Ask the Expert: Mobility Coach Akil Bilal
Akil Bilal is a highly skilled and experienced Functional Range Conditioning (FRC) Mobility Specialist, Functional Range Assessment (FRA) Specialist, Kinstretch Instructor, and Certified Functional Range Strength Coach with a passion for optimizing human movement and performance. His in-depth understanding of biomechanics and functional anatomy allows him to tailor effective training programs that address specific movement limitations and enhance functional range, especially as we age.
Catch Akil every Friday at 10 AM for the The Nadi Mobility Class in Joint Space, Al Serkal Avenue
Tell us about yourself and how you got into this space?
I was in the fitness industry for many years. I even owned an F45 studio (along with my wife)in Europe before the pandemic. While I was running the studio I kept encountering so many injuries from my members and so I went on a quest to find a solution and went down the rabbit hole of mobility training. The results were incredible and I got lots of enthusiastic support from our studio members.
How do you define "mobility," and why is it important to incorporate into our physical and daily routines?
Mobility is the usable controllable range of motion of a joint and flexibility is how much you can actually stretch.
What is the difference between mobility and yoga or other slow movement exercises?
Yoga is a practice that involves physical, mental and the spiritual. The movement part of yoga focuses primarily on poses (passive stretching) and breath work. Mobility training however, is joint specific and even tissue specific training. It helps build, strengthen and maintain healthy joints. It makes sure you have the prerequisites you need to do any activity you want to do, ....even yoga.
What advice do you have for people who want to improve their mobility?
Start with a simple daily routine of slowly taking all of your joints through their full ranges of motion...be very consistent and you start to feel the effects almost immediately.
Are there any common mistakes people make when doing mobility work?
Some of the most common mistakes I see people make doing mobility work is not understanding the difference between mobility and flexibility, not enough intensity to make any real adaptations in the body and not really understanding that mobility training IS strength training.
How does aging affect mobility, and what can people do to maintain it?
We've been taught to blame age in loss of mobility when in fact we lose mobility by simply not exploring our full ranges of motion regularly.
