Mobility Myth? - Is it worth your coaching time or not?

Can you think of common phrases or training practices which we talk about in S&C, that fill out ?our insta feeds, yet…are incredibly vague in what they mean and crucially, lack any solid evidence to make it worth you using it, in your already highly tight training time?

Holding myself to account here and showing my own previous in-perfections, there is one topic which I did fall into the hole with. So today, I thought I’d take a peek with you into this, to maybe reinforce your practices regarding this topic, or maybe allow you to ask some good questions of yourself.

So, lets dive into the field of mobility and its use in strength and conditioning (S&C).

?

WHAT ARE WE GOING ON ABOUT?

Usually we see phrases like ‘mobility is really important’, which it might be, but what do we mean by ‘mobility’? I don’t want to sound pedantic, but it’s pretty important as often what coaches define this as, is hugely ambiguous, for example:

• How well someone can move during a movement - ‘their mobility on that squat is good’
• How flexible a muscle is - ‘their hip flexor mobility’
• How stiff someone feels - ‘they don’t feel very mobile after that session’

For the sake of this article and to avoid taking you on a wild goose chase, I will use the term mobility as ‘the ability for a muscle to lengthen/flexibility’. The reason for this is two-fold:

1. In almost every example of exercises to improve mobility, they are those which will lengthen muscles, not strengthen them.
2. How well someone moves during a movement like a squat is based on more than just one thing such as the length change/flexibility of a muscle.? It’s also influenced by joint stability too, which in turn is influenced by strength.?

?

DOES IT ACTUALLY MATTER?

Anterior hip mobility is important for someone with hip impingement, who spends hours a day at a desk, with little training history and has pain. But is it the same for someone who hasn’t got hip impingement, is well trained and experiences no issues? This illustrates an easily overlooked issue when talking about mobility – how important it really is will be dependant on the person and performance goals you are pursuing.

In another example, having a kyphotic thoracic spine, coinciding with mega tight pectoralis and lats, is highly common in many people. For a cyclist who lives in kyphosis at the saddle and work desk, but has no back, neck or shoulder pain, is this a problem, or just a way the body has adapted to the demands on it? In contrast, we could have another cyclist, but they developed neck/shoulder pain, whereby now mobility might be a problem. But again, is mobility actually the problem?

?

STABILITY AND OVERLOAD – STRENGTH INFLUENCES MOBILITY

Using our cycling example above - is the neck/shoulder pain a mobility issue (short muscle lengths), or a stability and overload issue?

By this, firstly stability is a quality combining both flexibility and strength qualities of muscles to support a joint. Overload is a phrase I will use to explain how when certain muscles are not strong enough (low on producing force), other muscles will get overloaded to compensate. In our cycling example, we see this commonly, with excess upper trapezius tightness, driven from them being overloaded as a result of poor lat, lower trapezius and rhomboid strength.

This broader look at what is actually causing the mobility issue (short and tight feeling muscles) outlines how lack of strength can be a limiting factor in these two ways, an often overlooked factor and why the next question has to be asked….

?

ARE YOUR MOBILITY EXERCISES ACTUALLY FIXING THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM?

In the prior example, we have highlighted how mobility could be a red herring and in fact, lack of strength could be the root cause of the problem.? This can then potentially mean you stretch until the cows come home, yet you still have the same problem.? Now to balance the argument, let’s say mobility is actually a true limiter alongside strength, so could be worth time focusing on.? A tennis player/overhead athlete who also sits at a desk lots, has notable anterior scapula tilt and limited upward rotation from tight lats - stretching the pec minor and lats, and mobilising through thoracic extension exercises could be logical, alongside their targeted strength training. But there is an issue…

While we know even a single, weekly exposure to strength training can trigger the adaptations necessary for strength development towards many performance goals. Does the same apply for stretching??

The adaption is different and one which may require much greater frequency. I recently compared this to brushing your teeth - you could brush your teeth twice per week for 14 minutes at a time, or twice every day for 2 minutes at a time - would these yield the same outcome? I doubt it as I have never heard a dentist suggest or recommend it (and we coach a couple of them!). ?Stretching to improve mobility could very much like this and could easily be programmed and executed in ways that suit strength adaptations but not muscle lengthening, meaning any acute improvements in session, get lost quickly and nothing changes.

Based on these facts, even in those who could benefit from mobility to lengthen muscles from stretching, it’s unclear how important stretching frequency and volume is for chronic improvements. My experience, when using this to try and resolve significant issues, particularly linked to injuries, is that frequency does matter, especially when certain muscles stay sort for most of the day due to occupation.?

When considering strength/power training has to be of primary use during an individual training session due to its much greater overall performance benefits, it makes high volume, low frequency stretching/mobility not practical. This leaves low volume, higher frequency often the main option that we are left with. This introduces another couple of overlooked facts…

?

DON’T FORGET ONE VERY WELL DOCUMENTED FACT

Strength training improves the length of muscles (e.g. mobility). I mean this kind of speaks volumes itself in determining whether using mobility specific exercises in an S&C session are worthwhile.

?

ITS BLOODY BORING FOR MOST OF US

Let’s face it, not many of us find mobility exercises engaging. We only do when we see value in them when there is a specific purpose. For example, following a lumbar back spasm, quad, hip flexor and thoracic mobilisation can be really helpful to reduce pain acutely and allow us to move with greater ease.

But, what about when you just tick the mobility exercise box for the sake of it? We know we shouldn’t, but I have 100% been a culprit of this (and everything else discussed) in the past. Time is of the essence, if they aren’t going to do it properly and do it away from training, are you simply forcing something which creates no gain, where you could use that time more wisely?

?

ACUTE EFFECTS

As stated, I don’t have it in for mobility exercises, me and the team at Coalition Performance (CP) will utilise them when needed. ?Plenty of literature shows dynamic stretching can result in acute, favourable benefits in joint ROM and numerous physical performance qualities (Opplert and Babault, 2017).

One consideration though is whether warm ups on the specific exercises about to be performed as part of the S&C session, fulfil this? In the example of a bench press, incremental warm ups will lengthen key muscles, for example the pectorals. So, is added time spent extensively stretching these of benefit? Maybe, but also, maybe not.

Additionally, we have to consider readiness. We have a lad in his 20’s who squatted 185kg for sets of 2 the other day and before he likes a little stretch in his rest periods during his warm ups. Who am I to tell him no? If it makes him feel ready, only uses up a rest period and gets him in a great head space, then he can. Appreciating we coach humans and not machines is always an easily forgotten fact and one which will inform what we do in practice, on the floor with the metal and rubber.

WRAPPING IT UP

While hopefully this shows a balanced, real-world perspective of mobility training and its use in S&C, if I had to put my neck on the line, I would say the general view on this training is maybe overvalued, particularly in certain sports and environments. Mainly from being unclear on what people are actually looking for and trying to adapt.?Your thoughts?

Thanks for reading, follow the Performance Peek if you don't already and if you do, please take a second to like or share.

Many thanks

Dave