Feel Your Best with These Easy Mobility Exercises

3 min

2 Männer und 1 Frau machen Mobility Übungen auf dem Boden

©kupicoo

By Deborah Werner
September 6, 2021

Why trust us?

Regular mobility training is the secret to staying in tip top shape. And simple mobility exercises make it possible to take care of your body while also giving it your all. Keep reading to find out how to maintain or improve your body’s mobility.

While flexibility exercises are great for the body, they aren’t enough to improve or maintain mobility all on their own. Practicing an all-around workout is the best way to ensure you’re training every part of your body.

What is Mobility in Sports?

Mobility is the ability to move freely and easily, and it’s controlled by the coordination of movements between muscles and joints. Having better mobility means you’ll be able to move in all directions without issues or pain.

Flexibility, Mobility, and Everything in Between

Human mobility is based on a complex combination of many different body parts.

The brain (everything, even movement, starts in the head!)
The central nervous system
The muscles
The joints
The ligaments
The tendons
The fascia

Static stretching is frequently recommended for avoiding muscle pain, bad posture, and lack of mobility. Extending the various body parts fully engages the body’s range of motion and keeps muscles healthy and supple.

Yes, stretching is great for the muscles, but it doesn’t do much for the body’s overall mobility.

A woman of color in a long-sleeved athletic top stretches one arm across her body while gazing into the distance — @Youngoldman
Whether you want to improve your posture and ability to move or alleviate physical ailments like joint pain, doing regular mobility exercises will help you get the results you’re looking for.

Mobility training can be very comprehensive. Dynamic movements force your muscles and joints (as well as their tendons and ligaments) to work together in a coordinated way. Mobility exercises combine both flexibility and strength training, which means they can be quite difficult when you first get started. But with regular training, these exercises will become easier as you go along and your central nervous system has time to register the new movements.

Why Are Mobility Exercises So Important?

A lack of mobility will affect your entire body. Diminished joint mobility can cause friction between your cartilage, which can result in both minor and major joint problems.

A white man performs a parkour somersault, running up a wall and flipping over backwards. The photo has captured him fully upside-down with one foot still against the wall. — ©aluxum

But it’s not just your joints that will suffer. Mobility exercises keep the fascia hydrated and limber. Without them, your muscles may harden and become inflexible. This can have impacts on everything from your endurance, balance, and coordination abilities.

In order to avoid discomfort, you may notice yourself slumping over from time to time. In fact, bad posture is a sign that other parts of your body are under undue physical stress. This can increase your risk of injury and, in the worst case, cause issues with osteoarthritis that might require surgery.

Regular mobility training will not only reduce muscle tension, but also improve balance and minimize the risk of stiffening joints and ligaments.

A white woman does yoga as part of her mobility exercises on a white yoga mat in front of a granite wall. She lunges to her right and stretches her left arm fully over her head and to the side. — ©Alexandra Iakovleva
Your full range of motion will be activated during a mobility workout. Your body will become more resistant to external stimuli and less prone to injury once it’s familiar with this type of exercise.

What Are the Benefits of Mobility Training?

Improves the capacity for active and passive movement.

Improves joint mobility.

Maintains fascia health (elastic, mobile, and very moist).

Improves and maintains range of motion

Corrects and prevents bad posture.

Makes other workouts more effective.

Increases overall physical well-being.

Evacuates the stress of everyday life.

Mobility exercises and strength sports

Mobility exercises are essential no matter what kind of sports you prefer to practice. But they’re especially important to strength training activities.

A man with visible muscles and sweat-shining arms squats on his right leg while stretching out his left. He is in an urban parking garage setting. — @luza-studios
Without mobility, you can’t push your muscles to their full potential. After all, maintaining control over the movements and balance of your body is only possible with a certain amount of muscle power.

If your mobility is limited, you may have a harder time performing specific exercises—like squats and deadlifts, which both require strong hip mobility. But training your full range of motion will improve muscle and joint health and make all of your other workouts more efficient and effective, too.

There are several reasons why mobility exercises are so great for building and maintaining muscle.

A white woman with a long brown ponytail trailing behind her head rolls out her outer left thigh on a black fascia roll.

A man of color in gray sweats holds his upper body above an industrial-looking scaffolding pole — @sanjeri

**Mobility exercises can correct and improve poor posture.**

Stiff joints and muscles prevent good mobility and can lead to poor posture, muscle imbalance, and physical tension and pain. Regular mobility training is the best way to keep these symptoms at bay.

**Mobility exercises reduce the risk of injury.**

Good joint mobility prevents muscle imbalances and injuries.

**Mobility training can help you recover more quickly.**

Many mobility exercises are thought to eliminate toxins that accumulate in the body. This may help you recover more quickly after an intense workout.

Mobility training Exercises for Home

Mobility training integrates many factors into individual, dynamic movements. Engaging your entire range of motion can benefit everything from your joints to your fascia.

These moves put the focus on your joints and joint motions; the ease of motion (slippage) between, for example, your skin and your fascia; and your muscles.

Classic mobility exercises include not only rolling with fascia or using a ball for trigger point massage, but also dynamic mobility moves covering one or several joints.

A white-skinned hand holds a black fascia ball with a gentle snakeskin texture visible — ©Branimir76
Mobility: Our conclusion

Static stretching is not enough to improve your mobility nore reduce muscle pain.

A single movement involves your brain, nervous system, ligaments, muscles, tendons, joints, and fascia.

Mobility training is a complete workout for your body.

Active mobility exercises strengthen your joints and improve your ability to make controlled movements

Mobility relieves muscle pain and tension and improves posture and overall health.

Sources for this article

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