All About Kinstretch (FRC) by Dr. Andreo Spina: The Fully Scientific Movement and Mobility Enhancement System.

For many people, mobility is still that boring thing that you have to do in 5 minutes before starting your session and have fun.

We go to the gym, we quickly get moving, we grab a roller or a ball, we do some stretches and we start training. Same thing, at the next session, again and again...

We see the work of mobilizing the joints as a one-off element and not as a long-term process .

Dr. Andreo Spina wants to change your perception of mobility.

He is the creator of the Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) certification, a system of mobility and movement capacity used by coaches and manual therapists worldwide, and Kinstretch , which applies its principles in classes that regular athletes can attend in groups.

Basically, it is a regular training to improve your joint mobility and body control, in a progressive way, so that you really feel that at the beginning of the session, you have a greater capacity for movement than you have in the past days, weeks, months...

The FRC system, which translates into French as “ Functional Range of Motion Training ,” is based on scientific principles and neuroscience research. This is what sets it apart from most other methodologies.

In this article, we will learn more about this training system that is supposed to improve our usable movements , and see what it actually does.

Very good reading my move.

What exactly is Kinstretch?

In a nutshell, Kinstretch is a movement enhancement system that develops maximum body control, flexibility, and usable ranges of motion.

The important word here is “usable.”

Kinstretch is a highly specialized mobility workout that uses joint-specific strength training concepts to improve movement quality and capacity.

In short, practicing Kinstretch will improve your range of motion, strength, resilience, and longevity.

Nothing new, you might say, that's the goal of any mobility training program worthy of the name.

However, the idea of ​​Kinstretch is NOT to replace other movement or mobility training modalities (Yoga, Pilates, CrossFit, etc.), but rather to complement them . It is to prepare the body so that it can have a high level of performance (in the sense of functioning optimally) for your favorite physical activity.

Kinstretch is all about giving you more movement options . That's more options to be efficient, fast, powerful, and most importantly, move safely.

Reminds me of an online movement academy… Nomadslim Movement… something… ;p

Before we get into the details of what Kinstretch is exactly, let's quickly look at what it isn't:

• Kinstretch is not yoga .
• Kinstretch is not Pilates.
• Kinstretch is not prolonged static stretching.
• Kinstretch is not CrossFit.
• Kinstretch is not Zumba.

Although Kinstretch may have different aspects that you will recognize (certain positions, names of exercises, contraction and release protocol, etc.), it is very different in the approach it takes and in its system of evaluation and calculated measurements to better determine your progress.

One of the most crucial differences between Kinstretch and other approaches is the use of active range of motion or mobility training to build your base, your foundation for everything else .

Instead of seeing your development towards a greater range of motion and more freedom in your body like for example, getting a new yoga pose, or getting a better position in your deep squat , or even a better Overhead for your Snatches…

Kinstretch improves the overall capacity of your joints.

It's about improving the human body so that it can perform in any context . Instead of doing, say, your mobility routine or your stretches to improve your yoga poses, or your snatch or your wrestling move... you're improving the vehicle and therefore all of those positions will consequently become easier for you.

One of the most important pieces of information that one learns early on about the FRC system is the difference between flexibility and joint mobility .

As a reminder, flexibility is the ability to passively achieve a wide range of motion, while mobility is the ability to control (strength + flexibility) ranges of motion.

With Kinstretch, we try to increase our joint ranges, while also teaching the central nervous system how to control these ranges . In this system, we also introduce the notion of progressive adaptations for tissue preparation and safety.

A variety of exercises are used to help the person increase their active mobility .

The deep problem, the one we're all trying to solve, whether we're part of the FRC system, Ido Portal's Movement Culture, the Nomadslim Movement Academy, or MovNat... It doesn't matter, we all have the same common enemy :

The modern sedentary lifestyle.

In fact, our lifestyle does not prepare us at all, but then NOT AT ALL , for the majority or even all of the exercises and movements that we will have to perform in our sports and our daily physical activities.

We're trying to address the gap that exists between the average modern human, the basic human, sitting all day, being able to do the movements of your CrossFit session, Muay Thai, bodybuilding, yoga... without hurting yourself .

These are the physical prerequisites for all human movement.

Dr. Andreo Spina explains the importance of meeting these physical prerequisites for sports practice very simply:

When we improve the quality of our movements, we reduce pain, stiffness, and pressure, and gradually remove restrictions in our bodies. This allows for greater potential for endurance, resilience, and performance.

Better mobility is also directly correlated with a better quality of life . There's nothing pleasant about feeling stiff, locked in, like a prisoner in your own body, living with chronic pain, and easily injured.

When we don't pay enough attention to our joints, their health, and our overall mobility, the quality of our movements diminishes, our resilience diminishes, we become fragile and quickly, we break ...

It's called aging. No, we're not supposed to gradually weaken and lose our ability to move as we spend more time on this beautiful planet.

Mobility can be performed by anyone, and everyone would benefit from incorporating joint-specific movements into their training programs and daily routines. It doesn't matter if you're young or old, a professional athlete, an artist, or just anyone...

Who is Dr. Andreo Spina, creator of FRS (Functional Range Systems)?

A sports chiropractor and movement and mobility coach, Dr. Spina holds a Master's degree in kinesiology from McMaster University.

He later graduated with First Class Honours and Clinical Distinction from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College as a Doctor of Chiropractic .

He then completed a two-year postgraduate scholarship in sports science .

He is the creator of the Functional Range Release (FR)® soft tissue management system, the Functional Range Conditioning (FRC)® mobility development system, and the Kinstretch™ movement stretching method, which are currently used by practitioners worldwide as well as a number of professional sports organizations, athletes, and entertainers.

He is a published author and international speaker on the topics of joint health , movement and mobility development, sports performance and injury management.

That's the short bio that can be found on the official FRC website.

Now for what always interests us the most: the list of benefits of Kinstretch on the body, movements and health.

The benefits of Kinstretch

As we've seen, Kinstretch is much more than just static stretching. Not only does it open up new ranges of motion for your joints, but it teaches your body how to control the new ranges .

This is the key and this is also what we do at the Nomadslim Movement Academy.

As I say in all my online trainings: without awareness, without intention, without actively engaging your nervous system, without focus, it does NOT work.

In this sense, Kinstretch will help you, only if you decide to help yourself hahaha

The obvious gains

I think you will have understood the benefits of joint mobility training and so I will not detail the obvious gains .

The classics:

• Improved movement ability
• Improved mobility, flexibility and agility
• Improved physical performance
• Improved body awareness and control
• Injury Prevention/Mitigation
• Increased strength
• Increased neurological function
• Improved range of motion
• Improved injury management

In short, this is the basis when you adopt a practice to reconnect the nervous system with the body .

Here are several reasons why applying Kinstretch can be beneficial.

Reduce compensation mechanisms

We very often get injured because of compensatory mechanisms .

Our poor posture, as well as the lack of mobility and control of the different segments and joints of our body, means that our machine adapts and tries to allow us to move despite all our asymmetries and weaknesses.

With Kinstretch, we work a lot on the ability to control the muscles around a joint and manipulate the joints at the ends of our ranges of motion.

Basically, if your hip doesn't move the way a hip is supposed to, it's no longer a usable hip . You have to relearn how to manipulate it properly and restore its natural function.

This creates independence of the joints instead of suffering the harmful effects of compensatory interdependence .

By doing this with each joint, you allow your body to restore the natural functions of the different parts of the skeleton. Much like a wooden mannequin that can once again be manipulated in all directions.

You become stronger at each joint, which reduces the risk of possible leaks (injuries), and therefore makes the overall system much more secure (less risk of injuring yourself).

Maintain joint health

This highly segmented approach means that when you perform Kinstretch mobility exercises, the targeted joint is usually trained in isolation . Almost like what strength training does with isolating each muscle.

This means you focus on improving individual parts of the joint without considering compensating other areas around the body.

This highly focused exercise intensely engages the muscles around the joint to allow movement. This blood flow helps to “hydrate the joint” (supplying synovial fluid) and thus reduce inflammation.

It's like putting oil on your joints .

Mobility = Strength

If your range of motion is restricted at the hip when you squat (a squatting movement), and you can't go very low with control, you won't be able to recruit all the muscle fibers in that area (glutes).

Fewer muscle fibers recruited means less force generated .

We have seen, for example, how the deep squat is much more effective in developing strength (as well as muscle hypertrophy) and is the most effective form of squat for improving vertical recovery in the athlete.

Kinstretch is often referred to as strength training for the joints .

If you cannot actively access a position or range of motion without any external load, my advice is always the same, you should not load that tissue.

Many coaches or health “professionals” like to argue with me about this, but that's because their agenda is different from mine. I want to help you achieve greater physical autonomy, nothing else...

Before manipulating external objects, I think we should learn to manipulate our bodies first .

The following diagram explains well the approach that Dr. Andreo Spina and I share on this.

If LOAD > CAPACITY, then the risk of injury increases .

Therefore, we must improve our body's ability to bear load.

To best improve the quality of our fabrics, we must impose a certain demand for adaptation on them.

This is the famous Law of Hormesis that we often talk about in podcasts, which requires bearable stress, followed by adequate rest time for adaptation to occur. In the case of positive stress, they are called hormetic stress .

The body will adapt accordingly to any stress it is given. If something is preventing you from moving well, your body will recognize it and deposit the necessary tissue cells there.

All our connective tissues (fascia, muscle, tendons, ligaments, bones, etc.) are made of the same material, just expressed a little differently. When we move, we never really isolate an area, we agglomerate .

This means that by moving our body through ranges of motion, we strengthen not only the joints and muscles, but also the tendons, ligaments, etc.

So mobility work is about preparing the whole body to better support loads , regardless of the movement scenario in which the body will be subjected.

Transferability to the real world

One of the criticisms I made in the article Mobility vs Yoga , is that the idea of ​​applying prolonged static stretches, holding poses for a long time makes you more flexible, in the sense of more mobile, is false.

We also see this with the Kinstretch approach which fully shares the vision that to build a durable, resilient body, capable of moving freely, with strength and control, you must actively work on your mobility .

To put it simply, yoga/stretching/pilates… makes you better at yoga/stretching/pilates…

Joint mobility, and therefore Kinstretch in this case, makes you better at life .

You want to do CrossFit, bodybuilding, yoga, Pilates, combat sports, rock climbing, gymnastics… the mobility work will be transferable to all of these.

The truth is, there's no such thing as injury prevention. You can only mitigate injuries.

Indeed, no one has control over the various stresses, shocks, and damage that can happen to the body in completely unexpected ways. Whether it's during a fall, or a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sparring session, or during your CrossFit session, or even by tripping on a sidewalk...

The world is chaos. We move from moment to moment in a constant flow of movement, unpredictable, uncontrollable, and inevitable.

Kinstretch attempts to help prepare the body for the inevitable .

So that's a brief list of the benefits I think are relevant to using the Kinstretch system.

Now, back to the practical side. How does a Kinstretch session work?

How does a Kinstretch session take place?

Kinstretch is a dedicated 50 minute to 1 hour session in which there are several steps:

1. Assessment of your mobility level, joint by joint.
2. Movement exercises within your usable range of motion
3. Stretches to target your specific needs
4. Isometric movements and training of the muscles lying under tension
5. Breathing techniques to combat tightness and promote relaxation

There would be a lot to say about the different assessment techniques, breathing methods or even isometric movements, but I'll leave that for a future article.

Otherwise, I'm going for another 30-page article hahaha

For now, I'm going to provide details on two types of exercises in particular, those that you'll often see on social networks, the most popular and visual.

RACs and the PAIL/RAIL method.

What are RAC (Controlled Joint Rotations)?

RAC stands for Controlled Joint Rotations. These are the founding movements of Kinstretch.

RAC movements are active, slow, controlled rotational movements at the outer limits of motion to teach joint adaptation, outer range control, and kinesthetic awareness.

RACs use multi-directional movements, thus maximizing activation of the joint capsule.

To put it figuratively: your shoulders and hips are balls in capsules .

With RACs, we try to rub the balls against the walls to scrape off micrometers of range of motion.

These are therefore active movements, which teach the central nervous system how to control these new ranges of movement which have been acquired.

When using RAC, all rotations are performed actively, with strength, awareness, and control, with the intention of “widening the circle” at all times.

Why is it useful to do this?

1) First, RACs maintain the range of motion you already have.

That's because they help the receptors in your joints stay stimulated. When you don't use these receptors involved in controlling a joint, they go away.

The more you move, the more nutrients you provide to the joint tissues (cartilage, muscle, ligament, etc.).
The less you use your body, the faster you lose it.

2) The second advantage of RACs is that they serve as an evaluation process .

The pain, pinching, and immobility you feel when you perform these rotations are all important clues for a better understanding of your body, your weaknesses, your restrictions, your asymmetries, etc.

A better understanding of your body and its current capabilities is the key to building an effective mobility improvement program.

3) RACs can be used as rehabilitation AND Performance .

Depending on the level of tension you place on your body when performing these movements, you will be able to use them for different purposes. Performing them under varying degrees of tension will determine what adaptations occur.

In this sense, you have some freedom to choose what effects you are looking to achieve.

Similarly, with other training modalities, it's all about intention .

How does the PAIL/RAIL method work?

PAIL = Passive Isometric Angular Loading
RAIL = Regressive Isometric Angular Loading

PAIL uses isometric conditioning in progressively larger joint angles to simultaneously extend and strengthen increasing ranges of motion,

whereas RAILS uses isometric conditioning in progressively smaller joint angles to simultaneously extend and strengthen decreasing ranges of motion.

What does this gibberish mean?

The main idea behind PAIL/RAIL exercises is to use incremental strategies to induce adaptive mechanisms in various tissues.

In the same way as the stretching sessions we did when we were little to be able to achieve the splits using a system of muscle contractions and relaxations ,

Here, we will maintain a position by gradually increasing the tension of the muscles around the targeted joint for a certain duration,

then we will perform the directly opposite movement and again maintain the tension.

As you continue to progress with PAIL/RAIL, the body will respond to progressive movements as you add more load, allowing you to gain more function over time .

As with the contract-relax system, or even with bodybuilding, the more you practice, the more you can increase the loads, the more you progress...

That’s it for this short presentation of RAC and PAIL/RAIL.

They deserve a full article on each but I'll try not to make it too long and leave that for next time.

To conclude on Kinstretch, I will give you my personal opinion on whether or not it is useful for everyone to apply Kinstretch and share my feedback with you.

A final word from your mobility coach

Another great tool for working on your mobility effectively.

I have practiced on my body for a long time and even taught the Kinstretch method to my athletes to achieve very good results.

My only minor criticisms of this system are that I don't find it accessible and affordable for everyday use.

Indeed, it is extremely time-consuming and requires a lot of patience, discipline, and dedication. For professional athletes like myself and my students, yes, it is applicable.

We spend our time in the gym anyway haha

But for someone whose job or ambitions do not allow them to dedicate several hours of mobility per day and per week, other methods will be more judicious.

Additionally, performing movements correctly and applying protocols like PAIL/RAIL require a certain level of body awareness that many simply do not have.

In this sense, it can be very frustrating for most people to try the Kinstretch adventure.

This is one of the reasons why I am proud of my method of training mobility and movement because, from the beginning, I have kept in mind the importance of making this practice simple, effective, and easy to approach.

You can find my online courses and get full-body mobility routines that only take 15 to 20 minutes a day and, if applied daily, will give you the best return on investment.

These trainings are organized by theme, by sport, by joints and will allow you to unlock the power of your joints, find a body free to move without pain, without stiffness and without restriction, rehabilitate your natural functions,

Simply and efficiently.

For those interested in Kinstretch and/or who would even like to obtain certification or participate in an upcoming seminar, do not hesitate to regularly check their official website or follow them on social networks.

At the time when I started to get interested in all this and started to learn, train and practice , they even offered seminars for those who had manual therapy practices .

I don't have that kind of expertise, but I invite physiotherapists, osteopaths, masseurs , and those who can manipulate patients' bodies to take a look if it's still relevant.

It could be a great addition to your technical skills.

So, that's all for this introduction to this great tool.

If you would like to ask me questions, comment , add nuances or corrections to what you have just read, or simply react, do not hesitate to do so in the comments section just below.

Thank you again for your time and for your interest in this world of human movement.

Have a great day my move.

Nomad Slim
Founder of MOUVERS