BUILDING FLEXIBILITY IS LIKE BUILDING MUSCLE

One of the more common reasons people go to a gym or start exercising is to build flexibility or their Range of Motion (ROM). This is the total range of rotation that a joint like your hip or shoulder can move through both passively and actively. When this range is limited, it can cause pain and discomfort and even restrict the actions you do in your everyday life. The reason why exercise can help this is because many exercises move a joint through a large ROM, causing you to build strength and stability in previously untrained positions for that joint. Although, strength training isn’t the only way to build this ROM. You can use similar concepts that build muscle and use them to increase your ROM.

A Quick Refresh

Let’s talk about how muscle is built really quickly. Building muscle requires you to train at a relatively high intensity. What this means is that if you are performing an exercise like a back squat or a bicep curl, you would need to perform the movement to a relatively close point of failure. For example, if you are performing a set of 10 repetitions, the last 2-3 repetitions should be quite difficult. This puts a good amount of stress on the muscle, causing it to slightly break down, which then stimulates it to grow and change. This must also be done for multiple sets, as we’ve learned from research, which shows that multiple sets close to failure cause greater change than one set to failure does.

Passive Stretching

Now speaking in terms of flexibility, this means that you must perform these stretches the same way. Let's say you are performing a standing calf stretch against the wall to work on your ankle flexibility. This would be an example of a passive stretch because your ankle is in a fixed position and holding that position. The stretch can become more intense by moving your heel closer to the wall. Using a 1-10 scale for intensity 1 being a very light stretch to 10 being the most intense stretch you’ve ever experienced, you would want to be somewhere around a 7-8 to get real change in your ROM from this stretch.

Vs. Active Stretching

In terms of an active stretch, let’s use a more active movement. A front foot elevated split squat uses a box or elevated surface to place one foot on top of while the other stays behind you on the ground. Then, using a dumbbell or other weighted object, place it on top of your knee on the box and flex your knee and ankle forward. In order to make this more active, think of driving your knee as far over your ankle as possible and keep your muscle flexed the entire time. This should create a similar feeling to the wall calf stretch but to a higher intensity. Once you have completed a set of that stretch, say for 15-20 seconds, then you would rest for a couple of minutes and perform it again, much like a set of any other exercise. This is not to say that passive stretching cannot achieve the same goals; these are merely just options for structuring each type of stretching. Much like other forms of exercise, we know that you need to perform this type of training at least 2 or more times a week to cause changes to the muscle itself.

Stretching Structure

An easy way to structure this would be to pick a certain muscle group like hamstrings, quadriceps or lats and find both passive and active stretches to use in a workout. Perform 3-4 sets with anywhere between 15-30 seconds per set to start out. You can always build up to more reps or sets when you feel ready.