Most of you have met Jordan. He’s interning with us here at Medical Fitness Pros, and he’s hypermobile. His joints go further than most people’s do. So we did something we don’t usually get to do. We ran him through our movement assessment twice, two different ways, and compared the results. It turned into the clearest lesson on strength training for hypermobility we have had in a while.

The first time, he used every bit of range he has. The second time, we held him to a controlled range. And the part I want you to hear is this: his score went down in the controlled range, and he told me he felt less stable there.

That sounds backwards. It’s actually the most useful thing the assessment told us. Here’s why.

What hypermobility actually is

Hypermobility means your joints move past what’s considered a normal range of motion. Some people have it in one or two joints. Some people have it everywhere. Clinicians screen for it with something called the Beighton score, a nine-point test that looks at the thumbs, the pinkies, the elbows, the knees, and the spine. Four or more out of nine is usually where they start calling it generalized joint hypermobility.

Now, plenty of hypermobile people go through life just fine. They’re the ones who could always do the splits, or fold their thumb back to their forearm to show their friends. But we see a lot of hypermobility in our facility, and the thing I need you to understand is that more range is not the same thing as more control. Those are two different things, and the second one is what keeps your joints healthy.

Why more range didn’t mean a better score

When we assessed Jordan the first time, you’d think all that range would give him a great score. It didn’t. He didn’t have a great score at all.

Our assessment doesn’t just measure how far you can go. It looks at how your body moves as a whole across three planes: forward and back, side to side, and rotation. It’s watching for compensation. Like, when the foot does something the hip should be doing. Or when the low back takes over for a hip that isn’t rotating. It’s the same reason squats can hurt your knees when the knee isn’t the actual problem.

Jordan has range everywhere. But because his joints let him go so far, he wasn’t controlling the movement through the middle. The system picked up on that and penalized him for the compensation that comes along with the hypermobility. That’s the first assessment.

The redo: working in a controlled range

So we redid it. Same movements, but this time we asked him to stay inside a range he could control, not the last bit of range his joints would give him.

It was really interesting. His score went down. Sixty-one the first time, sixty the second time. Both assessments flagged the same weak spots. And Jordan said something that opened up a conversation we hadn’t had before.

“I felt less stable”

Here’s what he said, in his words: “I’m actively contracting and thinking about maintaining control, which in turn results in less control.”

Think about what that means. When Jordan goes to the end of his hypermobile range, that’s his comfort zone. He described it as the same comfort that most people feel at their normal end range. But for him, at that end range, the joint is doing the holding. The ligaments and the joint capsule are hanging on, not the muscles.

When we asked him to stop short of that, at what most people would call a normal, controlled range, his muscles had to do the holding. And he’s never trained there. So it felt unstable, because it is. Not because something’s wrong with him. Because that’s the range he’s never built strength in.

Sometimes the issue you’re having is not the actual issue. Jordan’s flexibility was never the problem. The gap in control underneath it was.

Two ranges of motion

The way I explain it to clients is that a hypermobile person has two ranges of motion.

There’s the natural range, the one most people have. Muscles control it. You can load it, strengthen it, and get stable in it.

Then there’s the hyper-extended end range past that. It feels good, it feels loose, it feels like home. But it’s the joint that’s holding you there, not the muscle. Living in that range is how hypermobile people end up with the aches, the “something always feels off,” the knee or the shoulder or the low back that keeps flaring up. A lot of what we see in our chronic pain clients starts exactly there.

Strength and stability get built in the first range. That’s where the work goes, and it’s the whole basis of how we program strength training for hypermobility.

How we approach strength training for hypermobility

I’m not going to give you a list of exercises to go do at home, because what Jordan needs and what you need are probably different. But the principles are the same for everybody we work with who is hypermobile.

Work inside a range you can control. If you can’t own the position with your muscles, don’t load it yet. The goal is to expand the controlled range outward over time, not to chase the end range.

Stop stretching. Most hypermobile people have been told to stretch their whole lives because they “feel tight.” Obviously, if your joint already goes further than it should, more stretching isn’t the answer. That tightness is usually muscle trying to protect a joint that doesn’t feel secure. Give it strength and the tightness tends to settle down.

Load it slowly and in all three planes. Real life is not a straight line. You step sideways, you turn, you reach across your body. Our functional fitness work uses single-leg drills, lunges in different directions, and reaches that make the hip, the foot, and the trunk work together. That’s how the body moves as a whole.

Expect it to feel worse before it feels better. This is the Jordan lesson. When you first train in the controlled range, you will feel less stable than you do hanging out at your end range. That is the feeling of the right muscles finally being asked to do their job. Stay with it.

Reassess. We measured Jordan, we changed the plan, and we’ll measure him again. If you’re not measuring, you’re guessing.

Should hypermobile people avoid strength training?

No. It’s the opposite. Strength training for hypermobility is the thing that helps most, as long as it’s done in the right range with the right progression. The people who get in trouble are the ones who either avoid loading altogether, or who load their end range because that’s where it feels natural.

One thing I do want to be clear about. Hypermobility sits on a spectrum, and on the far end of it are connective tissue conditions that need a physician involved. If you’re dealing with joints that dislocate, pain that doesn’t settle, or you’ve been told you might have a condition like Ehlers-Danlos, get that evaluated by your doctor first. We work alongside physicians and physical therapists all the time through our medical recovery programs, and we’re happy to coordinate with yours. Our job is the training side. Their job is the medical side.

Where to start

If you’re hypermobile, or you know somebody who is, the place to start is finding out where your control actually is. Not where your range is. Where your control is.

That’s what the assessment does. It shows us the range your body can own today, where the compensation is hiding, and what to build first. Jordan’s got some work to do, and we’ll see how his results go over time. We’d love to take you through the same thing and build a strength training for hypermobility plan around what we find.

Give us a call at (281) 500-6055 or schedule your free 3DMAPS assessment. Let’s take a step back and look at the whole picture.

Frequently asked questions about training with hypermobility

Is hypermobility the same as being flexible?

No. Flexibility is how far a muscle lets a joint move. Hypermobility is when the joint itself moves past the normal range, usually because the ligaments and joint capsule are looser. You can be hypermobile and still feel tight, because the muscles around a loose joint often tense up to protect it.

Why do I feel less stable when I don’t use my full range of motion?

At your hypermobile end range, the joint structures are holding you in place. In a controlled range, your muscles have to do it. If you have never trained that range, it will feel unstable at first. That feeling is the muscles being asked to work, and it improves with consistent strength work inside the controlled range.

Should people with hypermobility stretch?

Usually not as a priority. If a joint already moves past normal, adding more range rarely helps. Most hypermobile people benefit more from building strength and control in the range they already have.

Can hypermobile people lift weights?

Yes. Strength training for hypermobility is one of the most useful things a hypermobile person can do. The keys are working inside a range you can control, progressing load gradually, and training movement in all three planes rather than only straight-line lifts.

How do I know if I am hypermobile?

Clinicians commonly use the Beighton score, a nine-point screen of the thumbs, pinkies, elbows, knees, and spine. A score of four or more is often used as the threshold for generalized joint hypermobility. If you have joint dislocations, ongoing pain, or a suspected connective tissue condition, see a physician for a full evaluation.