Many of us have heard the terms flexibility and mobility, both buzz words in the health and fitness industry, but what you might not know is that they don’t mean the same thing.

Mobility is dynamic or active, where flexibility is passive. For example, flexibility is when you can pull your thumb back with your other hand, so it touches your wrist. In contrast, mobility is the ability to get your thumb to that exact same spot on your wrist without the help of the other hand.

Flexibility can be achieved when you “stretch” (e.g., holding a static position for 30 – 60 secs), and your muscle relaxes and lengthens. This form of stretching reduces tension but also reduces nervous system activity in those muscles. This may be a good idea AFTER a workout, but not be indicated BEFORE a workout.

Before a workout, a focus on improving mobility will enhance the ability of your nervous system to activate those muscles for movement. Mobility improves the contraction of the muscle fibers by the nerves that activate them, while simultaneously lengthening the muscles and the surrounding connective tissues, i.e., fascia. This increases blood flow to the targeted muscles, increases joint range of motion, and ironically, decreases tension! Mobility training incorporates the entire body moving as one unit, enhancing coordination for precise, controlled movement.

Mobility is a big part of taking care of our whole system of movement. Fitness and working out can be an exercise culture, but we support thinking of it more as a culture of movement. A common assumption is that if we simply exercise or work out, we will automatically be able to move better. However, this isn’t necessarily the case. Doing specific exercises repeatedly will most likely improve only those exercises. This improvement will typically not generalize to your whole system, and no single exercise can represent the full spectrum of human movement.

In summary, holding static stretches to increase flexibility will only increase range of motion in a passive manner around a specific joint. Alternatively, mobility training builds strength and coordination throughout the range of motion of the muscles around a specific joint, or multiple joints – and can actually be a workout in and of itself!

Here are some great mobility exercises that can not only help you warm up for exercise or for a run, but it’s also going to help build strength and coordination as well.

Hip Internal Rotation Mobility

Thoracic Rotation Mobility

Hip and Thoracic Spine Mobility: Spider-Man

Thoracic Extension, Lat, and Hamstring Mobility

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out more mobility exercises to get you moving and feeling better!

Beacon Physical Therapy

At Beacon Physical Therapy, we can help if you are having issues with flexibility, mobility or both! If you are having an issue, make an appointment today. We’d love to meet you and get you back to doing what you love.