One of the most underused, and most neglected aspects of health and fitness today is the mobility of our bodies. We all focus on strength, on cardio, on pure performance, but rarely do we actually care about being flexible. The sad part is that mobility is vital for success.
Having mobility, being fluid with your movements, staying limber is vital for any athletics success. More mobility means better movement, better performance. Higher mobility means you won’t get hurt as often, and can push yourself more in the gym. Building more muscle, getting extra strength you will get it all if you work hard on staying mobile and limber.
In the article below we give you some options on how to increase mobility, how to get the most out of your movements, how to maximize performance, all the while staying healthy and injury-free.
1. Warm-up and cool down, and actually stretch
First things first – warm up and cool down. No matter what type of exercise you do, no matter what discipline you partake in, you need to warm up and to cool down. These activities let your muscles be ready for a strong workout
Now, you also want to stretch. Namely, after suffering stress caused by workouts themselves your muscles tighten, they get shorter. This can, after a while, ruin your mobility, tighten you up, mess with your posture, and just make life harder in general.
2. Structure
Now, knowing that you have to stretch is nothing new. What people rarely do that is vital for their mobility is stretch effectively, and regularly. You want to keep your stretching routine as important as your actual workout. So, this is what we advise.
First, you want to stretch your muscles after every workout. However, if you’re in a bind, then stretch only the muscles that you exercised on that day. So, if you did chest and arms, stretch your chest and arms. If you went out for a run, stretch your legs. If you have extra time, then excellent, complete your exercise routine for your entire body. If not, then stick to the most important parts.
Furthermore, try to be mindful of your stretching. Don’t just go through the motions, actually focus.
3. Keep your weight in check and eat a healthy diet
A big part of keeping your mobility in check, or even improving it, is by eating a healthy diet and losing weight. First of all, less fat means easier movement, fewer things getting “in your way”. It’s much easier touching your toes when you don’t have a big gut in your way.
Next, on a more specific level, eating a healthy diet, namely, foods, like pineapple, spinach, salmon, broccoli, they all reduce inflammation. Proper shoulder mobility exercises are great when it comes to improving your flexibility, but if your mobility is hindered by inflammation, you will only cause more harm.
A good diet rich in lean protein, vegetables, greens, fruit, will help you get healthier, strengthen your immune system, and in turn, loosing you up (in a good way).
We also advise you to drink as much water as possible. Most of our bodies are water anyway, and getting extra fluids in you will keep your muscles limber.
4. Change your mind-set
Finally, we advise you to find a way to make stretching and mobility work fun. You need to do the right exercise, you need to eat, so find a way to keep it less tedious. We know you just want to go out for a run that you want to build up your endurance, lift heavier weights, and lose that stubborn belly fat. While you might think that mobility work doesn’t help with these issues, this is simply not true. Sure, you don’t get any direct results, but you reduce the chance of injury, as well as making the workouts more fun (and thus, more intense).
We also advise you to try to make it fun. Maybe join a yoga club. Doing stretching and mobility work with people might just give you the push you need to get it done. Or, perhaps you need something simpler, like listening to an audiobook or a podcast. Whatever makes it easier, whatever helps you actually get your stretching and mobility routine done.
Conclusion
And there you have it folks, some tips, and tricks on how to stay limber and mobile. Remember, you need to be flexible if you want to get the best results possible, and get the most out of your body. Flexibility means lower injury rate, better results, and a more pleasurable workout. Whether you can achieve more mobility through stretches, supplements, or your diet, it doesn’t matter. Just stay through, stay in the zone, and you will be right as rain. Remember to stay focus, and to stick to your work.