Get the most out of your TRX workouts by incorporating an understanding of flexibility and mobility, and how it relates to building your total body fitness. In the wide world of fitness talk, flexibility and mobility are two terms that are often thrown around interchangeably, uttered in the same breath, assumed to mean the same thing. However, this is not really the case, certainly not at TRX. Let’s break this down a little.
When we refer to flexibility, we are talking about the total available range of motion. In the video above, you can see the shoulder flexibility of TRX Director of Programming, Noah Rolland, expressed by his ability to lift and lower his arm. This does not necessarily express how well one can use that range of motion; that is where mobility comes into play.
Mobility is how well you can move through a range of motion. In essence, mobility capitalizes on your flexibility. Being able to use your full range of motion while performing a strength building exercise first requires flexibility, and then mobility is used to move the load through your full range of motion utilizing strength.
It may sound trivial, but an understanding flexibility and mobility as two separate but interdependent elements is crucial to your fitness. For example, how often while training do we see our strength limited by poor mobility (being able move through a full range of motion) because we have poor flexibility?
Watch as Noah along with TRX Director of Sports Medicine Brian Bettendorf show you how you can modify a strength exercise, the TRX Split Fly, into a mobility drill by changing Noah’s angle relative to the anchor point and modifying his foot position, thus unloading the movement. This provides a good example of how flexibility, mobility and strength are all related yet separate entities requiring individual focus.
Do you use the TRX Suspension Trainer for mobility drills before you perform a strength workout? Maybe you should start.
If you want more mobility and flexibility workouts, check out our TRX for mobility and flexibility training page.
