New blog at wisconsinbjj.com: What is Mobility?
I’ve started to do an occasional blog over at wisconsinbjj.com. Here’s the first installment
What is Mobility? (Follow link to read at source)
Mobility is the proper functioning of the muscles and joints and the ability to move smoothly and comfortably through sufficient range of motion while maintaining structural integrity of the body.
It is essential to ensure proper mobility before loading the body. Perpetuation of dysfunctional movement patterns (tension and muscular imbalances in the body) can create unnecessary wear and tear on the body, leading to eventual injury, both acute and overuse-related.
An effective mobility practice incorporates movement, builds balanced flexibility, increases (safe) range of motion and corrects postural distortions. It is more than just stretching. It is comprised of numerous bodyweight movements, assisted if necessary, that address all the aforementioned issues.
So what is it again?
It boils down to taking the body through certain movements in order to increase safe range of motion, prepare the joints for movement/loading, and restore proper muscle recruitment. When certain muscles or muscle groups are overused, other secondary or tertiary muscles overcompensate in order to execute movements, or even just to maintain the structural integrity of the body. In the short term, this keeps things running. Unfortunately, after extended periods of time, this wears on the body, pulling things out of alignment and creating potential overuse/disfunction-related injuries, or simply putting one at a greater risk of injury.
How can I avoid these potential injuries?
The cornerstone to proper mobility is soft tissue work, such as massage (particularly ART or trigger point), foam-rolling or lacrosse ball work. Consider the analogy of a rubber band with a knot in it: you can stretch the band on either sides of the knot almost endlessly, but the knot remains. Soft tissue work is the only means by which you may release this tension in the muscle.
Soft tissue work will quickly and sometimes painfully introduce you to your tension. From there you can begin your exploration of your personal tension patterns, tight/weak/overused muscle groups and how to go about improving your situation.
Next week we’ll introduce you to some basic mobility movements that you can add in to your current program.
