My Top “Bang for Your Buck” Mobility Exercises

If you’re like me – a college student who spends a lot of time in lecture halls, or doing homework in his Family Guy pajamas – you tend to sit a lot.

And if you sit a lot, you’ve probably developed a few mobility restrictions that need a bit of attention.

Now, not everyone develops the same mobility restrictions (we’re all unique and special creatures), but the most common ones I see are as follows:

-Tight hips

-Tight ankles

-Tight thoracic spine (upper back)

-Tight shoulders

I should note that when I say “tight,” I’m not referring to a muscle being “short in length.”

That may be what’s causing someone to lack range of motion in a particular movement, but more often than not, it’s a result of neural mechanisms that go far beyond the scope of this article.

For the purposes of this article, I want to forgo the “why” behind your lack of mobility, and simply provide you with my favorite mobility exercises for producing the best results in the shortest amount of time possible.

These aren’t the only mobility exercises.

And they’re certainly not the “best.”

These are just the ones that I’ve used that have given me good results.

And hopefully – after implementing them in to your own routine – you’ll see good results as well.

 

First, Realize That Mobility Work Should SUPPLEMENT Strength Work.

Before I give you my favorite mobility exercises, I think it’s important to note that these are not meant to replace a properly designed strength routine.

Training the fundamental movement patterns – squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, push-ups, rows, lunges, planks, and carries – through a full ROM, and with the goal of gaining strength in those areas, is the number one way to increase mobility, stability, and overall movement capacity.

Mobility work?

It’s important.

If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be writing this article.

But mobility work accounts for MAYBE 5-10% of total movement capacity improvements, and is therefore NOT more important than moving more and getting stronger.

Which means – when you go to throw mobility work in to your current routine – make sure your mobility work fits around your strength work.

Don’t make your strength work fit around your mobility work.

 

Now, On to the Exercises

I’m going to break this down in to sections by body part.

We’re going to start with the hips (which seems to be the biggest trouble area for most people), before tackling the ankles, t-spine, and eventually finishing up with the shoulders.

Just one quick note before we dive in:

These exercises are NOT in order of highest effectiveness.

Everyone reacts differently to various mobility exercises.

Therefore, it’s imperative that you experiment with all of them, in order to figure out which work best for YOU.

 

Hips

• Paused Goblet Squats

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xwGFn-J_Q4

 

• Paused Romanian Deadlifts (light weight, bar, or no weight)

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CleNQoKSb0

 

• Squat to Stands

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz2jhT2vZwU

 

• Spidermans

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIkhMWEnDSQ

 

• 90-90 Hip Flexor Stretch

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmec1bQBQOE

 

• Fire Hydrants

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-GRxDrMC4Y

 

• Frog Stretch

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-pzg5occCE

 

 

Ankles

• Rocking Ankle Mobilization

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVoTcZ-T0N4

 

• Wall Ankle Mobilization

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaaU4EZpmE8

 

• Wall Ankle Stretch

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSzCfi0wbcA

 

• Soleus Stretch

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xofqF5IOLLk (focus on the back leg – the slight knee bend targets the soleus instead of the gastroc)

 

• Squatting Ankle Mobilization

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4IYiazIKFM (skip towards the end of the video)

 

 

T-Spine

• Half-Kneeling T-Spine Rotations

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU7FdnQQUME

 

• Bench T-Spine Mobilization

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qovO0ysEpuc

 

• Yoga Push-Ups

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvghDKEkT6w

 

• Quadruped T-Spine Rotation

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47TFfKzpfVk

 

 

Shoulders

• Paused Push-Ups:

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVlZhVOZRC4 (pause for 5-30 seconds)

 

• Shoulder Dislocations

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02HdChcpyBs

 

• Scapular Wall Slides

 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N73AnUp3m2w

 

• Forearm Wall Slides

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kO3u18BeDqE

 

Full Body

• Thoracic Bridge

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm9L0RIhR3s

 

Creating a Routine

The way I like to incorporate mobility work is to throw in 1-2 exercises from each list as a warm-up before training, or on off days after a bit of foam rolling.

If you’re going to include these exercises as part of a warm-up:

 

-Pick 1 exercise (2 for the hips) for each body part.

-Perform 1 set of 8-10 reps of each exercise.

– Move through each exercise in circuit fashion (no rest)

 

If you’re going to do them on off days:

 

-Start with foam rolling (roll all major muscle groups)

-Pick 1-2 exercises for each body part

-Perform 1-3 sets of 8-10 reps for each movement

-Perform in circuit fashion with no rest in between exercises

 

Remember to BREATHE, stay focused, use good technique, and relax.

Keep using the mobility exercises that work.

Stop using the mobility exercises that don’t.

And if you perform these exercises on a consistent basis – on off days or as part of a dynamic warm-up before you train – you should experience noticeable gains in movement capacity and performance.