Mobility Training

What exactly is mobility?

To find out, we need to dive into science for a moment: it is one of the five motor skills. It also includes endurance, coordination, strength and speed. It is officially defined as follows: "Mobility is the ability to perform movements voluntarily and purposefully with the required or optimal range of motion of the joints involved. (Source: Martin, Carl and Lehnertz 1993, p. 147). 

Mobility feels good, but it also has great significance for your health, because if the joints are mobile, this protects against postural errors. Joints are better supplied with fluid, which prevents pain. In addition, hardened muscles are loosened and adhesions in the fascia are released. 

Not everyone is equally flexible. One person can bend down and reach the floor with the whole hand without any problems, while another can only do it with the fingertips. It's the same with straddling or squatting. At some point you reach your limits and the muscle strength is no longer enough. 

With mobility training you can change that. How does it work? With a combination of dynamic stretching exercises, fascia self-massage and muscle strengthening. 

Dynamic stretching exercises

You know stretching as the end of a workout. It helps to relax the strained muscles. Most of the time, stretching is static: you hold a stretch for a few seconds and then let go. Mobility training is more about dynamic stretches that make areas like the hips, back and shoulders more flexible. Especially hip and leg flexors, which are shortened by sitting a lot, are worked on here. 

An example: the lunge. Move one leg forward and bend the front leg to a right angle. The back leg is bent but not lowered to the floor. Make sure that the upper body remains straight. You can rest your hands on the thighs of the front leg. Hold and then switch. The so-called Prayer Stretch is also effective: kneel on a yoga mat and place the upper body as far forward as possible, hands outstretched and placed in front of the head.

Myofascial self-massage

Fasciae, as part of the connective tissue, surround all organs and muscles. Their function is to protect the muscles from injury and to prevent organs or muscle areas from shifting. Incorrect or insufficient strain can cause the fasciae to become hard, stick together or twist - and that hurts.

For self-massage, you need a fascia roller. You can work all muscle areas with it. For example, you can sit down, place the roller under your calves, support yourself with your hands and roll along the back of your legs. Be careful not to put the roller on bones. At first the rolling may hurt - this is the fascia being loosened. 

Joint and muscle strengthening

Exercises such as the cat hump, shoulder circles or squats strengthen and mobilise the joints and muscles. More strenuous are units such as the hip rotation in the supine position (lie on your back, bend your legs at the knee and hip joint by 90 degrees and then alternately lay them on the floor to the right and left. Shoulders keep contact with the floor!) or work with weights. Example "Jefferson Curl": Stand upright and move the upper body down vertebra by vertebra, then up again. Start without a weight and then repeat with a light dumbbell.