You’ll never go into a strength training program and say okay, when I can deadlift 300 lbs, that’s it, I’ll never need to deadlift again. Or if your goal is to run a sub-9-minute mile, you don’t hit 8:45 once and say, alright, back to my 9-minute miles again. No. You hit 8:45 and then say wellll, I bet next time I can do better, and so the cycle continues.

Same thing goes for mobility. Although before we get into it, let’s discuss first what mobility is and isn’t. It isn’t how flexible you are, and it isn’t just passively stretching trying to touch your toes. Flexibility refers to “the ability of a muscle or muscle groups to lengthen passively through a range of motion”, whereas mobility refers to “the ability of a joint to move actively through a range of motion”. To break it down even further, I want you to picture lying on your back while extending one leg into the air. Seeing how far you can pull that leg to your chest is your passive range, if you place your leg back on the ground and lift it up toward your chest, how far you can lift it sans hands is your active. Ideally, we’d like for your passive and active ranges to be the same or at least pretty darn close. It’s when the two aren't even close or you’re incredibly lacking in your passive, that you may start noticing some issues start to creep in.
 
Okay, now that you know what mobility is and isn’t, let me convince you as to why mobility is something that should forever be a part of your fitness routine. Unless you’re Gumby, which I bet even he could stand to have a little more control, you’re never going to win at mobility. Just like you’re never going to win at working out. There will always be more weight to lift, a new goal to achieve, and a new skill to acquire. Same goes for mobility. There will always be new ranges to work your joints in, new positions to get your body accustomed to and new ways to help mitigate and rehab injuries.

I can’t tell you exactly how much mobility you need for you to be mobile enough, just like I can’t tell you exactly how much strength you need for you to be strong enough. What I can tell you is that your strength, mobility and cardio training should all hold a place in your overall fitness equation. I promise you don’t want to wait until you’re already in pain to start incorporating mobility work. Think of it more as the brushing your teeth of joint care. Keep doing it and you’ll keep all your teeth, I mean, all your joints healthy.
 
And there you have it, why you aren’t allowed to graduate from mobility training. But really, it’s not all that bad being a forever student as we're all on this continuous journey together, improving how we are moving and showing up in this world. Being able to move well enough to keep doing all of the things that make you happy is a pretty cool goal. Keep working on that and you’ll be gold.

By Kate Kuzminski