Lower body mobility exercises can significantly impact your ability to move and perform daily tasks. Whether you are trying to build strength, run faster, or recover from an injury, mobility exercises can help improve your:
Lower body mobility exercises will focus on your hips, knees, ankles, and lower back to help you move more easily while performing your daily activities.
There are several exercises you can perform to target these areas of the body, such as the following (1):
The World’s Greatest Stretch is a dynamic stretch that targets your hip flexors, hamstrings, glutes, shoulders, calves, and thoracic spine.
This movement is an excellent lower body mobility warm up exercise.
Deep bodyweight squats target your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.
They help open up your hips to improve flexibility and range of motion and encourage better joint alignment, which can help reduce stiffness (2).
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The forward fold, also known as Uttanasana in yoga, is a great stretch that targets the hamstrings and calves. It also opens up the hips, releases tension in the lower back, and can help improve blood circulation. It’s an excellent choice for anyone who sits or stands for extended periods throughout the day (3).
The seated hamstring stretch is a great way to target the hamstrings, calves, and lower back. It’s a perfect morning stretch and also works well as a cooldown exercise.
Your calves do a lot of work throughout the day, and the calf stretch can help relieve stress on the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles that make up the calf.
These are also a good choice if you get frequent calf cramps, also known as charley horses (4).
The glute bridge is a floor-based exercise that is easy to learn and targets the glutes, hamstrings, core, and lower back. It can help improve posture and is ideal for individuals who spend a lot of time sitting (5).
Ankle stretches are often easy to overlook, but they can be beneficial for improving range of motion, flexibility, and joint health. They are perfect for any time of the day, and you can do them seated, lying down, or standing.
Read more: Morning Chair Workout: 8 Exercises You Can Do With or Without Weights
Signs of poor mobility can include difficulty squatting or getting into the lunge position. You may also experience joint stiffness after prolonged periods of sitting.
More extreme cases may leave you feeling “stuck” or restricted in shoulder, hip, and/or ankle movements.
Lower-body mobility issues can make it difficult to walk or run.
Climbing stairs and sometimes even getting up from a seated position can be a real challenge. If you experience any sudden mobility issues, consult your doctor to rule out underlying health problems (6).
There are several reasons that your lower body might not be as flexible as it used to be.
For instance, sitting for long periods can shorten and weaken your muscles, making it more difficult for them to manage your weight, especially if you are also gaining weight due to an inactive lifestyle.
Dehydration and a lack of stretching can lead to tight, less flexible muscles.
Previous injuries can leave behind scar tissue that reduces flexibility or even impairs movement. However, inflexibility is often reversible with consistent effort (7).
In addition, it could be due to your workout routine in combination with your daily life.
If you lack flexibility, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re overweight.
It is just something to work on going forward. Elite athletes often experience inflexibility issues, and it’s not something that only affects inactive people.
Improving hip mobility involves consistently practicing targeted exercises.
Stretches such as the pigeon stretch, the frog stretch, and cactus squats are all great examples of lower body stretches to improve hip mobility.
Combining these stretching movements with strength-building exercises can also help increase your range of movement (8).
Squats are one of the best hip mobility exercises that build leg strength as long as you maintain proper form.
If you’re struggling to do squats, use a pole, wall, or feel free to elevate your heels to get deeper into your squat.
These are all ideal ways to provide support as your muscles develop and flexibility improves.
Read more: 14 Leg Mobility Exercises That’ll Improve Your Performance
Lateral step-ups are helpful for building strength, balance, and coordination.
It’s similar to standard step-ups, but the sideways motion helps target the hip abductors.
Lower body mobility exercises with weights increase intensity and build muscle in the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.
Single-leg Romanian deadlifts utilize a hinge movement similar to the Forward Fold but performed on one leg to help improve hip flexibility, balance, and coordination.
By adding a dumbbell or kettlebell, you can strengthen your hamstrings, glutes, and core. However, be sure to master the movement before adding an external load.
Midline holds are a weighted isometric exercise that strengthens the core, glutes, hips, and back.
They help train the body to resist unwanted movement, making it more stable during lifts and squats.
Flexibility is both genetic and learned. While some people are naturally more flexible than others, you can still become more flexible with frequent training. You can also become less flexible due to a sedentary lifestyle, regardless of your genetics (9). Children and adolescents are often the most flexible, reaching their peak between the ages of 20 and 30. Older adults can maintain flexibility well into their later years with consistent training (10). While you may not improve as quickly as you did when you were younger, it’s still possible to see improvements in your flexibility through training, even at the age of 50. Staying consistent with your exercise routine over time is key to achieving success at any age. Neglecting to stretch and living a sedentary life can lead to muscle tightness and reduced flexibility over time. Adding even a little mobility exercise in your daily routine can help prevent stiffening (11). Upper body mobility exercises will focus on the range of motion in your shoulders, spine, upper back, neck, and wrists. Exercises you are likely to perform include neck and wrist circles, tricep stretches, cat-cow, door frame pec stretches, and sun salutations.Frequently Asked Questions
Is flexibility genetic or learned?
At which age does flexibility peak?
Is 50 too old to get flexible?
Do you lose flexibility if you don’t stretch?
What are some upper-body mobility exercises?
Lower-body mobility exercises can significantly improve your ability to move and perform daily activities. Whether you’re trying to build strength, run faster, or recover from an injury, mobility work can help improve your flexibility and control.
Stay consistent with your routine, and you’ll notice improvements over time.
Pair them with upper-body mobility movements for a total-body approach.
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