The role of flexibility training is to

The core function of flexibility training is to maintain the dynamic balance of the controllable range of motion of your body's joints. It can not only help you avoid injuries in various sports and daily activities, but also improve your body's perception, allowing you to move more smoothly.

If you usually sit for 8 hours a day, you will most likely have experienced pain in your waist when you stand up suddenly. It takes half a minute to slowly straighten up. Sometimes you even have to stretch your legs and bend your upper body as much as possible to pick up the keys on the ground, for fear of stretching your waist. Don’t get me wrong, it’s really not that your waist is bad, it’s probably that your hip flexors and hamstring muscles are as tight as knotted rubber bands, squeezing out the space for movement in your lumbar spine. I used to sit in the office and work on projects for three days in a row. When I was driving after get off work, it was difficult to even lift my foot to press the accelerator. Then I spent 3 minutes every day doing half-pigeon pose hip opener before going to bed. Within two weeks, the constant pain was completely gone. According to relevant research from the American College of Sports Medicine, targeted flexibility training for 10 minutes 2-3 times a week can reduce the risk of chronic low back pain by about 30%. For sedentary people, this time investment is really cost-effective.

I used to take care of an elder brother who has been running horses for 5 years. Before, every time he reached 15 kilometers in a half marathon, his hamstrings would tighten and he could not improve the pace. He always felt that his endurance was not enough, and he injured his knee after running too much for three months. Later, I asked him to add 10 minutes of static stretching of his lower limbs after every run, and do PNF stretching once a week to relax his deep muscles. Two months later, he not only had no cramps when he ran a half marathon, but also did PB for 3 minutes. To put it bluntly, when the muscles are tense, they are like springs stretched to the limit. If they are forced to exert force again, they will break or bounce back. Flexibility training is to leave enough safe space for the springs to expand and contract. When running and jumping, the force can be transmitted smoothly and will not be held in a certain joint and cause pain.

But this does not mean that the more you practice flexibility training, the better. On the contrary, the controversy about flexibility training in the fitness circle has never stopped. Many friends who practice powerlifting must have had this experience: If you stretch your hamstrings for more than 5 minutes statically before squatting, your legs will always feel weak during squats, your core will not be able to exert force, and it is common for your weight to drop by 10 to 20 kilograms. I was chatting with the rehabilitation trainer of the provincial team before, and he said that the team is now doing flexibility training for strength athletes, and they all stick to the "just enough" standard. For example, it is enough to squat until the hip is lower than the knee. They will not be required to sit on the ground and press their legs. Instead, they will deliberately retain a little tension in the hamstring muscles to prevent the core from loosening when squatting with heavy weights. Studies have long confirmed that static stretching for more than 30 seconds before a game will reduce explosive output by about 10%. Therefore, professional teams no longer engage in long-term leg presses in pre-game warm-ups. Instead, they use dynamic activation such as high leg raises and side lunges to open up the range of motion, which is more effective.

Oh, by the way, there is another pitfall that many people easily fall into: they always think that good flexibility means "soft", and being able to split a horse is considered powerful. Actually, it’s not true. Flexibility is about you. Can control The range of motion is limited. If you are as soft as a noodle but cannot exert any strength on your legs when doing the splits, it will make you more likely to get injured. I have seen many friends who practice amateur yoga. They strained their medial ligaments in order to take pictures of a horse, and they ended up nursing them for half a year. This is completely unnecessary.

To put it bluntly, flexibility training is never an "advanced training content", and there is no need for you to force yourself to meet any unified standards. If you are an ordinary office worker, it would be enough if you can wake up in the morning without having a sore back, squat in a pit without tiptoeing, and pick up things without stretching your legs. ； If you practice gymnastics, dance, or yoga, it's not too late to pursue a higher range of motion. After all, the essence of training is to make your life more comfortable.