Most people want results from their fitness program that they can see and measure. They long for greater strength, flatter abs, or a faster running speed, and they want these “perks” sooner rather than later! But, as you know, building a fitter more resilient body takes time. To achieve fitness goals, most people focus on strength training and aerobic exercise. But if those are the only aspects of training you target, it isn’t a balanced program. You also need to worry about agility, power, flexibility, and balance too. Of all aspects of fitness training, most fitness experts believe flexibility is the most neglected one. Now is the best time to correct that!
Why Flexibility Matters
Flexibility is the ability to move a joint through its full range-of-motion. Flexibility can vary from joint to joint in the same individual. For example, you might be flexible in your hips but less flexible in your ankles. This could be because of how you train, or it could be because you had an injury in the past that created some limitations in movement around the joint.
At first, glance, being flexible might not seem that important. Yet lacking flexibility can impact all aspects of your training. If you’re inflexible, you may have problems doing strength training exercises such as squats or deadlifts and you may not do them through their full range-of-motion. For example, problems with squatting deeply can stem from tight hip flexors. Plus, lack of flexibility can make carrying out the activities you do around the house more cumbersome. Muscles that are less flexible work harder too. Therefore, being inflexible can cause a muscle to fatigue faster. A lack of flexibility also places more stress on the cartilage within the joint, since unrestricted movement helps nourish these tissues.
It would seem that being less flexible might increase the risk of injury since lack of flexibility makes movements less fluid. However, research doesn’t clearly show that stretching before a workout lowers the risk of injury. Some studies show benefits while others don’t. But when you consider the other benefits of being flexible, such as better performance, flexibility training still matters.
Factors That Affect Flexibility
Some individuals are naturally more flexible than others due to joint anatomy and because their muscles stretch more even without flexibility training. However, too much flexibility can be a liability too. People who have a hereditary condition called Ehlers-Danlos have unusually “stretchy” connective tissue. Since connective tissue holds joints together, the additional stretch gives them greater range-of-motion around a joint. However, they also have a higher risk of joint dislocations as their connective tissue is weaker and doesn’t give the joint as much support. People with Ehlers-Danlos are also at greater risk of some health problems, including aneurysms. So, there’s a “sweet spot” for flexibility. Too flexible can be a liability too.
Other than the natural structure of a joint and how elastic the muscle is, a person’s nervous system affects how flexible they are, and this is the part we can change through flexibility training. When you lengthen a muscle, your nervous system ensures that you don’t stretch too far for safety reasons. But through regular flexibility training and stretching, your nervous system learns to tolerate greater degrees of stretch and becomes less restrictive. Stretching doesn’t permanently lengthen the muscle, it only overcomes the nervous system’s resistance to stretch so your muscles temporarily have more latitude to lengthen.
How Do You Measure Flexibility?
You can get an idea of how flexible you are indirectly with functional tests such as the sit and reach test, toe-touch test, calf muscle flexibility test, and the side bending test. These will give you a rough idea of the degree of flexibility you have. The best test depends on what parts you’re measuring. For example, the sit and reach test and the toe touch test estimates trunk and lower body flexibility. However, these tests only give estimates. Physical therapists use instruments such as a goniometer or an inclinometer to measure flexibility.
Improve Your Flexibility
There are genetic and anatomical limitations to how flexible you are, but you can improve on what you have. Always start a workout with a dynamic warm-up. Fitness trainers no longer recommend “old school” pre-workout static stretching where you hold a position for 20 to 30 seconds. Instead, focus on dynamic movements that slowly warm up your body like jumping jacks, butt kicks, high knees, and bodyweight exercises like dynamic squats and punches.
Once your workout is over and you’ve performed a dynamic cooldown, do a few static stretches to lengthen the muscles you just worked. Stretching in this manner only lengthens the muscle temporarily, but it trains your nervous system to allow the muscle to lengthen more. When strength training, focus on taking each exercise through its full range-of-motion.
Yoga is another way to improve flexibility. A study of 26 male, college athletes found that bi-weekly yoga sessions for 10 weeks improved flexibility and balance. So, yoga works double duty! Plus, other studies show it also enhances muscle endurance and coordination – and it’s an effective stress reliever.
The Bottom Line
Make sure your workout is balanced. Flexibility is one component of fitness that most people don’t address. Just as you lose muscle strength and mass with age, you become less flexible too. Lack of flexibility can affect your posture, how you perform when strength training, your ability to carry out tasks with ease, like bending over to pick something up, and even your risk of falling. Working on flexibility is another way to slow the aging process.
References:
- American Council on Exercise. “The Impact of Flexibility Training on Performance”
- com. “Yoga”
- Minn Med. 2003 May;86(5):58-61.
- Strength and Conditioning Research. “Does Stretching Really Change Muscle Length?”
- Mayo Clinic. “Ehlers-Danlos syndrome”
- Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2011 Jul 6;(7):CD004577. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004577.pub3.
- Int J Yoga. 2016 Jan-Jun; 9(1): 27–34. doi: 10.4103/0973-6131.171710.
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