Flexibility training such as yoga should be done at least a few times a week

To maintain basic flexibility, ordinary healthy people should arrange training at least 2 to 3 times a week on non-consecutive days.； If you have rehabilitation needs or special sports needs, the frequency needs to be increased to 4 to 5 times a week.

To be honest, this number is not determined by anyone. Two years ago, I took a student who was engaged in Internet operations. When he first came to me, his shoulders were so tight that it was difficult to lift his arms to comb his hair. To wear a pullover, he had to pull the collar and pull it over his head. From the beginning, he took 1 hour each Tuesday and Thursday to take a Hatha yoga class. After practicing for less than a month, he came to me one day to tell me the good news, saying that now he no longer has to fight with the collar when wearing clothes.

Don't think that this number is a rigid rule. You must first understand the little temper of the muscles. It has a special characteristic called viscoelasticity. To put it bluntly, it is like the thick rubber band you use to tie your hair. If you pull it hard once and loosen it, most of it will spring back after a few hours. If you don't pull it for three or four days, it will basically return to the state it was in before it was pulled. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has clearly mentioned in the official exercise guidelines that the effect of a single stretch for the general population can last up to 72 hours. Based on this time, it is just right to practice once every other day. If you do it two or three times a week, the effect will be sustained steadily and the practice will not be in vain.

Interestingly, different circles have quite different opinions on this frequency. In the yoga studio I used to go to, the teacher who teaches Iyengar always said that three or four times a week is enough. After all, Iyengar relies on assistive devices to find precise force, and he only pulls the deep muscles that are really stiff. If he practices too much, he will easily overstretch and injure his joints. ； The teacher who teaches Ashtanga next door laughed when he heard it and said that the veteran students in their gym who have been practicing for three to five years come to Mysore classes five or six times a week, and no one has a bad stretch. The stretching in dynamic exercises is already combined with strength control, so there is nothing wrong with practicing every day.

I've actually seen people develop problems after practicing too much. Last year, there was a little girl who wanted to hit the jackpot before wearing a cheongsam in the summer. She stayed in the gym seven days a week and never missed a hip class. Every time, she gritted her teeth and pressed down hard. As a result, her knees hurt so much that she couldn't walk after less than three weeks of training. Only when she went to see a rehabilitation practitioner did she find out that the hip ligaments were too loose and the stability of the hip joint was lost. Instead, it took her three months of training to regain her hip strength. In fact, it’s not all about frequency, it’s about the wrong way of practicing. If you spend five minutes in the morning every day, stretching your shoulders and stretching your legs, that kind of low-intensity relaxing stretching, there will be no problem if you practice it every day. ； But if you push yourself to the limit every time and stretch to the point of sweating in pain, a maximum of three times a week is enough. Any more can easily lead to problems.

If you have special needs, let's talk about it. I know a friend who runs a marathon. Every time he finishes a run, his hamstrings are as tight as frozen stones. He has to practice stretching and Yin yoga four or five times a week, otherwise he will easily get cramps after running less than two kilometers next time. ； If you have problems such as lumbar protrusion or frozen shoulder and need rehabilitation training, doctors will generally recommend low-intensity flexibility training at least four times a week to help relax tense compensatory muscles and speed up recovery.

In fact, there is really no need to worry about frequency. Many office workers around me stretch their trapezius muscles from time to time when fishing at work. When they go home and slump on the sofa to watch TV shows at night, they put their feet on the coffee table to stretch their hamstrings. This adds up to two or three hours of stretching a week. There is no pain in the shoulders and neck, and they can easily touch their toes when bending forward. They are well maintained. You really don’t have to force yourself to go to yoga classes at a fixed time every week for it to count. The best is the rhythm that suits you and the frequency that you can stick to.