Flexibility Training Tips

The core logic of effective flexibility training is never to press hard to the limit of pain tolerance, but to "prioritize nerve relaxation, follow up with muscle tension release, and adapt to your own movement needs." There is no universal standard movement that is suitable for everyone. All techniques must be combined with your training goals and basic physical adjustments.

When many people are new to flexibility training, they always feel that the more painful it is, the more effective it is. A few years ago, I accompanied a friend to a basic dance class. The teacher pressed down on her back. She burst into tears and gritted her teeth to endure it. As a result, her hamstrings hurt for a whole week the next day. She even struggled to go up and down stairs. Instead, she was stiff for more than half a month before she recovered. Are you saying she didn't work hard? I tried hard, but in the wrong direction, and it had the opposite effect. The relationship between muscles and nerves is actually quite similar to when you touch a cat with fried fur. The harder you press it, the more it resists. If you pat along the fur and it feels comfortable, it will naturally relax.

In fact, the controversy about stretching in the fitness circle has never stopped. One group says that static stretching should never be done before training, as it will reduce muscle strength and affect sports performance. There is experimental data to support it. It is said that static stretching for more than 60 seconds will reduce peak muscle strength by about 10%.； However, some coaches in the rehabilitation school believe that if your joint mobility is limited, such as lifting your heels and shoulder abduction less than 180 degrees when squatting, doing low-intensity static stretching for 20-30 seconds before training can help you find the correct sense of force and avoid compensatory injuries. There is detailed experimental data on both sides. It is impossible to say who is right or wrong, but the applicable scenarios are different.

When I was practicing weight lifting before, my shoulder mobility was poor, and I always got stuck when I pushed overhead. At first, I would hang the horizontal bar on my shoulders every day when I had nothing to do, which caused pain in the front of my shoulders. I made no progress at all for half a month. Later, I found a rehabilitation therapist who came from the national team and first asked me to use a 1kg small dumbbell to activate shoulder external rotation. I did 3 sets of 15 times each time. After the small muscles of the rotator cuff were strong, I did dynamic stretching of the front and rear arm swings. Finally, I added 10 seconds of PNF contraction and relaxation. That is, when I stretched to the point where I felt a stretch, I first resisted exerting force for 6 seconds, then relaxed and deepened the stretch. After two weeks of doing this, the weight of the overhead press increased by 5kg, and the shoulder pain no longer occurred. To be honest, I always thought stretching was "time-consuming" before. Later I realized that coaxing the nerves that control the muscles into comfort is much more effective than pressing hard for half an hour.

If you are just a sedentary office worker, you don’t need the ability to do the splits at all. You really don’t need to do hard leg presses for an hour every day. You can do it while sitting at your desk: rolling your calves with an empty mineral water bottle for 3 minutes is more effective than standing and pressing your ankles for half a day.； After sitting for a long time, stand up and hold on to the table, take a step back with your hind legs, press your center of gravity forward, and feel the stretch of your hip flexors. Do this three times for 15 seconds each time. It will have a more direct effect on relieving back pain than taking a stretching class on the weekend. I have a friend who is a programmer. His back pain was so bad that he went to physical therapy. He followed this method and moved for two minutes every day while fishing, and he didn’t have any more back pain in two months.

Some people say that flexibility must be practiced every day to increase. This also depends on the situation. If you study dance, acrobatics or jujitsu and want to pursue extreme range of motion, you really need to spend time practicing every day, even several times a day. ； But if you are just an ordinary fitness enthusiast, or you just want to squat down to tie your shoelaces without any effort, or raise your hands to reach things on the top of the cabinet without pain, then you don’t need to spend extra time to practice. After each strength training, just spend 10 minutes stretching the muscle groups trained that day. Three times a week is enough to maintain a good range of activity. Many powerlifters around me who have been practicing for five or six years just do this, squatting and pulling more than 200kg, and their joints have never had problems due to lack of flexibility.

Many people cannot distinguish between the normal feeling of stretching and the signs of injury. Here is an analogy. If you take a frozen rubber band out of the refrigerator and pull it hard, it will definitely break. If you hold it in your hands and rub it for two minutes, and then pull it slowly, you can stretch it very long without breaking. The same goes for muscles. It is enough to feel a slight soreness and stretch when stretching. If there is a sharp tingling or numb feeling, it is the body's alarm. Stop immediately and don't force yourself. I have seen at least seven or eight novices pull themselves to the point of muscle strain, all with the obsession of "pain is progress", which is such a loss.

In fact, after all is said and done, there is no universal skill in flexibility training. What you want is the softness that can do the splits, so just follow the dance teacher and slowly use up the flexibility.； What you want is that your movements won’t get stuck during strength training, so follow a rehabilitation practitioner to practice activation and dynamic stretching. ； What you want is to be able to sit for a long time without pain. Just take some time to move at your work station. The best technique is to do something that suits your needs and is comfortable and pain-free after practicing.