Mobility exercises will not be effective if your joints are not aligned properly. Alignment optimizes and improves their range of motion and mobility. Visualize it like this. A square peg does not fit into a circular hole. And if you try to make it fit by twisting, turning, jamming, and rotating it to enter, you will destroy the hole. So, without alignment, mobility will do the same to your joints. Trying to create mobility for a joint with poor alignment will create pain and injury.

How Alignment Affects Mobility

Let me get straight to the point. Round your spine, and now, slowly and without force, try to lift your arms above your head. You can’t- square peg circle hole theory. No one can without hurting themselves, and that is what you are doing to your shoulder joints each time your try to mobilize them. Any joint that is misaligned will present dysfunctional mobility.

• To increase mobility, check your alignment first. Alignment is the key to optimizing and maximizing mobility safely and effectively.
• When you have alignment, you are less at risk of pain, strain, and injury.
• Strength training under misalignment will compound strength on top of imbalance and instability. This creates more limited and restricted mobility vulnerable to injury because of increased tension under dysfunction.

Align Your Hips First

The hips are the center of gravity. When the hips are not stable, aligned, balanced, or displaced in some way, it reconfigures alignment that adjusts mobility for the worst. It does this to protect you from injury and pain. So not just one joint, all of them compensate and adjust. The way the hips tilt will dictate the path of dysfunction.

For example, when your hips tilt back, it is called posterior hip tilt. This position happens when your spine rounds forward. When the spine rounds forward, it causes the neck and shoulders to do the same. This compensation and reconfiguration not only restrict mobility but also produces tight, taunt, and inflexible muscles.

On the other hand, if the hips tilt forward, it is known as an anterior hip tilt. This position hyperextends the lower back. Hyperextension of the lower back puts a lot of force on the lumbar. The center of gravity is now the lumbar spine. This affects how high you can lift your knee. Also, hyperextension of the lumbar causes the natural curve of your thoracic spine to diminish. The diminishing of your thoracic spine enhances shoulder mobility but restricts your neck mobility.

How to Optimize your Mobility?

There are two very effective ways to optimize your mobility. First is to restore alignment by starting with the hips first. Balancing your hips and removing any hip tilt will automatically adjust the spine. When the spine adjusts, so will the shoulders and neck naturally. For example, restoring alignment and balance to the hips will autocorrect the spine. And the spine correction will automatically correct the neck and shoulders alignment.

The second way is to stretch your muscles before mobility exercises. By stretching your muscles, you can diminish tension that is causing immobility, instability, and poor alignment. It will not fix it, but it can help.

How to be Flexible Instantly

Most people don’t stretch properly. They just hold the muscles for a few seconds to quickly get through it, not realizing the actual stretching begins after 10 seconds.

Before stretching muscles and moving into range of motion, think about stability first and the stretch second. To stretch correctly and improve mobility and flexibility, you need joint alignment and stability.

For instance, when you lunge to stretch your hip flexor, squeeze your glute first, then stretch your hip flexor. This way, you stabilize and align the joint during the stretch and the muscles that strengthen and stabilize and align the joint properly. After this, you can then add mobility. And do the same with other muscles.

Other examples are your hamstrings. Squeeze your quad first, and then stretch your hamstrings. And you can contract your ankles to stretch your calves. Focus on the contraction of the muscles first to facilitate the stretch. To emphasize further, when you contract a muscle, it sends a signal to the opposing muscle to relax and stretch. It is called reciprocal inhibition.

Instant Flexibility

Again, take the lunge example. Squeeze your glute first, and then stretch your quad. Inhale during the stretch. When the stretch stops, hold it and your breath for 7-10 seconds. (If you can’t hold your breath, then breathe). After 10 seconds, exhale your air, and as you exhale, you will feel more stretch occur and go ahead and stretch into that space. When the stretch stops, repeat the process of holding and breathing again. Do this three times. Make sure the glute stays contracted during the entire stretch. This will enhance your mobility from the stretch.

The overall picture is alignment, mobility, flexibility, and range of motion all work together. You must check and restore your alignment for the proper functional motion to occur. In addition, stretch before you do your mobility exercises. You want to do mobility training correctly to develop motion to maximize and progress without it causing harm and injury to your body. Therefore, you need to understand the factors involved and integrated them.