You are about to head into your final week of Spartan Race Beast preparation. Your long runs are done and your strength work is done. Take today to reward yourself with some rest, stretching, active recovery and active mobilization.

Suggested Reading:

Build Immunity to Life’s Biggest Obstacles

An Open Letter to Spartans Everywhere

Suggested Listening:

A New Way to Live with Fear

Suggested Activities:

Stretching, yoga, hike, shovel snow, snowshoe

Active Mobilization:

The most common issue with all individuals alike is the hips. Hip imbalances can cause dysfunction throughout the entire body. Whether you suffer from lower back pain, have overly tight hamstrings, or have the constant nagging calf tightness, your hips are most often the culprit. Today, we are going to release those glutes.

Start by lying your outer glute muscle on a tennis or lacrosse ball. This is a 45-degree, side lying position. Then create stability by engaging your lat muscle, the opposite glute and foot. The bottom leg should then raise off the ground in a clamshell position trying to reach the top knee. Make sure the top knee does not move. Find 3 trigger points in the glute and do 8 reps on each. Then move into the knee drive position where you bring your knee to chest and then into full extension. Repeat 8 reps on each spot.

This active mobility exercise is awesome for releasing tightness in the glute muscles a common area of restriction that can contribute to hip, knee and low back pain. Give this a try before or after any workout or Spartan Race. You may also want to add this in daily despite your workout as a way to remedy any chronic pains your body might have. Get used to this one, Spartans, this will give you the most effective muscular release.