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Mobility, Flexibility and Stretching
Whenever
you make a movement, there are two groups of muscles. One set of
muscles, referred to as protagonistic muscles, are the muscles that
actually facilitate the movement. The other set of muscles, referred to
as antagonistic muscles, are the muscles that resist the movement. The
degree to which the antagonistic muscles can stretch and therefore the
degree to which a specific movement can take place is what determines
your mobility as a person.
What is
the difference between flexibility and mobility?
There is no
difference typically between these two terms. They both refer to muscle
stretching and the range of stretching that can occur around the joints
within your body.
Why
should I be interested in improving my mobility?
Improving
your mobility will also improve the stretching range of your
antagonistic muscles. This allows you to develop a larger range to your
movements, which is ultimately beneficial in many different sports.
Having good mobility also allows you to prevent certain types of
injuries and reduce the severity of others.
What is
the proper method of stretching for mobility exercises?
You want to
stretch until you feel a discomforting sensation in the antagonistic
muscles that you are exercising; this is also sometimes just referred to
as a stretch sensation. Sharp and stabbing pain means that you have
hyper extended the antagonistic muscles or in other words stretched too
far. You want to feel the stretch sensation, but no real sharp pain.
What
kinds of exercises should I be performing to increase my mobility?
There are
seven distinct kinds of exercises that can help you improve your
mobility.
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Ballistic Stretching:
As the name might imply, this method of stretching uses body
ballistics in order to try to get limbs to stretch beyond a range
that would be considered normal for them. It is a very risky type of
stretching to try in that if done improperly it can have more
damaging affects than some of the other stretches.
Which
stretches are better to perform?
It depends
on what you want out of the stretch. Static stretching methods are much
safer to perform and incorrect technique is less likely to result in
severe muscle tenderness and injury. On the other hand, ballistic and
dynamic stretching will provide much greater results in a much shorter
period of time if used with proper exercise techniques.
What
order should I do them in and when in my workout should they occur?
Most people
will do mobility exercises as part of their warm-up and warm-down
sessions in their workout (keeping in mind that there is already a lot
of static stretching involved in a typical warm-up and warm-down plan)
but they can also be a separate segment of your workout as well.
There is no
set order to how to do mobility exercises, but the usual recommendation
is to do static stretching before dynamic or ballistic stretching.
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