the only mobility routine you'll ever need (Agile 8)

background

• I found the mobility routine to end them all.
• I've known about the Agile 8 lower body routine for a while. I noticed Jim Wendler of 5-3-1 fame hype it, but I never took it seriously.
• Then I hurt my back again. I had pain for a week. In desperation, I reached for Agile 8. The pain went away almost entirely.
• I was in awe.
• It also only had 8 exercises and only took 15 minutes to do!
• I want to prevent injury to my body. I've had my share of low back pain and I've also had my share of shin splints, foot pain, and knee pain.
• Peter Attia lays out 4 components for exercise in Outlive, and stability, which is basically injury prevention, is one of them.
• The Agile 8 routine is a lower body routine by Joe DeFranco, focused on low back pain. Limber 11 is the DeFranco's updated version of the lower body routine. He also put out Simple 6, an upper body routine.
• Most people don't know but Joe DeFranco also put out how he'd design an 8-step full body mobility routine—Agile 8 2.0—in this podcast here.
• This article is about Agile 8 2.0.

routine design

• DeFranco shares that in his 22 years of training others, there are 3 most common issues in the gym:
  • Low back pain (the most common issue)
  • Knee pain
  • Shoulder pain
• These issues are the symptoms. While the root causes are mobility issues in the joint below.
  • If we lose ankle mobility, we have knee pain.
  • If we lose hip mobility, we have low back pain.
  • If we lose thoracic spine mobility, we have shoulder pain.
• So, we should design a routine that addresses ankle mobility, hip mobility, and thoracic spine mobility.
• He outlines:
  • Low back pain (3 exercises)
    • Definitely address glutes
    • Definitely address adductors
    • Definitely address hip flexors / quads
  • Ankle mobility (2 exercises)
  • Thoracic spine mobility (1 exercise)
  • Pecs (1 exercise)
  • Lats (1 exercise)
• DeFranco is not dogmatic about which exercise you use for each category. You should do what you like.
  • This is barring 2 non-negotiable exercises.
  • To him, rolling the bottom of your feet with a lacrosse ball and doing a dead hang are non-negotiable. Do just these to start the habit of a mobility routine.

routine

• Feet/Ankle - Rolling bottom of feet with lacrosse ball (60s per foot)
• Ankle - Weighted calf stretch or knees over toes lunge (depends on what gives you a better stretch)
• Glutes - Lacrosse ball (60s per side)
• Adductors - Adductor smash or foam rolling or Cossack squats or rocking frog stretch
• Hip flexor/quads - Hip flexor stretch e.g. couch stretch
• Thoracic extension/rotation - Banded thoracic rotation
• Pecs - Lacrosse ball across pec or pec opener using rack
• Lats/Shoulders - Relaxed hang from chinup bar (60s-120s total)

Personally, I see myself doing the following in specific:

• Roll bottom of feet with lacrosse ball
• Weighted calf stretch
• Glutes on lacrosse ball
• Foam roll adductors (or maybe Cossack squats)
• Couch stretch
• Banded thoracic rotation
• Lacrosse ball across pec
• Relaxed hang from chinup bar

I wish I could give more detailed instructions, but that's all I got in me today. I'll see if there's ways to simplify it and have similar equipment needs for the whole routine though.

Let me know what you think of the routine!