How to Improve Your Mobility, Posture & Flexibility | Dr. Kelly Starrett

Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Kelly Starrett. Dr. Kelly Starrett is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and one of the world's experts in movement. That is, he teaches people how to move better for sake of sport, for sake of recreational fitness, and for everyday living. Today, we discuss several important topics, including how best to warm up for any and all workouts. He also tells us how to improve our movement patterns for cardiovascular exercise, for sport, for resistance training, across the board, how to move better, and how to improve our range of motion with the minimal amount of time investment. We hear a lot about different forms of stretching. We hear about dynamic stretching. We hear about passive stretching. Dr. Starrett explains how to improve our range of motion across our entire body in the best possible ways, as well as how to offset or repair any imbalances that stem from musculoskeletal problems or from neural issues, and how to reduce soreness, how to improve our posture, seated, standing, and movement-based posture. We talk about nutrition. So today's episode covers an immense amount of actionable information that I'm certain all of you will benefit from. Dr. Kelly Starrett has authored several bestselling books, some of which you may have heard of, such as Supple Leopard. He was actually one of the first people to become synonymous with the use of a lacrosse ball or foam roller, but really even though a lot of people have talked about those, what he was really doing there was to emphasize the importance of understanding the relationship between the skeleton, the muscles, the nervous system, and the fascia. And today we also talk about fascia, which is an incredibly interesting and important topic. In addition to consulting and coaching for various college level and professional athletes and teams, Dr. Kelly Starrett and his wife, Juliet Starrett, co-own The Ready State, and we provide a link to The Ready State in the show note captions there. They have a plethora of useful information and actionable protocols. I should mention, years ago, I took one of the courses from The Ready State. It's a really interesting course that we touch on some of the protocols from today. It's all about pelvic floor. So whether you're male or female and regardless of age, understanding your pelvic floor, how to take care of your pelvic floor in the context of exercise, posture, et cetera, is vitally important for all sorts of vitally important bodily functions. So today we also touch on that. By the end of today's episode, I'm certain that you will be armed with a number of new highly actionable protocols. I should emphasize these protocols take very little time and have an outsized positive effect on your movement, your posture, and your overall health. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Maui Nui Venison. Maui Nui Venison is 100% wild harvested venison from the island of Maui, and it is the most nutrient dense and delicious red meat available. I've spoken before on this podcast about the fact that most of us should be consuming about one gram of quality protein per pound of body weight every day. That protein provides critical building blocks for things like muscle repair and synthesis, but it also promotes overall health, given the importance of muscle tissue as an organ. Eating enough quality protein each day is also a terrific way to stave off hunger. One of the key things, however, is to make sure that you're getting enough quality protein without ingesting excess calories. Maui Nui Venison has an extremely high quality protein per calorie ratio, so that getting one gram of quality protein per pound of body weight is both easy and doesn't cause you to ingest an excess of calories. Also, Maui Nui Venison is absolutely delicious. They have venison steaks, ground venison, and venison bone broth. I personally like all of those. In fact, I probably eat a Maui Nui venison burger pretty much every day, and occasionally I'll swap that for a Maui Nui steak. 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Now, in addition to sunlight, red light and near infrared light have been shown to have positive effects on improving numerous aspects of cellular and organ health, including faster muscle recovery, improved skin health and wound healing, improvements in acne, meaning reductions in acne, reduced pain and inflammation, improved mitochondrial function, and even improving visual function itself. What sets Joovv lights apart and why they're my preferred red light therapy device is that they use clinically proven wavelengths, meaning specific wavelengths of red light and near-infrared light in specific combinations to trigger the optimal cellular adaptations. Personally, I use the Joovv whole body panel about three to four times per week, typically in the morning, but sometimes in the afternoon. And I use the Joovv handheld light both at home and when I travel. If you'd like to try Joovv, you can go to Joovv, spelled J-O-O-V-V, .com/huberman. Joovv is offering an exclusive discount to all Huberman Lab listeners with up to $400 off select Joovv products. Again, that's Joovv, J-O-O-V-V,.com/huberman to get up to $400 off. And now for my discussion with Dr. Kelly Starrett. Dr. Kelly Starrett, welcome.