If you've watched a session at IMS, you've seen it: every single workout starts with slow, deliberate circles — shoulders, hips, spine — before any weight is touched. Those are CARs: Controlled Articular Rotations. They look simple. They're doing more than almost anything else in the session.
What CARs actually are
A CAR is a slow, active rotation of a joint through its largest available range of motion — under your own muscular control, with the rest of your body braced and still. No momentum. No bouncing. Just your nervous system moving a joint through every degree of motion it owns.
The concept comes from Functional Range Conditioning (FRC), the system developed by Dr. Andreo Spina that underpins the IMS Method. Jason Patterson holds FRC, FRA, Kinstretch, and FRC-ISM certifications — the deepest credential stack in this system available.
Why they matter more as you get older
Joints follow a use-it-or-lose-it rule. Ranges of motion you don't visit regularly become ranges your nervous system stops trusting — and eventually stops allowing. The stiffness most adults blame on age is often just years of unvisited range.
Daily CARs are how you keep ownership of your motion: they signal to every joint, every day, that its full range is still in use. Think of it as a daily inventory — and a maintenance program — for the joints you plan to use for the rest of your life.
What a morning routine looks like
A basic full-body CARs routine takes about five minutes: neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, spine, hips, knees, ankles — one or two slow rotations each direction, performed with intent. Slow is the entire point. If you can do a rotation quickly, you're using momentum, not control.
Three principles make it work:
- Move slowly enough to feel everything. A single shoulder rotation might take ten seconds.
- Keep the rest of your body still. The joint you're training should be the only thing moving.
- Work at your edge, not past it. CARs explore the range you have. Expanding it comes later, with coaching.
What CARs are not
CARs are not stretching — stretching is mostly passive, CARs are entirely active. They're also not a substitute for strength training, and they're not a treatment for injuries; if a joint hurts during basic movement, that's a conversation for a healthcare provider first.
Where coaching comes in
You can start basic CARs on your own today. What a coach adds is precision: identifying which of your joints have lost range, which rotations you're cheating without realizing it, and how to build strength in the ranges you reclaim. That's what the free Movement Assessment at IMS is for — a joint-by-joint map of where you actually stand.