Is Mobility Important For Working Out?

Is Mobility Important For Working Out?

Jan 24, 2018 mindpump

When we initially start training, the constant gains are incredible and fun. Our focus is solely on getting bigger and stronger, with little focus on anything else.

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Right?

That is, until progress comes to a grinding halt due to injury. Only then do we realize we may have overlooked the ultra-important aspect of MOBILITY. When incorporated properly, mobility work can: prevent injury, make you bigger, stronger, and more athletic.

What is Mobility?

Mobility is often thought of as running through some pre-workout static hamstring stretches and arm circles. While this is still essentially mobility work, it is far from EFFECTIVE mobility work.

EFFECTIVE mobility work is made up of mostly dynamic movements that help you prep specifically for whatever movement patterns you will be training. It’s much more than just stretching. Good pre-workout mobility work increases your range of motion, and helps you reconnect to muscle that you may have a poor connection with. Good mobility work has HUGE carryover to how your body moves, looks, and feels.

Fixes Recruitment Patterns

Poor muscle recruitment patterns are EXTREMELY common. Over time, due to tightness, the inability to activate certain muscles, or just training incorrectly, some muscle groups tend to stop “firing” or doing their job as well as they should be when called upon. This force other muscles that SHOULDN’T be working as hard to take over, leading to pain and imbalances.
Fortunately, poor recruitment patterns can be corrected. Although it’s beyond the scope of this blog, MAPS PRIME PRO is designed to help with this exact issue. With an incredibly detailed blueprint of how to diagnosis and rewire your faulty movement patterns using corresponding mobility/activation movements. Simply correcting a poor recruitment pattern can often completely cure nagging aches and pains

Makes You Stronger

Does your warm up consists of a 5 minute jog? If so, you’re not getting CLOSE to what you could be out of your workouts. Your warm-up should consist of a mobility session designed to prime your body for the specific movements you’ll be performing.

If you’re going to be squatting, a specific sequence of movements designed to warm up and activate your glutes, hamstrings, quads, etc. so that they’re firing on all cylinders when you get under the bar will be TREMENDOUSLY more effective than a quick jog.

The ability to better activate or “fire” your muscles when called up leads to quicker strength gains. For better pre-workout “priming” check out MAPS PRIME.

Look Better

Do you have tendency to half-rep some of your movements? It’s common knowledge that for the most part, full reps are much more beneficial for muscle growth. The problem is, many of us have such poor mobility (especially on movements like squats) that we literally CAN’T do more than a half rep.

Mobility work remedies this, over time allowing you to take your movement patterns through FULL range of motion. Training an exercise through MORE range of motion means MORE muscle damage each rep, which in turn means MORE muscle growth.

Move Better/Injury Prevention

Many of us are naturally tight and immobile. It’s just in our genes. Fortunately, mobility is something that ANYONE can improve fairly quickly with consistent effort.

For athletes, poor mobility can DRAMATICALLY reduce performance, while also increasing your odds of sustaining an INJURY. This is also true for recreational trainees, with poor mobility often being the source of pain and injuries, both in and out of the gym.

A more mobile you is a BETTER you. You’ll LOOK better, FEEL better, and PERFORM better.