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Mobility Training.
You've probably heard about it once or twice in the fitness community, or you might've been recommended by your club coach to start doing some deep mobility routines to prevent injury.
But is mobility actually important? Should you invest your time into training your mobility?
The straightforward answer to that is YES.
Having a high level of mobility in a muscle will unlock many different attributes of your athletic performance that you might've not known you had.
In this blog post, you will read and be able to obtain a general understanding of the principle of mobility, and why it is essential for you to invest your time to improving your total body mobility to see optimal performance on the pitch.
What is Mobility?
Mobility can be defined as your muscle's ability to be able to extend and move around a position in their range of motion.
Unlike flexibility, which is where you assist your body in holding a position in your range of motion, mobility is a lot more sports specific since you are constantly forcing your body to extend into awkward positions and angles while playing out on the pitch.
An example of mobility would be something like your hips internal rotation, which is essential for different actions in a soccer match such as changing direction, kick a ball, among other things.
In contrast to that, an example of flexibility would be something like being able to touch your toes.
How to Improve Your Mobility
In order to improve your mobility, you must do three different things:
1) Work on your muscular flexibility. In other words, make sure you are stretching, and stretching often. This is because when you stretch, you are forcing your muscle fibers to extend past their typical range of motion, and lengthening them in the process. Over time, if you continue to stretch out your muscles and lengthen their range of motion, your muscles will be able to extend further into different angles and position that will assist you with the mobility of that muscle. Typically, you should look to be stretching at least 10 minutes a day, holding a variety of static stretches for around 15 seconds to up to a minute each part. The video below is a great example of a full stretching routine you can incorporate into your week to improve your flexibility:
2) Work on being able to stretch into different ranges of motion dynamically. In other words, you want to push your muscles past their regular range of motion into different, more challenging positions, through movement. This can include things such as twisting while holding a stretch, or moving in and out of a stretch continuously. The video linked below is an excellent example of a few hip mobility exercises you can try to improve your hips internal, and external rotation:
3) Perform compound exercises in deeper ranges of motion. For example, instead of performing your regular squat at half of it's range of motion, practice squatting just a little bit deeper. This will not only help with your hip mobility, it will also strengthen other muscle groups since you are pushing your body past it's typical range of motion. By being able to do compound exercises in their full range of motion, you are improving mobility, and strengthening muscle groups a lot more than if you weren't to go with your full range of motion. In the long term, this built up strength will help prevent injury and help develop a more powerful, athletic physique.
Why Should I Practice Mobility?
As athletes, we're always looking to optimize our performance as much as we can. We're always looking to get stronger, get faster, become more explosive, while also reducing the risk of injury.
Practicing mobility not only helps with feeling looser and less tight, it'll also maximize your strength gains which in turn will help you be able to develop more power and force production. It will help strengthen your muscles in deeper ranges of motion which will allow them to perform more intense movements and actions during an actual soccer match.
Since your muscles will be very accustomed and strong in ranges of motion that are a little bit further than normal, you are reducing the risk of exposing your muscle tissues to a new and unexplored range of motion which could lead to a pull, strain, or tear.
This study shows that athletes who performed full-range of motion squats, were able to see the most growth in their 1 rep maximum, and they saw the most translation to athletic tests such and saw higher vertical jumps and reduced sprint times. The group of individuals who squatted with partial range of motion came in second to that of the full range of motion group.
The study also mentions how the individuals who performed the full range of motion squat felt the least pain and discomfort, while other groups who weren't squatting fully experienced more pain and stiffness.
A good way to start practicing your mobility regularly is to spend at least 10 minutes a day doing full body mobility exercises and to slowly progress with how far you're able to stretch over time. The more you practice it, the better you'll feel, the looser your muscles will become, and the more benefits you will see on the pitch.
I hope this article helps! Thanks for Reading! Get Up. Go GRIND.
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