Mobilize
Mobilize before you exercise to save yourself a lot of headaches on down the road. There’s 2 common problems you can avoid if you mobilize before you begin training: potential muscle strain and potential ligament or tendon sprain. Mobilizing can be performed in as little as 10 minutes and provides substantial benefits to your performance as well as to your safety.
3 Major Benefits from Mobilizing:
1) You prep the tissue for optimal performance
2) Mobilizing creates warmth making the muscle and tendons more pliable
3) It increases blood flow to improve reaction times
Forget the old fashioned static stretches that were popular in the 70’s, effective mobilization involves using dynamic movements. Put in simple terms, dynamic means simply moving versus holding a stationary position. At my training studio, I incorporate my favorite piece of equipment, True Stretch, into training my clients. This can also be found in a lot of gyms these days. Rollers and balls also work really well.
I like to use my analogy of a microwave when explaining pliability in muscle. Put a a rubber band in the freezer until it becomes stiff. Now try to stretch it out and note how easy or difficult it is to do. Now put the same rubber band in a microwave for a minute or so and repeat. Is the rubber band easier to stretch? That’s pliability!
If you enjoy my weekly articles, you can subscribe via RSS Feed so you don’t miss any. Keep training hard and remember to mobilize to get the most from your workouts. Live life to the optimum!
Melissa
OptimumCondition.com
(619) 252-4993
Empowering people through fitness, education, and coaching
