Movement quality is an aspect of athletic performance, fitness, and injury reconditioning that is rarely addressed, yet it is one of the biggest keys to achieving great results in almost any physical endeavor. Training to enhance movement quality focuses on both the mobility (or flexibility) of the body and the control of that mobility—stability and strength.
When mobility and stability are in balance, the result is a whole-body internal dynamic that expresses itself through greater success in every physical movement. The golf ball flies farther, the legs run faster, and the insurmountable stairs become easier to climb. Weights—including squirming weights like children and grandchildren—are lighter to lift, and mountains are quicker to master. Movement Quality teaches the body to be powerful, agile, and sturdy by becoming better integrated in action, performing as one powerful system rather than a series of disconnected segments.
While appropriate training intensity is vital to stimulating the results most people seek from an exercise program, focusing on Movement Quality should be considered a prerequisite to pursuing the greatest training intensity. If a race car (i.e., your body) has bad brakes, a weak suspension, and wheels that are out of alignment, driving it hard to win the race (i.e., workouts emphasizing intensity without regard for movement quality) could cause more harm than good. Improving Movement Quality by enhancing the relationship between mobility and stability, encouraging symmetry, and building skill will improve the body’s “brakes, suspension, and alignment,” allowing it to effectively have a bigger engine, more horsepower, and a healthier chassis.
All bodies are different, and training techniques to improve Movement Quality can be tailored to each individual. For example, “Tom’s” movement capacity may be limited by a lack of flexibility, while “Sally” may have excellent flexibility but be hampered by poor control of her freedom of movement. Tom would benefit from an exercise prescription emphasizing soft-tissue work and flexibility, whereas “Flexible Sally” would be better served by exercises that challenge her control and power. Furthermore, “Tom,” whom we have labeled “tight,” may actually be reasonably mobile through the ankle but excessively tight in the hips and moderately limited through the thoracic spine. Looking even closer, Tom’s hips may be tight and limited in one specific plane of movement but not another. Many complex variables come into play, and each person is unique in his or her strengths and weaknesses.
Movement Quality is a backbone (pardon the pun) of athletic success. There are athletes who move seamlessly in the gym but falter in the field. It is also possible that the best athlete on the field may not have the greatest fluidity of motion but instead possesses tremendous aerobic capacity or an unmatched level of aggressiveness, fearlessness, or toughness. Perhaps that same athlete has superior hand-eye coordination or timing or possesses court or field awareness and vision beyond that of others. Even this superstar, however, can benefit from enhanced Movement Quality.
At 1TO1 FITNESS, we provide the highest-caliber trainers who prescribe and coach exercises that help clients achieve their health and fitness goals while enhancing their Movement Quality.