Reduced mobility results in the inability to complete even simple activities. Following an illness, injury, or hiatus from working out can drastically decrease mobility. If you’re experiencing a poor range of motion, activities can be more challenging and tiring, which can impact your mood and outlook on life.
Whether you’re interested in improving your mobility or maintaining it, movement is vital. My Mobility Blog Series goal is to introduce you to a variety of movements to help you test and improve mobility throughout your entire body.
Shoulder Range Of Motion
Shoulder mobility is crucial for many daily activities as well as for strengthening and stretching. We need strength to help support the joint and decrease the risk of injury, and we need that flexibility to maintain a pain-free range of motion.
Here are some shoulder mobility exercises to help get you going:
Doorway Stretch
(1) With your elbows placed on each side of the door (placed just below shoulder height), walk through the door until your upper arms are close to parallel to the floor - or until you begin to feel the stretch across the front of your chest.
(2) Hold for 10-30 seconds.
(3) Repeat with your hands holding onto the door frame and walk through the door frame backward.
(4) Plant your feet to drop your hips out behind you to feel a stretch in your upper back.
(5) Hold for 10-30 seconds.
Shoulder Rotations Against A Wall
(1) Hold a tennis ball against the wall with the palm of your hand.
(2) Step back until your arm is close to parallel to the floor.
(3) Begin to make small counter-clockwise rotations with your arm and ball against the wall, apply only a little bit of pressure.
(4) Aim for five counter-clockwise and five clockwise rotations with each arm.
I have added both of these to my daily stretching routine. The Doorway Stretch feels really good especially if you work at a computer a lot. Try it out!
Time To Get The Hips Going
Who spends a significant amount of time sitting? Most of the workforce is sitting for hours on end. We also sit getting to and from work, while eating, and when winding down watching TV.
When you add it all up, that’s a lot of sitting!
Being sedentary creates muscle tightness throughout the lower body. Improving your hip mobility will not only increase athletic performance but can also help prevent lower back pain/injury and boost explosive movements.
There are tons of hip-opening exercises out there. Go find some and try them!
My Favorite Hip Mobility Exercise
This is my favorite hip mobility exercise. It is simple and takes very little time. You can literally do it while you are watching a TV show.
This move is called the Standing Egg Beater
(1) Start by standing on one leg and raising the opposite leg off the ground, so the thigh is parallel to the floor, and the knee is bent at 90 degrees in front of you.
(2) Kick out your raised leg until it’s locked out in front of you.
(3) Keeping your quad steady, pull your heel into your standing knee, then rotate it in the other direction, away from your body. Then move it back out into a locked position.
(4) Complete this “egg beater motion” several times, then reverse the direction.
(5) Switch legs, and repeat.
*Tip: If you have trouble with balance, hold onto a nearby chair or wall.