Incorporate Mobility Training for Complete Fitness

Running, weight training, playing football, mountain biking — they are all fantastic workouts, but they all share the same Achilles’ heel.

Like many other forms of exercise, they’re focused on front-to-back movement to the near-complete exclusion of any sideways or diagonal motions. They build cardiac fitness and muscular strength but on their own provide a limited range of motion, which can lead to uneven development of the muscles surrounding your joints.

This leaves you vulnerable to a couple of different types of injuries to the joints or to the front and rear muscles that must compensate for the weaker ones on the sides.

This can set your fitness journey back for months.

Muscles tight from lack of use are the enemy of anyone who wants to walk and move with ease throughout their life.

Anyone at any level of fitness can benefit from having more mobility, from the athletic to the sedentary. If you’re training to meet new fitness goals you’ll be able to jump higher and squat deeper; if not, you’ll benefit from better posture, less joint pain and the ability to bend and twist better.

If you are working with a trainer or on a training program make sure it incorporates mobility training exercise or try to find time to add a yoga class.

Here are some simple mobility exercises, for varying levels of fitness.

SEATED ABDOMINAL PRESS:

flat on the floor. Put your hands on your knees and lock your elbows, then press your palms down to engage your core, holding at least five seconds. Repeat four times.

PUSH-UP WITH ROTATION:

Do a push-up. At the top, rotate into a side plank, with one hand planted on the floor and the other raised to the ceiling. Perform five on each side.

WALKING HIP OPENERS:

Stand with feet hip-length apart. Lift your left knee up to your chest and bring it up and across your body, then out to the side and back down. Place your left foot on the floor and repeat on right side. Repeat five times.