Is Flexibility Important for Being Fit?

“Is flexibility important for being fit?”

There’s a question that flummoxes many fitness fanatics.

Many people believe that increasing your flexibility reduces your risk of injury, boosts your athletic performance, and helps you recover more efficiently.

But how important is flexibility, really?

Is being limber really part and parcel of being fit, like strength, muscle mass, and endurance, or is it more incidental?

Learn the answer in this article.

Why Is Flexibility Important?

The real reason flexibility is important is you need a certain amount of it to perform various exercises properly, especially fundamental strength-training exercises like the squat, deadlift, and bench and overhead press. 

Studies show that strength training is actually about as effective as stretching for improving flexibility, but many people find that doing a handful of stretches produces even better results. 

You can think of stretching as a “supplement” of sorts for your muscles and joints—it won’t make you “fitter” on its own, but it can help you get a bit more out of your workouts, if a lack of flexibility makes it hard for you to perform certain exercises properly.

Types of Stretching

Static Stretching

Static stretches can be “active,” where you stretch one muscle by contracting another without using any external load (flexing your calf muscles to stretch your ankles, for instance), or “passive,” where you use external force such as a partner or resistance band to intensify the stretch (grabbing your toes and pulling your torso toward the floor).

Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretches can also be performed “ballistically,” which involves rapidly bouncing at the end-range of motion, but this isn’t recommended as it may lead to injury.

PNF Stretching

Research shows that PNF stretching is effective at increasing flexibility when you perform it regularly, though many PNF stretches require a partner, so it isn’t a viable option for some people.

The Right Way to Stretch

That said, if you like stretching before you train to feel “looser,” research shows you can negate stretching’s adverse effects by keeping your stretches short and at a low intensity. 

For example, if you’re warming up for a leg workout, perform a series of static and dynamic stretches for your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves, holding each stretch for a maximum of 20 seconds, and only to the point of very mild discomfort—around a 5 or 6 on a scale of 1-to-10.

• Wait 24 hours to stretch a trained muscle: When it comes to stretching for recovery, avoid stretching a muscle you’ve trained in the last 24 hours. To aid muscle recovery after that, stretch your muscles using a maximum intensity of 3-to-4 out of 10 for less than 30 seconds.
• Stretch two-to-three times per week, preferably on rest days or several hours after training: The best way to improve your flexibility without hindering your performance is to stretch away from training, so try to schedule your stretching sessions on rest days or several hours after your workouts. 

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends stretching each muscle 2-to-3 times per week for 10-to-30 seconds per stretch to the point of slight discomfort, accumulating 60 total seconds per muscle, and these are sound recommendations.

How to Become More Flexible

1. Thunderbolt Pose

This is an outstanding exercise for improving the flexibility of your hips, thighs, lower back, and ankles. After several weeks of doing this stretch regularly, you should see significant improvements in your lower-body range of motion. 

2. One-Leg Reclined Thunderbolt Pose

This pose increases the flexibility of pretty everything from your hips down. However, because you stretch each leg independently, it allows for a deeper stretch and helps you to identify and even out any flexibility imbalances you may have. 

3. Pigeon Pose

This pose “opens up” the muscles on the outside of your thighs and hips (the hip abductors) which can get tight if you do a lot of lower-body training or stay seated for long periods each day.

4. Eye of the Needle Pose

This pose loosens the glutes, low-back, and outside of the hips in a similar way to the pigeon pose. The difference is that with this pose you can control the intensity, which means you can make it more or less intense depending on your level of flexibility.

5. Half Lord of the Fishes Pose

6. Reverse Table Pose

This exercise stretches the wrists, arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, and spine, which means it’s ideal for loosening up the entire upper body and strengthening the muscles that allow you to maintain a balanced posture.

7. Thread the Needle

“Threading the needle” mobilizes your neck, upper back, and shoulders, which often become tight if you spend a lot of time working at a computer. 

8. Eagle Arms

If you do a lot of “pressing” exercises such as the bench press and shoulder press, your deltoids (shoulder muscles) and rotator cuff muscles can become stiff. This pose helps to “unstick” your shoulders and upper back so you can maintain good posture more easily.

9. Cobra Pose

10. Child’s Pose