Flexibility

C

chrisdud3

0
This isn't really a Weight Training involved question, but I thought some opinions from weight trainers themselves on this question would be helpfull/interesting.

Anyway, what do you think is the best way for me to remain flexible? I was in a discussion with friends the other day how they can bend down and touch there toes (leaving there legs and arms straight) when I can't. Does this show the lack of excercise or do or something? Are there possible regular stretches that I could possibly do that could increase my flexibility?

Thanks for your help in advanced.
 
I would like to know this aswell. I haven't been able to touch my toes for as long as I can remember. I am relatively fit, but not very supple so I would like to improve on this as Im only 24!
Preferably without going to Yoga!

thanks!
 
For the longest time I was totally averse to the whole premise of yoga. Then along came Julie...she is this smokin' hot chick who takes yoga at the gym. Of course she was one of those girls who beelines into the yoga studio, so you could never spark up a conversation.

Because of this I decided it was time to try yoga. I figured hey, I'm fit, I kickbox and lift...I can run so of course I can yoga it up to get cozy with Julie. 5 minutes into it I realized I was SORELY mistaken. I woke up the next morning and it felt as if the Blue Man Group had used my legs as drums, and my whole body felt as if it was in some sort of medieval torture device that stretched me to the breaking point.

All this being true, it was a relatively good feeling...and since Julie kept going to class I did too...Believe me, she is REALLY hot, it was worth the pain. It wasn't long before my flexibilty began increasing. I also noticed gains in core ability and overall ability in the weightroom and my strenght and power kickboxing increased too.

Believe me, I thought Yoga was for chicks too...it took one to get me into class. Now I'm a twice a week-er.

Give it a shot -- Maybe you'll find a julie.
 
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Adler, Do you really connect your yoga with your increased power in the gym? All the studies actually show the opposite. Force production is reduced significantly by static stretching, which is what yoga is mostly comprised of. It is hard sometimes to know what to attribute progress to, but sometimes people make logical leaps that don't compute when you observe ALL the factors. For example, someone who is really fit may take "big muscle brand" protein powder and recommend it to others who would like to look just like him, and attribute his progress to that, without taking in account that he may have really picked up his training routine, or started sleeping better, or cleaned up his diet, etc.

The reason I mention all that is that static stretching is not the most optimal way to increase flexibility. Considering your goal is to inrease strength/power in the gym, your best bet would be to stick with dynamic movement under a small load. Of course then you wouldn't get to hang out with Julie! ;)
 
JP:

You bring up a good point. The movements incorporated in my yoga class do include static streching, however there are also many, many poses that tax the muscular system tremendously (downward dog, sun pose, triangle etc). It is these motions that I feel assist in core development, which in turn makes me stronger.

I agree with the static stretching, but there is much more to yoga than just stretching.

JP: I seriously look forward to everything you have to say, you're a phonemonal teacher.
 
increase flex

well... here's some info on stretching...

first off, just because your flexible doesnt mean you can't pull a muscle. Some people can touch their toes with their hands, i can almost touch my toes with my forhead, while keeping my leg straight. however, i currently have pulled hamstring. but how? my legs are so flexible?

the answer is simple, to prevent injury you need to warm up. to warm up you need gain motion in all your joints, starting with wrists, then elbows, down to ankles...toes if you want. Do this by just moving the joint untill it feels nice and free, this creates lubricant in the joint. Now elevate your heart rate, try to get you body temperature up about 2 degrees. once you've done this you are "warmed up". if you want, you can stretch after this but stretching without warming up will only cause damage.

now if you want to increase you passive flexibility, the range of your joints, then i suggest a good warm up followed by routine stretching followed by PNF stretching. to do this you stretch as far into the stretch as you can, then resist the stretch for 10 seconds, then stop resisting and fall further into the stretch. ex. pull you toes back to stretch you akilies tendon, then after 5 seconds resist the stretch and hold that for 10 seconds, then fall deeper into the stretch.

i hope this works, ill be happy to answer any more questions you may have.
 
Mike,
I agree with some of what you said.

First, before you train you should warm-up, but that does not mean that you should follow it with passive stretching. Case in point is your hamstring pull. Look at pro football too, in fact. What is the MOST COMMON injury for them? Pulled hamstring. What is the most common stretch? Toe touches or some other static hamstring stretch variation. Einstein defined "insanity" as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Clearly, passively stretching the hammies does NOT prevent muscle pulls. So why keep doing it?

I have a warm-up that I perform called "Rufus Complex". It was suggested to me by strength coach, Bill Hartman. It goes a little something like this:

All exercises performed for 5 reps with empty bar

Clean from above knee
Clean from knee level
Clean from below knee level
Military Press
Front squat
Front lunge (bar in across front of shoulders)
Push Press
Back squat
Lunge
Good Morning
Push Press behind neck-Snatch Grip
RDL
Bent-over Row
Muscle snatch
Snatch from above knee
Snatch from knee level
Snatch from Below knee level

You will not only excite the CNS and prepare it for heavy work, you will gradually notice an increase in your ROM while handling a load which is technically what you are looking for. Not only that, your heartrate will most certainly be up.

As Alwyn Cosgrove says, your body only needs to know two things... Its going to be THIS range of motion and its going to be HEAVY.

The PNF theory actually doesn't really hold water. I'll go more into that later. In essence, it has the same effect as a static stretch. It only increases your tolerance to pain and also deforms the muscle. I have practiced this in the past but in the last couple of years have abandoned that practice and have seen vast improvement in all my clients.

All of this is written under the assumption that you are needing to increase flexibility to help your performance in the gym or in sport, and perhaps minimize your chances of getting an injury (you can't "prevent" them, even in a perfect world). If your goal is to be a Yogi, then forget everything I have written so far.
 
interesting

as a martial artist it's necassary to perform mostly ballistic motions, ex, kciking someone in the head. does that put me in the category of yogi? or someone who should be listening?

you are right, there should be more than passive, i like to run through a quick passive stretch for all my muscles before doing static stretches. from what i've heard, sometimes the lack of flexibility of the opposing muscle being stretched can prevent the targeted muscles flexibility so i like to warm everything up as well as i can.

i have a question about PNF. you said that it basically increases your tolerance of pain. now from what i understand two things happen when you stretch. the muscles do slightly lengthen but the golgi tendon organ is taught to not "tense up" when the muscle is stretched. when the muscle tenses up the motion is stopped and any futher motion will result in a tear. what PNF does is it teaches the golgi tendon organ to not "tense up". is this the "tolerance of pain".

what would you say is the best way to increase, static, passive and ballistic motion? what sources would you recommend for stretching? i went to the bookstore the other day to check out stretching books and pretty much every book said that other books were wrong. one said splits were bad, one said splits were good...things like that.

i've currently been stretching according to what im taught in martial arts class and from what i read here this is based on the writtings of a person named Kurtz.

also, what would you recommend for my hamstring? i dont want to all out stop stretching. i've currently been stretching this hamstring lightly, i gave it about 4 days to rest, no stretching or conditioning and i've been icing it.
 
i can see where jp is coming from...i did yoga for a while, and i remember heading to the weight room a few times right after a yoga session, and i could not lift as intensely as usual (even after a session that was not particularly taxing).

however, i still did make progress overall in the weight room...because i was lifting, not because i was doing yoga, though.

yoga is very hard at times. it can be humbling being shown up by all of the 110 pound girls in the class who are having no problem holding themselves up with just their forearms...while im having trouble just trying to balance my 195 pound frame on my hands...
 
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