mobility
Think back to the last time you reached for something and it was a more difficult task than you would have liked it to be – even though it was within reach if you stretched.
Whether you’ve been there or in a similar situation – or you just want to get the steps to keep yourself in good shape – you’ve come to the right place.
Let’s get started.
What is mobility, really?
Mobility is described as:
“the potential for movement and the ability to get from one place to another using one or more modes of transport to meet daily needs.” –eltis.org.
Another way of putting it, as said by Farah Shafiq of Vogue magazine:
“ flexibility allows you to pull your leg into a position,
mobility allows you to keep it there with no hands.”
You see, there are many levels of mobility, but they all have one goal in mind: to make sure our bodies are as up to any task as we can set before us.
Today, in the western world, we’re taught to give up more and more our natural capability of movement:
As children, we’re taught to sit still at a desk for hours.
We’re soothed into spending so much time lounging on our couches watching tv that we become one with the soft marshmallow-like thing beneath us.
Our parents even pass down misinformation (by accident, of course, they’re not to blame) about not using your knees; ensuring that you sit still;
And more that, over time, has etched into our behavior so that now we’re far less inclined to use the joints and muscles that we were given.
This brings me to our first section:
For Beginners:
Step 1: Performing joint-activating motion
In the mornings when you wake up, start your day by carefully rolling your joints around to loosen and warm them up.
A joint is anywhere a bone connects with another bone.
You want to thoroughly get your body awake and warm before trying any exercise – that’s just the rule of thumb for people who work out.
Step 2: Move around as much as possible
As in the title: try and move as much as possible.
If that means getting up out of bed and walking around the room, then by all means do donuts in there!
If it means taking your regular walk but going just a little bit farther than you would otherwise, that’s awesome, too!
Really any more movement – as long as it’s safe and within reason – is gold.
You just want your body in a more invigorated, healthy state so that it knows you’re becoming more active.
Though rest is important, too! make sure you’re balancing yourself in both rest and exercise!
Step 3: Make a routine of static exercises
Static exercises are described as “keeping tension in the muscle while keeping it’s length constant”. – sciencedirect
This could come in the form of:
- Pushing against a wall
- Squatting as low as you’re capable and keeping it as long as you can
- Holding a situp
Whatever it is you can do, static exercises will increase the strength in the muscles around your joints, allowing you to further move and strengthen the joints themselves.
Step 4: Set out to make your muscles as relaxed as possible
People who sit all day get sore.
People who workout all day get sore.
The thing with mobility is that if your lifestyle includes a lot of sitting around and now you’ve begun to work out, you’re sadly getting a bit of the bad from both worlds.
The upside?
You’re taking control of your life. You’re becoming more and more capable by the day and you should be proud of yourself.
Now: there are some ways to relieve this soreness you may be feeling.
- Get a warm, damp towel and drape it over the sore area.
2. Use essential oils. Now you may be thinking right about now that my hair is tangled and I should take a shower, or you may be used to essential oils and understand where I’m coming from. While essential oils aren’t proven to cure illnesses, they’re wonderful stress relievers and mood improvers. If you’re looking for another method to relieve stress and relax, take this advice.
3. Last but not least is the one you might already be doing even as you’re reading this: message the sore spots. There will be a few places you can’t reach – for those, try getting someone who cares about you to message them for you or go to a professional.
Step 5: Stretch! Stretch! Stretch!
There is hardly a better way to activate your muscles after warming them up with movement than by stretching.
But which of the dozens of different ones do you choose?
Here’s a short list of the best and easiest stretches to start out with on your mobility journey:
- Calf stretches
- Chest and shoulder stretch
- Standing quad stretch
- Cobra stretch
- Neck-and-shoulder stretch
- Laying down knee-to-chest stretch
Step 6: Invest in resistance bands
Resistance bands are the unspoken hero of athletes.
It’s like carrying a gym with you in the form of a giant rubber band.
Online you can find full workouts and all the ways to configure your band to make it work for you.
These are ridiculously cheaper than a home gym set, and so much more compact, making them entirely worth your time.
Step 7: Online mobility workout videos
Doing everything on your own might be more your style, but having a trainer in some respect is going to skyrocket your progress and understanding, as well as give you a model to look at so as to make sure you’re doing the exercise correctly.
Places like Youtube will have more exercises for you than you might even care to do, but that’s a great place to start.
As always, put your health and safety in perspective with each new thing you try, and always remain on the cautious side if you’re not sure. Getting the green light from your doctor in some areas is always a safe move.
For The Intermediate
Step 1: Targeting specific exercises
If you are a member of the intermediate team, I’m going to assume that a morning jog is not a stranger to you and that you see the inside of any sort of gym two to three times a week.
Your keys to mobility aren’t as simple as “walk around the room”.
That is why my first step is to focus on your current exercises.
Here are a few you might be doing and what to focus on in them:
Running: contrary to some belief, when you run you want the balls of your feet to touch down first, not your heels.
After your run, make sure to stretch again, specifically these three areas: your ankles; your adductor tendons, the outside of your hips and backside (for this one I recommend the “S stretch”)
Lifting weights: the warm-up on lifting weights is a less heard of part of the gym, but it is so important that it could mean the prevention of an injury, the quickening of progression, and overall less soreness after every workout – leaving you more fresh the next time you go.
Specifically, focus on warming up your forearms, lats, and thighs when doing respective workouts.
During your workout, focus intently on the specific muscle you’re trying to activate; this will help your body naturally find a better form and works out the muscle much better.
Step 2: Morning stretches
Warming up before most stretches is important, but here are some stretches for you to try in the morning that will not only wake you up (by allowing the flow of blood in your body to circulate better) but will increase mobility for the day before you even have your coffee:
Exercise 1
Cat Cow (60 seconds)
Exercise 2
“Worlds Greatest Stretch” (30 seconds each side)
Exercise 3
Asian Squat (30 seconds hold, 30 seconds rock side to side)
Exercise 4
Wall Slides
(Putting your back against a wall and the tops of your arms flush to the wall on either side of you, then slowly reaching up and back down.)
All stretches I’ve written down I got from Jeremy Either on Youtube. I would go check out his stuff for some more tips.
Step 3: Give no space for excuses
You’re reading this and probably think “I’ll get it done. If I really want it, I’ll stick with it!”
Chances are you won’t.
A week in – maybe two – and you’ll start hearing that voice in your head that tells you you’re too tired, do it later, and ‘what’s it matter if you miss one day?’
Do not listen to this voice. Find ways to motivate yourself, you must have this.
The examples that healthdirect, a trusted blog, will give you are:
- “Regularly review your goals and progress. Seeing progress is a great motivator in itself, and also improves your self-esteem.
- Continue to set new goals. Think about what you want to achieve next week, next month and next year. Tackle one goal at a time so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
- Keep the momentum up. It takes most people about 2 months to develop a new habit, but for some people, it can take much longer. Keeping the momentum and routine helps it feel more automatic over time.
- Find mentors, for example, someone you look up to who is experienced in the habit you want to change. Finding social or support groups with the same interest can help you find a mentor.
- Surround yourself with positive people. Positive friends and family enhance your positive self-talk. This also helps to manage the symptoms of depression and anxiety.
- Use exercise as one of your daily goals to improve your mental health.”
Step 4: Ask others what they know
You’d be surprised what your fellow gym-goers, co-workers, and friends have picked up in their lives that you can incorporate into your personal journey.
David A. Garvin and Joshua D. Margolis, case study professionals, wrote the following:
“By seeking advice from the right people—and in the right ways—you can develop smarter solutions to problems, deepen your thinking, and sharpen your decision making.”
And again,
“… you’ll extend your influence and learn from the people who come to you for guidance.”
Always ask for advice, It may teach you more than any book or class or article.
Step 5: Prune the branches. Throw out what you think you know and start from scratch.
Too many people these days think they know it all.
I can’t even say I know for sure that what I know is the correct information; I must always check my sources, update my data, and correct my technique. If I didn’t, the world would leave me behind in the dust.
If you’re working to increase mobility, flexibility, and strength in your body, you must start your journey as if you knew absolutely nothing about the subject.
This way, you won’t miss the basics, you’ll refresh what you might already know to be true, and I guarantee you’ll learn at least one thing in the process.
Even such thins as your diet can effect the way your body is able to move.
Plus, the longer you study, the faster you’ll begin to understand new things.
Step 6: Construct a professional routine
One of my many flaws is that I always think I can do it just as well or better than the pro’s because I have basic logic and I’m an independent person at heart.
Due to this flaw, I find myself in awkward situations – or just coming up short of my goals. This is something I want you to actively avoid.
There are people out there who are better at constructing routines than you. These people know the best time for the body to wake up when to eat when to exercise when to warm up when to stretch.
Learn from people who have spent years, decades, or sometimes their whole lives perfecting what they do… so you don’t have to.
Step 7: Keep it positive!
Each day is a new day.
If you feel as though you haven’t made progress and you’re several weeks in, try looking at yourself in the mirror and complimenting yourself, even if it’s just a “good job for staying with it!”
And when you get to your goal of mobility,
Your goal of flexibility,
When you can move as you’ve never moved before, sit back and be happy, and raise your bar a little higher.
For the advanced
Step 1: Heating the muscles
As we know by now, the best way in increasing our mobility is to have strong, flexible bodies. But no matter how much we train them, they will still get stiff and sore, always wanting to regress back into the tight inflexible things we once lived in.
To combat this, and to better our exercises, we need to have ways in which to warm up the body in ways walking, light reps, or “shaking it out” can’t.
Try a variety of intense warm-ups, including:
- High Lunge
- Standing Pigeon Pose
- Revolving Triangle Pose
- Ankle Stretches
Step 2: Endurance-based training:
To keep the mobility you have and to make sure that it can last longer than a single stretching routine, endurance training is the way to go.
You will find over a thousand exercise videos online – many of which stress endurance, but for this topic the exercises you need to focus on are the ones that activate mobility as well.
The ending effect is a much stronger version of your body, with your flexibility at a range most people can’t reach.
Some good sources are
Step 3: Consistency is king
When I was younger I played a lot of sports.
I was never on an actual team, but my friends and I were very active and tried out every sport we could think of.
Baseball, football, soccer, kickball, were some that we played. The one that stood above the rest was dodgeball.
Something about hurling a rubber sphere of “ouch!” at your friend got us hooked!
We played it most days; we entered in tournaments; we won those tournaments.
Where am I going with this?
I’m pretty bad at sports.
The only reason I was ever good at dodgeball was because I kept at it, enjoying each game much more than I enjoyed the fact of me slowly getting better.
The point?
You have to stick with it, or you won’t get anywhere past the basics, it just will not happen.
It is the constant man (or woman), rather than the skilled man, that comes out on top.
Step 4: Go after your diet
Yogafurie says on their blog:
“A well-balanced diet full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants is vital to nourishing the connecting tissues in the body.
If the body isn’t receiving enough nutrients, the ligaments, tendons, and fascia are less able to achieve a full range of motion.”
What is the right diet?
One that is loaded with the vitamins, proteins, fibers, and minerals you need – depending on your body and your lifestyle.
To get the diet that’s tailored for you, contact a local nutritionist that you trust and have them set you on the right path.
Next, make a meal plan and do your best to stick with it.
Make sure not to be too harsh with yourself and allow for a little cheating now and again. You’re living a healthier life, not training to compete in the Olympics!
Step 5: Get a partner
There’s no tip or trick that is going to motivate you or keep you as honest as a partner.
Grab a friend or a family member who’s willing to help you, and get to work keeping each other accountable.
This method works for just about any project you decide to undertake, as well as the project of taking care of your mobility.
Step 6: Claim Variety
No matter the type and style of training you’re inclined to, a great tip is to have a string of different types of exercises that work your body in different ways, and to switch things up every once in a while.
This will not only keep things interesting so that you don’t fall into an unmotivated routine, but it also keeps your body on its toes, so to speak.
Your muscles will eventually get used to any work out, no matter how vigorous or how heavy you do it.
Physical therapist Brian Magat says:
“Exercise variation is an important factor when designing an exercise program, with many benefits when you change exercises every so often, such as increased performance and decreased injury risk. However, it is important to apply variation correctly to maximize results.”
And he’s right.
To properly implement variety into your routine, you must first know your limitations, and you need to be cautious in all you do first. if you leave caution to the wind, you’ll end up either not growing in as much as you wanted, or you’ll find a serious injury just around the corner.
Brian goes on to say:
By creating variation and changing exercises in your routine, you can create a new stimulus, which creates more progress over time. And if you rotate exercises or activity every so often, your injury risk will decrease. Examples include adding bench pressing every Monday or continuously adding mileage when running or biking on a weekly basis.
Step 7: Find out who you are
Phil Catudal, a celebrity personal trainer, came up with the classifications we now understand today as “body types”.
There are three main types, with subtypes in between.
Ectomorphes – usually thin, lanky, and tall.
Mesomorphes – more muscle dominant, with a medium figure.
Endomorphes – larger, weightier people with a naturally bulk to them.
So many factors can change what your natural body type is. It’s said that a good way to know is to think of what you looked like as a late teenager or when you were in your early 20’s.
Whatever you happen to be, find out, and determine whether you need more or less of something.
Are you leaner? You need more carbs than someone who’s husky.
Are you husky? You need more protein than someone who’s lean.
Study yourself, because knowing your body will help you out in ways no training ever could.
Did we miss anything?
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