Uses of flexibility training

The core value of flexibility training goes far beyond achieving "visible softness results" such as splits and waist reduction. The core role covers the three major scenarios of improving sports performance, alleviating chronic pain, and optimizing the quality of daily activities. The controversy over "whether higher flexibility is better" in different fields is essentially due to the differences in the needs of different groups of people.

Many people blame their lack of strength and wrong posture for sports injuries. In fact, 80% of the time, the mobility of a certain part of the body is blocked first, and the body is forced to use other parts to compensate. Problems will naturally occur if the injury occurs more often. Last week, I helped an old man who has been running marathons for three and a half years adjust his gait. He has been suffering from iliotibial band friction syndrome for more than half a year. Applying ointments and wearing knee pads have no effect. I measured the hip flexor activity and found that it was 20% lower than the baseline for ordinary adults. Every time he raises his leg to take a step, he has to pull hard with the muscles on the outside of the knee. It would be strange if it doesn't hurt. He was given 10 minutes of dynamic hip stretching every day. Two weeks later, he ran a 15-kilometer stretch. His knees no longer hurt, and he was 40 seconds faster than his PB.

Of course, this does not mean that the higher the flexibility, the better. When I competed in powerlifting offline competitions in the past two years, I heard many professional athletes complain that "excessive training of flexibility will slow down the strength of the legs." In the training logic of powerlifting, flexibility is enough as long as it meets the minimum requirements for you to complete standard movements - for example, if you can squat until your hips are lower than your knees, and you can hold the barbell with both hands without arching your back during deadlifts, if the hamstrings are so loose that they almost touch the ground when you pull them, you will lose the rigidity when exerting force, and you will not be able to hold the maximum weight at all. This is also the general consensus in the current sports circle: the threshold of flexibility training depends entirely on what your goal is, and there is no need for everyone to meet the split standard.

Many people say that I don’t exercise and practicing flexibility is a waste of time. Then you really underestimate its role. Last month, the company had a team building climb on Xiangshan Mountain. Two girls in the same department who were born in 1996, one would take 10 minutes after work to open her shoulders and relax her ankles. After climbing the mountain, she still bounced to work the next day. The other had been paralyzed at the workstation for 10 hours every day. We usually talk about "all over the body hurts after sitting for long periods of time". In fact, most of it is related to insufficient flexibility: the neck hurts when I always lower my head to play with mobile phones. In many cases, it is not the cervical spine that is the problem, but the thoracic spine that is so stiff that it cannot rotate, and the cervical spine is forced to bear extra pressure. Doing several sets of thoracic spine rotation flexibility training every day will be more effective than wearing ten warm patches.

I had been practicing CrossFit for almost half a year, but I couldn't lift the snatch weight. I always thought it was because my arms were not strong enough, until the coach came over and pressed my upper back and said, "Your thoracic spine is as tight as a board, and the barbell can't stick to your body, and you can't exert any strength." I was given a week of cat-cow pose and thoracic spine circle flexibility training without any strength training. Then I went to the training ground and lifted 5 kilograms more. I was shocked at the time.

By the way, there is another pitfall that many people have stepped on: they press their legs desperately as soon as they start, grinning in pain and thinking that "pain is useful". In fact, the sports rehabilitation circle has long stopped advocating this kind of violent static stretching. Different flexibility training methods correspond to different scenarios: dynamic stretching should be done before exercise, such as raising your legs and walking sideways. Activating the muscles before moving will not easily cause injury.； After exercise or to relax at ordinary times, use static stretching or PNF stretching (the kind that involves exerting force first and then relaxing). The effect is good and it is not easy to strain.

To put it bluntly, flexibility training has never been exclusive to dancers or yoga enthusiasts. It is more like adding some "lubricating oil" to your body: it doesn't have to be so much that it overflows, as long as it is enough for you to cope with the exercise you want to do, to bear the small wear and tear of daily sitting for a long time, and to bend down to tie your shoelaces and reach for things on the top of the cabinet without any effort, it is enough to be worth the price.