When a sedentary lifestyle is the norm, mobility training has emerged as a vital practice for maintaining and enhancing physical well-being. Far more than just stretching, mobility training encompasses a holistic approach to movement, including flexibility, strength, stability, and coordination. In this article, you’ll learn the science behind mobility training, its numerous benefits, and practical exercises to help you improve your mobility and move with greater ease in your everyday life.
Understanding Mobility Training
Mobility training helps you become more mobile—so you can move with ease throughout your everyday life. A unique combination of flexibility, coordination, muscular strength, and stability, mobility improves your overall full range of motion (ROM) while engaging the muscles around the joint for better movement capacity and control.
Flexibility training, like static stretching or dynamic stretching, focuses on lengthening the muscle tissue. With enhanced ROM, supple muscles, and strength and stability around the joints, you see tangible changes in performance (think: a deeper, stronger squat or quickly kneeling to tie your shoe without support).
The Benefits of Mobility Training
Improving your mobility pays off in both daily activities and athletic performance.
Consider the following benefits if you’re weighing whether taking time out of your day for a mobility routine is worth it.
- Enhance quality of life: One study found older adults with higher levels of mobility reported a better quality of life and superior physical fitness (1). Similarly, when you’re more mobile, you can more easily complete activities of daily living, which can predict functional independence—so you can keep doing the things you love for longer (2).
- Minimize the risk of injury: Whether you miss a step, reach to break a fall, or play a sport where you need to change direction quickly, mobility may help reduce the risk of a significant injury from a minor accident (3,4). That’s because, with mobility training, you are training the muscular strength and flexibility around your joints, so if your body is in a precarious position, it can more readily react to stabilize your movement. Plus, research shows you’ll see improvements in pesky lower back pain if you increase the mobility of your hip joints (5).
- Improve strength: When you can lift a heavier weight over a larger ROM, you’ll see a significant improvement in muscular strength and hypertrophy. By improving your mobility, you can perform weight-lifting exercises with freedom of movement, proper form, and stability—so new PRs will be right around the corner.
- Convenient and accessible: You don’t need equipment or a designated space to perform mobility exercises; you can do a full-body routine anywhere with your own body weight. If you tend to sit for many hours at a time for work or you’re coming off a long plane ride, a mobility routine will return your posture to normal and leave you feeling nimble and ache-free.
The Best Mobility Training Exercises to Include in Your Fitness Routine
Whether you’re adding mobility work to the end of a workout or squeezing some movements in before bed, you’ll feel more agile and limber for whatever is next in your day. Here are the most common mobility training exercises you can start today that target various muscle groups of the lower body and upper body to improve overall movement quality:
World’s Greatest Stretch (targeting hip flexor and hip joint mobility, low back, and thoracic spine)
- Lunge back with your right leg straight and your left knee at a 90-degree angle, with your hands on either side of your left leg.
- Lift the left arm and bend the elbow, reaching the left elbow towards the mat between your foot and right hand.
- Rotate the torso towards the left leg, with the left arm reaching towards the ceiling.
- Repeat the sequence 8-10 times before switching sides.
Thread the Needle (targeting shoulder mobility and lower back)
- Start with your knees and hands on the floor.
- Lift the right arm towards the ceiling with the arm straight.
- As you sit back into child’s pose, reach the right hand between the knee and left hand and towards the side of the room, palm up, and right elbow on the floor.
- Repeat 8-10 reps before switching sides.
Cossack Squat (targeting hips, hamstrings, and adductors/ groin)
- Start with your feet wider than your shoulders, toes pointing out.
- Lift your arms straight out in front of you, shift your weight onto the right leg, and sit back as if there is a chair behind you.
- Keep the other leg straight, bend the right knee, and lower it as far down as you can without lifting the right heel and keeping the chest lifted.
- Return to standing and alternate sides until you reach 16-20 repetitions.
90/90 Hip Stretch (targeting hip joints and glutes)
- Begin sitting on your sit bones with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart and knees at a 90-degree angle.
- With your back straight and core engaged, rest your hands behind you for support (progress to lifting your hands and maintaining balance).
- Rotate your hips to one side so you sit with one leg in front of you on the floor at a 90-degree angle and the other behind you at a 90-degree angle, with shins parallel to the floor.
- Slowly return to the center and rotate in the other direction, alternating rotations for 12-16 repetitions.
- Sit up straight with your legs slightly wider than hip-width apart and both knees bent at 90 degrees.
Cat-Cow (targeting spine mobility and upper back)
- Start on all fours with hands underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips, and back straight.
- Arch the back, lifting the head and tailbone to the ceiling.
- Reverse the movement by rounding the back, tailbone, and shoulders, pulling the belly button towards the spine, and looking towards the hips.
- Alternate positions for a total of 8-10 reps in each position.
Squat with Thoracic Twist (targeting the hip joint and thoracic spine mobility)
- Start with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Squat down into a deep squat, keeping your heels down and touching the floor with your feet, toes, or shins.
- Lift one arm towards the ceiling and rotate the torso to look towards the hand.
- Return to the squat position and switch to the other side.
- Alternate sides until you reach 8-10 reps per side.
Scorpion (targeting hip flexors, quadriceps, thoracic spine, lower back and chest muscles)
- Start face down on the floor with your legs straight and arms perpendicular to the body.
- Keeping the arms where they are, lift the right leg and cross towards the left hand from behind until the ball of the right foot touches the floor and the head looks right.
- Return to the starting position and alternate sides until you reach 8-10 reps per side.
Ankle Dorsiflexion (targeting ankle mobility)
- Place the right foot on a step or elevated surface in front of you.
- Rest a kettlebell on top of the right knee as you shift your weight forward.
- Allow the right knee to gently pass the toes and hold 2-3 seconds.
- Return to standing and repeat 6-8 times before changing sides.
Incorporating a Mobility Workout into Your Workout Routine
A mobility routine will look different for everyone. It may be an organized program you do all at once as part of your warm-up or cool-down, or you may incorporate these full-body mobility exercises sporadically throughout the day when you’re stuck behind a computer. Either way—you’ll still reap the benefits.
Remember that a mobility program enhances your current program but does not replace strength training or cardio workouts. With the added movement efficiency and improved movement patterns of a regular mobility routine, you may progress to heavier weights faster or improve your running economy so you can run longer or harder without using too much energy.
On days when you lack energy or want a respite from training after a particularly hard workout, mobility is an excellent addition to your recovery strategy. Combining a gentle mobility session with a mindful meditation or sauna can leave you feeling rested and rejuvenated.
Conclusion
Mobility training offers countless benefits that can significantly improve your health, fitness, and performance. A daily mobility routine with exercises targeting different muscle groups and joint movements can enhance your overall wellness and quality of life, preventing injuries and increasing movement efficiency.
Start where you are, and take the first step towards a more agile, limber, and resilient you. The AIM7 app is a great place to begin with personalized guidance and support in your exercise program.
A Mobility Training Plan Built for You
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References for Mobility Training
- The association between observed mobility and quality of life in the near elderly
- Functional status, life-space mobility, and quality of life: a longitudinal mediation analysis
- Mobility impairment, muscle imbalance, muscle weakness, scapular asymmetry and shoulder injury in elite volleyball athletes
- What Risk Factors Are Associated With Musculoskeletal Injury in US Army Rangers? A Prospective Prognostic Study
- Association of low back pain with muscle weakness, decreased mobility function, and malnutrition in older women: A cross-sectional study
