#mobility app

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform umob, which fully integrates shared mobility, taxis, and public transportation into one app, has raised €6 million from several investors. The new investment follows a €2 million raise in 2022 at the launch of the platform and enables the company to accelerate making forms of mobility other than people’s own vehicles both… This content is for members only.…

These mobility exercises were developed to help relieve and prevent shoulder mobility problems, especially for people who wish to do exercises and spend much of their time seated without enough back, chest, neck and shoulder exercise. These exercises can be done throughout the day to break the normal routine

1. Quadruped Shoulder Circles

Helps you to loosen up the shoulder muscles

Begin by getting down on your hands and knees

Have your palms on the floor under your shoulders and place your knees under your hips

Push your body towards the floor and make a circular type motion with your head by shrugging your shoulders and moving them up to your ears.

Rotate your shoulders back again and around under your ears closer to your head. Make ten circles, one way and then reverse for another ten

2. Clasped Hands Extension

This exercise helps you to stretch the back portion of your shoulder and also helps you to get rid of an unhealthy slouched posture

Sit comfortably on a stool or on the floor

Clasp your hands together behind your back, then extend your arms straight out to the back

Sit straight and squeeze your shoulder to pull your arms in the other way

When you feel the stretch stop and hold ten seconds, repeat 6 times

3. Wall Angels

These mobility exercises help improve your shoulder flexibility

Stand with your back straight against a wall

Hold your arms parallel to the wall and at right angles to your body

Keep your butt, shoulders and arms continuously touching the wall

Extend out your fingers towards the ceiling and extend your arms up towards the ceiling

When your arms are fully extended, allow them to slowly lower to the start position and repeat

4. Corner Stretch

This stretch is effective for enhancing the internal shoulder muscles

Stand in a corner facing it and about 10 inches away

Place one leg out in front and your palms flat to the wall above your head so your elbows are bent to 45 degrees

Put some pressure on your front leg until you feel the stretch and hold for about 20 seconds, then relax and repeat with the other leg

5. Sphinx Position with Anterior Reach

To help stabilize your shoulder and arm muscles

Lie on your stomach with your forearms and elbows on the floor

Push your chest off the floor and stretch your head upwards

Extend your arm out until you feel the stretch and hold for 90 seconds, then repeat with the other arm times six

6. Downward Dog

Stretches and strengthens the shoulder muscles

Start on all fours with palms down under your shoulders

Push both your legs back so your hips lift up high forming an inverted “V”

Keep a straight line from your butt to your shoulders

Push your shoulders and chest towards your thighs and keep your heels on the ground

Hold 30 seconds, then relax and repeat

CrossFit is a relative newcomer to the fitness industry and has become a very trendy form of intensive exercise. Most commercial gyms and fitness centers hate it and feel it is a threat to their businesses. This is largely because it is so successful so they try and do their best to convince people that it is all wrong and dangerous. But the facts are that it is no more dangerous than any other form of exercise if not done properly. Most CrossFit Gyms have beginners classes where they teach you all the correct ways of doing all the workouts and routines before they will allow you to join the mainstream classes.

Here are five myths that are completely wrong:

1. You’re likely to get hurt

The facts are that taking part in CrossFit is no more dangerous than running, or playing basketball you can ask anyone who works with CrossFit Physio people.

2. CrossFit is Too Hard For You

People who say this just have no idea what CrossFit is all about. The fact is that CrossFit is scalable. This means that whatever your capabilities or fitness level is you can do the same routines but in a way at to the extent that you can. CrossFit is about starting at your level and through constantly varied functional movements you improve your own fitness as quickly as you can.

3. CrossFit is only for Athletes and Young People

CrossFit gyms (boxes) are open to everyone of all ages and fitness levels, the only real criteria is that a person wants to become a better version of themselves The age spreads from teenagers to retirees (and it’s surprising how many there are getting fit and looking like 40 year olds).

4. CrossFit is Expensive And a Money Machine

CrossFit is more expensive than the normal low keyed gym most people go along to play in, but then if you want a personal trainer who can really help you get fit and do all the exercises in the correct way then it is not cheap. It depends on your budget and what you think is important, your fitness or buying a $50 dollar meal as a weekly membership costs from about $50 a week so is not that expensive.

5. CrossFit is a great Source of Business for Hospitals, Doctors and Physiotherapists

People are now starting to realize that the old ideas that the medical profession used to preach such as it gives you pain, then just stop doing it and it will go away is counterproductive to your overall health.

The way that CrossFit Physio specialists suggest you deal with pain is to strengthen your body so it supports the area that is in pain and do special exercises to overcome the issue. Just stopping exercise because of pain or injury will lead to a sedentary lifestyle and mounting health issues.

Mobility stretches are one of the most important aspects of injury prevention next to knowing how to properly execute your exercise routine.

The following are stretches that suit athletes and those doing any type of exercise

1. Hamstring Stretch

Place one leg out in front with your heel on a 6 inch high block

Lean forward with your head high until you feel the hamstring

With your toe toward your chest rotate your leg left and right

2. Open Hip Flexor Stretch

Start kneeling with head held high

Lift the right foot and place on the side so your knees and foot point to the right

Keep your head, chest and hips straight the lean slightly to the right to slightly stretch

3. Spiderman Reach and Rotate

Start in push-up position with hands under shoulders

Bring left foot up to your left hand

Raise your left hand and place your elbow to your instep wait 2 seconds

Rotate your hand toward the ceiling and follow with your eyes

 Repeat several times and Finish

4. Corner Pec Stretch

Start in a 90deg corner with hands and forearms flat to the wall

Keeping elbows at 90 degrees and arms still slowly lean forward until you feel the stretch in your chest

Hold for 3 counts, then repeat several times

5. Headand Neck Mobility

Standing tall, first slowly lower head as close to the left shoulder as possible. Return to straight, then lower to right shoulder do 5 on each side

Slowly tilt head backward as far as possible, then return to straight, then tilt forward, repeat 5 times

Revolve hear in a circular motion with the chin going from shoulder to shoulder

Standing straight and arms at sides lift shoulders as high as possible then drop low

Rotate shoulders while arms are at the sides for 10 rotations.

Rotate arms as if swimming in water 5 times then reverse

Repeat both the head tilting and rotation stretches

6. Clothesline

Stand with feet apart under shoulders

Stretch arms out to sides with fingers pointing to the ceiling

Keeping trunk and head straight, slowly swing arms to the left then right

Continue swings until you feel the stretch from neck to heels

7. Deep Lung, and Rotation

Start in the downward dog position

Lift right leg high in the air

Slowly bring it towards your right hand

Lengthen your spine and breathe in

Bring right elbow to the floor and then rotate towards the ceiling

Repeat with other side

Bring both arms as high as possible hold, then finish

8. Quad Stretch Single Leg Dead lift

Stand on left leg and bring right heel to your butt, hold the ankle and take a deep breath

Try and extend the knee to the wall behind you. Bring your chest forward and close to the ground with the leg slightly bent. Bend hips low and take several breaths

When it comes to fitness having a few good quality mobility apps around is a great way to help keep the motivation going and give a focus on training. They allow you to know at a glance your progress and where you need to do a little more work or change your exercises to properly balance out your training. If you do not have time to get to the gym or you do not have a coach or trainer you can use your apps to help with your mobility exercises and also to learn the proper form. Even if you go regularly to the gym and have coaching or belong to a group class, fitness and mobility apps are a great way to give you direction and a point to aim for when exercising either alone or in a group.

The best five fitness and mobility apps I have found are:

1. BODYSPACE

This app is very helpful for beginners and veterans alike. It allows you to follow other people’s work routines or create your own workouts. It’s very easy to change workout or routines as well as working on different body areas with a variety of equipment. Each exercise has a tutorial showing the correct way and from to do it as well as tools for keeping track of your workout history.

2. “GET RUNNING” which is a –COUCH 25K- app

This app will encourage you to start your fitness routine with running and give you all the details of your progress and the tools to improve one step at a time. It helps you with knowing when to run; when to rest and when to cool down from 5 minute runs to a full marathon and is usually under $5, great value.

3. MYFITNESSPAL

This mobility app keeps track of your weight-loss and fitness program. You can use it as a food diary and track your total food intake know you nutritional counts when creating recipes making balancing input with output much easier.

4. FITBIT

This app is great for logging all the steps of your workouts as well as your heart rate while you’re exercising, while you’re at rest or asleep. These recordings give a view of your work history and make it easier to see where you’re going and where you need extra work. It is also a social app that can bring out your competitive streak with others doing a similar exercise to keep you motivated and challenged.

5. SECONDS

Helps to spice up your workouts and is especially great for “Tabata”. You can format your workouts using the exercises that you prefer using the equipment you have and intervals that are best for you and can let you know your progress

Mobility stretches are all about flexibility an important part of your overall fitness strategy that should never be overlooked or bypassed. Static stretches that last for 30 seconds or more are usually best done after exercise and the latter part of cooling down, whereas dynamic stretches are best performed before a workout to boost athletic performance and reduce the likelihood of injury. Daily stretching helps to increase your mobility and increase a person’s range of functional motion for everyday life.

Static stretching is when a person gradually stretches a muscle and holds that stretch it activates sensory receptors called Golgi Tendon Organs that are located at the ends of the muscle. This causes the muscle to relax affecting static flexibility, the reason you should not do it before a workout. Dynamic stretching affects your dynamic flexibility or primes the muscles getting them ready for action. All types of stretches stimulate neuromuscular pathways that help relax muscles.

Workouts for better flexibility

Cat Cow

This flow between two opposite poses stretches your hips, core and back as well as chest and neck

Start down on all fours with your back straight and flat. Your knees below your hips and hands under your shoulders

When you exhale, arch up your back toward the sky and tuck in your tail bone as you bring your chin to your chest

On the inhale arch your back down to the ground so your belly falls and point your tail bone and chin to the sky

Alternate between these two poses following your breath for 10m breaths

Shoulder Roll

This simple shoulder roll releases the tension in the shoulders and helps increase mobility

Stand straight looking straight ahead with your feet hip width apart

Slowly roll your shoulders in a circle motion upwards, forwards, back and downwards for 30 seconds and reverse the rotation

Walking Lunge

This stretch challenges your stability as it engages your core, gluts and legs while stretching your hip flexors getting them ready for cardio or strength training

Stand straight with your arms at your sides and feet hip width apart

While keeping your shoulders back, your chest up and core braced, take a step forward using your right foot. Lower your body until you have your right thigh parallel to the mat and both of your knees are at 90 degrees

Move your left foot forward until you return to the starting position

Repeat the stretch using the left foot and do 5 on each leg

Hip Circle

This helps loosen the hips back and core

With your feet about hip width apart Stand straight. Slightly bend your knees and have your hands on your hips

Rotate your hips first in a clockwise direction, then the other way

Forward Stretch

Releases tension in hamstrings spine, neck and back

Stand straight with your back straight, then bend forward to touch our toes and stand, repeat ten times.