Here’s the difference between strength, flexibility and mobility
By Emily Reilly
The regular gym member might not be aware of the difference between flexibility and mobility, nor the necessity of it. But the time you spend concentrating on flexibility and mobility is just as important as the time spent on strength, perhaps more so.
My strength and conditioning students often ask me about why they should care about mobility and flexibility, but my yoga and stretching students rarely ask about the reasons to develop strength. In reality they are two sides of the same coin, and we should give just as much attention to training and maintaining our mobility as we do our strength.
Think of it this way:
Strength: How much force a muscle and joint are able to produce/maintain/receive
Mobility: How a joint moves and that includes… Flexibility: length of a muscle
Beyond just working out in the gym, both mobility and flexibility affect your life every day. Consider this: if you have a general mobility problem that affects how you move, your body isn’t going to be functioning in the way it’s supposed to both in and out of the gym. Our daily tasks require strength and we have to move in ways that are not always predictable. How many times have you heard stories from your gym buddies about twisted ankles on a hike? What about the dreaded grocery trip that leads to someone putting their back out, or other slightly embarrassing injury stories that include small children or pets in unexpected places?
Over time if you neglect mobility you can suffer more wear-and-tear, as well as general discomfort. Also, when you’re exercising in a limited range of motion you may be performing faulty movements under higher intensity and greater stress, so painful injuries can accumulate over time.
Training to increase and maintain mobility means you are increasing your strength at your full range of motion (at a safe pace and hopefully with some training advice). And you are decreasing your chance of injury outside the gym.
So, now you might be wondering how to improve your mobility. First off, it is important to realize mobility and flexibility (just like strength) are influenced by our genetics and personal history of injury and exercise. But we can always improve. You may not be able to do the splits or put your feet behind your head, but you can increase your comfort when you do have to reach to your physical limits.
When I work mobility I like to focus on these problem areas: hips, shoulders, knees, ankles, wrists and back (upper, mid and lower). If you’ve experienced trouble in these areas, or others, here are three key steps to help loosen the areas up:
Foam Rolling:
Sometimes excruciating but usually effective, foam rolling is essentially a self-massage technique to help you release tight spots in your muscles. If you’re unsure how to begin, there are many videos on youtube to get you started.
Mobility Drills:
These are exercises that are specifically geared towards training your range of motion around joints. Ask your personal trainer, or group instructor for drill ideas if you have specific goals in mind.
Stretch
This isn’t always necessary, especially if you’re a naturally bendy person stretching can make your joints more vulnerable to injury than if you just left it out. But if you’ve always been fairly stiff, and it’s stopping you from performing exercises correctly, you may benefit from including dynamic stretching as part of your warm up, and longer static stretches for after your workout.
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