March Mobility
“Before you blame bad mobility on your age, hear me out!”
I’ve been a personal trainer for 20 years and for the past 8 years the owner of FIT @ Stonebridge Ranch, a gym in Mckinney, TX. I absolutely love what I do- the more my team and I educate each other on how to help clients feel better, get stronger and make progressions, the common denominator is always going to be mobility. Having full range of motion will include all of your kinetic checkpoints (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and neck). Most people know what flexibility is but confuse it with mobility. There is a difference between the two. Flexibility refers to the ability of your joints to move pain-free and without stiffness through a range of motion. For example, flexibility is when you are able to stretch your hamstring with help from some sort of pressure. Mobility is the ability to control the hamstring on it’s own with range of motion by just using the actual muscle. Unfortunately, if not made a priority along with your cardio/workouts, your body will start to compensate and you will start to “feel old”.
Commonly, an individual will walk into the gym, go straight to the resistance area and begin lifting. At best, they may do a quick 5 minute warm-up on an exercise bike or elliptical trainer. The warm-should not be neglected. All of our clients at FIT go through a movement assessment and are taught how they can improve their mobility by giving them mobility exercises for them to do as “homework”. We teach them this by the first session and stress the importance of always showing up early for their workout to complete these exercises. As we start to get to know the client’s body more, we will adjust/add more exercises for them to do to improve their range of motion. This is a great reference point to use with both new and long term clients who want to keep improving their movement patterns, which in turn will make them stronger during workouts without compensating. The goal is to be able to perform an exercise using ONLY the muscle groups intended, which can be hard when we don’t take “homework” seriously.
So, for that client that comes in saying “my right knee and lower back hurt but I’m just old so it will be okay, lets go”, our trainers here at FIT have an education that will dig a little deeper to see if we can help. Besides a serious injury most issues can be related to muscle imbalances. For example, if runners don’t stretch their calves over time they will limit the mobility of their ankles causing injuries.
Here are 5 exercises to help limit lower back pain by increasing hip mobility. Remember: this is just for hip mobility, so if you have a foot, shoulder or neck issue, you can always reach out to us to help educate you on better understanding your body.
Kneeling hip flexor stretch
2. Groiners
3. Seated Piriformis Stretch
4. Rocking Frog
5. Hip Circles