The Buzz…Mobility and Flexibility in the world of Performance.

Often enough in the performance world we hear the words flexibility and mobility used interchangeably. Let’s face it they’ve become a bit of a buzz word. We readily use these words in multiple conversations about what a class focus will be, why we feel so tight, why we feel in pain, why we can’t reach specific positions or why we don’t have a desired range of motion. The exhaustion of these buzzwords in our industry has created a fog around what it is exactly each word stands for and what each word entails. In a conversation I had with Coach Harris Murrieta Director of Recovery, we sat down and discussed the nomenclature behind these words and their misinterpretation in social media. In our conversation we agreed to say the following:

Flexibility is the ability of a muscle(s) to lengthen through a joint — passively, with aid.  

Mobility on the other hand is the ability of a joint to move actively through a range of motion — active, on your own. (Kinstretch)

In simpler terms, let’s look at a a regular Joe and a trained dancer side by side. Dave works a 9-5 job in front of a desk and occasionally gets up to get some water, food, maybe goes and talks to Susan. He engages in one hour of exercise 2-3 times a week, however, if we were to ask Joe if he can touch his toes…we would come to the realization that he is incapable of it. Must be flexibility right?

Now, let’s look at the trained performer. For the sake of this conversation (and also to filter out the argument that women are inherently more flexible or mobile than men due to the relaxin hormone) we will call him Alvin. Alvin has trained his whole life as a dancer, takes dance class every other day, has rehearsals everyday, and does yoga as a way to improve his “flexibility”. If we were to ask Alvin to touch his toes, he would laugh at us for even asking. Alvin can not only touch his toes with his hands but he can fully bend and touch his forehead on his thighs. Must be all the increase of flexibility he is getting from yoga right?

The reality between these two characters is that both are actually the most extreme cases we could pick. Dave does not move enough during his day and spends 75% of his day in the same position locking his hamstrings, glutes, and abs into the same position. If he tries to lengthen those “tight” hamstrings of his by touching his toes he will not be able to not because he has no flexibility, but because he has absolutely no mobility. His hamstrings, glutes, and obliques have locked his pelvis into a position which does not allow for any displacement outside of the position he is most successful in…sitting. When Dave tries to touch his toes and he has to stop because he cant reach anymore, it is because his lack of mobility is getting in the way. Now if we were to put some downward pressure on Dave pushing his back further down, which would mean we are helping him reach lower, we would see he can reach further than he thought. That is because he has more flexibility than mobility. However, that does not mean he has more mobility, because we did not change the distance he can reach on his own just the distance he can reach with our help.

When we look at performers, we are looking at the opposite side of the spectrum. Performers, dancers in particular, tend to be hyper-mobile. Meaning their muscles and tendons can elongate through joints easily and reach a larger range of motion. Their flexibility comes in when we use any sort of aid to get a higher range — think bands pulling on your legs, any barre aid, the help of another performer pushing on your leg, etc… — yet their mobility remains the same no matter how much you tug or push on that leg. Often what we fail to see is the compromises happening in the joints up and down the body. Another part of your body will have to compensate or give in in order for you to reach that range if you are attempting to achieve it via forceful means.

We should aim to become efficient at the range of movement we have access to before we can continue moving forward on our quest for higher joint mobility. We must address muscles’ lengths and shortenings as well as their ability to move from one to another (long to short). We must look at pelvis positioning during exercises and daily movement. If we are stuck in one position (with our butt sticking out or our butts tucked in as far as possible) and are incapable of shifting our hips out of that position then we will have issues controlling our legs as we lift them, create enough force to jump higher, or simply pick something off the ground without any pain on our lower backs. We must strengthen our competence and establish adequate capacity (repetition) in the relationship between muscles and joints as we increase our range of movement. We must build resilient tendons capable of not only performing at their best in one position but also be capable of performing successfully in an opposing pattern. If you live, train and perform constantly in on your tip-toes, pointing your feet down and out, your body will benefit from addressing its opposite — flexing your foot, using your hamstrings, and internally rotating your hips. Remember that one extreme cannot exist without the other.

We can choose to continue on drinking half full glasses of water and keep drinking half the glass until we quench our thirst…or we can drink whole glasses of water and save ourselves the hassle.