Mobility. What is it and why is it important?

It’s a word you probably hear quite a lot and yet not pay too much attention to. When you are born you probably have the best mobility you would ever have in your entire life, and as you get a couple of years older you also have more stability, creating a happy balance between the two. 
The older you get, you sit down for longer periods of time, desk jobs, dinner, netflix etc and with that it’s common to find most individuals have poor mobility. 

But what is it? 

Firstly, mobility is not flexibility. It is an added component that indicates how far you can go and stay stable/engaged in that particular range of motion as well as the ease of those movements. 

Why is it so important?

You need mobility for a number of reasons and the older you get the more important it becomes for your overall health. Here are a few;

• Injury prevention & chronic pain 

Lack of mobility often results in chronic pain of some kind as your joints aren't moving in the ways they should which if left untreated could lead to further injury. Same goes for muscular imbalances caused by poor mobility as your muscles are there to protect your joints, any imbalance puts you at a higher risk of injury.

• Building muscle 

To build muscle you must be able to execute resistance training exercises correctly, this not only includes overall technique but the range of motion the exercise requires. The more range you have the more muscles you will recruit, resulting in more effective muscle building which as mentioned above is crucial in protecting your joints. 

• Better quality of life

Mobility for training purposes isn't the only reason. It’s important to live a happy and balanced life outside of training. Good mobility means you can get out for walks, play with kids/grandkids whether it’s on the floor or outside kicking a ball around. Good mobility allows you to be self sufficient, you can get up and down with ease and complete simple daily tasks without them feeling like a big chore or uncomfortable. 

Our bodies were made to move! But moving the right way is just as vital. 

At 6X we currently are running some mobility classes, so whether you are training or just want to have better mobility overall, jump onto the  6X or MindBody App and book in a class with us. :)