How to improve flexibility?

[lostmedstudent]

I am one of the most inflexible people you will ever meet, especially in my lower body. Just by sitting against the wall with my legs straight, i can feel a pull.

does anyone have any tips to improve flexibility? I do 10min of stretching after my workouts but it hasnt helped me improve my flexibilty. It mostly helps to prevent injury. 

I really want to be visibly more flexible, eg. to be able to touch my toes, to be able  to open up my hips so i can sit in a semi lotus position. Should i stretch for longer time periods like 30min or even one hour? I know many lower body stretching exercises, should i do them for longer, or are certain exercises better than others?

send along any videos or advice

thanks in advance!

[Hansu]

EDIT: This mainly applies if your inflexibility is due to muscle weakness. OP doesn't seem to have that

Hey,

Flexibility is a complex subject. There may be a lot of things in your life causing inflexibility.

Im still recovering from a really bad disc herniation, so I still have to put my knowledge into practical test. However, what I've found out about flexibility is as follows:

Generally speaking, inflexibility is your bodys protective measure against injuries. When too weak muscle gets overstretched, it will lose the ability to hold your body posture in daily life, especially when doing something physically challenging. When your muscle fails, your body will make a note and limit your flexibility so your muscle wont fail again.

And on the other end, when your muscle is shortened too much for a long time, it will lose its strenght. This is how hip flexor tightness is born in people who do desk jobs. Same goes with your standing posture, if your standing posture is incorrect (Posterior or interior pelvic tilt), you will shorten a muscle and weaken it. Then that muscle fails at some point, like when lifting a heavy object, and your body pulls the brakes and limits the muscles flexibility.

 

Here is a great article on the subject:
https://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=45406

"Whenever a weak muscle is forced to work beyond its capacity, it will tighten and, therefore, be more subject to stress and strain. It is imperative to always build the strength and endurance of muscles along with flexibility."

TL;DR

Probable cause: Bad posture and underuse of muscles cause weakness -> Weakness causes muscle failure -> Muscle failure tells your body to limit flexibility

And cure is: Use your muscles -> Stretch -> Use your muscles more -> Stretch more.

 

Hope I could help!

Edited April 24, 2020 by Hansu

[DrewNows]

Interesting enough, I’d like to add, poor diet, intensive training, and high stress levels will cause inflammation, creating continuous muscle tightness. Eating less, consuming more alkaline food and a morning stretch + strength routine would surely help achieve your goals. 

[Hansu]

@DrewNows

Oh yes, diet can make or break everything

Personally I think it is imperative to strenghten weakened muscles that are weak due to underuse, but after they are strenghtened enough to support your daily life, then your daily life will keep them in a "good enough" shape to support daily life. (Opinion based on 6 months of training with a personal trainer)

As long as your posture and movement are correct and thus you use those muscles of course.

Edited April 23, 2020 by Hansu

[lostmedstudent]

@Hansu Thanks for the article! Interesting! My lower body muscle should be strong, i run 4-5 times a week.

i will start 30min ofdaily stretching and see where that takes me

@DrewNows how does bad diet affect flexibility?  

[Michael569]

The typical western "yoga" is actually a pretty good way to become more flexible in a fairly natural way. No need to attend classes, those are just hives for ego and sexism. Find some decent teacher on youtube and follow whatever they do a couple times until you are confident enough to do it yourself. This type of practice has very fast learning curve so you don't need to spend a lot of time observing others. 

Then take it outside, take your shoes off and combine it with some nature exposure, some earthing and some sunshine  Afterwards you may do some actual yoga. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Michael569

[TrynaBeTurquoise]

Break down tight fascia, stretch, and strengthen at end range of motion. Proper breathing is key. Banded joint distractions are also very effective. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by TrynaBeTurquoise

[lostmedstudent]

Merci beaucoup everyone

[DrewNows]

8 hours ago, lostmedstudent said:

@DrewNows how does bad diet affect flexibility?  

Right It’s like susceptibility to cavities in a sense. Diet is the primary contribution to acid build up and stagnation in the body. I don’t really know the exact science behind it, it can get quite complex I imagine, but I’m it’s what I’ve learned from my experience. Flexibility returns to a greater degree when the body is in an alkaline state, fasting and consuming plenty raw fruits and veggies 

[Hansu]

10 hours ago, lostmedstudent said:

i will start 30min ofdaily stretching and see where that takes me

 

I would be really interestef to hear in 3-6 months about your progress, what worked and how your routine looks like

As soon as my back recovers, Im going to start a stretching routine too

1 hour ago, DrewNows said:

Flexibility returns to a greater degree when the body is in an alkaline state, fasting and consuming plenty raw fruits and veggies 

Interesting! Time to introduce daily salads into my diet.

[Forestluv]

Yin yoga. . . . It’s also very meditative and insightful.

[lostmedstudent]

On 2020-04-23 at 11:11 PM, Hansu said:

I would be really interestef to hear in 3-6 months about your progress, what worked and how your routine looks like

3 days in and i already see improvement! Still cant touch my toes haha.

i do 3-4 different hamstring stretch, then 3 hip stretches, a bit of quads, calves, then foam roller after my run. 

[lostmedstudent]

@Serotoninluv nice  i looked it up and turns out ive been doing very similar stuff! Stretching is indeed very meditative  

[Elisabeth]

@lostmedstudent As far as I know, it's different whether you strech "warm" after workout or "cold" without it. The first mainly stretches muscles, the second puts more strain on ... all the other stuff. In some cases, cold stretching might improve flexibility more. 

The duration is not important. Stretch a certain place every day, and it will yield.

You might have to find the correct way to do stretching for your particular problem. If you can't touch your toes, the problem is most likely not just the place under your knees that feels the pull, but rather your lower back. Proceed with caution. You wanna make it more flexible but not fuck up the muscles which are holding your tail bone in place. 

Here's how to stretch for you. Of course, it's possible this one exercise isn't the one or only one you need to do. 

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Elisabeth

[King Merk]

Look into myofascial release techniques. It's essentially self massage and will provide much more dramatic changes in your soft tissue than isometric stretching 

[lostmedstudent]

2.5 weeks in. 

Update , i can touch my toes now!!! I went from barely below the knees to touching my toes! i cant hold that position yet 

[Hansu]

@lostmedstudent

Really impressive progress!

Can you post your training and stretching program? I'd love to use it as my template

[lostmedstudent]

its not really a program. 

i used these 9 exercises + some foam rolling . i did 20-30 min a day. only skipped 1 day  

https://www.yogiapproved.com/yoga/stretches-for-splits/

[Hansu]

@lostmedstudent

Doesn't sound bad at all!

Im gonna be trying it out to see what my back thinks of it, hopefully I can start stretching daily too

 

EDIT: Nope, my back absolutely hates it

Edited May 12, 2020 by Hansu

[lostmedstudent]

Can easily touch my toes for more than 5 seconds at the end of stretching !

day #37  30 min of stretching / yin yoga!