What is Mobility Training?
Mobility can help so many people In many different ways, at its core I believe mobility to be the act of getting from point A to point B, wether that’s your hands reaching your toes or running 100m in 11 seconds both require Mobility. The term mobility is very broad so there are many different ways to train it and they all lie on a spectrum, with lifting weights at one end and my fascial stretching somewhere on the other.
Currently at StrongPT we use mobility practices from either end of the spectrum to get a well rounded set of results. This blog is going to talk about the myofascial mobility work we believe is so important in unlocking your full potential.
What is myofascial mobility?
The myofascial mobility we do at StrongPT involves stretching the fascia to its fullest range of motion and then returning it to its not stretched position. This is different to a passive stretch you might come across in yoga because when a stretch is held for longer than around 4 seconds, it sends out a signal to switch off the muscles, this isn’t good if you want to still get from A to B!
The core principle in the myofascial training is that everything is connected to everything, that means your foot muscles are connected to your head muscles and even your tongue is connected to your heart VIA something call a Myofascial continuity. This means, when we change one thing, we change everything. It’s important to understand how exactly everything is connected together. That’s where the myofascial continuities in the body are so important, these are the road map on how all your muscles and fascia are laid out in the body in 10 or so seperate fascial lines. By targeting these lines effectively we are able to see incredible results from these myofascial stretches.
Results-
Undoing knottes- When you intergrate this mobility work in to your practice you can expect to undo knotted parts of your body, freeing up glued up areas that may have been tight for years with out you even realising. This can therefore improve your posture as a result of relieving stress on areas with to much tension, allowing you to stand up straight with no effort! thereby elevating extra stress on things like your organs and whole body as a working system. Not to mention you will look that part too!
Elasticity- Your tissues will become more elastic, this means movement will take less effort and can increase power output from your muscles too.
Massage effect- Doing these stretches gives similar to the effect of the tissues as getting a massage, but what’s better is results tend to stick around for longer because you have essentially taught your own self to massage the tissues at an unconscious level. The massage effect i’m talking about his the flow and redistribution on fluid in your body, kind-of like ringing out a dirty sponge so its ready to take on lovely clean fresh water.
Mindfulness- There is no doubt a connection between your physical and mental\emotional state, and your fascia is the web that connects these 3 things, so by taking care of the health of your fascia with this mobility work you will also find it less effortful to become mindful and live an overall more full and vibrant life.
Conclusion- This style of Mobility training can make you stronger, taller and more healthy, it can make you feel calmer and more empowered, it can heal traumas and help you to be able to just breath… All in just 5-10 minutes a few times a week. I love it and a hope you will too,
For more information please get in touch for more information in to our Mobility coaching, a class or a complete private personal training experience.
