Flexibility training goals

One is the functional extensibility that can smoothly complete your usual sports/daily movements, the other is the injury prevention redundancy that is about 10% more than your usual range of motion, and the third is the ability to maintain the balance of muscle tension in a normal posture.

Last week I just persuaded a marathon runner who was planning to spend half a year to train for a split-marathon. He said that he had read on the Internet that good flexibility can lead to wider strides, but he ended up doing it blindly for two months. Every time he ran 10 kilometers, his iliopsoas muscle would hurt. After checking, I found out that he had a slight contracture in his hip flexors. Excessive leg compression messed up the tension of the surrounding stabilizing muscles, and he was unable to exert force when pushing off the ground.

Regarding the goals of flexibility training, the consensus in different sports fields is actually quite different. Many old-school trainers in the powerlifting circle think that "just enough is enough" - for example, when you squat, your hips, knees, and ankles can open to a suitable angle, and you won't hold your chest or back to use force. There is no need to spend extra time stretching. They even think that over-stretching will reduce the elastic potential energy of the muscles and affect the performance of the ultimate weight. Most practitioners of functional training do not agree with this statement. Most of the people we come into contact with are ordinary sports enthusiasts without the protection team of a professional team. It is necessary to leave an extra 10% mobility redundancy. For example, when you usually play and jump, you need to flex your ankle joint at most 10 degrees. If you practice to 15 degrees, the probability of stepping on a pebble and spraining your foot can be reduced by at least 40%. As for the fields of yoga and dance, it is a normal goal to pursue the maximum range of motion of all joints, but the premise is that the corresponding stabilizing muscle groups must be practiced simultaneously. Otherwise, if they are soft, they will easily dislocate or strain when they move. To put it bluntly, muscles are like the rubber bands you usually use to tie your hair. If they are too loose, they cannot be tied. If they are too tight, they will break if you pull them. The goal of flexibility is to find the most comfortable tightness for you. Other people's standards cannot apply to you.

If you don't do much exercise at all and just sit in the office every day, then your flexibility goal is simpler and you don't want to get into trouble with a straight line or low waist. If you can stand up straight naturally without buckling your shoulders forward, squat on the toilet without tiptoeing, and turn your neck without clicking after sitting for a long time, you are already better than 90% of your peers. I used to have a student who was doing UI design. She practiced Sanyue Yizima with the blogger. The lower fork was able to go down halfway. As a result, she developed a lumbar protrusion. She originally had an anterior pelvic tilt. After the hamstring muscles were over-stretched, the force of the pelvis was pulled forward even more, which doubled the pressure on the lumbar spine. It was completely worth the loss.

Of course, some people say that I just like the soft feeling and just want to practice the one-word horse. Is that okay? Absolutely, this is a reasonable goal in itself, but don't regard this as the only criterion for "good flexibility", and don't press hard. I have seen girls who are born with good hip mobility and can stably lower the crossbar after two weeks of practice. I have also seen boys with naturally tight hips who can only open to 170 degrees after a year of practice. Both of these are not wrong, as long as there is no pain during the practice and daily activities after the practice are not affected.

Finally, let me talk about a very simple judgment standard. Whether the flexibility goal you set is reasonable or not, you will know after two weeks of practice. If after practicing, you can play ball, run and jump more smoothly, and your back does not hurt after sitting for a long time, then you are right. If your joints are shaking after practicing, you can't exert your strength when exerting force, or even feel weak when walking, then it is most likely that the goal is wrong, and you should adjust it quickly. After all, flexibility training is always meant to serve your body, not for posting on WeChat Moments.