Strength training is one of the best things you can do for your health. That said, there’s a lot of other things you can do to help get the most out of your workouts. One of the most overlooked things you can do to improve both your strength training and daily life is mobility work. While it might not be as intense as pushing the sled or trap bar deadlifts, it can still be just as important.

What is mobility training and why should I do it?

Mobility is often defined as a muscle’s ability to move through active ranges of motion while flexibility is a muscle’s passive range of motion. A flexible muscle is also often going to have better mobility than a tight one, but there is still a difference between the two. For example, a deep goblet squat is mobility and touching your toes is flexibility.

It’s easy to make the mistake of skipping your mobility and stretches. However, staying on top of it can lead to reduced injury risk and improved quality of life. It can also help boost your tendon and ligament health. Furthermore, more recent research has shown that training with more range of motion, provided it doesn’t cause pain, can lead to greater gains in strength and muscle size. As a bonus, using a lighter weight with more range of motion can have a lower injury risk compared to using heavier weights with less. Think of it like this, strength training helps you build muscle, and being mobile lets you get more out of each set.

There’s a wrong way to do it

Before you jump headlong into loads of stretches, there are some cases in which mobility work can be done incorrectly. First of all, if you’re hypermobile, you probably don’t need as much mobility work as someone else. Again, our goal with mobility work is to make sure you have active control with your muscles.. Second, static stretching before you lift or warm up can be a bad way to go. Stretching a cold muscle can cause injuries rather than prevent them and can reduce your muscles power output.

They ways we recommend

There are a couple of ways that we can improve your range of motion. A good rule of thumb is each muscle needs between 2-5 minutes of mobility work per week. There’s two ways to help add up this time without actually taking very long.

To build it into your strength sessions, you can incorporate things like dynamic stretches and foam rolling as part of a warm up. During your workouts, it’s also important to be doing the right exercises. Many strength exercises done with good technique can improve your strength and mobility at the same time. After your strength or cardio sessions, you can add in some specific static stretches to build on top of your foundation.

Day to day you might also want a list of exercises and stretches to improve your mobility. Depending on your goals, this can be something as comprehensive as a full 15-20 minute dedicated mobility session as active recovery, or a short 3-5 minute daily to-do list after you’ve been sitting at a desk for too long. Regardless of how long it takes to do your mobility, it needs to be done with intention and not laziness.

More tools in the toolbox

Regardless of how much you need, mobility is an often overlooked yet vital piece of your fitness toolkit. It doesn’t have to take long, but skipping it leaves too many benefits on the table to ignore. Reducing injury risk and pain while also increasing your potential for muscle growth and quality of life to name a few. You can easily get started with just a few light stretches after you’ve been sitting for too long. You can find some of our favorites in a list here or if you prefer video you can try out these and see what works best for you

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Sources

Afonso, J., Ramirez-Campillo, R., Moscão, J., Rocha, T., Zacca, R., Martins, A., Milheiro, A. A., Ferreira, J., Sarmento, H., & Clemente, F. M. (2021). Strength Training versus Stretching for Improving Range of Motion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland), 9(4), 427. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9040427

Gorsuch, J., Long, J., Miller, K., Primeau, K., Rutledge, S., Sossong, A., & Durocher, J. J. (2013). The effect of squat depth on multiarticular muscle activation in collegiate cross-country runners. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 27(9), 2619–2625. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0b013e31828055d5

Haff, G. G., &; Triplett, N. T. (2016). Essentials of strength training and conditioning. Human Kinetics.

Page P. (2012). Current concepts in muscle stretching for exercise and rehabilitation. International journal of sports physical therapy, 7(1), 109–119.

The importance of stretching. Harvard Health. (2024, April 17). https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/the-importance-of-stretching

Wolf, M., Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Fisher, J., Schoenfeld, B., & Steele, J. (2023). Partial Vs Full Range of Motion Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.47206/ijsc.v3i1.182