Mobility Work For Fighters
Mobility work has been something that has been neglected for many athletes including fighters. After or before a workout it can be quite boring to work on our range of motion despite the benefits it could possibly carry over to our training and injury prevention. To be clear, mobility is the ACTIVE range of motion we have, versus PASSIVE range of motion which is flexibility. While having flexibility is useful, it could lead to hyper flaccidity which can be detrimental and lead to injury.
Mobility as a whole
As stated above, mobility is our ability to control range of motion and this can provide us with somewhat stability around the joints. Not only increasing our range of motion but allowing us to have better neuromuscular control. For an example if someone can touch their toes without assistance, we have active range of motion. The opposite is if we can only touch our toes if someone pushes us into position which I believe is significantly less useful. With any exercise or movement we want to be able to have the most connection so that we optimise the potential activity our muscle can generate to produce force. Having more active range of motion is also useful as some positions that are sport specific require a prerequisite amount of range of motion for us to learn eg berimbolos or suplexes.
Mobility for Fighters
Fighters require a significant amount of mobility for them to have the best arsenal for their fight game. Being able to have stable joints is a must so that they can produce the most amount of force for kicks, punches, take downs etc but also to mitigate the chance of injury. In any martial art, you are going to be forced into a position where it can get ugly real quick and if you are immobile, weak and lack control of positions then you’re going to get hurt.
For example, if you get a two wrestlers with the same experience performing suplexes on each other, the one that has better thoracic mobility and stability is going to be able to perform the suplex better and more often with the least chance of injury.
If you get two muay thai fighters, one can do the splits on the chair whilst the other one can barely touch their toes, whos going to be able to perform more head kicks without blowing out their hips?
These are just examples however and each fighter will have their own skill set which requires specific mobility demands suited for their style.
Different ways we can work on mobility
There are so many different ways that we can improve mobility but like all methods, they are just tools for the trade and it is up to us to determine which one has the most bang for our buck. Some methods I implemented for my fighters and general athletes include:
Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs) - CARs were popularised by Dr Andreo Spina from FRC, FR and Kinstretch. They involve slow and controlled rotations at end range of each joint which allows us to have time to really connect with that specific range of motion whilst working on stabilisation of the joint. Though done with a relatively slow pace and unloaded, they can be useful for warm ups or even injury prevention if programmed appropriately. Done with a little bit of load can be quite difficult. An example is Hip CARs where we stay stationary either standing or in a quadruped position and we force our hip to move in full rotation to improve hip range of motion for kicking in Muay Thai or retaining and manoeuvring from guard to sweeps in BJJ.
Isometric Holds at End Range - Isometric holds at end range are an effective way to not only build connections with our body but also to strengthen and stabilise a joint. Usually I implement these after passive stretching to increase range of motion then to stabilise and strengthen that new range of motion. Isometrics have also been shown to improve the tensile strength of connective tissue (ligaments and tendons). An example is a Y Hold in a prone position to work on shoulder stability in our mid/lower trapezius muscles for reducing the chance of shoulder injuries within Boxing.
Eccentric Loading - Eccentric loading is classified as the downward movement of an exercise (usually with gravity). Eccentric loading is usually performed with weight and can help to build tensile strength within the connective tissue whilst actively stretching us into position. We should aim to increase the amount of movement we have with each repetition and due to the nature of the movement being loaded, it is resisting against external force which we are constantly doing in our combat training. An example is an eccentric V stanced squat to work on hip, knee and ankle mobility for our combat stance used in BJJ, Sambo or Wrestling.
Programming mobility into our training
As it can be quite tedious to do, we should aim to select a few exercises which we can do consistently to teach our body to move within those ranges. Best done before training as we can then use that “new” range of motion into practice however it can be done after or when we have spare time. I usually aim for 1-3 exercises as a prehab protocol.
An example for a BJJ fighter with restricted hips could be:
Hip CARs in a quadruped position x 10
Isometric Hold with Hip Internal/External Extension x 30s
Eccentric V Squat into Lunge x 10 each leg
I hope this article helps anyone whose mobility has been restricting their fight game. I always try to keep things simple and if there are any questions or concerns you can always reach out and ask myself on the Adonis Campbelltown instagram or my own personal page, @mattynguyen__ and I will be more than happy to help out.
Peace out Movement Fam!
Coach Matty