Functional Range Conditioning (FRC®)
Developed by world-renowned musculoskeletal and human movement expert Dr. Andreo Spina. FRC® is a system of joint health and mobility training based in scientific principles and research.
There are 3 main goals when training using FRC® system and all are closely interrelated, and acquired simultaneously:
Mobility
Mobility refers to the amount of usable motion that one possesses across a particular articulation (joint). The more mobile a person is, the more they are able to maximize their movement potential safely, efficiently, and effectively.
Joint Strength
While improving mobility and movement potential, the FRC® system also acts to ‘bullet proof’ (or safe-guard) your joints so that movement can be executed safely.
Body Control
Training with FRC® improves the function of your nervous system. This leads to a reduction of pain and injury, joint health and longevity, as well as an increased ability to move freely and easily.
How do we do this?
In order to thrive as human beings, we have to think about our evolutionary history. What were we naturally selected to do? We spent the majority of our time as hunter gatherers and during this time our environment would have demanded a huge variety of movement. Nowadays, we live very sedentary lifestyles, most of us stuck in an office, sat in a chair, working behind a desk for most of the day. On a daily basis, how do we compensate for not doing what we were naturally selected to do?
CARs
The backbone of FRC training is the daily morning CARs (controlled articular rotations) routine. What are CARs? They are active, rotational movements at the outer limits of articular motion. During the morning routine we take each individual joint slowly through its full, active ROM (range of motion). They are used to maintain our articular health, longevity and current ROM. We mostly lose ROM as we age because we no longer use it anymore, not because we’ve gotten older. We could think of CARs in a similar way to brushing our teeth, except to keep our joints healthy, hence the morning routine is performed daily. CARs are also used as a means of self-assessment to identify current capacities and to notice any aberrant joint function. Outside of the morning routine, CARs can also be used for high intensity training. Since movement is a natural anti-inflammatory, CARs can also play a role in rehabilitation.
Flexibilty vs Mobility
Before we start training, it’s important to understand the difference between flexibilty and mobility. Flexibilty is the ability to passively achieve a range of motion, usually with the help of an outside force e.g. gravity, the floor, a wall or another person. This is ROM that is unusable and that a person has no control over. The effects of passively stretching on the viscoelasticity of a muscle are short lived and do not make significant changes to muscle structure. Flexibility changes are mostly due to improvements in stretch tolerance and are neurological in nature. However, passive ROM is still important as it is a prerequisite for developing active ROM. Mobility is the ability to actively achieve a ROM or the ability to physically move into a position without the help of an outside force (flexibilty + strength/control). Mobility training is an attempt to capture passive ROM’s and make them active (usable).
PAILs & RAILs
Once we’ve identified our weak spots using the CARs routine and/or decided what we require for our movement goals, we can start using isometric contraction efforts (usually whilst in a stretch) to expand and strengthen a ROM. An isometric is a muscular contraction where the tissue length remains fixed i.e. it is neither moving via shortening (concentric) or lengthening (eccentric). A PAIL (progressive angular isometric loading) will strengthen and expand our lengthened articular ranges and a RAIL (regressive angular isometric loading) will strengthen our shortened articular ranges.
End & Full Range Control
Once we’ve expanded our ROM via PAILs & RAILs, or if we already have sufficient passive ROM but we lack control, then we need to ‘save the work’ by teaching our body and nervous system how to own these larger ranges. This is possible through various exercises such as passive range holds, passive range lift-offs, hovers, end range rotational training (CARs on ‘steroids’), and eccentric neural grooving.
Some outcomes you can expect from consistent mobility training:
Improved Mobility and Movement Capacity
Decreased Tightness
Less Aches and Pains
Improved Strength and Athletic Performance
Improved Body Control and Athleticism
Injury Mitigation
More Resilient To Life/Sport/Training
Improved Joint Health and Longevity
Want to learn more?
If you want to start taking care of your joint health, I currently offer private 1:1 Mobility sessions online and in person. No previous experience is necessary. Click here for more information.