MOBILITY WITH MUSCLE…

Want to beat pain? Let me open your mind and renew your approach on how to ease or even eliminate the physical pain you are going through, or redirect your actions to prevent chronic pain from occurring in the first place.

Chronic pain, the kind that persists for more than three months such as back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, ankle pain, (fill in the blank) ________ pain, is an accepted daily reality for nearly every adult.

It’s an accepted part of aging, right? It doesn’t have to be, as you’ll soon discover.

CHRONIC PAIN NEGATIVELY IMPACTS THE THINGS YOU TRULY VALUE IN LIFE, LIKE; PLAYING WITH YOUR KIDS, HOBBIES, SPORT, HOLIDAYS, RELATIONSHIPS, YOUR LOVE LIFE, AND EVEN YOUR EARNING POTENTIAL.

The health, fitness and supplement industry is fully aware of your chronic pain points, and as such, each specific sector within the wellness industry will push their ‘star products’, services or procedures as the answer to your pain.

The upside – some of those products, pills, or procedures WILL help you.

The downside – some of the claims and promises of how much they will help you will be VERY extreme.

Hacks or quick-fixes with extreme promises sell. That fact is not all bad. Hard selling or overpromising creates action, and action is the catalyst for change.

Of course, the right actions are what lead to the kind of change you are looking for, and because we are focusing on chronic pain, I’m going to help you connect the dots between suffering with chronic pain and taking action to beat pain.

BEAT PAIN WITH A PLAN.

For a plan to work, it needs to be based on reality, and reality is full or hard truths and the right actions.

Mobility exercises alone are not enough to beat chronic pain.

Strength exercises alone are not enough to beat chronic pain.

A combination of strengthening exercises and mobility exercises absolutely give you the tools you need to prevent and beat chronic pain.

Disclaimer: To beat chronic pain;
It takes time.
It takes practice.

So now that we are on the same page, it’s vital that I define what I personally mean by ‘mobility’ and ‘strength’.

MY PERSONAL DEFINITION OF ‘MOBILITY’…

“Active control of the range of motion available to you.”

Without getting all nerdy – I define ‘active control’ as movements that are controlled by muscles within each joint’s natural movement capability.

Essentially, ‘healthy’ mobility is a balance of strength and adequate range of motion that creates an overall level of control and stability that minimises; the overuse of muscles, excessive joint movement and the demands put on the central nervous system.

Your central nervous system is the ‘don’ of mobility. It’s both the ultimate restrictor and enabler of your mobility potential. So, work with it, not against it.

Your central nervous system will limit your mobility based on how much active control you have as a way to keep your body safe. Movements outside of this ‘actively controlled range of motion’ are at a higher risk of causing repeated pain, and the central nervous system makes sure you know about this – through either restricting muscle range or processing pain signals.

Therefore, when setting out to beat chronic pain, your initial goal should be to gain or regain controlled movement, confidence in the range of motion you currently have, then actively seek to steadily increase the controlled range of motion you have over time.

How? Through an appropriate plan that combines both mobility and strength training.

Once you understand the basic concept of the role mobility plays in your overall health – then the time and practice you put in with the right actions will be very rewarding, and become the prime reason why you’ll win the fight to both prevent and beat chronic pain.

THE MOBILITY SWEET SPOT.

An adequate* level of mobility has the potential to reduce pain, or keeping pain at bay, providing of course that you have active control over that range of motion.

*What does ‘adequate’ mean? It means a level of mobility that’s slightly greater than all the physical demands you experience in everyday life and during training, sport or hobbies.

Too little mobility can lead to an increased risk of eventual chronic pain through tight, stiff and often weak muscles. An increased risk of repeated pain can result from having a very limited range of motion, and daily life and/or exercise regularly exposing your body to unexpected, and sometimes ‘weight loaded’ movements that are beyond your current limited controllable range create chronic pain potential.

Too much flexibility, yes, I said ‘flexibility’ not mobility, poses different problems that can lead to chronic pain. I define flexibility as; “the total range of motion available at any joint WITHOUT the muscles that cross the joint having to contract” Basically, you are not controlling the extensive range of movement, it’s just the maximum range you have in each joint.

When a person has a lot of flexibility, but does not have active control of ALL of that range, then the potential for chronic pain to develop drastically increases when the uncontrollable portion of the persons full range of motion is continuously tested with ‘weight loaded’ movements – such as strength training.

Muscles, ligaments and tendons are put under excess strain in the additional uncontrollable range of motion, and they are simply not strong enough or stable enough to cope with the continual overloaded stress they are put under.

Over time this leads to chronic pain that may start mild, but gradually build in intensity and regularity as the overload stress continues.

With very flexible clients, my primary goal is to reduce the gap between the flexibility range and mobility range they currently have. I look to improve the mobility when reducing the gap… not reduce the clients flexibility!

Strength training is a fantastic way to achieve an improvement of mobility, and it’s been a highly successful approach in reducing chronic pain in flexible and even hypermobile clients.

So, you can see from just these two examples how mobility really is one of the key players when it comes to tackling general chronic pain.

I’ve covered mobility in detail in my free eBook: Mobility – Stretching & Strengthening. If chronic pain is a concern or issue for you, and you are not ready to reach out for professional help, then I strongly suggest you download my eBook and act on it. You can download it here.

THE STRENGTH SWEET SPOT.

Strength training and mobility training are often thought of as counterproductive to one another.

I get the logic behind that thinking, but the reality is that strength and mobility training complement one another very well indeed – when strength training is built on a foundation of good form, full-range-of-motion control.

As a coach, I constantly experience resistance from clients with a Pilates, yoga or athletic background when it comes to introducing strength training. A common misconception is that strength training will demobilise the body and reduce performance.

Likewise, I also experience resistance from clients with a gym-based background when it comes to mobility training. A common misconception is that mobility training will drastically impede strength, and overall growth potential.

“YOU CAN’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.”

I get the concerns, but as a former athlete and life-long coach who has worked under and alongside elite level strength coaches and movement professionals with a background in mobility specialisation and rehabilitation – I’m confident of success with every client I work with.

Whilst each client brings their own personal struggles, my experience, education and practical coaching application enables me to create a realistic, bespoke plan of action, allowing each client to enjoy progressive success through a hybrid of mobility and strength training to produce the results they have been struggling to achieve… but, it takes time and practice.

YOU ARE UNIQUE, BUT YOUR NOT A MYSTERY.

Your strength and/or mobility goals to reduce or prevent chronic pain will vary depending on your current state of physical and mental health, your lifestyle, and many other factors, but with the right actions you can beat or prevent chronic pain.

It’s possible to prevent or beat chronic pain through freely available information found on various social media platforms. I offer strength training and mobility training tips on a daily basis, so maybe some of my content has been, or will be of use to you.

It’s also possible that you need a little extra help and attention to take the right actions depending on your own unique and personal chronic pain history.

This is where hiring a coach can not only speed up your journey past chronic pain, but also save you time and money in the trial-and-error process of going it alone.

PROMISES, PROMISES.

I’m not going to promise you that the appropriate balance of strength and mobility training will be the total combined answer to preventing or beating chronic pain.

Any experienced coach worth their salt will know there are more factors to take into consideration, such as habits, lifestyle choices, sleep, stress levels and many other factors, but I will say with resounding confidence that when used appropriately, strength and mobility training can significantly reduce chronic pain as well as increase the likelihood of preventing chronic pain developing in the future, even when other areas of your life are far from perfect.

WHAT SCENARIO BEST DESCRIBES YOU?

If you are inactive or not currently active in any form of consistent mobility or strength training, then you are in a prime position to quickly reduce any chronic pain you might be experiencing through strength and mobility training.

If you don’t have time to exercise, or never get a single moment to look after yourself – I hear you. A lot of my clients start out this way.

I can make this promise; with support, guidance and coaching from me, and with a willingness to take action and follow instructions from you – then we can ‘find’ time in your life to help you beat chronic pain without losing the other aspects of your life that you currently put ahead of your own health.

If you are training regularly but suffering from chronic aches, niggles and pains, then that’s a clear indication that your approach and balance of activity or training is not in line with what’s best for your overall health. Some minor or major tweaks to your training plan can help change that narrative and reduce or eliminate the chronic pains you are experiencing.

BEAT OR PREVENT CHRONIC PAIN…

Regardless of which scenario is closest to describing you, reach out and have a chat with me. I’m not interested in the hard sell, I’m only interested in those that want to use my experience and services to help them, help themselves – and are willing to take action to do so.

And as I always say, if I feel I cannot help you, I’ll direct you to someone… or a resource that can.

Prevent or beat chronic pain by taking action today.