Stretch & Mobility Training in Washington, D.C.

Mobility is the range of motion in your joints coupled with support from surrounding tissues to enable free movement. Mobility is essentially the foundation of any workout, as it allows for proper form and effective engagement of muscles. As basic as it sounds, some extent of mobility training is crucial to remain mobile - plus it makes you feel better. Whether you’re working towards bettering your form, trying to release those endorphins, or simply trying to make daily tasks easier as you age… a good mobility program is essential, and the experienced team here at Thesis can help you with that.

Since mobility training focuses on improving your stability, flexibility, and range of motion - exercises will involve actively moving while contracting and releasing muscles throughout the range of motion of the targeted joints. Four types of mobility training are endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility. Depending on your goals, a trainer might recommend one type or a combination of training methods to focus on.

Exercises that help train mobility can include the following:

• Shoulder rolls 
• Lunges with rotation
• Leg swings
• Hip circles 
• Squats 
• Yoga poses (i.e. child's pose to downward dog flow)
• Movement to open hips and hamstrings
• Tabletop bridge

Mobility training can be beneficial for anyone, regardless of age, lifestyle, or fitness level. The addition of mobility training to your daily routine could particularly impact quality of life and performance for those who have a sedentary job, poor posture, or always feel stiff and sore. Athletes should always add mobility training to their fitness routine to increase performance and decrease recovery time. The sooner you start mobility training, the better. Maintaining a strong, healthy body is important since we only get one body to support us through life.

“Mobility” is sometimes used interchangeably with “flexibility.” Although they go hand in hand, they are not synonymous. Flexibility refers to the ability or extent you are able to hold a stretch, while mobility is the act of moving through it.

Absolutely. Throughout a professional stretching session a trained professional, or flexologist, will work through muscle knots and identify and stretch out tightness within your muscles - elongating them and actually rewiring your muscle memory for gradual improvements in any problem areas.

Learning how to stretch develops as you get to know your body better. We encourage you to work with a personal trainer or professional that can help you develop a routine that is customized for your body and goes along with your fitness goals, whether it's to lose weight or gain muscle. At Thesis, we can help our Washington D.C. friends learn to stretch, and have fun while doing so.

Anything that contributes to your overall health and wellness is worth it. Here are 4 benefits that stretching sessions can provide:

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#1. Improved circulation

As you are stretching, blood vessels widen which allows for more blood to pass through.

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#2. Reduced pain

That increased blood flow feels pretty good and also helps to break down lactic acid, leaving you less sore.

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#3. Better digestion

As you digest normally, your body moves things through with a contraction of certain stomach muscles - stretching these muscles helps things move easier.

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#4. Stress relief

Stretching has the ability to stimulate your nervous system and decrease any production of hormones that cause stress  in your brain.

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That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Stretch sessions are definitely worthwhile - you deserve to feel good! At Thesis, it’s our thesis that coordinating all aspects of wellness + all-day, every day support = maintainable fitness transformations. Remember your health and wellness journey is a marathon, not a sprint.

Stretch training is intended to be a gradual process. Overstretching or stretching too quickly can lead to injury and backtrack your progress. That said, if you commit to stretch training at least 5 times a week, it’s common to see increased flexibility in as little as two weeks. As with any aspect of fitness, when you couple proper nutrition and plenty of rest along with your stretch regimen, results will be apparent faster.

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That’s not to say there aren’t any immediate results, such as feeling relaxed or even a boost of energy thanks to those endorphins you just released. Stretching is often referred to as active meditation, so you can expect similar effects as you practice your stretches.

Improving flexibility often takes a backseat to losing weight or increasing muscle mass as the focus of  your exercise routine. When you think of flexibility you may go too far - like doing the splits, but reel in your thoughts some. Flexibility is a part of everyday life from bending over to pick something up to stepping up or down to get in the car.

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Here’s why you should prioritize flexibility through stretch training:

• Hurt less, enjoy more: When tightness in your muscles leads to muscular imbalances, your body will put the strain of whatever activity you’re performing on another muscle group and/or joint. This is one of the top causes of sports injuries. Incorporating flexibility focused training into your exercise program can ensure optimal joint and muscle performance for a safer workout. 
• Increase strength, you are so strong: As a way to protect itself from injury due to tight muscles or limited mobility in joints, your body simply doesn’t recruit that area during exercise, leading to missed opportunities to build that muscle. 
• Improve performance, to keep up with life: To put it simply, when your body is better stretched, there is no “picking up the slack” or “restrictive use.” Your body is a well oiled machine, ready for wherever your workout takes you. 

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Because stretch and mobility training is a gradual process that requires consistency, you should aim to work with a flexologist at least twice a week for optimal results. On days when you’re not working with a professional, you should still practice your stretches and maintain consistency. This is because stretching uses muscle memory to train those muscles to perform better. In order for muscle memory to kick in, consistency is required.

Experience is not required when working with a flexologist. There are stretches for every body and a flexologist will know best where to start in your stretching and flexibility journey.

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At Thesis, we are dedicated to providing you with the tools necessary to achieve and maintain your fitness goals. We understand that your problems are unique to you and the solutions to those problems need to be addressed with an individualized approach. Health and fitness cannot have a one size fits all regimen in order to be successful, and we’re here to work with you to form a cohesive program so you can start feeling better than you ever have. In addition to flexibility and mobility training, we offer results-focused personal training, nutrition coaching, physical therapy, sports massage and more.