Active mobility

These notes combine advice from 104 reviewed passages across 73 workouts.

Overview

Active mobility is the working range of the joints: the positions you can reach, pull to, and hold under your own muscular control. The real flexibility is the point you can lift to and hold, because holding a limb at its end range uses the muscle. Movement in general runs on strength and flexibility together, and a limb that reaches deep on its own but falls away on release is missing the strength half. [11] [12] [26] [43] [48]

Active mobility opens the training and prepares the body for the movements that follow. It carries directly into skills: the shoulder work prepares the area for ring work, and the handstand builds shoulder flexibility together with strength. [5] [25] [32] [82]

Strength and flexibility

The working definition of flexibility in this approach is active. When you raise a leg or an arm, the real flexibility is the point where you can hold it, because holding it there also uses the muscle. Reaching a position by pressing against the floor is a different skill from controlling that position under your own strength. [12] [26] [43]

The muscles that pull a limb into a stretched position also have to hold it there. Flexibility alone often cannot keep the limb at its end range, so both strength and flexibility are working. This is why a raised leg needs the surrounding muscles, and why someone who only stretches can reach a position without being able to stay in it. [11] [26] [43] [48]

Because hold strength is part of active mobility, it should grow alongside range. As arm flexibility improves, the strength to hold that range must improve with it; otherwise the joint reaches the new position and loses control of it. [12] [43]

Shoulder mobility

Start the shoulders with large circles. Draw the biggest circle you can and cover the full path: all the way up, to the front, down, and back. Reach into the far corners, extend fully from the shoulder, and where the drill asks for it, keep the arms close to the ears and try to catch the floor or see the wall behind you. [1] [6] [18] [19] [21] [34] [46] [67]

The around-the-world movement works the same range along a circle: trace a large circular path, change axis through the turn, keep the arms near the ears, and look farther backward. [33]

Vary the angles. Think about shoulder mobility in as many different angles as possible, including the rotations you already use, side rotations, front rotations, and cross-body or backward movements. The backward direction can warm a different part of the shoulder than the usual forward work does, and repeated extension followed by return builds shoulder capacity. Keep the work dynamic, stretch thoroughly, and keep adding variations, including the reverse direction. [13] [14] [15] [50]

When the arms hold a fixed angle, keep the body upright and rotate continuously. At both 90 and 45 degrees the instruction is the same: turn through the position instead of stopping there, and keep the torso tall while you turn. [7]

Skin the Cat is one of the most fundamental movements in this training. It increases shoulder flexibility, works the shoulder together with strength, and engages the abdominals while staying tucked. The movement already stretches you, but the reason to keep moving forward and backward is that the repetition prepares the shoulder area completely for ring work. [4] [5]

For handstand work, pull the shoulders back and stretch them as much as possible while pulling upward. This supports shoulder flexibility for the handstand and increases flexibility and strength together. [25]

Chest-to-wall work teaches the chest to open and then close under control. Keep the arms straight, set the hands at a challenging end range, and move the chest toward the wall while the toes touch and pass slightly; then draw the chest back toward the wall. In the handstand version, place the hands about one and a half to two hand-widths beyond the lowest point and repeat the forward-and-back chest movement. During the forward phase, keep the gaze over the shoulders and open through the shoulders, which dynamically increases shoulder flexibility. The purpose is to open the chest, bring it back inward, and carry that control into the air. [23] [27] [61] [62] [63]

Open the shoulder forward, then shift back through the open position. In the chair-supported version, keep the hips elevated, move the shoulder forward, and pull it back. Shoulder rolls work the same pattern one side at a time: stretch the shoulder and bring it back. For transitions through the shoulder, move backward and forward at a medium level so the pass is comfortable and the mobility increases. [28] [29] [64] [72]

Arm-opening work travels along the maximum line: take the arms well backward and emphasize chest rotation, with the waist supporting. Lying face down with the hands behind the neck, open the elbows to the maximum, hold the tension for about a second, and close them slowly while the face stays down. In the floor-supported version, keep the elbows on the floor and the hands near the head, open the arms outward slowly, and do not hurry; the elbows will want to close inward, so keep them working outward with the back tense. This floor work increases mobility and movement capacity more than strength. Backward circles kept squeezed help expand the range. [47] [58] [59] [69] [70]

For the wall shoulder sequence, hold the body diagonally and touch the shoulder to the wall, eight repetitions per side. [22]

In the pass-through shoulder work, keep the legs straight, look across, and aim for maximal rotation of the shoulder capsules. [51]

Leg and hip mobility

Openings and circles cover the other directions. For forward-and-back leg openings, keep the body still and the knees tight, and lift the leg with muscular effort. During the outside-to-inside movement, squeeze the hip, keep the torso upright, and add the turn. [2] [16]

Foot circles start with the feet close together, about one hand-width apart, without touching. Draw large circles inward and outward, and there is no need to sit fully on every repetition. For leg circles, place the hands at your sides, draw large circles, and turn ten times to the right and ten to the left. [8] [17]

A related foot pattern moves the feet overhead in small circles in both directions, with the feet held tight; this work raises energy and opens the body for the movements that follow. [31] [32]

For knee mobility, keep the legs together, open the knees, and move from outside to inside, then reverse. [20]

Hip opening works from several positions. Open the knee to the side, then take it back to the maximum; in the kneeling version, work one side at a time and finish fully back. Lying down, keep the bent leg bent, open it to the side for five repetitions, then draw it forward to the available maximum. Limit rotation of the waist and let the leg do the moving, and use a straight knee for the following phase. [74] [75] [76] [77]

From all fours, the leg has two useful patterns. Open the bent leg fully to the side, sweep it behind toward the head, and return it without touching the ground, eight per side. Or lift the leg to the maximum so it passes close to the ear, and lower it slowly. [78] [79]

The bent-leg raise, with one leg bent and one leg straight, works as mobility: rise with hand support, and take as little help as possible on the way down. [80]

For the supported rise, use the hand for support, keep the axis controlled and the fingers spread, lower slowly, and keep the legs open. [84]

For the side-to-side version, rise slowly, move to the other side, wait a few seconds, then lower the hips slowly while rotating the body; about ten repetitions are enough. [85]

When the leg is placed on top and the body turns, work lightly through the rotation throughout the set instead of stretching only at the end. [35]

Several lying and seated drills finish the hip and leg range. Sitting on the floor, rotate right and left with the legs straight and tense. Lying fully on the floor with the hands ahead, move the leg low to the side to about 80 degrees, and direct the gaze opposite the direction the leg travels. In the active pancake, touch the floor briefly without sitting fully, return, and reach the full line on every repetition. [73] [86] [87]

Floor positions such as the jackknife and the knee pull build dynamic flexibility through repetition. Draw the feet or knees inward as far as you can and lengthen back out, going toward the maximum instead of stopping at the starting position. Keep the feet close to the target point, and if limited flexibility makes the feet hit the floor, draw them in and keep them drawn in; do not open them. [3] [38] [41]

On the rings, pass through from an L-sit with straight legs, open toward the floor as far as possible, and pull back without letting the feet touch; repeat. [55]

Wrist and ankle mobility

For dynamic wrist mobility, press the palms together and rotate 15 seconds to the right and 15 seconds to the left, then rotate each wrist while holding it with the opposite hand for ten repetitions each. [56]

On the floor, move the wrists forward and backward with a pause at the front and a reverse phase, and trace slow circles so the weight shifts through the whole area. The movement should not stay on one line. [40] [42] [44]

Wrist work can also use controlled weight shifts, side to side and forward and backward, repeated on the other side. [37]

One wrist exercise runs three movements, with the second moving upward and downward, and it stays continuous so the target part keeps working. [57]

Coach’s claim

Squeezing the fist during wrist rotation creates tension in the tendons, which may help the wrist open more effectively when rotated. [24]

Coach’s claim

For a wrist that may be tight, rotate 30 seconds to each side, then follow with slow opening-and-closing movements. [54]

Reverse-wrist work uses a turned hand position and circular motion; work slowly and keep the elbows tight. [53] [68]

Move the hand or wrist through the available range without pulling, work the other side, and increase flexibility while preserving the range you have. [45]

For the ankles, rise up and come down while alternating control between the heel and the toes. [52]

Neck and trunk mobility

Neck mobility starts with side-to-side movement while the upper body stays still. Draw front and back half-circles with the chin drawn inward. In the fuller version, move the neck to the side, forward with the chest open, and backward, with the feet apart and the hips forward; at the wall, push the wall. [9] [10] [66]

The trunk moves slowly to the side, forward, and backward. Side bends from the waist go to the maximum on both sides, and the forward phase brings the chest out. [65] [71]

The lower back can draw circles while the shoulders stay still. Keep the circles large and soft and do ten in each direction. Cat-cow adds the same circular idea with a deep breath, ten each way, reaching maximally up and down without moving the shoulders. [88] [89] [90]

In the floor-to-stand work, start as upright as you can. Bending is acceptable toward the end of the repetition, but avoid leaning forward at the start. [39]

Practice principles

A short daily practice of about ten minutes can combine wrist rotations with forward-and-back movements. [30]

Stretch consistently and keep the joints engaged; the prepared movements then come much more easily. [49]

Pacing depends on the exercise. Some mobility work is performed quickly and repetitively because it is mobility work. Many other parts of the series call for reduced speed: keep the body upright and move slowly, without acceleration, on both sides. [60] [83]

A movement counts as mobility when it involves opening and coming back. A movement without that pattern is classified as an abdominal exercise. [81]

Coach’s experience

In his own training, the coach uses twisting movements to maintain mobility. [36]

In his own training, the coach improved his wrist to a good state and his wrists became very strong. [37]

In his own training, the coach holds an end-range stretch that drops away in most people when they release it; he connects that to the strength needed to hold the range. [43]

Related pages

• Assistance and support: Often discussed together

Sources

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