You should ALWAYS Mobile before exercising. Here’s Why. 🧐
~4 minute read
When we talking about mobilizing the body, what we mean is to prepare the body for the exercise we’re about to do. Preparing the body means helping it to move WELL. We want to move well first, then move more.
By stretching and rolling our muscles with a ball or foam roller, they will activate (i.e. not dormant) and less tight to allow our joints to move more freely.
This ensures our joints (and the components that make them up) are prepared and ready to undergo various movements and reduces the risk of injuring them during our workout. 🏋️
It helps increase the range of motion in our joints by preventing excess muscle tension from getting in the way of movement. Thus, allowing them to become strong in a greater range of potential movements.
Mobilizing also helps increase the blood flow throughout our body which aids in warming-up our muscles and joints! 🔥
(One of our personal trainers instructs a 50+ member on how to perform a band stretch).
Band stretching is a true game changer. With bands we can not only feel a great stretch that is hard to achieve otherwise, but we can actually target the joint capsule (a thick bag of fascia that surrounds the joint) that is said to contain approximately 50% of the restriction of a joint.
Always mobilize before exercise (pre-workout) 💪
This will help you to;
move and feel better during your workout
improve form
reduce the risk of injury
achieve better-longer-lasting results
and enjoy the exercises more if they’re pain free! 😃
Mobilizing during your workout (intra-workout)
Sometimes even if we’re being careful, some movements may irritate an underlying injury during a workout. 😔
When this happens, it’s best to pause the workout and perform some strategic mobility drills around that area to alleviate excess muscle tension.
Addressing the tension in the muscles of the surrounding area can help free things up and make the movement less likely to cause pain.
The combination of myo-fascial release, band stretching, dynamic stretching and other techniques is usually the best way to get a more complete stretching and mobilization experience.
It will also help the muscles recover so that when we get back to the workout, we can have an even better set!
Cool down stretches (post-workout)
Cool-down stretches are important in preventing muscle soreness from occurring the following days after a workout. 💯
The more we mobilize after a workout, the easier it is for our muscles to repair themselves afterwards. This reduces the soreness and muscle fatigue (known as delayed onset muscle soreness) we feel after a good workout!
In addition to cool-down stretching, mobilizing on OFF days can significantly help improve recovery for the same reasons.
The more we mobilize, the better our muscles feel and work! 🦵
**PRO TIP: With the help of a stretching band, we can get EVEN MORE out of our stretching efforts! Take a look at this blog post, ‘6 park band stretches that you will love’.
If you want help navigating the balance between staying injury-free and getting into great shape, schedule a call with us TODAY and speak with one our 50+ specialist personal trainers. 🙂👇
Thanks for reading!
Brandon - Online Personal Training Expert, Neuroscience and Mental Health graduate and Triathlete