How Does Mobility Help With Sports Performance?
FLEXIBILITY V’s MOBILITY
Often they are used interchangeably but the difference between them is significant.
Flexibility is your bodies ability to adapt to a position when under external load.
This is what stretching helps with. Whereas mobility is our body's ability to ACTIVELY CONTROL that range.
Read those 2 words again, because they are important!
ACTIVELY CONTROL
Which essentially translates to strength. The more mobile you are, the more strength you possess over larger ranges of movement.
With flexibility, you may have the range, but you don’t necessarily have the strength through that range which can lead to injury when pushed into that end range.
This is where the two hugely differ and where mobility comes into play with sporting performance. Improving athletes MOBILITY has huge benefits to them when it comes to competing.
Take a swimmer for example. A more mobile (stronger over a larger range) shoulder on a swimmer means they can power through a larger proportion of their stroke through the water.
On a tennis player, it means more range to move through for a service, or to be able to slide across the court with control, a la Novak Djokovic.
It also massively reduces the risk of injury. Mobile hips and ankles mean that misplaced step doesn’t result in 9 months on the physio bed.
Range of movement isn’t just about holding pretty poses in yoga classes or stopping us getting stiff as we get old.
It can completely transform the quality of longevity of an athletes competitive life. We spend time working with not only our private clients (urban athletes) but also with our Youth Academy kids educating and working with them to build on and improve their mobility.
For more information on our youth academy please email us fitness@studio46.com.au or follow this link.
