Fitness Friends, it is no secret that I dislike labeling exercises as good or bad. I believe that all exercise is valuable and the ones you will do, and do consistently, are the best for you. I also believe that it is important to challenge our comfort zones and seek out ways that different movement patterns can serve us. To those ends, let’s talk about how Sun Salutations can be a mobility boon.
I am fully aware that this post has the potential to anger both yogis and hard core gym rats. But as someone who participates in both, I think it is important to point out how there are parts of each practice that can benefit the other. A few months ago, I posted a simple mobility series and I stand by those exercises. The point of mobility work in strength training is to prep the body, the joints in particular, to work through their range of motion. In other words, to get your shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, elbows, and wrists moving and lubricated before you ask them to carry weight.
The Sun Salutations are a series of yoga postures done in sequence with breath. The ancient purpose was to offer prayer to the sun each morning. Now, these are completed as part of many different types of physical practices either as part of the practice itself or as warm up sequences. As a physical practice, the purpose of the Sun Salutations are to circulate the blood through the body, increase the heart and breath rates slightly, warm the muscles, and get the joints moving.
Move All Major Joint/Complexes
The Sun Salutation Series move all of the major joints in the body, with a special concentration on shoulders and hips. In truth, so many are experiencing pain simply because they are not moving their joints on the regular. If you have upper body strength work planned, I can guarantee you’ll be using your shoulders. Ditto your hips for lower body work. Asking these important joints to move through your unique comfortable range before you load them will make any strength work easier.
Easily Modifiable
The Sun Salutation Series are all easy to adjust. Whether it is cold outside and you need an extra series to warm up enough, you are recovering from an injury, or you have lost some mobility due to the normal aging process, Sun Salutations can accommodate. Tight hamstrings? Go ahead and bend your knees a bit. Struggle to lift your arms perfectly overhead? That’s okay, raise them as high as comfortable or bring them slightly front. Take a shallower lunge step. Utilize Cobra rather than Upward Facing Dog. All fine.
Naturally Controlled Tempo
Something that a lot of us forget with mobility work is that we are supposed to consciously control the tempo. Because there is little to no load in these exercises, it is easy to let momentum take over, but that isn’t actually helping. Mobility work involves enough control so that you can get a sense of where your body is on any given day. The Sun Salutations are meant to flow with your breath. Meaning that each movement should occur with either the inhale or exhale phase of your breath. And if you find yourself panting, the instructions are always to slow the pace and hold postures rather than rush. This controlled tempo allows you to actually connect with your body and what might be going on so that you can accommodate.
Utilizes Natural Body Motions
The Sun Salutations make good use of how the joints in the body are set up to move naturally. Some mobility exercises try to overcomplicate things asking for the body to be in an unnatural or uncomfortable position. Most of us can’t be in a low catcher’s style squat for long enough to reap the benefits. And I love a good 90-90 stretch, but some of the variations require a level of coordination only seen in Olympic gymnastics. The Sun Salutations are simple positions, both to get into and adjust. I also find that each successive run through the sequence allows for deeper stretches, which is one of the points of mobility work.
Time Saving
One of the biggest reasons people cite for skipping this part of a workout is time. And, yeah, I get it. Sometimes you just don’t have it to spare. In fact, part of the reason I tried these in the first place was to alleviate time constraints. I wanted mobility that didn’t take 10 plus minutes. I can do 4 full sequences in about five minutes. Once you learn the postures and the sequence, Sun Salutations are simple.
No Equipment Required
The Sun Salutations don’t require any additional equipment. You need a space of floor big enough to accommodate a large lunge step and push up posture. Done. No need to wander around the gym looking for a foam roller that isn’t half squished. No need to worry about having what you need if you’d prefer to sneak in an at home workout. As long as you have you, you are good to go.
Ease of Planning
Sun Salutations are full body mobility. Obviously if you are gearing up for a full body strength workout, then you should be working through mobility in all the joints. While a full body mobility routine isn’t necessary if you are doing a split workout (upper vs lower body), I actually find it helpful for two reasons. First, full body mobility may help with control over the weights (i.e. barbell back squats are tough when you can’t squeeze your shoulder blades together). Second, you don’t need to plan or think about different routines for different workouts. You have one sequence to remember and work through.
Will you try Sun Salutations for mobility?
