I reflected today there appears to be a renewed interest in improving mobility. From the wealth of information I receive from various fitness related e-subscriptions that land in my mailbox daily and the information I seek out in books and online everyone is feeling a little tighter and more restricted than they would like to be.
Perhaps mobility is a deceptive word - for some people it may generate images of older people and walking frames - but the concept is really about physically operating at your maximum potential. Our sedentary lifestyle certainly affects mobility, but as we're told to head to the gym to get more active, this opens up another problem. I see more and more gyms and fitness centres opening up and with a saturation of personal trainers it is also possible our "activeness" is negatively affecting our mobility.
Where I see mobility training offering great benefit is its potential to balance the physical disruption caused by either lack of activity or repetitive, restricted movement. There are a number of people doing great work in this space, but I believe Joseph Pilates really was a pioneer in this realm. The physical body really benefits from balance (I know, so does everything else it seems) and a focus on enhanced, functional mobility is really about bringing the body to a place a equilibrium. At its simplest, we need to strengthen muscles that are weak, lengthen muscles that are tight and look at the movements the body performs holistically.
If we are allowed to move naturally, following the movement patterns are designed for, we wouldn't see so many of the issues that plague our modern society. This might be easily dismissed as new-age or earthy, but the concept is simple: the impact that technology, sitting, busy lifestyles has on our bodies cannot be ignored. Conversely, going to a gym and using machines that replicate only a limited range of our human body's movement potential isn't exactly going to improve things either.
So what is the answer? Thankfully I also believe our bodies are tremendously adaptable. At some point you will have been astounded watching someone perform an amazing physical feat, just as I was amazed watching a clip of 71 year old contortionist 'the amazing Christina' last week. I think we all need to explore our individually best movement, work on our strengths, but work even harder on our weaknesses - whatever they may be. Pilates has some amazing things to offer in this area - at some point during a session you are doing to struggle through an exercise that challenges your particular trouble spots, while you will also get great pleasure flying through a sequence that you're perfecting execution in. The key benefit is that Pilates is always striving for balance as the ultimate aim. If the pendulum swings too far in one direction there is a pathway back through focussed concentration.
If only we could use this concept of striving for balance as a map for life...unfortunately the pathways aren't always so clearly defined. I wish you all the best in your journey to balance.
