the art of mobility training
IT all starts with building a foundation.
Welcome to the first blog post on David Liira Kin! This is a spot where I’ll be uploading weekly articles on anything and everything health and wellness living. A place to answer your burning fitness questions and get to the bottom of the latest trends. I hope you join me on this adventure!
If you’ve spent any time on this site, you’ll notice that I have a philosophy: mobility, strength, and function. These aren’t just three buzzwords I’ve drawn from a hat, but rather intentional, foundational blocks that build upon each other. Before branching out to other topics on this platform, I want to start by breaking down these three words and why they’re so critical in the pursuit of living a pain-free life.
To get things started, let’s have a chat about mobility.
Simply put, mobility training involves any movement that challenges the range of motion and stability of your joints and the surrounding tissues. I’m a big believer that this practice is more productive than static stretching in virtually every context. Why? It gives you that stretching sensation while also enhancing your motor control and movement quality.
As opposed to temporarily ‘lengthening’ muscle fibers, you transform the very makeup of your joints. This is the type of work that leads to nervous system changes, fostering lasting effects. Yes, your hard work can even slow the effects of aging and expedite injury recovery. This will all lead to a more active, vigorous life.
This exercise is called the open book. It specializes in improving mid-spine health. This is a great movement to zero in on to fully grasp the value of mobility training. Not only does this improve your movement capacity at the thoracic spine, but it can also decrease neck pain, enhance coordination of the trunk, and even sort out those stubborn knots that form between the shoulders.
Additionally, it feels so damn good to get the body moving in an intentional way. It’s as if this small choice to open up your spine for a minute gives you a sense of agency over your body. All of a sudden you feel more connected to your breath and the stress occupying your mind gets interrupted for a little glorious ‘I’m present in my own skin!’ moment. This is the power of mobility training.
Before wrapping up, I want to drive home why mobility training matters from a big-picture perspective…if you weren’t quite convinced to do it already. After working as a kinesiologist and trainer for several years, I’ve begun to realize that our definition of physical activity and exercise is far too strict. No, just because you didn’t get out for a run or spend an hour in the gym doesn’t mean you failed for the day. While great in their own right, there is more to this health journey than cardio and resistance training.
I challenge you to look at your day in smaller segments that can turn into opportunities for movement. This is about filling those little air pockets of time when you’re not watching the kids or taking calls to go for a short walk or even shift to a new position in your office chair.
Everything counts.
All of these small actions, if done consistently, compound to transformative, palpable results as you feel more connected and alive in your body. It’s habits like taking care of your mobility, as non-significant as they may seem, that shape the bedrock for a strong, functional body that can handle whatever life throws at you.
…it all starts with building a foundation.
