Focus On Flexibility
When planning out a fitness regime most people don’t give much thought to flexibility. It’s the often-neglected component of the fitness mix. Building cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength is exciting, especially when it’s accompanied by weight loss. Building flexibility is less exciting, and it doesn’t directly relate to shifting kilos on the scales so most people don’t prioritise it.
But being flexible is a key building block for a healthy body. Fitness and strength start out as a great partnership. The fitter you are the harder you can push yourself with your strength, and the stronger you are the harder you can push yourself with your cardiovascular fitness. It’s an empowering upwards spiral. However, the harder you work the tighter you become as the tendons around the muscles stiffen. This reduces your range of motion and increases the risk of injury as soon as you go past that range of motion. Another way flexibility helps reduce the risk of injury is by improving balance and co-ordination. Freedom of movement around a joint gives you the ability to adapt to unstable surfaces and new movement patterns.
Being flexible is important beyond fitness and injury prevention. Having a good range of motion is a great asset in daily life. If you have the ability to be in many different positions you can sleep more restfully and travel more comfortably. You can avoid muscle strains and tweaks from everyday tasks involving lifting, reaching and bending. A desk job that places you in a fixed position for most of the day can create short, tight postural muscles. Working on your flexibility can reverse this posture and reduce the risk of back and neck pain.
Having a limber body does so much more than improving fitness performance and reducing the risk of injury. It makes everyday life more comfortable and contributes to general health, confidence and wellbeing. Check out my post on how to safely stretch for success.
But being flexible is a key building block for a healthy body. Fitness and strength start out as a great partnership. The fitter you are the harder you can push yourself with your strength, and the stronger you are the harder you can push yourself with your cardiovascular fitness. It’s an empowering upwards spiral. However, the harder you work the tighter you become as the tendons around the muscles stiffen. This reduces your range of motion and increases the risk of injury as soon as you go past that range of motion. Another way flexibility helps reduce the risk of injury is by improving balance and co-ordination. Freedom of movement around a joint gives you the ability to adapt to unstable surfaces and new movement patterns.
Being flexible is important beyond fitness and injury prevention. Having a good range of motion is a great asset in daily life. If you have the ability to be in many different positions you can sleep more restfully and travel more comfortably. You can avoid muscle strains and tweaks from everyday tasks involving lifting, reaching and bending. A desk job that places you in a fixed position for most of the day can create short, tight postural muscles. Working on your flexibility can reverse this posture and reduce the risk of back and neck pain.
Having a limber body does so much more than improving fitness performance and reducing the risk of injury. It makes everyday life more comfortable and contributes to general health, confidence and wellbeing. Check out my post on how to safely stretch for success.