Why Flexibility is Essential for Every Body

Flexibility isn’t just splits, backbends, and cool bendy tricks. It’s also:

Greater ease of movement & increased physical performance

By increasing range of motion, we are able to bend, squat, twist, and perform daily tasks as well as more intense physical activities with great ease, ultimately increasing overall physical performance.

For example: if you’re looking to increase your power in your lower body for activities like jumping or running, you may want to increase hip flexor flexibility as it will give you greater range of motion, increasing the output when contracting the glute and hamstrings when taking off of the feet.

Increased body awareness

Proprioception (a.k.a. body/kinesthetic awareness) – the awareness of joint position and movement, muscle force, and exerted effort – is also increased, leading to better balance during tasks as simple as walking and as complex as a backflip.

Reduce aches, pains, and injuries*

All of the factors listed above lead to a reduced risk of injury, aches, and pains as your body is more ready for the range of motion required to complete a task, meaning you are less likely to pull/tear a muscle, tendon, or ligament or fall out of an unstable position.

While flexibility is important across all disciplines… 

it’s important to identify which areas your specific body needs increased range of motion versus increased strength or even strength through a particular range of motion. Here are just a few populations and what they may specifically need in terms of flexibility training:

Bodybuilders/powerlifters

need to pay particular attention to joint range of motion. While it is untrue that having big muscles automatically makes you less flexible, it is true that, just as with any other discipline, you need to train mobility and flexibility in order to keep a healthy range of motion and not become stiff.

Runners/Cyclists

are more likely to develop “tight” hip flexors, so incorporating stretches that target this area as well as incorporating glute exercises such as hip thrusts will help them to maintain range of motion and even have greater speed and power.

Dancers/Aerialists

need overall flexibility and increased range of motion in order to complete tricks, poses, and sequences otherwise inaccessible to the average person. They will also need to ensure that they are strengthening at their end range of motion in order to lift and control their bodies in bendier positions.

Anyone

doing simple, daily tasks like squatting, bending over, picking something up, reaching overhead, turning to look behind you, etc. will also greatly benefit from overall flexibility training. This is especially true for those who have a less active lifestyle or work hours at a time in a stationary position doing repetitive tasks (like typing on a computer or doing dental work) or who have very physically demanding jobs (like construction or massage therapy).

Considering hypermobile bodies

This may be the only active body that may need to pause and consider whether it’s flexibility or strength training they need. People with joint laxity, myself included, can experience pain from their condition and that pain can sometimes be exacerbated by stretching (even though it can feel so good in the moment).

This doesn’t mean that you can’t stretch, but you may need to be more mindful of not pushing too far and noticing if particular stretches irritate certain joints or cause a pain flare up. One thing that can definitely help a hypermobile body: training active range of motion (mobility) progressively and complementing this with strength training to help condition the muscles, tendons, and ligaments around your joints to better hold them in place when going through a range of motion.

Key takeaways:

Every active body would benefit from flexibility training in order to: 

• Move easier

• Increase performance 

• Have greater body awareness

• Prevent injury

What type of stretching will depend on the individual’s needs based on: 

• Performance/activity demands (i.e. runners needing to stretch hip flexors)

• Lifestyle (i.e. repetitive motions causing stiffness/irritation)

• Physical conditions (i.e. hypermobile bodies needing to strengthen through their range of motion)

What flexibility training works best for you?

Find out by joining 4 Week Flexibility, an all levels flexibility program designed with different bodies in mind. From short, muscle group/joint focused sessions and nerve floss tutorials to longer/more advanced sessions and individualized feedback, you’ll get the tools and training you need to start seeing the benefits in your daily activities and physical performance.

Starts July 3rd!

*I’ve seen the validity of injury prevention debated, however, it is my understanding based on the evidence I have seen that stretching and increasing range of motion (with some exceptions already discussed) does help to prepare your body for more physically demanding tasks as well as reduce the risk of injury.