Movement goals as vehicles for improved mobility
Welcome to the weekly warble here at Ideanthro Movement.
If you're someone who wants to improve their mobility/ flexibility and reduce stiffness, but finds it hard to stay motivated doing the sometimes boring mobility exercises, then this warble might help you.
I'm going to talk about how well selected, ambitious, movement goals can act as a conduit for doing the mobility work that will also help you to move and feel better. I'll use handstanding as an example, because it ticks a lot of the boxes for this, but understand that you could pick another movement as your goal.
Handstanding is a good movement goal to help improve your mobility because to handstand well requires great shoulder range of motion, a decent amount of shoulder strength, a strong awareness of how your torso, hips and shoulders are positioned in space. The work that you do to achieve a good handstand will very likely increase your shoulder mobility in daily life and reduce stiffness through the shoulders and back.
Of course everyone is different etc. There's a degree of personalisation required here, but my general point is this...
If you don't find mobility work motivating in its own right, but do find movement goals (like handstanding, but there are many others) to be motivating, then set that as your goal, and do the necessary mobility work as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.
If you'd like help improving your mobility or selecting a movement goal that's right for you, then feel free to reach out and we’ll help you out.
Have a lovely day!