SPEAKER_00 0:15

Welcome to Practically Fit, Real Fitness Over 40. I'm Alex Johnson. And I'm Jen Chamberlain. And today we're going to talk about mobility training. This is an emerging area of fitness that's become more popular in recent years. And I would say if you're one of these folks like myself and Jen who likes to go on YouTube and look at fitness videos and look for fitness ideas and new workouts, it's something you're probably going to run into at some point. And it's something you can incorporate into your weekly fitness routine. But for those of you who haven't stumbled across mobility training on YouTube, that's what we're here to talk about today because there are a lot of people who probably still haven't heard of this and maybe make assumptions based on the term mobility. So, Jen, what's the first thing you think of when you hear the word mobility?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

When I hear mobility, I think about stretching, which I hate. I hate it almost as much as dieting, which we're going to talk about on the next episode. But yeah, I think about stretching.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah, for me, when I hear the word, I think of simply the concept of getting around and the ability to move. And this is something that can decrease, unfortunately, as we get over age 40 and 50 and beyond. And there's been a lot of studies on mobility and elderly folks. But that's not necessarily what we're talking about when we talk about mobility training. Yes, the word is related, but it's differentiated from just the ability to move. So today we'll define mobility training. We'll talk about the benefits and what it actually consists of. And Jen and I will talk a bit about how we benefited from mobility training, but also maybe where we need to improve as well. Oh, definitely. So this was an interesting concept for me because as we did our research, I realized I don't fully know what mobility is. I've been incorporating aspects of this into my training. But the interesting thing is to me, when you start to do research, I'm not sure anyone else can really define mobility training. Because, like we said at the top, emerging discipline. And as you look around, you see different definitions, you see different outlines of what's included in mobility training. So because of that, because this is emerging and it doesn't seem like everybody can completely agree on what it is, we thought this was an important topic as you're working on your personal fitness plan, like we said at the top, going out and searching online for videos, you may run into information on this. So, with that caveat, let's try and define mobility in the context of training. I found a definition from Velocity Sports Performance, which is a sports training company training athletes, high-end athlete training. And I thought their definition was really interesting. So that's the one I thought we could use on the podcast. They say this is a more modern definition of mobility. And they start by talking about how it's similar to flexibility, but not just about flexibility, like you thought, Jen. Right. So they define flexibility as the ability of a muscle to be lengthened. And then they define mobility as the ability to control movement through a range of motion. They say the concept of mobility incorporates flexibility, but not necessarily vice versa. The key for athletes is mobility. Flexibility isn't enough. And so then they go on to say mobility is a term and concept that encompasses a range of factors affecting your movement, including the tissue's ability to lengthen, the joint's ability to move, the nervous system's ability to relax and allow movement, and the neuromuscular system's ability to activate muscles and control movement through all ranges of motion. So, yeah, related to like what you would think about the word mobility, but maybe a little bit more. And sounds good, right? Sounds like we'd something we'd want to do, Jin.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Yeah, absolutely. This is sounding better and better the more I learn about it. So um, so yeah, let's talk a little bit about the benefits of mobility training. Um, so on this, we found some information from the National Exercise Trainers Association, and they have a few things to say about mobility. So they say that mobility improves your range of motion and reduces stiffness that can come about naturally from strength training. And I think we've both experienced some of that, especially as you age.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

It makes your body supple and more flexible. It can help you warm up for your regular workout routine, and it can help you reduce issues like back and knee pain, can provide a calming feeling and help you relieve stress, which is interesting, and then can also serve as a low-intensity exercise and help your body take a break from more intense training. And that last point, I was really excited about that because one of the things I have not enjoyed about uh what I was thinking was flexibility, but you know, mobility training is it felt like an add-on, like something else I was spending time on that isn't actually exercise. But according to this, it can serve as like a low intensity exercise. So maybe a little bit more like that active rest that we've talked about, Alex.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Yeah, absolutely. Um, it again, as you go through the benefits, it sounds like something we'd want to do as well. So, Jen, based on the research, how do we incorporate mobility training into our fitness routine?

SPEAKER_01 5:28

Okay, so we looked at a wide variety of sources, and because this is an emerging discipline, so there's not a lot of information out there, it seems there's no one agreed upon definition on what's included in mobility, which, you know, we found that in other areas, there's no one size fits all, right? But based on everything we read, we saw that mobility breaks down into three categories, and we'll take each of these and kind of do a deep dive into them. So the first is dynamic warm-ups or mobility drills. These are exercises you could do to warm up for your workouts, whether you're doing a strength workout or going for a run or riding your bike. So think hip circles, arm circles, hip hinges, body weight squats, one of my favorites, and lunges, active planks, dead hanks, there's so many dynamic workouts that you can do to warm up. I know I've um seen a few specific for runners. They're very simple. You just do them to kind of get your body moving before you run, really effective. So if you're whatever you're into in terms of exercise, if you Google dynamic warm-up for X, you'll no doubt find one of these. And so this is a form of mobility. It's definitely good to make sure your dynamic warmups, though, coincide with the muscles you're going to use in your workout. So, as mentioned earlier, you could also do these on a rest day, but you want to make sure that if you're doing it before a workout, it's uh hitting the actual muscles you're gonna use.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

So you're saying that I shouldn't do a dynamic warm-up for my arms on leg day.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah, that would be kind of counterproductive, Alex. Um, and for myself too. So I know a few for wedding, but I also do boxing, and I would want to do different ones for that because I'm gonna be using like my arms and my upper body a lot more.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Absolutely. Um, I think an interesting point here, too, is that this idea of dynamic warm-ups or mobility drills to warm up uh really runs counter to old school thinking that those of us over 40 may be familiar with in terms of warn up warm-ups. I we you may recall those days when we were kids and we were at school and there were PE coaches or we were in a sport and they would just make us do these static stretching drills for like 10 minutes before we did exercise, you know, stretching your hamstrings, stretching your quads, stretching your arms. Static stretching.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Yeah, I can I can I can still smell my high school gym while you're talking about that.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember that smell as well, the locker room, the steeping locker room. Yeah, so um research has shown that this can actually be counterproductive, which I think has led to this thought process around dynamic warmups. There have been several studies on this that showed similar similar results, but I found one that I thought was really interesting. And our listeners will be relieved to know this is the only scientific study we're going to reference today. Differential effects of a 30 versus 60 second static muscle stretching on vertical jump performance. Nailed it. This is a 2014 study. So this is exactly what it sounds like. They looked at these um static stretches and uh tranches of 30 and 60 seconds. So the 30 seconds added up to four minutes total, the 60 seconds added up to eight minutes total, and they had two different groups do these uh stretching workouts before doing jump testing. And they wanted to see what was the effect on jump performance, how high you jump, and the amount of power you're putting out in your jump. And so, as they looked at this, the four minutes of static stretching had no effect at all, you know, positive or negative. But the eight minutes of static stretching, those 60-second stretching intervals, they actually had a negative impact on jump height and on jump power. Wow. So this I thought this was really interesting because jumping is a multi-joint exercise. As you read about mobility, uh, it's really designed to help you with multi-joint movements because when you're moving, it is a multi-joint movement. So this idea of static stretching before exercise that we were doing when we were in, you know, elementary school, junior high, high school, uh, maybe a bit off base.

SPEAKER_01 9:28

Imagine that. Hmm. No, that's really interesting. That's surprising. I mean, that was accepted wisdom for a very long time, right? So let's talk about the second category of uh mobility, and that would be self-myofascial release.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

So this is my favorite. This is this is self-torture for those of you who are not aware.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

Yes, self-torture. That's right. I'm kind of into this too. So this would be using foam rollers, lacrosse balls, or other various implements to do self-massage and release muscle knots, tight muscles, and muscle muscle fascia. Um, so Alex, this is how you and I really got into mobility, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Yeah, let's talk a bit about that. I think for us, we ran into this as part of our employment benefits. We had access to a company that came in and showed us how to do foam rolling. Um, and they really were licensed chiropractors, but this was a service that you and I started using uh for various aches and pains. And they really work on that muscle tissue, muscle fascia. And what they would do is when you'd have a problem like, oh, I've got soreness in my knee from running, or I hurt my shoulder lifting weights, they would focus on doing some really intense massage of these muscle tissues around where the injury was and getting out knots and trying to stretch the muscle out. And then they would give you exercises to take home, which are actually all mobility exercises. So dynamic movements, stretches, and self-myofacial release, lacrosse balls, foam rollers, massage wands. And I think that was our first introduction to myofacial release. And then, of course, we realize hey, this works really great. Why do I need to pay to do this? Like uh mostly what they're doing is the massage is great and everything, but these exercises, and maybe we can find those on YouTube. And that's when we found Kelly Sterrett. He's he's uh he's actually a CrossFit guy out in San Francisco where you live now, I believe. But he's also kind of known as this as this lead expert on mobility, and he just started like filming videos in his garage or his you know kind of home workout area and has progressed into this big CrossFit person and expert on mobility. But the videos are amazing, right? Like I used one a few weeks ago for my leg, which the shin muscle was tightening up from where I had injured my leg over the summer and broken the fibula. And as I was getting more back into my exercise routine, I almost had what felt like a shin splint. And so he said, put a little crossball into the bottom of this muscle and do this stretch. And guess what? It worked. I could feel the muscle release, and it's been so much better since I incorporated those exercises. So can't say enough about like self-myofacial release. I don't know, Jen, what are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Yeah, I want to talk about this a little bit before we move on, too, because I've had really great results with this as well. Again, that introduction that we had, you know, the first time I used a foam roller, it was so incredibly painful. But they tell you that it gets easier the more you use it, and that's definitely been the case with me. For runners, you know, a lot of runners have a lot of issues with their IT band, and there's a particular uh way of rolling that can really release that. And it has really just been nearly miraculous. Like some of the things I thought were joint issues, you know, like some knee pain, some hip pain. Once I got some work in this myofascial release massage, mostly from having someone else do it, it was just incredible. Like after two or three sessions, completely gone. So yeah, it's really impressive. I'm also a big fan of Kelly Sterrett, and I didn't know he lived in San Francisco. Maybe I should go find him now. Be a Kelly Sterrett stalker.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Yeah, well, you'd have to do CrossFit. So we can't talk about CrossFit. Do not never talk about CrossFit. Okay, yeah, but the CrossFit PR after you.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

That's right. But uh not typically my thing anyway. So I'll just I'll stick with the videos. How about that?

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Yeah, the the other thing about this is it really gets you thinking about how all of your muscles are linked together, right? Like you have that pain in the knee that you get as a runner. Well, sometimes it's your IT band being tight, but sometimes it's the muscles in your calf being tight, right? So, like they'll, you know, if you go and have people do this, they'll attack your tissue from the different sides. It's just it's just amazing. It it opens up like a whole new world of thinking when it comes to your muscles.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

So an attack is a really good word. So I wanted to ask you, Alex, do you have like one of those machines that does this massage?

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Uh yeah. So yeah, that I guess that falls into this category as a as we think about tools that you could use. Uh massage gun. Yeah, I do have one. Uh and this is not product placement, by the way. These things are very expensive. So um I kind of bought an off brand because I really didn't. There's some brand that's like the big massage gun brand, and I off the top of my head I can't think of it, but it's like $400 for a like who's gonna pay that? Well, I know who will pay it, Cristiano Ronaldo, because he's the one in the ads, like with his shirt off, massaging his neck while his abs gleam in the sun. Apparently, a massage gun can make you ripped. I who knows? Yeah, but but like I found one on Amazon that was like way cheaper, and it's funny because it's branded with these other YouTube guys who who are kind of like these funny um sports therapists, Bob and Brad's massage gun uh that you can buy, it's a lot, a lot cheaper. But yes, I love that. And um, I actually prefer that now to foam rolling. So if I've got like a milder issue, um, especially like hamstrings and calves, because the calves are really hard to foam roll, right? And right. I've found like if I do that myself, I actually can like bruise myself, which is not good. So uh no. The massage gun's really good for getting into your calves and your hamstrings. Uh oh, and also your glutes, because who doesn't have tight glutes and piriformis? Uh piriformis, uh yeah, better than trying to have somebody like shove their elbow into your glutes, which is what my wife and I were doing until we got the massage guns.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Well, maybe I should just bite the bullet and get a massage gun.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah, it's it's a good investment. Just look for an off-brand because like you don't, I mean, uh Theragun. That's the one that's like $400. That's the one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, they're at all the uh running races too. They're always at the race expos. So yeah, I've seen that before.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

But that would definitely fall into this category, as I guess would traditional deep tissue massage, which is aside from this, or if you're getting like a medical massage, um, which I like to do when I have a chance, that's like amazing. But that is again, there's some level of pain involved in this, I would say to get out these muscle knots. It's not, it's not like your Swedish massage where you're just being gently stroked and rubbed with oil. Like it's intense.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

It's not a relaxing experience. I actually found someone here who does sports massage. Um, just started going. He's actually worked with a couple of football teams, so I feel like I'm really getting, you know, primo treatment here. Um, but yeah, it's it's already helping. So yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Yeah, the the other thing I would say about this is uh, you know, you mentioned the benefits earlier, the relax, the relaxation.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Um, and the stress relief. Like I agree with that because once you get some of these muscles to relax, it really is a feeling of just um relief. And so I think in that way, to me, when when I saw that uh on the benefits, that's what I thought of is like when you're able to get these muscle knots out and um get get muscles to like kind of loosen up and not be so tense, it really is a very relaxing feeling. It's all it's like a mental relief.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

Yeah. One more thing I want to say about that. So when I did go to this sports masseuse, I guess, he did show me one thing that also is supposed to kind of get your brain involved, like firing up the muscles and then um breathing so that your brain sort of remembers that feeling. And so I think that's sort of an emerging area of research, too, is like getting your neurons or whatever to fire in tune with your muscles. So hopefully there'll be some more study on that. But for now, we're gonna talk about the third aspect of mobility, and that would be more traditional static stretching. This would be like yoga or Pilates, things that you think of that would stretch your muscles. And to follow up on that point that we talked about before, both myofascial release and static stretching to follow up on the point we made before, both myofascial release and static stretching should be done after a workout, not before.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

That makes total sense. So again, I think this is a place where we can talk a bit about our personal experience. So, Jen, how you you mentioned it at the top of the podcast. How do you feel about static stretching?

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Oh, it's so boring and it takes time out of my life that I'd rather be doing other things. You know, I think the fact that it's very low impact, to me, it's just not, it doesn't compute as exercise, but the older I get, the more I'm realizing it's really important and it's gonna support all the other things I want to do in life, not just exercise, not just running, but just getting around, right? This mobility in like the broader sense of the word. So it's something I definitely need to work on, right? Um, I do enjoy some yoga. I like to do that from time to time. And I will say that at my boxing gym I go to, they really have a great combination because we do dynamic warm-ups at the beginning, then we do a really intense workout, and then we do some static stretching at the end. They're specifically targeted to those uh muscles and joints that we used. So I think that's kind of the way to go, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

Absolutely. So I think we've covered the three categories of what we see as mobility based on our research. Again, we're piecing this together. I you know I wanted to say in here, this was the most challenging research that we had done so far for the podcast because you think you know what something is, but maybe when other people don't exactly know or when it's something very new, it's you end up kind of piecing these things together. So this is the best we could do based on the available information. Um, but we we talked about the definition of mobility training. We talked about uh the benefits of mobility training, and we talked about some ways that it can be or incorporated into your fitness routine. So, Jen, what's your main takeaway from all this?

SPEAKER_01 19:43

My main takeaway from this is really I need to work more on the static stretching, and that I'm encouraged by the fact that this is a forum of exercise, of low impact exercise. It's a way that I can do some active recovery. Um, so you know, I think I've been over the years doing a little bit of the dynamic warm-ups, been starting to do more of that, the myofacial release. I'm all about that. I love a good painful massage that makes me feel better and makes me able to do the things I love. But I do think I need to spend a little more time in static stretching.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

Yeah, so I think, you know, one thing I would say about that, and for people who are trying to think, how do I work in the static stretch stretch? For people who are trying to work in the static stretching and the myofascial release, uh, I like to do it in the evenings before bed. Um, I'll do, I'll do both. And I found that um actually when I do that, I was tracking this last month on my watch and kind of comparing up my sleep data to the nights that I did this. So I'll work in some either static stretches or yoga type stretches. And and again, if I need to do like the little crossball on something on a trouble spot that I'm having or foam rolling, and I sleep better when I do that. Uh, I seem to fall asleep more quickly and have more restful sleep. So I think that's something that you can incorporate again since you're doing it after your workouts closer um to bed. It's a very like relaxing practice.

SPEAKER_01 21:05

That's a great idea. Yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Yeah, my my main takeaway from this is like I'm good on the static stretching and the myofascial release. Uh, we both seem to be good at that. My where I feel I'm lacking is this dynamic warm-up. I need to think more about that. Um, like today I did a strength workout and I just am like boom, pull-ups. Here I go. Like I've diving right in, pull-ups, dumbbell bench press. Um so I was thinking back to the pandemic, and I was doing solely body weight training, and I had read some pretty in-depth books on bodyweight training, and they had very specific programs and uh very specific warm-ups. And so I was doing these warm-ups. Uh, and so for pull-ups and push-ups, for example, they had you doing um, you know, scap scapular push-ups and scapular pull-ups, which were these like very slight movements to warm up your scapula, and then taking a broom handle and doing exercises with your shoulders and you know, things like hip hinges if you're going to do squatting. So um, I think I need to really think about how I incorporate that more into my workouts because again, not only does it help you perform better in the workout, it can also prevent pain and injury. So, this this was my main takeaway from our research on this. Like I understood the part about, you know, myofascial release and stretching, but this dynamic workout work warm-up uh is something I need to do more of this year and moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Yeah, not a resolution, but something we're both gonna work on. A little bit more mobility, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Exactly. Definitely not a New Year's resolution. I say this year and then it just sounds like a New Year's resolution. It does, I know. There you go. That's our discussion on mobility training. Hope you enjoyed it. Uh, let us know if you have questions or comments. You can shoot me an email at alex at practically.fit, or you can head on over to our substack at practically.fit and leave your comments there. We'd love to hear your comments on the episode, or if you have ideas for a future episode, a topic you'd like to like us to dive into. Uh, we'll be back next week uh and we'll be talking about Jen's favorite subject, which is dieting.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Oh, yeah, something I hate more than stretching. And we're doing all the things I hate this year. So we're gonna look into some of the things uh that you've heard about dieting. Does it wreck your metabolism? Is it healthy for you? And most importantly, what are some practical tips for those of us who might be trying to lose or maybe even gain a few pounds?

SPEAKER_00 23:30

Yeah, looking forward to that discussion. And I, you know, I want to say before we even get there that that is a very sensitive subject. So we're gonna do our research and we're gonna, you know, kind of share some of our experiences and have a really open dialogue about this subject next week. So looking forward to that. But until then, remember that fitness is for everybody.