Helping your body move better is key to building strength and stability.
Whilst a mobility routine may look on the face of it similar to a stretching routine, there are crucial differences.
Mobility, at its most basic meaning, is the ability to move freely and easily. Flexibility on the other hand, is the ability to bend easily, showcasing a difference. What’s more, mobility routines work through and improve the range in motion of your joints and muscle, whilst flexibility routines typically hold on a single static stretch for a set period of time.
By being able to move further within your movements, you will be able to engage more muscles. This in turn means your workouts will be more effective and muscles become stronger. Who wouldn’t want that?
Even if you’re simply spending a day working from home at a desk, you should do a mobility routine. The below video workout by Shona Virtue is a fantastic starting point on your mobility journey. And it only takes ten minutes of your day.
Shona says, “If you spend most of your day off at over a desk, your body is going to make you better at that. It’s going to make your shoulders tighter, the back of your body a bit longer and hunched, your hips tighter, [in order] to help them sit in a chair for longer.”
Small moves to begin with
Twisting child pose
Come into to child’s pose on the floor with your toes together, knees out wide and arms stretched in front of you. Place one hand on the opposite shoulder and rest your forehead on your forearm. From there, twist the bent arm up so the elbow reaches towards the sky. Keep the hips down so you’re only twisting through the back of the shoulder. Repeat for five reps on each side.
Hip circles
On all fours, lift one leg off the ground and out to the side, keeping the knee bent. Squeeze the hip, glute and thigh to lift as high as possible. Then circle the leg back behind you so that the thigh is parallel to the ground, the ankle directly above the knee, before bringing back down to the starting position. During all of this, keep the back and pelvis still, so you’re only moving through the hip joint. Do ten reps on each side.
Internal hip rotation
Sit on the floor with your hands behind you, feet flat on the ground slightly wider than hip width apart and your knees up. Twist your knees from left to right, squeezing at the bottom to feel the activation in the hip of the knee that is turning inwards. Repeat ten times on each side.
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