No more static stretching before Football!

What is the difference between mobility training in football and static stretching in football?

What is mobility training anyway?

And what are the benefits of mobility training on the football field?

Mobility addresses the following topics:

1. muscular (mis)tension

2. mobility restrictions of joint capsules and other body tissues

3. neuromuscular coordination

4. optimal biomechanical positioning of the body, joints and body axes during movement (and at rest)

5. range of motion of joints (ROM)

6. resistance of the body with all its structures to external stimuli

In short: Mobility training is nothing more than injury prevention.

The topic "Mobility" should always be seen in harmony with the topic "Stability". In addition to joint capsules and ligaments, joints are stabilized by the interaction of various muscles.

Stability deals with the position of joints (spine, shoulder, hip, knee, etc.) and the strength that maintains this stability.

Generally, a distinction should be made between the terms Stretching and Mobility:

Dr. Kelly Starrett (DPT and Bestselling Author of "Become a Supple Leopard") describes stretching, or rather static stretching in soccer, as the "simple lengthening of shortened and hardened muscles" through various stretching methods.

Mobilization, on the other hand, is a "holistic movement-based approach that addresses ALL areas that may result in mobility limitations" (limited joint mobility, neural weaknesses, motor limitations, etc.).

Here is an overview of the most important factors:

We are increasingly living the so-called "sedentary lifestyle". Put simply: we sit too much. At meals, in the car, at work, when meeting friends. Sitting has become one of our most common activities.

However, the sedentary lifestyle can cause great damage to our musculoskeletal system. We therefore need compensation. And this compensation can take place through mobility training.

For example, mobilizing the hip flexors and hamstrings (ischiocrural muscles) provides a counterbalance to everyday sitting.

By learning safe movement patterns as well as the smooth and above all unrestricted interaction of muscle chains, during movements we achieve increased movement efficiency.

This means that we need less energy for the same movement and can therefore achieve more performance. For example, you learn how to use your hips more effectively when jumping or how you can complete more push-ups with an optimal shoulder position.

Mobility training in soccer stands for increased mobility. This means nothing other than that we can perform our movements more safely and over an increased range of motion.

Injuries are usually caused by suboptimal joint positions or by an imbalance of muscle groups. If we improve our mobility, we prevent and eliminate these so-called "imbalances" and can prevent acute as well as chronic injuries.

Active mobility plays an important role in our everyday life. Through active mobility we improve our posture, our gait pattern and intermuscular resistances are reduced.

Improving passive mobility can be compared to "isolation exercises", where usually only one muscle is stretched. Mobility training in soccer is mainly concerned with muscle chains and their interaction, preparing us for the tasks and stresses of league play.

Mobility training in soccer can help you regain confidence after injury by testing the range of motion that can cause a feeling of insecurity after an injury.

After a shoulder dislocation (and subsequent healing phase), for example, the joint can be loaded again in overhead positions through careful external rotation measures. Gradually, the load can then be increased again until 100% safety is regained.

Mobility training in soccer is in many ways "help for self-help".

Because Mobility in soccer combines stretching (=flexibility) with the control of your nervous system (=strength). Accordingly, one can state: Mobility = Flexibility + Strength.

Raising the stretched leg while simultaneously "leaning forward" the body does feel like we are regulating tension in some way (felt especially in the back of the thigh).

But since soccer players in particular show great limitations here, we only achieve one thing here:

The activation of a protective reflex.

This protective reflex, which protects the muscle-tendon complex from overstretching, will not make you more mobile or prepare you for the loads in this "passive" form of stretching.

The key word here is passive.

Because this means that you are trying to get "length" on the muscles by adding external forces (gravity, momentum, partners). Your brain doesn't really understand what you're trying to accomplish and does.... nothing.

Maybe it even packs some extra tension into the system.

To prevent exactly this circumstance and to prepare you perfectly for your soccer game and your training, we have created a complete team warmup for you and your team, which by the way you can also find for free in our B42 training app.

This way you are perfectly activated and optimally protected from injuries.

With this exercise we will improve the plantar flexion of your ankle joints. This is important for jumping movements as well as the functionality of the ankle joints.

Sit on your heels and bring your feet into plantar flexion. Now alternately lift your left and right knee off the floor and lean from left to right. If the tension is too much, go to the point that is tolerable for you.

• Get into the starting position, the heel seat.

• Lift your right and left knee alternately.

• Support yourself with your hands behind your body.

The deep squat with leg extension focuses on the mobility of the back of your thighs. With this exercise, you activate an injury-prone part of your body, protecting yourself from muscular overload and unnecessary downtime.

Get into a deep knee bend and reach under your toes with both hands. Then stretch your legs while keeping your hands under your feet. You should feel tension on the back of your thighs. If you can't fully extend your legs, then grab your ankles with your hands instead of your toes.

• Start in a deep knee bend

• Reach under your toes with your hands or fingers.

• Stretch your legs through

• Return to the starting position

The perfect mobilization for your lower extremities - with the Lizard Lunge. With this exercise we'll improve your hip mobility, protecting you from injury and lengthening your sprint stride.

Do a big lunge and rest your back knee on the ground. Your front leg should be on the ground like a deep squat. Now move your hips left and right and rotate your torso to mobilize your hips.

• Do a big lunge backward.

• Rest your knee on the floor

• Keep your front leg completely on the floor

• Mobilize the hip

Numerous muscular injuries as well as knee and back problems could be avoided with more mobility in the hip joint. With this exercise, your hip will be more mobile, making you less susceptible to injury.

Sit on the floor and angle your legs so that you are in a hurdle seat. Now lift your foot and lower leg off the ground from your back leg, keeping your knee on the ground at the beginning (internal rotation of the hip). Now bring the back leg over the outside to the front, stretch it and lift it. Then bring it back over the outside to the back, where you first put the knee, then the lower leg and then the foot back down.

Repeat the exercise on the other side. You can move with your upper body during the exercise to help maintain balance. You can also use your hands for support.

• Start in the hurdle seat

• Lift the foot and lower leg of your back leg off the ground

• Bring your leg forward over outside, extend it and lift it again

• Then bring it back over the outside and lay it down

Ankle, hip and upper body? That's what soccer players need to work on.

Get into a deep knee bend. Grab your right ankle with your left hand. Rotate your upper body to the right and extend your arm upward. Remain in this position for a short time and return to the starting position. Each arm stretch counts as one repetition.

• Start in the deep squat position

• Rotate in the upper body

• Extend your free arm upward and briefly hold the end position

The better the mobility and control you have over your spine, the more agile and supple you will move on the soccer field.

Get into a quadruped stance. Now do a cat hump in which you try to pull your belly button up. Then stretch through your spine as if you were trying to make a hollow back.

• Start in the Table position

• Position 1: Place your chin on your chest and move your belly button upward.

• Position 2: Put your head on the back of your neck and move your belly button towards the floor

Injuries in the thigh area as well as knee and back problems often have their origin in an immobile hip. This exercise mobilizes your hips.

From a hip-width stance, perform a wide forward lunge and then support yourself with both hands next to your foot. Now try to place the forearm of the same side as far as possible next to the foot. Hold this position briefly. Now bring the previously deposited forearm stretched upward until you can form a line of both arms, hold this position briefly as well, and then place both hands next to the foot again.

• Lunge forward, supporting yourself with your hands on the floor.

• Place the forearm next to the foot and bring it stretched upward

• Hold the position briefly and place both hands next to the foot again

Benni Heizmann is one of the most successful mobility trainers in Germany. With his "Reset" concepts, the expert from "Perform Sports" is on the road all over Germany. As a mobility coach at B42, he will also help you change your game forever.