[:en]Mobility. All of us have it, some better than others. Truth be told, many people talk about it, but not many understand it.

It has to do with how much of the range of motion we have available we can actually do. This means that all of our joints have a limited range of motion. Perfect mobility would mean that someone could move that joint throughout its entire range.

Well, our life makes us create habits. Unfortunately, these habits don’t favor extremes of range of motion, meaning that our body “forgets” what it feels like to be in those extremes of the range of motion. Even worse, on the rare occasions in which our body ends up getting into those extremes of the range (imagine standing on the tips of your toes and doing a calf raise as high as you can, using only your body weight, where your foot will be at almost a 90º angle with your toes), it has reactions we don’t like, like slight pain or cramping.

Now, if we are n0t working our muscles throughout their entire range of motion, we’re probably not recruiting all the muscle fibers of that muscle.

Okay, it’s hardly impossible for anyone to have enough time to dedicate to achieving full range of motion in every joint. But it’s good if we can make improvements, small as they may be!

An obvious way is to stretch. Static stretching can help you feel more comfortable in reaching those extremes of the ranges of motion. But, for example, stretching before weight training can be prejudicial for power output, because it causes the muscles to loosen up. You want your muscles tense while you train. So it’s a good option for most workout, but maybe not pre.

Dynamic stretching can be more interesting, seeing as it’s more common for you to reach range of motion extremes while in motion, not statically. This means that practicing getting to those extremes with dynamic stretching will probably have a greater carryover to sports and physical activity in general.

As an alternative to these monotonous practices, Yoga classes, if done correctly, could seriously contribute to enhancing your flexibility and mobility as a consequence.

Then we have Active Release Techniques (ART), which can be done in a variety of ways. The foam roller and tennis ball have become increasingly popular in the fitness world, for example. But recently, their efficacy has been questioned. Many have even called it the biggest time waster of the fitness industry… Well. Let’s just say that getting work done by an ART practitioner might be more beneficial. This treatment will remove scar tissue, remove adhesions and make your muscles more relaxed. This will all facilitate the task of getting as close to a full range of motion as possible.

Essentially, what you need to do is move. There were some wise words once said to us that were as follows: “Move every joint in your body at least once a day. That’ll keep you out of a wheelchair”. This might be somewhat of an extreme statement, but hey, what “sayings” aren’t? Still the point remains. Move as much as you can, in as many different planes as you can! Get your body into places where it might not feel as comfortable! [:]