These Mobility Exercises for Beginners Will Help Improve Your Stride

If you’re a new runner, maintaining a consistent mobility practice might not fall at the top of your list of priorities. But it probably should. Whether you’ve signed up for your first marathon What are the best mobility exercises for beginner runners miles, these six approachable-yet-effective mobility exercises for beginners will help any athlete transition smoothly into the sport.

“As a runner, you want your body to move and perform at its peak with your joints utilizing their full range of motion,” Amber Rees, chief instructor at Barry’s in New York City and co-founder of the Brave Body Project, tells Runner’s World. She explains that an inability to achieve the full expression of a runner’s stride—specifically, hitting your knee drive and hip extension—can result in movement inefficiencies that slow you down and, over time, cause pain and injuries.

So, what should beginners know about mobility in order to Associate Health & Fitness Editor? Learn about the basics of mobility, its benefits, and how to incorporate it into your training schedule. Plus, Rees offers six beginner exercises to try.

Mobility is critical for injury prevention, running efficiency, and overall improvement in training.

Angela Tieri, C.P.T., certified run coach, mobility specialist, and owner of Tieri Training based in Ashland, Oregon, defines mobility as “a joint’s capacity to actively (with muscle contractions) move through a range of motion.” She explains that in order to maintain mobility, you need both flexibility and strength to move with control.

Lyndsay Centrowitz, D.P.T., Beginners can integrate these mobility exercises into their everyday training pelvic floor physical therapy, strength and conditioning, and female athletes, explains the different types of mobility: “Oftentimes, as physical therapists, we attempt to assess the hypomobility (lack of movement or stiffness) or hypermobility (excessive mobility) of a joint,” Centrowitz explains. “This can be extremely subjective, but does allow for intervention to be determined when working with runners.”

Additionally, she explains that mobility can be passive, which is how joints move without use of the surrounding muscles, or active, which is how joints move with the use of surrounding muscles.

It’s important to note the difference between This helps you make sure you get it into your schedule, without sacrificing too much of your time. While mobility refers to the motion of a joint, Centrowitz explains, flexibility is often used to describe the length of a muscle, tendon, nerve, or connective tissue. For example, think of the flexibility of the hamstring or quad.

“Flexibility can impact the mobility of a joint, but the mobility of a joint can also directly impact the flexibility of the associated tissue. They often intimately go hand in hand,” says Centrowitz.

Ultimately, flexibility is a component of mobility, and vice versa, but the two require their own understanding and attention.

A regular mobility practice can support novice runners by keeping joints healthy and functional, priming muscles for activity, and combating the hours most of us spend sitting hunched over screens. Mobility exercises can also help beginner athletes improve things like running form.

“If an area of the body is lacking mobility, it can impact a runner’s biomechanics during the gait cycle. Poor biomechanics do not directly correlate to the risk of injury, but they can be one of many contributing factors when navigating and managing injury in our runners,” says Centrowitz.

A regular mobility practice can also support runners throughout an entire race training cycle.

“When a joint is moving with optimal mobility, muscles are in their optimal position to work properly. This helps avoid compensations,” explains Tieri. “Doing regular mobility work, especially during periods of intense training, is a great way to check in with your body and catch any areas that need attention before they progress into injury. It helps a runner’s stride stay efficient and smooth as well.”

To avoid overcompensation in certain areas of the body, beginners want to be especially mindful of their knees, hips, ankles, and spine.

Tieri explains how each area of the body can affect another: “Limited According to 2020 can cause a shortened stride,” she explains. “If the hip doesn’t fully extend, the glutes don’t get to maximally contract to propel you forward. Therefore, the quads and hip flexors end up doing more work during the stride.”

While it’s important to focus on mobility in the lower body, runners should also pay attention to their upper bodies. “We sit at our desk hunched over computers for many hours per day, and that can translate to tight shoulders and chest muscles,” explains Tieri. “This impacts arm swing The Difference Between Flexibility and Mobility.”

Mobility vs. flexibility: Whats the difference warmup or postrun cooldown. This helps you make sure you get it into your schedule, without sacrificing too much of your time.

“As a beginner, the more frequently you work through these mobility exercises, the better you will be able to progress to more advanced mobility work which will, in the long term, make you a better, stronger runner,” Rees says.

As we age, we often face changes in our physical abilities, and that may mean losing mobility, especially if we spend less time being active.

According to 2020 research from the National Institute of Aging (NIA), “older adults who lose their mobility are less likely to remain living at home; have higher rates of disease, disability, hospitalization, and death; and have poorer quality of life.”

Maintaining a level of physical activity can prevent these issues, along with maintaining a regular mobility practice.

“A consistent mobility practice as we age can assist in maintaining functionality,” says Centrowitz. “If we can actively do our best to maintain mobility within our aging joints, activities such as aerobic exercise and strength training may feel more achievable.”

The even greater news is that some level of progress in strength and mobility is possible across all ages. Centrowitz adds, “We should strive to continue to support these movement practices in athletes of all ages, from 18 to 80 and beyond.”

1. Test your mobility with a go-to movement

One way to “test” mobility is by doing a deep squat. To do it: Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned slightly out. Send hips down and back to drop into the deepest squat you can manage, without chest dropping or heels lifting.

“This requires good ankle range of motion to keep feet fully planted on the floor, hip flexion... plus core strength to keep the torso upright,” explains Tieri. “One could do this move once a week to monitor progress as they work on mobility throughout the week.”

2. Focus on the feel

pelvic floor physical therapy strength exercises can help you get in tune with what needs attention. For example, if one hip feels tighter during a movement than the opposite hip, you can work on targeting that imbalance.

“Having a strength program that directly targets the joint and associated muscles allows for monitored progress as you get stronger, but also can be extremely beneficial for running,” Centrowitz explains.

3. Get evaluated by a physical therapist

A physical therapist can make specific recommendations based on your movements.

For the novice runner who’s looking for a go-to mobility routine, Rees programmed the following circuit, which targets the spine, hips, knees, and ankles.

“Working through these mobility exercises will help prevent injury, improve form, enhance running efficiency, and help reduce stiffness and soreness,” says Rees.

Beginners can integrate these mobility exercises into their everyday training.

How to use this list:

1. Mobility vs. flexibility: Whats the difference.
2. Brave Body Project.
3. Repeat for 2 rounds.

Each move is demonstrated by Rees in the video above so you can learn the proper form. For these exercises, you may need an exercise mat.

1. Knee Hug to Hip Stretch

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart and shift weight to right foot.
2. Without bending at the waist, lift left knee and use both hands to pull it toward chest.
3. If youre a.
4. Pause, then release leg and return to standing.
5. Repeat on opposite leg.
6. Continue alternating for 60 seconds.

2. Leg Swing

1. Stand with feet hip-width apart and place left hand on a wall or fixed structure, like a column or pole.
2. Shift weight into left foot and, initiating the movement from the right hip, swing right leg forward until you feel a stretch in the hamstring (it’s okay to bend the knee slightly).
3. Immediately swing leg behind you, stretching the hip flexors and quads.
4. Continue swinging forward and backward, keeping upper body as stationary as possible, for 30 seconds.
5. Then switch sides and repeat.

3. Cat-Cow

1. Repeat for 2 rounds.
2. Slowly inhale, lifting crown of head and tailbone upward so that you come into a slight back bend.
3. Slowly exhale, drawing in navel as you reach tailbone toward back of knees and draw chin toward chest.
4. What are the benefits of mobility exercises for beginners.

4. Quadruped Hip CARs

1. Repeat for 2 rounds. Keep belly button drawn in toward spine, back flat.
2. Lift left leg out to the left side, keeping knee bent 90 degrees and stopping at hip height.
3. Then, lift left leg back and up like you’re doing a donkey kick.
4. Circle left hip inward to complete the circle.
5. Then reverse this motion, hitting the donkey kick first, then lifting knee out to the side, and back down to complete the circle. Keep the rest of the body as still as possible, making circle smaller if you have to.
6. Repeat for 30 seconds, alternating directions of the circle.
7. Then switch sides and repeat.

5. Hip Flexor Stretch With Overhead Reach

1. Kneel on right knee with the left leg forward and knees at a 90-degree angle. Let arms hang at sides or place hands on hips.
2. Repeat for 30 seconds, alternating directions of the circle.
3. Push hips forward, further flexing left knee and stretching right hip flexor. Simultaneously reach left arm overhead and lean to the right.
4. Stand with feet hip-width apart and shift weight to right foot.
5. Repeat for 30 seconds.
6. Then switch sides and repeat.

6. Down Dog to Cobra

1. Start in a high plank with shoulders over wrists, neck neutral, back flat, core engaged, and legs straight.
2. Keeping arms and legs straight and spine neutral, lift hips up and back and draw chest toward legs.
3. Hold down-dog position and pedal feet by alternately bending one knee as you press the opposite heel into the ground.
4. Keeping arms and legs straight, lower hips to floor, press through hands, and lift chest into a cobra position. Hold for 2-3 seconds.
5. Repeat, transitioning between down-dog and cobra for 60 seconds.

Kristine Kearns

How do you track mobility progress

Health - Injuries Runner’s World and Bicycling in July 2024. She previously coached high school girls cross country and currently competes in seasonal races, with more than six years of distance training and an affinity for weightlifting. You can find her wearing purple, baking cupcakes, and visiting her local farmers market.