Mobility refers to your ability to move through your complete range of motion. It is an important aspect in sports, where you often demand your body to perform at its outer limits. Consider a baseball pitcher winding up for a throw or a soccer player preparing for a powerful kick.
Mobility exercises are exercises designed to improve the range of motion in your joints and muscles. Enhancing your mobility not only improves your athletic performance; it's also a key injury prevention strategy. Muscle strains commonly happen at the extremes of your range of motion, where muscles are inherently weaker. Therefore, by working on your mobility, you strengthen your body against these vulnerable positions, ultimately reducing the risk of injury.
You can add the following mobility drills to your sport-specific warm-up to improve your end-range control and decrease your chance of injury.
Stand in a wide stance and lower yourself into a deep squat on one leg, keeping the other leg straight. When you're at the lowest point, push up through the bent leg to come up to standing. Repeat on each leg. The cossack squat is excellent for enhancing mobility through your adductors (groin muscles) and building leg strength.
Start by placing one leg in front of you and one leg behind you, both at 90-degree angles. Bring your back leg in front of you and then bring it back behind you while keeping yourself upright and your core engaged. Incorporating the 90/90 hip mobility exercise into your warm-up helps improve your ability to reach the end range of hip positions.
Standing in front of a wall, slide both arms straight up the wall. Once at the top of your range, lift your arms straight back off of the wall while squeezing your shoulder blades. Incorporating wall slides with liftoffs into your warm-up helps to promote mobility and control at end range shoulder flexion and activate the muscles in your shoulder blades.
Using a resistance band, hold your arms at shoulder height. Pull your hands back behind you at a 90-degree angle and then slowly return them back to the starting position. 90/90 external rotations help to improve your shoulder mobility and strengthen your rotator cuff.
Mobility is an important component of athletic performance. At Maven, we evaluate and improve complex movement patterns for each unique sport. We also build custom training plans that help athletes of all ages to excel in their craft and prevent future injuries.
Book a consultation with one of our physical therapists today to learn how to incorporate mobility exercises into your sports-specific warm-up or training program.
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