This One Simple Rule Will Double Your Mobility

It doesn’t even take extra effort:

A change of tempo

“Tempo lifting”, such as using the same exercise, weight, and repetitions with a deliberately controlled lowering phase and pause in the deepest position, can provide greater opportunities to improve mobility than doing repetitions more quickly.

This is because mobility-focused warm-ups and drills often move you into your end range and immediately back out, whereas spending more time in these positions allows adaptations to occur and can thus help improve mobility.

Step by step:

• Controlling the lowering phase: slowing down reduces momentum, preventing you from dropping, bouncing, or rushing through the deepest part of an exercise. Your muscles remain actively involved throughout the movement, helping you develop strength and control at every stage of the range of motion.
• Pausing in the deepest position: a deliberate one- or two-second pause turns the deepest position from something you briefly pass through into a prolonged, loaded stretch. Examples include pausing with your hamstrings lengthened during an Romanian deadlift, your hip flexors extended during a front-foot-elevated split squat, or your arms overhead during a dumbbell pullover.
• Producing force from a deep stretch: pausing at the bottom removes the bounce that can help propel you back up. You must generate force from the stretched position itself, helping you build strength in your end range.

This gives three mobility benefits: a slow lowering phase teaches control on the way in, a pause provides more time in the target position, and lifting from a stationary deep stretch develops force production on the way out.

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like:

Save Your Back With Strong Glutes ← this might not seem related from the title, but it explains in more depth another benefit of slow, purposeful movements (in this case it has to do with the brain-butt connection, i.e. what the body learns to do)

Take care!