First of all, these are not the same thing, and there is an important distinction between the two.

Mobility is the ability to actively take a joint or joints through a movement, mobility has an aspect of neuromuscular control.

Flexibility is the ability to passively elongate a muscle to a particular range. This is usually done in static forms of stretching with long holds.

Mobility training, to a degree, is also strength training as there is an element of control of your joints through space. Popular mobilities include Functional Range Conditioning, Animal Flow (when done slowly) and Yoga Flows. 

What’s more important?

On a whole, mobility is going to be the primary focus however both are required. If you have noticeably poor flexibility it’s worth doing static stretches to increase the range and then moving into mobility training to strengthen that range. It can be challenging to create any meaningful change in flexibility when someone is very inflexible by doing mobility training alone.

What’s best for performance?

Mobility wins this one, especially dynamic stretching. Many studies are showing the performance benefits of dynamic stretching before activity. Conversely, static stretching, if held for too long and done directly before an exercise, can decrease performance so ensure to focus on dynamic stretches instead of static in your warm-up.

Flexibility often looks cool, you might be able to contort a limb into a particular place but that does not necessarily mean you have good control over the joint. Chasing extreme flexibility in the absence of strength could be detrimental to your health and performance. 

Stay tuned next week for another instalment of Master the Basics and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram where I share exercise techniques, and show you how to maximise your training. I hope you enjoyed this blog post, if you have any questions I host a weekly Sunday Q&A session on my Instagram channel. Otherwise, please feel free to email me at andy@andyvincentpt.com. 

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