What is Mobility?
Mobility is one’s ability to move purposefully through basic lifestyle activities, it’s the foundation for components of fitness such as; Strength, balance, coordination and range of motion. As you get older mobility becomes more important for preventing injuries from basic movements such as falls and allows one to live independently for longer. Therefore, it’s important to build strong mobility foundations now and casually maintain as you get older.
Maintaining mobility:
It’s simple to maintain! This is because it requires repeating basic movements while gradually increasing range of motion. The key factor is consistency, if you don’t use it, you lose it. All it takes is 10-15 minutes per day to through the whole body and increase mobility, even doing this 3 times per week will maintain basic mobility. implement exercises that are increasing range of motion by holding positions that are stretching from one or more joint at a time. Hold the position for 2-5 seconds and repeat. Another method is performing repetitions of exercises that provide a slight stretch such as overhead swings holding a resistance band. Focus on joint areas such as knee’s, shoulders, elbows and ankles. This is where mobility is vital for everyday activities.
Increase strength through mobility:
Increasing range of motion allows muscles to generate force across longer lengths. Therefore, increasing Dynamic strength, especially in compound movements such as bench press and squats where deeper muscle contractions occur. Calisthenic Strength is also massively influenced by mobility as these types of exercises focus on moving the body through a range of dynamic positions that require a higher level of muscle and joint flexibility.