I'm a big fan of mobility work. It's more fun and engages the brain more than static stretching. Stretching has it's place for sure, when tissue is actually too short I advise stretching for that specific muscle. But for many of us, our muscles aren't too short, they are too tight. Why? Well that's a long answer, there are many reasons why muscles may be tight including injury, overuse, weakness, a joint that is too mobile, dehydration, nutrition, mental health (anxiety and ADHD for example,) chronic conditions...the list goes on!
The way I think about mobility vs stretching is that mobility includes moving through our full range of motion at one or more joints. It may involve more complex movements. It increases the health of our joints, gets our central nervous system engaged, loosens or softens muscles to bring more overall flexibility and can reduce pain!
I follow the GMB programs (no affiliation) which you can check out here: https://www.youtube.com/@gmbfit or here: gmb.io They have loads of free resources on their youtube channel and are a great follow on social media as well.
I often recommend their mobility videos so I'll link them here by area of the body!
Hips:
Back:
Shoulder:
Wrists
Neck:
Ankles:
Knees:
Other favourites:
Spinal twists:
- Stand with your feet firmly planted about hip distance apart and knees softly bent.
- Rotate through the whole spine, a little movement in the hips is fine too.
- Let your arms swing loosely and look over each shoulder as you twist.
- Start with small movements and increase the range as you loosen up!
- Do this for at least 2 mins and see how it feels!
Cat Cow:
- You can do this on your hands and knees or standing with feet hip distance apart, knees bent and your hands on your thighs
- Curve the spine upward toward the sky, letting your head relax and hang down, and tilting your pelvis backwards to match the curve of the spine.
- Reverse this curve by letting your belly sink toward the floor, looking upwards with the head and neck and tilting the pelvis toward the front. (Front of the hip bones move toward the thighs)
- Hold each position for around 20 seconds or slowly move back and forth with your breath. Spend 2 mins moving through these poses.
For any and all movements you try...keep it pain free! If something hurts, try reducing the range (don't go so far), reducing the time you spend doing it so you are stopping before pain sets in, or seeking out a good therapist to help figure out what's causing the pain.
There are so many ways to incorporate mobility into your daily life. Choose a movement you like that gets you moving in different ways than your regular life patterns and that will be good! Could be yoga, could be martial arts, water aerobics, dance...you do you. Just find a way to move more often, more freely and with less pain!
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