Stiff, Cranky Hips? Use This Daily Mobility Routine

Stiff, tight hips are no fun. They can limit you in all sorts of activities, from running to climbing, to martial arts, or just plain moving around doing daily activities.My hips took a beating from years of sitting at a 9 to 5 desk job, and they're still recovering. But with daily practice and self-care they've come a long way and I'm inching closer to the splits every day.So wherever you're at, be patient with the process and know that with a little love and attention, they will get better over time.

Use this beginner-friendly hip mobility routine to start feeling better in your body immediately:

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Here's a breakdown of the movements:

• Leg Raises. Keep the leg straight and make sure the tailbone/butt doesn't lift off the ground as your foot lifts. Perform 10 repetitions on each leg.
• Hip Circles. With one leg bent and the other straight, perform a circle with your leg, aiming to draw a big, smooth circle with your foot on the ceiling. Make sure the opposite hip stays planted on the ground and doesn't lift. Perform 5 repetitions and then switch directions.
• Butterfly Stretch. Bring the soles of the feet together and place as close to your butt as is comfortable for you. Allow the knees to slowly relax down to the ground. Remember to breathe! Hold for about 30-60 seconds.
• Lower Spine Twist. Keeping one leg straight, bring the knee across your body until it reaches toward the floor. The same side arm can be bent at 90° or straight, depending on where you want to target the stretch. On every exhale, relax deeper into the stretch. Hold for 60 seconds on each side.
• Frog Stretch. Hold the knees in your hands and pull your legs close to your chest without lifting your lower back off the ground. Rock side to side gently and find where you need the stretch the most. Explore with rocking on your back up into a squat. Hold for 60 seconds.
• Quadruped Hip Circles. Begin in a hands and knees position, with your shoulders stacked directly over your wrists, and your hips over your knees. Bring one knee toward your chest, then out to the side, and finally back behind you, aiming to draw a smooth, big circle with your knee. Go slowly and smooth out any parts that are rough or sticky. Perform three repetitions in each direction on both sides.
• Walking the Dog. From hands and knees press your butt up high into the "down dog" position. With one leg bent, straighten the other leg and press the heel down. Move your hips to the side to find a good stretch through your glutes and side of the leg. Repeat this on both sides for 5-10 repetitions.
• Assisted Squat. From down dog, walk your hands back and your butt down into a deep squat. Hold for 30 seconds or however long you are able.
• Deep Frogger. Planting the hands down on the ground, bring the knees down and bent at about a 90° angle. Play with rocking the hips forward and back, side to side. Only bring the legs as wide as is comfortable for you. Breathe into the stretch and hold for 60 seconds.
• 90/90 Sit. Sit tall by pressing your hand behind you and get your knees into a 90° position. Drop one knee down and let the other follow until you're in a 90/90 position. If you need to bend the knees more, go for it. Listen to your body and honor where you are. To deepen the stretch reach your belly button over your front shin. Breathe and hold for 60 seconds and repeat on the other side.
• Pancake (or Straddle). Splaying the legs wide as is comfortable for you, press your hands behind you to sit taller in the position. If your lower back is still rounded, use a bolster to elevate your butt (a yoga block or cushion works great). Reach forward with your belly button to deepen the stretch. Explore moving side-to-side and find where you need the stretch most. Hold for 60 seconds.

Remember, chronic stiffness and nagging pains are not normal

The more you move every day and take care of your body, the better you will feel. You don't have to accept a slow decline or believe that "this is just the way it is" now.Try this simple routine for a week and see how your body feels.Let us know if the Movement Lifestyle group.If you know someone that needs more buttery smooth hips, make sure to share this with them. :)

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Stiff From Too Much Sitting? Here's the Cure

Stretching and getting up to take breaks is great, but we all know it's a temporary fix. If you want to get at the root and cure your sitting stiffness, watch this video and follow the steps I recommend:

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If you want to make a big transformation in your body like the students in my video, I can help. Schedule a free 1-on-1 chat with me in the next week.

Why Gym Routines Don't Work For You (and a better approach)

When I look around I see too many people trying to force themselves through workouts they don't care about to win the approval of people that don't really matter.Screw that.What I suggest is an approach that places who you are at the center.When you build fitness from the inside out, you no longer have to force or guilt yourself to stay in shape.This short video explains what I mean.

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How do you build your fitness from the inside-out?

Well first, you're going to need to stop a few things. Namely...

• Stop comparing yourself to others. Seriously, it's not worth it. You're running your own race. We all are.
• Stop basing your self worth on a number. It's not about how many times you worked out, how far you ran, or how much weight you lifted. Your worth can never be quantified by living up to some fitness ideal. Don't let anyone sell you otherwise.
• Stop forcing yourself through routines that don't feel meaningful to you. You have permission to define what fitness means to you, based on your lifestyle and what you want to do with your body.

Once you've done that, it's time to figure out what you need to thrive.

Know and honor your DNA > Standardized fitness routines

So, who are you? Well, the way I see it there are two levels of who you are:

1. First, you're a homo sapien. In other words, you're a mammal that requires a certain environment and needs to be met to thrive (clean air, sunshine, whole foods, nourishing movement, etc.)
2. Second, you're a unique individual. You are also a person that has certain strengths, weaknesses, patterns, limitations and a set of beliefs about your body based on the story you have and life experiences you've accumulated.

The shame in our world is that we are all trying to pretend we're not animals, we think we're "higher beings" or something that are beyond basic needs. But the truth is we need good food, movement, sun, air, water and loving support just like all other apes. Take any of those things away, and you can be sure that our health and fitness will suffer.Getting back to a thriving body means we need to honor our "apeness" by taking control of our own environments, and building better habits.

• Does your work and career support the health of your body, or does it make you stiff and tired?
• Is there open floor to roll around on or is it all filled with furniture used to stare into screens?
• Is your fridge packed with fresh, organic veggies and meat, or processed junk?
• How about something to hang from to open your shoulders like an ape might need?

It might sound bizarre, but consider what kind of zoo you'd build if you wanted humans to thrive in their health and fitness. Model your own environment around that to the best of your abilities.Your environment shapes who you are most, if you don't take control of it, you're fighting a losing battle.

How can you honor what you most deeply need?

The second piece is to look at what you uniquely need. Maybe that's to be more disciplined, to have more social support, to take on a new identity about what you're really capable of.If you can become aware of what you (not anyone else) most deeply need to thrive, then it's a matter of honoring what you need, rather than forcing, shaming and guilting yourself to go to the gym.Of course, that requires that you slow down, check in with yourself, and listen to the signals your body is sending you. Perhaps you need to stretch more, to go outside more, to let go of trying to live up to some ridiculous expectations.Whatever it is, know that it is a continual practice. Your best self is revealed in every day that you show up and honor who you are, where you are, and what you need.Becoming the fittest, most badass version of yourself can really be as simple as that.P.S. Need some help getting more flexible and moving more consistently? Book a free strategy session with me and I'll help you create a roadmap to a body you love to wake up and live in.

How to Exercise Every Day with the Visual Trigger Technique

Being a person longer obsessed with self-development and productivity, I've long known that habits are the key to success.Consistency, not perfection is what separates high performers from the pack.If you've read at all about habits, you know there are a few key elements to building them:

Trigger > Routine > Reward

• The trigger is what reminds you or initiates the habit.
• The routine is what you actually do.
• And the reward is the benefit of doing the habit.

The reward can either be intrinsic, like a feeling of pride or a rush of endorphins after a run. Or external like a smoothie or cup of butter coffee (my favorite) after a training session.There are a lot of ways to increase your chances of success with a habit. Using a habit tracker, getting accountability and making your goal small to start with are a few of the common recommendations.But if you're anything like me, you've probably tried a lot of these things. You've made big goals and struggled to achieve them (New Years, anyone?) not because of a lack of good intention, but because of a failure to implement a system.I've found the weakest link in the chain is usually the strength of the trigger.

If you don't have a strong reminder to do the habit, you fail before you even start

Let's look at a common example, trying to jog every day before work. Let's say I decide that my trigger to run is my morning shower. I take my shower, then I put on my shoes (and clothes, hopefully) and go head out the door.Great idea. But what if I don't remember that my shower is my trigger? What if I forget?You can try to combat this by setting a reminder on your phone, but we all know how easy it is to ignore an alarm amidst the other million notifications. It's not a great idea to rely on being reminded in a place that is a vortex of distraction.I mean, how many times have you looked at your phone meaning to do something, and found yourself in Instagram or email trying to remember what exactly you were intending to do in the first place?My point exactly.The bottom line is this: the most important first part of creating a new habit isn't willpower or discipline, it's remembering to do the habit.The technique that I want to share with you is called the visual trigger technique. I've used it to build my coaching business, exercise more regularly, and create deeper relationships.

So, what is the visual trigger technique and why does it work?

Watch this video to see how I use this technique:

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A visual trigger is something that's in your physical space you interact with every day. Ideally, it's something very visually loud and hard to ignore.The more visceral it is, the better. It's something you want to be physically interacting with.

Example one: The Rock Jar Strategy

One of my current goals is to build more meaningful relationships. I know that doing a better job of keeping in touch with my friends, family and peers will have a huge impact on my quality of life and the success of my work.So, I put two jars on my desk. One is filled with rocks, the other is empty. Each rock represents a connection, whether that be an email, phone call or voice message. Every time I make a connection, I move one rock to the other jar. My goal is 30 connections a month, or one a day. At the end of the month, I want to have all the rocks moved from one jar to the other.The rocks for you could represent 30 minutes of movement or submitting a resume. Whatever your goal is, you decide what each rock represents.The purpose is to choose an action you can control. You can't control the outcome, but you can control how many rocks you move each day.Move enough of them, and success is pretty much inevitable.Note: This is a technique I adapted from James Clear's paper clip strategy.

Example two: The Sticky Note Strategy

If you're a coach or some kind of service provider, you know that following up with leads and serving your clients is critical to your business. But it can be easy to forget to forget to check in if you don't have a system for tracking potential clients.I solved this problem with the visual trigger technique. Each client and potential client gets a sticky note with their name, primary concern, and the last date I contacted them.It's right above my desk and in constant view so I can't ignore it.Every day I touch each one and look at the last date I followed up. I never let a client or potential client go more than a few days without me following up to check in and add value.Since doing this, I have no problem filling up my client roster.The sticky note approach isn't limited to building your business though. You could create a note for each workout you do, and the date of the last time you did it. You might have another note reminding you why it's important for you to follow through, and even another with a reminder what to do if things get tough like "do your best" or "text my coach."No coach? I can help with that. :)

How you can use this technique to stay consistent with your habits

It literally takes 5-10 minutes to get the sticky notes, or jars of rocks set up. Don't make it complicated, just decide what your goal is, and how you're going to track it.If you want to really bulletproof your odds, use this with some kind of accountability. Tell someone you're going to do this, so they can follow up with you.Your future self will thank you.

Want to master the exercise habit?

Get a free mobility lesson you can do anywhere when you join the waitlist for my course, the Primal Body Reboot.You'll learn how to create functional strength and flexibility with simple ground-based movements. No equipment necessary.Get your free lesson

Four Restorative Primal Movements to Relieve Aches and Pains

Your body never evolved for the modern lifestyle. In reality, as far as your body's concerned, it still thinks you're hunting and gathering.But since most of us aren't going back to that lifeway anytime soon, the best we can do is break up our day with more movement.These are the primal patterns I start all of my coaching clients with because they give you the most bang for your buck.

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Try doing this routine to break up periods of sitting, or as a start or end to your day:

• Reach with leg and arm to side sitting
• Side plank to quadruped position
• Opposite hand/foot reach from quadruped
• Walk the hands back to squat

Repeating this cycle 3-4 times, focusing on exploration and being curious about your body will produce profound effects.Give it a try, and share this if you think more people could benefit from primal patterns.

Want to free yourself from daily aches and pains?

Check out my course, the Primal Body Reboot for a six-week guided process to reclaiming your naturally flexible, strong body.Learn more