7 mobility exercises to strengthen your joints and increase your range of motion - The Manual

2023-03-16 17:49:06 By : Mr. Kenny Liang

Staying active and eating a healthy diet can help prevent certain diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. Exercise and diet can also reduce the risk factors of developing other serious health conditions. Another major plus of participating in regular exercise is that it helps to prevent weight gain and muscle loss and aids in the burning of calories and body fat as well.

Other noteworthy benefits of exercise are that it maintains supple and flexible joints throughout life, and this helps to prevent mobility issues as the body ages. However, there can be more to an exercise routine than just muscle strengthening, flexing, and stretching.

Mobility exercises can add further benefits to workouts by strengthening joints, connective tissue, and certain muscle groups more effectively than other forms of exercise. This can make mobility exercise even more effective at keeping us fit and pain-free as we age.

The term “mobility” refers more to how our joints move within their sockets than being able to walk, bend, or stretch. This is why mobility training differs from normal exercise regimens, as it concentrates more on increasing the body’s ability to perform a range of movements that, in turn, help strengthen muscles, joints, and connective tissue. The ultimate aim of mobility training is to increase the range of motion and movements that the body can perform. 

While mobility training focuses on increasing the range of motion and movements that the body can perform, flexibility training is different because it concentrates on the lengthening and stretching of muscle groups. This can help prevent muscle aches, stiffness, and other muscle injuries from occurring while training or doing everyday activities.

As already mentioned, mobility training focuses on increasing the range of movements that can be performed by the body, using joints, tendons, and muscles to execute each exercise. 

This helps strengthen connective tissue that would otherwise tighten or even weaken due to the lack of use in standard exercise programs. Therefore, mobility training can help reduce the number of injuries related to tight muscles, stiff joints, and connective tissue issues that often occur in susceptible individuals from day-to-day activities. 

If mobility training is part of a general fitness regimen, then you can get the benefits of this type of training while doing other activities, such as playing sports or weight training at the gym. With fewer injuries likely to occur and less tension in the muscles, joints, and tendons, everyday exercising can feel easier to complete due to the enhanced movements taught by mobility training.  

Mobility training isn’t only effective in keeping muscles, joints, and tendons from becoming stiff and painful. It also helps make them all stronger and more adaptive to new exercises without the occurrence of sprains, pulls, or other common muscle and joint injuries.

The Frog Squat is a simple mobility exercise that anyone can do, and it doesn’t require gym equipment either. It targets the hamstrings, glutes, and quads. It’s also considered a great knee mobility exercise,  as the knees take some of the weight of the squat .

The Hitchhiker is a great stretch for those who suffer neck, upper back, or shoulder pain. It can even be used to relieve tension and headaches. It strengthens the upper back muscles and helps to correct and prevent poor posture. 

Hip Circles are a quick and easy exercise that can be done anywhere, and as the name suggests, they’re an effective exercise for hip mobility.

Arm and Shoulder Circles are simple shoulder mobility exercises that practically anyone can do. They help to activate the shoulder muscles and the entire shoulder joint, helping prevent shoulder pain and stiffness . 

A Chest and Shoulder Opener is an excellent exercise for those who have poor posture or limited flexibility in the thoracic spine. It is best done using a tension band. 

The Hamstring and Hip Opener helps stretch the hamstring muscles and open up the hips. It’s a great mobility exercise for relieving hip and hamstring tightness and pain. For this exercise, you will need a floor mat.

The ankles take a lot of the daily strain of human activity, so strong ankles are important. Be sure to add ankle mobility exercises to your mobility training routine.

You can train your full-body mobility in a 30-minute session in which you include all the exercises mentioned here and more. They are low-impact exercises that can be done every day.

The exercises are simple and do not need a recovery period, so you can complete a full-body mobility workout in 30 minutes and do it as often as you want.

By using certain joints and muscles regularly, you can prevent stiffness from occurring or ease stiffness that has set in. In time, mobility exercises will have a positive effect and increase body mobility.

Like red wine types and binge-worthy Netlix shows, there are a lot of smartwatches out there. Some are tailored to fitness, others more for their communication features and app integration. The latest from Amazon, the Amazfit GTR 4, is a hybrid that's a bit of both worlds.

Coming in at $200, it's by far one of the least expensive options on the market. For the price, it does a lot — sometimes to a fault. However, if you're after a watch that's a solid bet as a workout partner and easy-to-use timepiece, this model is for you. Falling fairly nicely somewhere between a fitness tracker and a sophisticated smartwatch, it's a good bet.

When it comes to treadmill running vs. outside running, everyone has an opinion. Both options come with their own set of pros and cons. Most runners like one over the other but see value in both, depending on a host of different factors.

Running is a great way to stay in shape and get some exercise, no matter where you choose to do it. There is no right or wrong answer to where you should run, whether that's outside or on a treadmill, as long as you get it done and enjoy yourself in the process. 

You’ve probably tried many different forms of exercise and training on your fitness journey, including powerlifting and weight training. One type of exercise you might not have tried is deadlifting. This can be a simple and easy way to maintain your ability to do heavy lifts from the floor. Believe it or not, you see this action in your daily life, ranging from everything from lifting a toddler to picking up a bin from the ground. These exercises help strengthen your functionality for everyday activities.

This type of workout usually involves the glutes and hips, but it can be far more than a butt-building mechanism, as deadlifting benefits your flexibility and stability. When starting this workout, we have to consider, "What does deadlifting work out?" This type of strength training works on the quads, hamstrings, and spinal muscles, among others. Total-body benefits are also garnered, such as bone health maintenance and protection against muscle loss.  What muscles does deadlifting target?

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