“Locked out” of your own body…?
Test this out for yourself - watch the demo video with Fabio and do the drills as he does them at the link below.
Feel like your shoulder, lower back, or hamstrings are “locked up” no matter how much you stretch, foam roll, or train?
That’s the problem I’m breaking down in this video.
You can keep pressing.
Keep swinging.
Keep stretching.
Keep doing mobility drills.
And still feel like your body won’t give you access to the range of motion — or the muscle — you’re trying to use.
Here’s the big idea:
You cannot make a muscle stronger if you can’t get to it.
And you can’t grow it very well either.
If a joint won’t move through its full range, your body finds another way to get the job done.
You compensate.
You work around the restriction.
And after enough years, that workaround starts to feel “normal.”
I know because I spent years doing exactly what the fitness industry told me to do.
Stretching.
Foam rolling.
Corrective exercise.
Mobility work.
Bracing every rep.
And in 2005, at age 32, I still tore both hip labrums, lost articular cartilage, developed bursitis and arthritis, and eventually reached the point where I couldn’t bend my knees without excruciating pain.
That experience changed the way I looked at restoration completely.
What I eventually found was a different place to start:
Diaphragmatic breathing.
And in this video, I’ll show you a simple sequence you can test for yourself:
1. Test your range of motion first.
Can’t get your arm fully overhead?
Can’t touch your toes?
Note where you are.
2. Lie on your back and take 20 deep diaphragmatic breaths.
Let your stomach rise and fall.
Let your sides expand.
3. Slowly turn your head side to side, leading with your eyes.
Do 10–20 reps per side.
Then stand up and retest your range of motion.
In most cases, for most people, range of motion increases.
Then retest the movement that matters to you:
For your shoulders — Press.
For your lower back — Goblet Squat or Swing.
For your knees — Goblet Squat.
The principle underneath all of this is simple:
Full range at the joint.
Full activation of the muscle.
Fewer workarounds.
That’s the door.
And everything else in this RSMP series is on the other side of it.
Remember:
Unlock your joints, access your muscles, and you’ll be almost “instantly” stronger.
Stay Strong,
Geoff Neupert.
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