Mobility: Key to getting better workout results

When you imagine yourself in the gym you may think you’re going to start off light weights and exercises then build your way up to more complex moves and heavier weights; but the truth is that in order to move on to more complex moves or even heavier weights, your mobility with have to improve. Working out is not all about how much you lift, but it’s improving your body’s functions. We often forget about the mobility in our ankles, spine, hips, and shoulders. Improving these areas will allow you perform new moves as well as add quality to your workout.

The ankles are probably the most unnoticeable part of the body; often times we’ll work our whole leg from our butt down to the calf and pay no attention to our ankles. The ankle is responsible in improving posture as well as balance. Having strong ankles allow athletes to make instance shifts in direction whether it be on the court our field. In the gym, strong and mobile ankles allow to perform squats without your heels to leave the ground. This actually a sign that you need to improve your ankles mobility. Improve your ankles strength and mobility you can start by performing one legged squats as well as ankles circles.

For health reasons, the spine can affect breathing, movement in your upper and lower limbs, and your posture. People who have desk jobs if not given any attention will eventually have problem in all areas mentioned earlier. This is very critical as it can affect your entire way of living from any outdoor activity with your friends and family to hitting the squat station at the gym. Having a desk job can suck when it comes to your health, but to combat this I suggest you take a yoga class or buy a yoga DVD. Yoga is a great way to build muscle and improve mobility.

Strong hip muscles allow to improve your explosive power during exercises like squats for example. It also takes the stress off of the knees and lower back as they have to compensate for lack of hip mobility. Men may not even look at hip mobility as something to considered, but hip mobility plays a role in a lot of exercises. For example, the one arm pushup; this move is different from a standard pushup. For starters, you have to have great hip mobility to perform this move as you try to keep steady though out the exercise. A one arm pushup is one of the most iconic pushups out there. Who wouldn’t want that kind of gym cred for hitting a one arm pushup?

Shoulders

Bench press, overhead, and pullups all benefit from having mobility in the shoulders. As mentioned in the last three, improving shoulder mobility will improve posture (this goes to show you that your posture stems all the down from your head to toe). Your shoulders take on a lot of responsibility whether we realize it or not. When it comes to working out, you’re truly missing out on a whole new level of exercises and challenges as long as your shoulders have poor mobility. And even you don’t care about that, how much you bench will always be limited by a poor level of mobility. Be sure to stretch out your shoulders before a workout.

Mobility may not be as popular in gym, but if you ever want to take your workout to new heights, where you learn and master new moves, it’s imperative that you improve your mobility. The more moves you learn, the more angles you hit your muscles, the angles you hit your muscles, the more gains you receive.