Mobility and flexibility are two of the greatest indicators of physical freedom throughout your life. Mobility is considered your usable range of motion in each of your joints, or how you can control your body through a range of motion. Flexibility is seen as your ability to move through a range of motion in a passive way. Too often, people are sitting at a desk, walking, running, and avoiding moving their body through a full range of motion.
IF they do end up moving their body through a full range of motion, they will end up feeling stiff, sore, or worse, in pain the next day and beyond. The root issue comes down to a deficiency in one or both of mobility and flexibility. Thankfully, there are some pretty simple solutions to improving both in as little is 5-10 minutes per week.
Importance of Mobility and Flexibility
While both are important, people often confuse a deficiency in mobility as a problem that can be solved with an increase in flexibility. You might be able to see the problem here, but an increase in a passive range of motion does not necessarily prepare or equip you for an increase in a controlled range of motion.
Get More Flexibility
At first look, flexibility is great to consider as it is something that feels nice and can be done in a variety of environments. Here are things you can do today to increase your body’s passive range of motion:
- Stretch often – stretching can be done all throughout the day at times where you might not even think about it: sitting at a desk, watching tv, reading a book.
- Give the stretches time – try to aim for 60-90 seconds minimum in each position and let your body relax into the stretch throughout the time.
- Do it often – repeat the stretches frequently and consistently over time. Day after day. Week after week. You will notice your flexibility improve.
Get More Mobility
Now, mobility is a little trickier to look at improving, and I would argue more important. It is absolutely critical to control your body and joints through a full range of motion as you age. The more control you have, the less likely you are to fall into physical dependence in old age. Here are three tasks you can implement today to improve mobility in 2026:
- Move through a full range of motion – this might seem obvious, but there are plenty of people out there exercising regularly without moving their body through a full range of motion, whether it be a pull-up, squat, or hinge.
- Add resistance – this may be less obvious, but if you are able to move well and include added resistance to your movement, you will essentially guarantee the retention of your full range of movement through your life.
- Use tempo exercises – when I say tempo, I really mean to slow down your movement which forces you to spend more time controlling your body in the positions that you are moving through. This slowed-down pace will require you to maintain control and strengthen each of those positions.
How We Can Help
At CrossFit Winnebago, we prioritize mobility and flexibility to maintain safe and functional movement for our members. We implement controlled warm-ups and cool-downs that utilize tempo work, stretching, and moderate resistance to help our members improve both mobility and flexibility each day in class or personal training sessions.
Book a No Sweat Intro
Are you feeling tight and stiff but don’t know where to start or what to do? Book a no-sweat intro to learn more about practical steps to feeling better when you wake up in the morning.
