Mobility 101: What it is and Why You Need a Mobility Routine Now

Are you training to run a marathon in 2022? Maybe you’re looking to stick to a yoga routine or achieve a personal record for your bench press. You probably haven’t spent a ton of time nailing down your mobility work goals, but having a good mobility routine will be essential to helping you reach your goals.

Freedom of movement is essential to maximizing performance, preventing injury, and reducing pain. This is especially true if you begin a rigorous training schedule, where you are more prone to injury if you’re not taking the proper steps to prepare your body. Even if you don’t have a specific fitness goal to achieve, a healthy range of motion is essential to overall well being.

What is mobility?

Mobility is the amount of motion available at a joint, or series of joints, and the ease with which the joint(s) can actively move through the range of motion (ROM). Mobility allows the body to get into the positions needed to perform any given motion without sacrificing stability. In the simplest terms, improving mobility improves your overall ability to move, which makes your body more durable and resistant to injury.

What’s the difference between mobility and flexibility?

Flexibility is the ability of muscles, ligaments, and tendons to stretch temporarily. It refers to the ROM allowed by the soft tissue around a specific joint or series of related joint segments.

Mobility describes when muscle or surrounding tissue allows freedom and perception of movement involving a joint or series of joints. For good mobility, you need muscular strength and stability in addition to flexibility.

Why is mobility important?

Mobility is required for quality movement. Certainly true for exercising, but also when you are working in your garden, playing with your kids, walking around the grocery store, or moving through your day.

When you lack mobility, every day tasks may become difficult and injury could result. Unfortunately, for most of us, our lifestyle doesn’t lend itself to working on mobility.

For many of us, the reality is that we sit for the majority of our day versus standing and moving. As a consequence we are unable to get good blood flow, build muscle, or improve our cardiovascular health. We’re not “bad” or doing something “wrong,” but bringing awareness to this means we can begin to undo some of the tissue restrictions we’ve created over time. We need to focus on mobility for more than just an hour at the gym or the hour we spend in  physical therapy or on the massage table. A regular mobility practice can make a difference in your long term quality of life.

Who needs mobility?

Everyone! The majority of the population in the US spends about 10-15 of our waking hours sitting. Perhaps you’re one of the minority for whom sitting too much isn’t your issue. You might have a very physically demanding job or are a competitive athlete. Unfortunately, repetitive motion can be just as problematic as sitting too much if the body is moving in an inefficient way.

For both the sitters and the movers, we must overcome the imbalance our lifestyles create. Trusted professionals and those knowledgeable in the fitness community recognize the need for muscle preparation and recovery. A mobility routine complements your existing strength and stability program to maximize your efforts.

Where Do I Start?

There are a lot of mobility tools on the market that can aid in myofascial release. Most physical therapists and fitness professionals will keep at least a foam roller and lacrosse balls on hand, but more recently, leaders in the fitness field are turning to a more complete solution. MOBO is the all-in-one mobility solution that keeps fitness enthusiasts moving forward. MOBO combines the benefits of all common mobility tools in a portable package making it the only complete soft tissue release solution! It’s engineered with an intelligent design that hits the hard-to-reach muscles, and comes with ongoing educational support and an easy-to-use app from a team of physical therapists and fitness professionals to ensure you get the most out of your workout and your life.

You can purchase MOBO at mymobo.com or learn more about mobility and different release techniques through the My Mobo app on Google Play or the App Store.