Importance
“Pathology and catastrophic injury only account for 2% of all movement-related issues. Everything else is a result of poor biomechanics and function — which means that 98% of these issues can be prevented and addressed by learning proper movement and working on your mobility.” - Keenan Eriksson
Staying mobile, especially as we age, is crucial.
Mobility is defined as the ability to demonstrate strength through an entire range of motion. This is in contrast to flexibility which is more about being able to get our bodies into various positions.
Mobility = active + dynamic
Flexibility = passive
Reduced mobility can lead to all sorts of problems. When a part of your body has limited mobility, other areas of your body start to compensate. This often leads to pain and even injury. Issues such as back pain and knee pain often stem from reduced mobility in another part of your body.
As we age, staying mobile becomes even more important. Mobility relates to longevity. The ability to move our bodies through their full range of motion means we’re less likely to experience falls and more likely to be able to be up and walking around for a long time to come.
But mobility is also important for young people, even though we tend to be naturally quite mobile. Lifting weights and playing sports without full ranges of motion is a recipe for injury and having to take time off to recover.
To make matters worse, most of us spend time in the same 3 positions every day: sitting, lying down, and standing up.
How often do you put your arms over your head? How often do you get into a spinal twist?
Only moving through limited ranges of motion leads to us getting very tight, especially in areas like our hips (from all the sitting) and our backs.
“Chronic sitting leads to tightness in the muscles in our hips and lower abdominals, which contributes directly to low back pain.” - Keenan Eriksson
Implementation
Work on mobility a few times a week, or, even better, every day.
The benefits of mobility come from consistency. You don’t need to do long sessions either. Even 5-10 minutes each day can make a huge difference.
“When you begin to use the techniques you’ve just been introduced to, you’ll immediately notice changes in the way you move, the way your joints feel, and any nagging aches and pains. But these changes will be minuscule compared with how you’re going to feel and move in six months to two years.” — Ben Greenfield, Beyond Training
I do about 10 minutes each evening before going to sleep. It’s a great relaxing and meditative practice that is perfect for before bed. It also helps us downregulate our sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system.
There are so many free videos and articles online. I will link some of the best ones below.
I also reached out to Kelly Starrett’s TheReadyState to see if they could provide a discount for you for their Virtual Mobility Coach app. They have kindly given all Momentum readers an exclusive 10% discount. Kelly Starrett is the biggest expert in the field of mobility and coined the term. He’s a great source of information.
I’ve been using his app for a few weeks and have found it helpful. The sessions can be as short or as long as you’d like. I usually do 10 minutes on a different area each day.
If you’d like to give the app a try, they’re offering a 14-day free trial and then 10% off the subscription price with the code MOMENTUM10.
Resources
If you’d like to learn about some specific movements that are good to do each day, check out this article where I cover them in more depth.
MobilityWOD Episodes - YouTube
Kelly has 199 mobility videos just on this one playlist. The idea is to try a new mobility routine out each day. This is all free.
Full Body Morning Mobility to OPEN up - YouTube
This is a great morning mobility routine by Strength Side. If you enjoy this one, check out his other videos as well. He has some great resources on his channel.
How To Master Your Mobility in 15 Minutes a Day (Medium paywall)
This is a very in-depth article by Keenan Eriksson. It’s a 40 minute read, so if you want to dive deep into mobility, I recommend checking it out.
Before You Go
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Thank you, thank you for sharing info about Kelly Starette’s Ready State. I tried it out and have now subscribed for the year! The daily maintenance is gold and I am exploring the other videos as well. I never really knew the best ways to use my foam roller, but now it is my best friend. I won’t get a massage due to concerns about Covid exposure, so I was absolutely delighted to feel like I had a massage after being guided through using the roller.