Training mobility is all about the nervous system. This is our operating system that controls the hardware of our body.
Training your nervous system to accept more ranges of motion and movement makes acquiring sport-specific skill much easier.
More Range of Motion = More Movement Capabilities
Let’s look at this topic simply: By increasing joint range of motion, you have more movement options. On a deeper level, you’re able to interact with the world with more expression and also feel more energy from the world.
This may seem esoteric, but having more body awareness and control of the body simply gives you more opportunities to interact with the world around you. This is much of the premise of yogic discipline. For the sake of jiu-jitsu, we can see this expansion simply confined to being on the mats.
Fundamental Movement Patterns
Performing fundamental movement patterns built around squatting, lunging, hinging, pushing, pulling, and carrying heavy objects will translate over into the sport.
These movements I listed above are something all HUMANS need to be capable of doing. When creating a training regimen, keep this in mind. Training these movements will give you more of a “movement library” to call upon on the mats.
Neuromuscular Programming
By performing supplementary training, we are creating “neuromuscular connections.” Whatever movement we do, it’s becoming embedded in “muscle memory.” So by increasing our “movement vocabulary” and getting more reps with movements, we become more sound movers.
Jiu-jitsu is a game of movement.
I’m not saying that movement, strength, or mobility training replaces doing the sport. Instead, it supplements the sport and gives you more words, sentences, and ultimately paragraphs you can use when writing your jiu-jitsu book.
Mobility vs. Passive Stretching
By training the nervous system via mobility training, we are communicating to the body that ranges and movements are safe. Not in a static fashion as how basic yoga and stretching are taught. This doesn’t communicate in the same fashion as using tension.
When we tell the body these ranges are safe by using tension, we have more movements at our disposal, giving us more ability to learn sport-specific skill.
Final Considerations
The main premise I want you to take from this is the idea of giving you more options on the mats. Take an honest assessment of how you move. If your overall movement, strength, and mobility are lacking, your ability to take in different skills is going to be more difficult.
I’m releasing my first video product and 12 week training program “Secrets to Soft, Stable, Strong, and Supple Low Back/Hips”.
You can find the preorder HERE. It’ll be live for another week before the sale ends.
Until next time, stay mobile friends!
