In high school, I was on the drill/dance team. I loved nothing more than dancing and high kicking and being part of a team, but during our morning stretches, if I could have shot laser beams from my eyes at the Gumby stretching in front of me, I would have gladly done it - consequences and all.

Now-a-days, older, wiser and better anatomically educated, I don't glare at my yoga classmates when my leg doesn't tuck or stretch like theirs. I own it.

Why? Well, flexibility can be limited by the elastic limits of ligaments and tendons crossing a joint, the elasticity of the muscle itself, bone and joint structure itself and skin. My body is different than my neighbor's body. Everybody's body is different, with different limits.

But to say that I would I own that my lotus isn't what I'd like it to be? No one gets to design their own hip-sockets. No, I own the state of my flexibility because though genetics decides some of what our body does or or doesn't do - like joint structure - we can affect the elasticity of our muscles, tendons and ligaments to be more flexible.

You can be Gumby. Or Gumbier, at least.

Want to improve your camel pose? First remember, one of the most practical ways to increase flexibility of any part of your body is to be strong. A strong muscle has to contract less hard than a weak one, so when focusing on flexibility, don't forget your resistance training.

Aside from strength, static stretching is probably the easiest and most common way to increase flexibility. All you have to do is gradually elongate a muscle through a full range of motion and maintain it elongated for 20-30 seconds. For dancers, holding the splits would be a good example of a static hamstring stretch.

Another, less familiar way but very effective way to increase flexibility is with Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Faciliation (PNF) or contract-relax stretching. PNF involves stretching a muscle slowly and gradually until you reach maximum resistance without pain. Hold the stretch for about six seconds, then, contract the muscle you are stretching for a couple of seconds, release, and immediately relax into the stretch a little more.

PNF works because when you stretch a muscle, the stretch reflex immediately "tightens" the muscle to protect it against injury. The PNF contract-relax action works through this reflex, allowing you to stretch more deeply.

An example: when doing a Downward Facing Dog posture, try contracting your hamstrings for a couple of seconds and then letting yourself push with your hands more deeply backward and down into the floor. You should notice that you are able to gain more of a stretch after each contract-release series.

Gumby, here you come.

Note that contracting a muscle does not necessarily mean you move - rise to your toes in Downward Dog, for example - it is simply a stationary flex or squeeze of the muscle.


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Labels: flexibility, kinds of stretching, learn to stretch, PNF, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, stretch session, what limits flexibility