Mobility vs Flexibility - and how Pilates can help with both!
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Let’s talk about MOBILITY and FLEXIBILITY. The two terms are often used interchangeably but they are fundamentally different, so let’s tackle that first.
‘Mobility’ refers to how efficient your joints are at moving the body into a particular position, while ‘flexibility’ is a muscle’s ability to stretch and lengthen to not only reach but stay in that position.
Think about the splits, for example. Only a small percentage of people are able to do this, but what is it that’s limiting us? To do the splits requires full rotation in the ball-and-socket joint of the hip. This mobility is what enables the hips to flex and extend during everyday movements like walking, and in this kind of extreme case (i.e. the splits), flexing and extending to the point that you have one leg straight out in front of you while the other is straight out behind you. At the same time, the muscles in your hip flexors, hamstrings and glutes - among others - need to have enough flexibility (think: stretchiness) to lengthen fully as you stretch the legs out into the splits, and be loose enough to stay there as you hold the position.
(We’d also like to add that there is no functional reason that you’d need to do the splits other than aesthetics and looking Insta-bendy, so don’t worry about making that a must-achieve goal!)
So how to improve your mobility and flexibility? As 'flexibility' is the passive stretchiness of the soft tissue in your muscles, improving it requires static stretches and long-hold exercises. For your ‘mobility', because it’s all about the active range of motion around a particular joint (such as how far your spine can rotate in movement), fluid yet controlled movements that involve repeated muscle contractions (and ideally a bit of resistance) are king.
If in doubt, think flexibility = muscles and stillness, and mobility = joints and movement.
Fortunately, Pilates is ready and waiting to help with both. Working on mobility and flexibility is incredibly important to build - and maintain - a strong, healthy body even as you age (more on this later) and can hugely impact how you feel and move day to day.
Man stretching on Reformer
USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Joseph Pilates once said, “A man is as young as his spinal column. If your spine is stiff at 30, you are old. If it is flexible at 60, you are young.” Wise words!
Like anything worth having, you must work to improve and maintain your flexibility. Without regular stretching, muscles can build up a lot of passive tension. To you and me, that translates to a feeling of limitation or ‘tightness’ when you try and stretch that muscle. Think about the pulling and even painful resistance you feel when stretching your hamstring - that resistance is the tension. This is only exacerbated by long hours of sitting, which has become far too common in today’s way of life! Stretching regularly will begin to ease that tension, which is an integral part of practicing Pilates. Using the Reformer and other apparatus allows a more dynamic form of stretching aided by the resistance, meaning you can get ‘deeper’ into each stretch and really feel the benefits of better flexibility.
However, there is such a thing as being too flexible. Without the strength and stability to control the looseness / stretchiness of a muscle, it can easily become hyper-extended and over-strained which is a one-way route to injury. That’s why working on strengthening your entire body (not just those abs!) and improving your stability/control is so important too.
The same goes for your mobility. For good mobility, you need flexibility, strength and control - they go hand in hand and must all be given due attention in your weekly movement routine.
Going back to our splits analogy, there is not one isolated factor that is most important to achieve the splits, so working on just your mobility for example, will not be enough. You must work on your mobility so that the hip joint has enough rotation to allow full flexion and extension of the legs/hips. You must work on your flexibility so there is enough length in the hamstring muscle for it to stretch into the full straight-leg position. Finally, you must work on building strength and control in the glutes, hips and core - among others - so that you can hold and maintain the pose. And this is true for all other movements you perform daily. Proper, efficient movement = mobility + flexibility + strength + control. (Keep reading for how this relates to running and playing sport.)
And it’s important to start now! It’s a sad but true fact of life that our mobility in particular naturally declines as we get older. You may have already started to notice that you feel a little stiffer and your joints have a smaller range of motion than you remember from your youth. But this doesn’t have to be the case. Learning to isolate movements and focus on your body alignment, spine flexibility and maintaining maximum mobility in each of your joints now can make a big difference in supporting healthy ageing, and will help to counter the passage of time when it comes to your physical ability to perform everyday movements. Moving efficiently and getting regular, low-impact exercise such as Pilates is the key!
GET THE MOST FROM YOUR WORKOUTS
Whatever your workout of choice, it makes sense that you’d want to reap all the possible benefits of each exercise - otherwise why do it?!
For this, you need to ensure two things: firstly that you are utilizing each muscle to its full potential, and secondly that you are working through your full range of motion. Think about lowering into a half squat vs a full squat for example. It’s obvious that the full squat is the more effective choice, but for many people, their quads are simply too tight and their hip joints too stiff to enable them to get the depth they need to really maximize the exercise. Mobilising your hip joints and improving the passive flexibility in your quads as well as hip flexors, glutes and hamstrings will enable you to do a full squat, and therefore gain all that the movement has to offer.
And this is true for most other exercises too. Hence, the better your flexibility and mobility = the better your performance in each exercise = the more muscles you will be working and ultimately = the more results you will see!
PERFORM BETTER IN SPORT
Pilates is an incredible complementary form of exercise that is frequently praised for enhancing performance in sport and other higher-intensity activities like running. Why? Because the increased flexibility and greater mobility you gain from the practice are obvious plus points for all of us - athlete or not!
During your workouts it’s easy to think of each muscle as working on its own (when you do a bicep curl or rise up into a glute bridge on the Reformer for example), but when it comes to movement, your body is better thought of as a machine. A machine is made up of small parts that work together to complete a task. Your body is the same, with your joints and muscles forming a synchronized kinetic chain where some muscles and joints play a starring role and others provide essential support. These secondary muscles/joints work to stabilize and support other body parts so they can carry out the movement in the safest and most efficient way possible. And your mobility and flexibility are essential to that. As mentioned above, each muscle must be able to flex and extend as needed, just as each joint must be able to move through the desired range of motion.
To put this into context, think about the way you run. To take a full stride and propel yourself forwards with power while keeping your body upright with good spine alignment, a lot has to happen at once! We won’t go into the full anatomical breakdown of how you run right now (we’ll save that for a future post!) but running - and even simply walking - requires proper joint mobility in the ankles, knees, hips and spine, as well as good muscle flexibility in your quads, hamstrings and hip flexors in particular. If any of these cannot perform to its full potential, your movement will be greatly inhibited. It makes sense then that in order to improve your run, attention must be paid to your mobility and flexibility!
The same goes for sports like golf and tennis that require a lot of rotation. Having enough movement and mobility through the torso, hips, knees and ankles will enable you to get maximal power into your swing. At SmartFit, our instructors are trained to help you build a strong, flexible, mobile body that is specifically tailored to your chosen sport. Come and give it a try - your PB’s will thank you! (And remember you get 50% off your first session if you’re new to Private Pilates!)
AVOID INJURY & FEEL BETTER FOR LONGER!
This final point applies to all of us but particularly if you exercise a lot or are an avid sportsman or woman. It’s related to injury. Injuries can occur while doing the housework, gardening, when you’re out for a gentle jog or playing competitive soccer. And often, a lack of flexibility and mobility play a significant part in the cause.
In the case of someone lacking mobility, movements become restricted and the range of motion is reduced. This causes muscles to stiffen and lose elasticity, creating a vicious circle whereby injury risk increases. Just think about it - in performing a sudden action or simply a bigger movement that requires your muscles to lengthen considerably such as a kick, swing or bending over, if your muscles are elastic they will stretch and the action is performed easily. However, for someone lacking flexibility - where the muscles are stiff and unable to stretch - they will end up strained or even worse: torn.
As we get older, the likelihood of these kinds of injuries increases, so it’s important to take steps now to keep build a healthy, flexible, mobile body that will carry us through to our golden years in the best shape possible.