate to the right so your chest now faces away from the wall. Slowly return to the start. That’s 1 rep—do reps for 30 seconds on each side. Do 2 or 3 sets.
Shuffle Balance
The foot-health revolution has paved the way for you to embrace agility drills, which Rischad Whitfield loves. Not just for athletes, they can aid in ankle mobility. This Whitfield favorite is a good start.
Set up or draw 2 two-foot-wide circles. Stand to the right of the right most one, balancing on the ball of your right foot. Shuffle your left foot, then your right foot, into each circle, landing to the left of the left-most one, balancing on the ball of your left foot. Pause. Reverse back to the start. That’s 1 rep. Do 3 or 4 sets of 3 or 4 reps.
Hip Airplane
Hip mobility is central to every athletic movement— and it’s becoming more popular thanks to trainers like Aaron Horschig, P.T., D.P.T., C.S.C.S, who regularly posts moves like this on his Instagram.
Stand barefoot, left foot off the floor. Spread your arms out and hinge forward over your right leg. Aim for a straight line from shoulder through left ankle. Rotate your chest to the left, then back to the right. Return to standing. Do 1 or 2 sets of 5 to 10 reps per leg, working to string more reps together over time.
This story appears in the March 2023 issue of Men’s Health.
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