Strength & mobility training

As a general rule, if you mention strength training, people think of Arnold Schwarzenegger and having large muscles. Naturally, that image seems unattainable and unappealing to most. But what if strength training were the key to muscle health and good lifetime mobility and pain-free movement?

What is mobility?

Firstly, it is important to understand what we mean by mobility. It is defined as “the ability to move freely” and it is that freedom of movement that really is the key. In terms of joint and muscle health, it is being able to extend as far as possible without pain, and without too much discomfort in the stretch. While a lot of that is dependent on the joint itself, it is often the muscles around our joints that let us down.

What is strength training?

Because of this, it is important to strengthen muscles to optimise their support of our joints. Strength training, or resistance training, is often associated with lifting weights or lots of workouts. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case.

Any kind of movement that challenges your muscles, or progressively overloads them will cause the growth that is needed for strengthening. Whether you are strong already, or suffering from weakness in specific muscles, any kind of weight is going to stimulate muscle growth and strength.

There are, naturally, different types of muscle development and growth, but even bodyweight movements can create the strength that is needed for muscle development. If you have an imbalance, or pain caused by some muscles working harder than others, specific, targeted movements will help balance this out, which naturally leads to better, less painful movement!

How do I combine the two?

The best way to combine the two is something called End of Range training, where we push muscles as far as they can go in little stages. Yoga is an excellent example of this, pushing you further into a movement, to see how far your body moves without causing damage or pain I often recommend dynamic movements that don’t require much beginning strength and that you can easily do at home - book in to learn more!

By Sarah Mclean