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Is Your Mobility Issue Actually a Stability Issue?
Eric Belliveau • Feb 21, 2018

Do you find yourself always coming to class or your sessions early to roll out the same tight muscles and always doing your mobility exercises like a pigeon stretch or whatever it may be, and you still are not seeing the results you wish to see within your mobility? Or maybe you might finally feel good for a while, but then you’re all locked up again a few weeks later. It’s probably very frustrating feeling like you’re constantly limited within your range of motion. I’m here to tell you that in this case, your mobility issue might actually be a STABILITY issue.

There is a difference between mobility and stability. Mobility is the ability for a joint to move through its range of motion. Stability is the body’s ability to control the movement through the range of motion that’s available.

You’re going through a specific movement, let’s say a squat for example, and your hips feel like they hit a wall where you can’t get down any further. Why this is happening is because your nervous system might be creating that locked up feeling because it is recognizing that the movement can’t be done safely due to being so unstable in that joint. Basically, your body creates this restriction in movement, so it can return to what feels safe and protected.

Keep in mind that I am not stating that mobility and stability are not related to one another. Our body is simply a giant chain of mobile joints and stable joints (see picture). These two play off of one another. For example, say you know you have tight hamstrings…so you foam roll them constantly and stretch them, but nothing comes of it. Most of the time the hamstrings aren’t really the problem. It is the lack of mobility in the hips/pelvis that causes the hamstrings to tighten, and the lack of stability in the hips results. The quads and hip flexors become tight which pulls the pelvis out of alignment and the hamstrings panic so they tighten in an attempt to provide stability in place of the pelvis not correctly doing its job. All of this bad body alignment causes the instability, which will negatively affect your overall strength and power. Now, you’re doing all this mobility work, and those mobility drills that you’ve been doing to your hips (or anywhere else) might actually be working! But now you need to work on the next piece of the puzzle, which is the stability. Once you put these two together, now you will start feel a difference in your movement.

There is a phrase that I learned “tightness comes secondary to weakness”. You might not actually be tight, it’s that you’re weak in an area and another area is overcompensating. This is why it is critical to work with a coach, to guide you through your mobility with stability, then comes the strength and power gains you’ve been waiting and working so hard for.

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • 07 Oct, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • 23 Sep, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.

The Meat Hangover

By Eric Belliveau • 07 Oct, 2020
When it comes to taking meat out of your diet, some people have the idea that they will only see positive changes immediately following this choice. While those positive changes are definitely part of the deal, so is an adjustment period for your body.

We're Trying

By Eric Belliveau • 23 Sep, 2020
We were all thrown on this crazy ride together. Emotions were running high but so were patience, empathy, inclusion, and respect. Most of us could rally behind the #WeAreInThisTogether manta. We wanted to do right by each other - donate to charities, lend a hand, check-in on one another. Do our part. As the days turn to weeks and the weeks into months these dispositions decayed rapidly. I know that this Quarantine order has been going on for a long time. I know that a great number of us do not agree on the why. I know an even greater number of us are “over it”. I am painfully aware of the difference of opinions surrounding the pandemic. It is impossible to NOT be aware of this. This leads us all to frustration, anger, resentment, and the feeling that you are not being heard. Very real and very human emotions! It is okay to feel this way. I am not only writing this from the perspective of a fellow struggling human. I do find myself struggling with everything I mentioned above. Not just daily but multiple times a day. My ability to focus has been challenged by my worry. My ability to create time for myself and focus on self-care has been derailed for fear of other things becoming more pressing. I work on this every day. I am not only writing this from the perspective of one of the business owners who were never given a playbook for this. For weeks on end I thought WTF happened to the business and how would our model need to change and remain viable, how each business owner had to either weather a period in which we were completely shut down or allowed to operate under capacity restrictions, etc. The unknown of what the timeline would bring and whether we would be able to continue our dreams or make an extremely difficult decision of not continuing. This still haunts every one of us daily. I AM very much writing this as a service provider! I am writing this as an impassioned human who genuinely loves what I do for a living. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to have built a career surrounding something I get excited about every day. I am making a stand for all of us that make their living in the service industry. To the receptionist, hostess, waiter, cook, dry cleaner, teacher, technician, barista, utility worker, automobile service technician… It is truly impossible to be inclusive of everyone here.  No one human mentioned above asked for this ‘situation’ we are in. We are sure as hell trying to provide a level of normalcy, service, care, and happiness to the lives in which we choose to serve. With added restrictions, added expense decreased capacity and the fear of being fined or shut down for doing it incorrectly, everyday.
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