Dr. Vonda Wright

So I like every workout to start with a dynamic warmup, meaning we're gonna warm everything up. So I'll just, for instance, It may sound simple, but it is. Full arm circles, meaning you're pretending to be Michael Phelps. You're putting your arms to your right. Full arm circles, trunk rotations, bending back and forth, twisting side to side. Hip rotations, I just grab a stable surface and...

Bring my hip forward, circle it all around, just 10 reps even. Or if you want to sit on the ground, there's this great hip mobility stretch called a 90-90. You just bend your knees to 90 and you go back and forth. And so the same with our knees.

Bring my hip forward, circle it all around, just 10 reps even. Or if you want to sit on the ground, there's this great hip mobility stretch called a 90-90. You just bend your knees to 90 and you go back and forth. And so the same with our knees.

Has he?

Has he?

Yes. And then there's this wonderful stretch that I, it just feels so good. It's called a bookend stretch. You lay on a flat surface with arms out to the side, like a cross. You bend your knee up and then you just roll it over and that stretches your lumbar spine. So you have full mobility. That's a dynamic warmup.

Yes. And then there's this wonderful stretch that I, it just feels so good. It's called a bookend stretch. You lay on a flat surface with arms out to the side, like a cross. You bend your knee up and then you just roll it over and that stretches your lumbar spine. So you have full mobility. That's a dynamic warmup.

It's not hard, but you must start every workout with that so that as you're sprinting or as you're lifting, that everything is primed and ready. So that's the flexibility part. The E-F-A-C-E is equilibrium and foot speed. We've talked about muscle. We've talked about bone and fragility. Many people, even with low muscle mass, even with low bone density, may be okay until they fall.

It's not hard, but you must start every workout with that so that as you're sprinting or as you're lifting, that everything is primed and ready. So that's the flexibility part. The E-F-A-C-E is equilibrium and foot speed. We've talked about muscle. We've talked about bone and fragility. Many people, even with low muscle mass, even with low bone density, may be okay until they fall.

One critical fall can be, and I can tell you all kinds of stories, but it can mean the difference between life-death, living alone, not living alone. So what do we do about it? We've got to retrain our balance. simply as standing on one foot when you brush your teeth. Literally, you're standing there, tree pose, hand going back and forth.

One critical fall can be, and I can tell you all kinds of stories, but it can mean the difference between life-death, living alone, not living alone. So what do we do about it? We've got to retrain our balance. simply as standing on one foot when you brush your teeth. Literally, you're standing there, tree pose, hand going back and forth.

You will retrain the neuromuscular pathways that degrade starting about in your 20s.

You will retrain the neuromuscular pathways that degrade starting about in your 20s.

Yeah, easy.

Yeah, easy.

You must. And alternate legs on different days of the week, right? You will retrain your balance so quickly because we should be able to balance on one leg for about 20 seconds. Mm-hmm. Because what happens when we reach over and we just fall over?

You must. And alternate legs on different days of the week, right? You will retrain your balance so quickly because we should be able to balance on one leg for about 20 seconds. Mm-hmm. Because what happens when we reach over and we just fall over?

Yeah. We don't want to do that. The other thing is it's very common to see all kinds of athletes doing agility drills. You've seen it on the field, jumping up and down, jumping over barriers. People like you and me need to retrain the ability to have foot speed and agility so that if you're like me and you leave your work bag by the edge of your chair and you get up too quickly, you can...

Yeah. We don't want to do that. The other thing is it's very common to see all kinds of athletes doing agility drills. You've seen it on the field, jumping up and down, jumping over barriers. People like you and me need to retrain the ability to have foot speed and agility so that if you're like me and you leave your work bag by the edge of your chair and you get up too quickly, you can...

catch your foot and hop over it instead of catch your foot and land flat on your face.