Mobility describes the ability of a joint, or a series of joints, to move through an ideal range of motion. Though mobility relies on flexibility, it requires an additional strength, stability, and neuromuscular control component to allow for proper movement. Activation is often paired with mobility because many mobility exercises activate key, and often dormant, pillar stabilizers in your hips, core, and shoulders.

There is also a bit of a gray zone between flexibility and mobility. The best way I can describe the difference between the two is that flexibility is a lower intensity version of mobility that does NOT require mobility (or you can say that mobility is a higher intensity version of flexibility that involves stability).

For example, a split kneeling hip flexor stretch focuses on getting enough motion at the hip to allow for a full, pain-free range of motion split squat/sagittal lunge variation. Where the split squat/sagittal lunge variation requires strength, stability, and neuromuscular control, the hip flexor stretch does not.

Continuing this analogy further, I’d urge you to consider mobility/activation to be a lower intensity version of an intensive workout (or you can say that a workout is a higher-intensity version of mobility/activation). In other words, for new, overweight, or de-conditioned trainees, mobility/activation circuits are like an introduction to metabolic resistance circuit training.

For example, let’s look at the basic knee-dominant movement pattern of a lunge to establish a clear continuum here:

Step#1- Tissue Quality: Self-massage the quad/hip-flexor area to eliminate any restrictions that may impede movement and cause knee pain

Step#2- Flexibility: Stretch the quad/hip-flexor area to lengthen the tissue to optimal levels to allow for pain-free, full range of motion

Step#3- Mobility/Activation: Perform entry level split squat/sagittal lunge variations to develop the appropriate knee stability and hip mobility and stability for optimal performance

Step#4- Strength: Progress to more advanced split squat/sagittal lunge variations via stability, range of motion, loading, integration, and/or tempo progressions

Some recent studies have been quite misleading in suggesting that stretching before exercise can negatively impact performance and of course there was that immediate knee jerk reaction in the fitness industry where many trainers and coaches jumped on the band wagon and stopped stretching altogether.

While it has been shown that performing static stretching immediately before explosive movements results in a reduction in power output, the drop in performance was so insignificant that it’s not even worth noting when you consider that if you follow static stretching with proper mobility/activation drills it’s been shown that the reduction in performance no longer exists.

The reason mobility/activation work should follow flexibility training is because it helps develop the neural connections to reinforce new ranges of motion. Plus, it helps grease the groove on all of the foundational bodyweight movement patterns like a squat, push-up, lunge, etc. to provide for a safer, more effective high-intensity workout.

As I mentioned in the recent posts about tissue quality and flexibility, it’s not about PAIN SITE… it’s about PAIN SOURCE!!

World renowned strength coach Mike Boyle is well known for advancing the concept of a joint by joint approach to training.

The reader’s digest version of this concept is that the body is simply a stack of joints and the joints in the body alternate between a need for mobility and stability. The outline below summarizes what our body needs more of, from bottoms up:

Ankle Mobility (sagittal plane) –>

Knee Stability –>

Hip Stability (multi-planar) –>

Lumbar Stability –>

Thoracic Spine Mobility –>

Scapular Stability –>

Gleno-humeral Mobility

Another one of Coach Boyle’s golden nuggets is that problems in one joint typically lead to pain or dysfunction in the joint above or below.

Knee pain is often caused by lack of ankle mobility and lack of hip stability (thus requiring hip/glute activation).

Lower back pain is often caused by a lack of hip and thoracic spine mobility and a lack of hip and core stability (thus requiring hip and core activation).

Neck and shoulder pain is often caused by a lack of thoracic spine mobility and a lack of scapulothoracic stability (thus requiring scapulothoracic activation).

In my personal experience, I have found the following 5 mobility/activation exercises to be of the highest priority for the general population. These are also the big 5 foundational bodyweight movement patterns in most bootcamp/group exercise settings with limited equipment access:

1.) Squat Variation: Proper squatting requires ankle, hip, and t-spine mobility. It also requires strong hip abductors to prevent the knees from caving in. My favorite exercise cues for my campers are “eyes up, chest and knees out, weight on your outer heels”. I like the goblet squats here because it allows you to really sit back into a deep squat position with counterbalance. The assisted TRX squat is also great as it allows you to unload your bodyweight to make squatting easier at first.

2.) Sagittal Lunge Variation: Lunge progressions begin in a static and stationary environment and progress to a dynamic and moving environment. Proper sagittal plane lunging requires both knee and hip stability and hip mobility. My favorite exercise cues for my campers are “stay tall up top, drop your hips, and keep your weight on your front heel.” One thing I learned from my buddy Mike Robertson at a recent seminar is that you should teach the split squat by having your clients place their toes against a wall/post which will prevent knee-driving and force them to drop at the hips- it works like magic!!

3.) Frontal/Transverse Lunge Variation: It’s critical to be able to lunge in all 3 planes of motion, including the frontal plane (side to side) and transverse plane (rotational). The limiting factor in frontal/transverse lunging (think lateral and rotational squats and lunges) is often poor adductor flexibility. If you can’t lunge properly then you can’t decelerate or change direction properly and that means that you will not be able to properly stop or run without risk of injury. In other words, sound lunging is key for properly training speed and agility. My favorite exercise cues for my campers are “stay tall up top, push your hips back, and keep your weight on the heel of your lead leg.”

4.) Stiff-Legged Deadlift (SLDL)/Hip-Hinge Variation: This is by far the hardest movement to teach because most people have such poor hamstring flexibility that they are unable to extend their hip without compensating by squatting and/or flexing at the lumbar spine. I see too many trainers teach swings before they ever teach their clients how to hip-hinge. This is crazy because the hip-hinge is an unloaded, slower bodyweight version of the swing- let’s not skip steps people! My favorite exercise cues for my campers are “flex your knee(s), load your heel, and extend your limbs as far away from each other as you can.”

5.) Push-up Variation: The push-up is the ultimate total body stability exercise and I feel some variation of it needs to be trained at every single workout. Start by mastering the push-up hold before moving to dynamic push-ups and for the love of God do not allow your clients to do those hideous elbows out, hump the floor push-ups. Proper push-ups require maintaining a straight line from your head through your heels- this is best accomplished by squeezing the glutes. My favorite exercise cues for my campers are “squeeze your butt and keep your elbows tight to your rib cage.”

Below is an outline of our 30-10 mobility/activation circuit in our MISSION: UNBREAKABLE beginner bootcamp in Milwaukee, WI:

	30-10 Mobility/Activation Circuit
1	T-Spine Mobility
2	Y, T, W, L, I Raises or Wall/Floor Slides Variation
3	Push-up/Front Pillar Variation
4	Side Pillar Variation (L)
5	Side Pillar Variation (R)
6	Hip Extension Variation
7	SLDL Variation (L)
8	SLDL Variation (R)
9	Ankle Mobility
10	Goblet Squat/Squat to Stand Variation
11	Sagittal Lunge Variation
12	Sagittal Lunge Variation
13	Frontal Lunge Variation
14	Frontal Lunge Variation
15	Transverse Lunge Variation
16	Transverse Lunge Variation

Watch the video below for a highlight reel of the mobility/activation exercises that we use:

I’m a big fan of a relative stability/range of motion/difficulty scale when it comes to mobility/activation, for example:

-       Using a relative stability/range of motion/difficulty scale of 1-10, “1” being full range of motion/most stable/very easy to perform and “10” being partial range of motion/most unstable/very difficult to perform, please check the appropriate box for each mobility/activation exercise below whenever you feel a challenge that is greater than a 5 out of 10

-       Your fitness homework is to religiously perform all mobility/activation exercises that were a 5 or greater on the stability/range of motion/difficulty scale both pre-workout and several times post-workout every day. Be sure to first self-massage AND stretch all tight/related muscle groups in order to eliminate any tissue restrictions for optimal performance of these foundational bodyweight strength exercises

-       For best results and injury prevention, perform this entire 30-10 mobility/activation circuit at least once per week

Why 30-sec0nds for mobility/activation?

Well, we want to warm-up without overly fatiguing ourselves for the upcoming workout.

Still, make no mistake about it- this mobility activation circuit is like a beginner metabolic bootcamp workout. It will get people sweating and puffing without overwhelming them before they enter your more advanced programs.

It will also bulletproof their bodies so that they are ready to handle anything else you throw their way.

What are your favorite mobility/activation exercises? Let us know by posting a comment to this blog post

Crank it!
BJ