The 10 Best Mobility Programs for Fast Results

With the best Mobility Programs, you will be keeping joints and muscles supple and flexible while building strength at the same time. Mobility Exercises have a lot of health benefits as well as being preventative of injury. They couple very well with weight loss or as a supplement to Calisthenics, bodybuilding and other sports. However, there are many sham programs. What these fitness fads have going for them is excellent marketing, but for what they have in publicity they sorely lack in actual effectiveness. Most Mobility Programs don’t work or are made by amateurs who give wrong instructions. These programs can be counterproductive or even dangerous for your joints and muscles. To help you make a wiser choice, we went ahead and compiled a list of best Mobility Programs to choose from.

Fast answer? This is the best mobility program!

Cali Move Mobility Program 2.0

10% off with our code: CWW10

Get it here:

calimove.com

What is Mobility Exercise? 

Mobility exercise aims to increase the range of motion of your joints and associated muscles while increasing their strength and the number of repetitions you can do. With a good Mobility Program, you can become more agile and flexible while creating lean muscle mass. The best Mobility Programs usually consist of a warm-up session to activate the muscles, followed by a mixture of lessons to introduce new movements and a series of already taught movements in a “flow”. These flows are repeatable transitions from one exercise to a another, to create a holistic routine that works out your entire body. Mobility Programs can range anywhere from a couple of weeks to months, although most people can expect to see greatly enhanced joint mobility soon after they start.

Are Mobility and Flexibility the Same?

Mobility and flexibility are related but not entirely the same. Where flexibility is all about increasing the range of motion of your muscles and joints, mobility also does that but while strengthening said muscles and joints. Mobility is much more about being able to repeat the same motion freely and comfortably, while flexibility may even focus on doing one move only once and then easing out of it (like the famous leg split). Both flexibility and mobility programs have their uses, depending on your goals.

In practice, women are more flexible than men and can achieve far more impressive flexibility feats through flexibility exercise than men can. Men, on the other hand, benefit most from Mobility Programs to strengthen their joints and the muscles around their joints. These are, of course, generalizations and women too can benefit greatly from following a Mobility Program, especially in combination with their Calisthenics routine.

3 Reasons Why You Should Train Your Mobility

Gaining and retaining a good range of motion is associated with a number of health benefits as well as being a great companion on strength and movement-oriented sports like Calisthenics, fitness and bodybuilding. It is a key factor in preventing joint and muscle injury while performing sports and also simply due to your body aging. Here are three compelling reasons why you should be following one of the best Mobility Programs.

#1 Fight Obesity, Activate Your Body

If you’re struggling with obesity, many of the training exercises which, for instance, a Calisthenics Program offers are impossible for you. These programs require you to move your own bodyweight with your limbs, which may do more harm than good or be altogether out of the question. Mobility Programs are the perfect companion to a healthy weight loss diet to start burning calories, strengthen disused muscles and ligaments, and to prepare them for a future of Calisthenics exercise. Getting the ball rolling is the hardest part and you’ll find that it’s an uphill push. But with a good Mobility Program, you can make reaching that summit all the easier. 

#2 Prevent Injury, Increase Gains

For the sports enthusiast, be that the Calisthenics practitioner or bodybuilder or even a member of a sports team, a Mobility Program works on that all so important core and limb flexibility that staves off injury. Gaining that extra edge in agility allows you to beat an opponent who can’t. It can also help make better progression in for instance weight or number repetitions. Once the internal gears of your machines are well oiled and maintained, you’ll find that getting stronger comes faster and easier.

#3 Stay Healthy, Promote Longevity

With a distinct lack of bodily exercise in our contemporary daily lives, we’ve become used to sitting and doing mostly nothing. This has its benefits, such as prolonged use of our joints and in general a somewhat slower aging process. Our sedentary lifestyle has increased our life expectancy by decades compared to, say, a 19^th century factory worker or a medieval farmer. But we’ve arrived at the other extreme now as well, with some people hardly moving at all during their typical day. Obesity, stiffness and atrophy of muscles and ligaments are endemic (meaning, a majority of people will suffer or are suffering from it). Heart and coronary disease have replaced all other illness as the number one cause of death — and it’s all due to us having become too inactive.

The 10 Best Mobility Programs

We have collected and reviewed the 10 best Mobility Programs for you. These Mobility Programs are tried and tested to be effective. Unfortunately, we’ve noticed other blogs advocating certain programs which aren’t effective or which are ill-suited for a large part of the demographic. We took special care to include programs fit for any body type. Whether you’re looking to become supremely agile, want to couple a flow with your Calisthenics exercise, or want to activate your body to become fit and healthy; there’s a best Mobility Program for you in this list.

#1 Cali Move Mobility

Cali Move Mobility Program 2.0

10% off with our code: CWW10

Get it here:

calimove.com

• Level: Beginner to Master
• Price: $84.69 or 6x $18.14 (10% discount with code: CWW10)
• Length: 24 weeks
• Cali Move Mobility Program Full Review

Calisthenics giant, Cali Move impresses again with this excellent Mobility Program designed to get you from novice to master in 6 months’ time. You’ll start with the basics and are gradually brought up to speed. The program consists of three 8-week phases, each phase introducing new techniques for you to learn. It is beginner friendly, since you can simply repeat lower phases until you feel confident enough in your abilities to progress to the next phase. The program has a sleek representation in a bullet-list style. After going through the prep-week, you’ll know exactly what to do. Exercises taught are presented in HD video and each day’s flow is also presented in video format, by Calisthenics master Alex Lorenz.

#2 VahVa Movement 20xx

VAHVA Movement 20XX

Get it here:

vahvafitness.com

• Level: Beginner to Master
• Price: $497 or 3x $167
• Length: 24 weeks

The Finish (but narrated in excellent English) VahVa Fitness has impressed us with their excellent online courses. Combining martial arts, dance and fitness, the Movement 20XX program pushes you to supreme agility. It is a beginner friendly program, working flexibility and strength over a 6-month period. With lifetime access and a focus on building quality skills rather than meeting repetition quota’s, the program can be tailored too just about anyone. The program is presented entirely in HD video format, presented by Eero Westerberg and comes with full schedules for you to follow. VahVa Fitness’ ideology includes making mental changes and changing your habits along a Finish cultural mentality called “Sisu”, which can be translated roughly as “hardiness”. 

#3 The Ready State Movement & Mobility 101

The Ready State – Virtual Mobility Coach

14-Day Free Trial Included

Get it here:

thereadystate.com

• Level: Intermediate to Professionals
• Price: $499
• Length: self-paced

Often, the best way to learn something is to learn how to teach it to someone else. The Ready State’s Movement & Mobility 101 is a professional grade course taken by top coaches around the United States. Big organizations like the Washington Nationals, Arsenal, US Marine Corp and US Air Force use this Mobility Program to teach their coaches. Designed around empirical science gathered over decades from the NFL, NBA and NHL, the Movement & Mobility 101 course can turn you into a veritable expert in the field of movement and mobility. The course consists of 77 easy to digest video trainings which cover subjects like movement, diagnosis, progression and mechanics.

#4 MovNat Professional Live Events

MoveNat Professional Live Events

Get it here:

movnat.com

• Level: Beginner to Master
• Price: starting $1,080
• Length: Events are 3-days

MovNat is all about returning to nature and adjusting your body to act in accordance with nature while exercising. Their philosophy is simple: we are natural beings so it makes sense that we train with nature, rather than confined in our concrete boxes. New age idealism aside, what drew us most to MovNat were their event formats. If you’re looking to get professional, individual and professional feedback and coaching, MovNat is a good alternative to cookie cutter programs. The 3-day Event starts with professional coaching in a gym setting, teaching you the techniques you need to move effectively in nature. That’s where day two and three come in, where you’ll be training out in the wilderness.

#5 Legendary Flexibility by JujiMufu

Legendary Flexibility by JujiMufu

Get it here:

amazon.com

• Level: Beginner to Intermediate
• Length: self-paced

Men can’t do side splits? Legendary Flexibility by equally legendary youtuber Jujimufu, opens up new doors in male flexibility which you thought were only accessible to women. This E-book focusses on entirely on mobility and agility with over 225 pages of practical tips and how-to’s. It is rife with high quality, colored photos of how to execute exercises, along with embedded HD quality videos. Jujimufu gives instructions on how to gradually ease into various stretching techniques and does this from a home environment perspective. If you want quick and easy access to a flexibility manual, without any premade plans or flows, this is the program for you.

#6 The Movement Athlete

The Movement Athlete Academy

Read our full review

Get it here:

themovementathlete.com

• Level: Beginner to Master
• Price: 24.97/m or $497/∞
• Length: self-paced, indefinite
• The Movement Athlete Full Review

The Movement Athlete is an excellent, easy to use Calisthenics App you can take with you anywhere. Although not entirely focused on Mobility, The Movement Athlete does err on the side of agility and skill-based bodily exercise. We’d characterize The Movement Athlete as an equal mix between mobility, stability and strength. The app is easy to navigate and use and presents all relevant information in an as-needed format. You’ll first be asked to do an assessment training, which determines your strengths, weaknesses and overall level of fitness. Based on this, the app devices a training plan for you with a progression curve based on goals you set. You can change your goals or tweak the training regimen yourself should you want a bigger challenge or tone down certain aspects instead.

#7 Metabolic Stretching

Metabolic Stretching

Get it here:

metabolicstretching.net

• Level: Beginner to Intermediate
• Price: $29
• Length: self-paced, indefinite

If you’re primarily after shedding weight and want to see results fast, you’ll have to break a sweat. With Metabolic Stretching, you will unlock your body through Mobility exercise while incorporating a highly dynamic element. Although Metabolic Stretching goes into lengthy detail as to why certain exercise routines, like cardio, don’t work to lose weight, we were more interested in the actual program itself. The beginner level exercises are 15 minutes each. You’ll be doing 15 minutes of stretching and stretch-related exercises a day until you can “graduate” to the advanced level. At the advanced level, the daily routines are increased to 30 minutes and the exercises become more dynamic. Often, this means simply increasing the number of repetitions you do inside the same timeframe. 

#8 GMB Fitness

GMB Fitness

Get it here:

gmb.io

• Level: Beginner to Advanced
• Price: $95 or 3x $35
• Length: self-paced

Strength, flexibility and motor control are the key factors in GMB Fitness’ Elements course. GMB’s Elements course sides more on the flexibility side but it will still see you build enough physical strength to support your own weight on your arms. The program starts very, very easy with 3 core techniques. Once you master those, new techniques are introduced into the pattern. These new techniques are variations off (and in increasing difficulty) of the core techniques. This way, you’ll be working on your body’s flexibility and gradually building up your agility and strength while taking only baby steps.

#9 Animal Flow on Demand

Animal Flow on Demand

Get it here:

animalflow.com

• Level: Beginner to Master
• Price: starting $297.50
• Length: two-day workshop

Animal Flow on Demand offers excellent workshops on Mobility exercises for participants of all fitness levels. With hands-on, personalized coaches around you, you can maximize your results and perfect your technique. During the workshop, you’ll be trained in 6 key areas spanning wrist mobilization (important to prevent injury), activation exercises focusing on kneeling and squatting, mobility stretches like static stances and moving stretches and stances like squat walking. Once you’ve mastered the basics under the supervision of your coach, you will begin to learn switches and transitions from one stance or movement to the next. In the final stage, you will learn “flows”, the seamless transition from one exercise to the next in a single mobility workout routine.

#10 Mobility for Athletes by Jogn Lindsey (FitApp)

Mobility for Athletes by Jogn Lidsey

Get it here:

joinfitapp.com

• Level: Beginner to Intermediate
• Price: $40
• Length: 8 weeks

With more of an athletic mindset, Mobility for Athletes is designed to reach maximum performance in terms of mobility and stamina. This sleek app allows you to set your own pace and starts with the basic, core fundamentals. Workouts are 20 minutes a day, with an initial focus on flexibility, stability and unlocking your spine and joints. As you progress, more difficult techniques are added as well as more focus on building an athletic body. Your body is being prepped for dynamic sports at reduced risk of injury. This program is a good addition to, for instance, a Calisthenics routine focusing on building physical strength, or for practicing sprints and other sports requiring explosive power.

The Best Mobility Exercises: 2 Techniques You Can Do Right Now

We could put a lecture here about the best exercises for your Mobility, delving deep into the subject matter of anatomical and physiological theory. Instead, we’ve chosen to give you 2 actionable techniques which you can do right now. These are generally considered the best Mobility Exercises, in that if you had to choose just one or two techniques to learn, we’d recommend these. One will be a bit more advanced than the other.

Best Mobility Exercise 1: Deep Squat

A Deep Squat is where you squat down fully, so that your thighs rest on your calves. From here, you can do multiple movements and stretches for a full Mobility workout. If squatting is hard for you, you can sit down on staircase at the start, and move down a step every week until you can squat on your own. Here is an excellent flow exercise.

Ido’s Squat Routine 2.0

Best Mobility Exercise 2: The World’s Greatest Stretch

The World’s Greatest Stretch is a dynamic way to both stretch all the muscles in your body, while at the same time giving you excellent mobility of the spine, hips and shoulders. The most difficult part of this Mobility Exercise is the lunge. If you can’t get into a very deep lunge yet, simply stand straighter up. Each time you do this exercise, aim to move your feet apart a little further until you’re in a full lunge.

The Worlds GREATEST Stretch!

Equipment to Train Your Mobility 

Many Mobility Programs will not require any Calisthenics Equipment at all from you, especially in the beginning stages. A towel, some comfortable clothes and sports shoes is all you really need along with enough space to perform your flows. For the more advanced Mobility Programs, and if you want to become really agile, the following equipment can help you achieve those goals.

• Gymnastic Rings: These allow you to do many basic hangs, like the German Hang.
• Foam Roller: These rollers are versatile tools get more out of your stretches and mobility exercises.
• Massage guns: to target any knots in your muscles without having to foot a masseuse bill, you use a quality massage gun. Although not a complete sports massage, they are effective in spot treating any sore spots and knots.
• Stretch Out Strap: A strap which can help you stretch long muscles, like calves and hamstrings, much deeper and more effectively.
• Yoga Wheel: A Yoga Wheel is used to practice many core stretching exercises to greater effect. The wheels are comfortable to use and often feature a non-slip, rubberized surface for added traction.
• Multi-Level Back Stretcher: A Back Stretcher (not to be confused with a back scratcher), is used to stretch your back more easily but also to help you deepen the stretch over time.

Conclusions About Our Best Mobility Programs

Mobility, like strength needs to be both trained and maintained. It’s not a matter of gaining a level of agility and then quitting, expecting for it to be retained. Mobility is extremely perishable and is in a way the opposite of strength training. Where building a moderate amount of strength can take a long time, becoming moderately agile can be achieved fairly quickly by most individuals. Contrastingly and especially for men, a high level of strength might decline somewhat rapidly if you stop training but most of it will be retained for years to come. Mobility, though quickly gained, is also quickly lost. Stop moving and you will experience decay almost immediately. Whichever Mobility Program works best for you, the most important thing to takeaway here is that you never stop. 

Pick the Mobility Program best suited for your needs, where you’re starting out from and where you see yourself 4 weeks from now and 4 months from now. And keep it up until you’re too old to do so. It’s your best shot at living a long and healthy life.