Written by Samm Parker
There are some words in fitness that are interchangeable such as sets and rounds, tempo and count, or press and push. There are two words that get confused but are not able to flip names. Those terms are flexibility and mobility. Let’s learn their differences and some ways to improve both flexibility and mobility
Visualize yourself raising your hands above your head. If you are able to connect your hands over your head that is showing good mobility. Now, if someone were to request that you put your arms above your head while they assisted at your elbow joint to gather your hands above your head, they would be using your passive flexibility to achieve your hands touching, not your mobility.
Mobility is defined as one person’s ability to freely move and change body positions. A simple example is shoulder mobility. Trainers will notice someone’s ability to raise their arm over head, or to their most available range, as mobility. Arm circles are a good tool to explore the mobility of the shoulder joint by starting with small rotation and increasing the height at which the arm travels. To improve mobility, most times, stretching is involved as well as loading the joint in angles to encourage the most supportive activation of the surrounding muscles to the joint.
Flexibly is defined as passive or active lengthening of soft tissues that allow the extremity to move without injury or stiffness. Flexibly is naturally effortless, described here as passive. If there is needed force to achieve a joint range, a helpful tool is to approach the end range and hold comfortable discomfort over several sessions and then revisit the movement to see if more mobility has been accessed from the muscle fibers being lengthened relative to bone structure.
To simplify these details, mobility most affects the joint while flexibility most affects the soft tissue and muscle that helps move the joint/extremity. There are some things that affect both mobility and flexibility. Mobility issues are created from injuries, aging, over-training or being sedentary. Flexibility issues surface from underuse, injury, as well as aging and a sedentary lifestyle.
Having both flexibility and mobility with a strength training program allows the body to reach all optimal ranges for functional movement. Having both limber muscles and freely moving joints allow a person to continue to walk independently and hold proper posture while seated or standing. A simple plan to improve flexibility and mobility are daily stretches, strength training three times a week if your schedule allows, and keeping up with daily changes you may notice in grip strength, posture and stride.