If you can't remember the last time you were able to touch your toes, it's time to start working on your flexibility. To improve your flexibility, you need to do specific exercises that help improve and maintain your mobility.
One of the best ways to do this is through Low-impact exercises. Improving your flexibility functions similar to building strength, endurance and speed. It will be challenging at first, but the more consistent you are, the more it will get easier as your flexibility improves.
Below are a few key things you can do to get started. Consult with your doctor or personal trainer first to make sure these exercises are right for you.
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1. Start and end each day with static stretches
Static stretches allow for deep, isolated stretching.
Holding static stretches may be the simplest method to improve flexibility. Static stretching includes all flexibility exercises that involve holding a muscle in a stretched position for a substantial amount of time, usually around 30 seconds. This allows you to isolate and deeply stretch a muscle. Starting and ending your day with static stretches -- just for 5 to 10 minutes -- can make a big difference in how flexible your muscles feel on a daily basis.
Static stretches you might already be familiar with include:
- Forward fold (touching your toes)
- Standing quad stretch
- Cross-body shoulder stretch
- Seated single-leg hamstring stretch
- Triceps stretch
- Seated twist
- Butterfly stretch
- Child's pose
- Overhead side reach
Some advanced static stretches include:
2. Perform dynamic stretches before and after you exercise
Dynamic stretches improve mobility.
Dynamic stretches, in contrast to static stretches, continuously move your muscles and joints through their full range of motion. This type of stretching feels much more vigorous than static stretching and may even get your heart rate up.
Dynamic stretching doesn't isolate muscles as much as static stretching; rather, this type of active stretching works multiple muscles at the same time and teaches you how to engage your muscles and joints to support deeper and more fluid motion. Performing dynamic stretches before your workout makes for a good warmup, and engaging in a few after your workout helps return your body to its resting state (rather than just stopping cold after an intense sweat).
Examples of dynamic stretches include:
- Cat-cow pose
- Squat-to-stand
- Downward dog to cobra
- Kneeling lunge stretch
- Cossack squats
- Walking knee-to-chest
- Toy soldiers
- Iron cross and scorpion
- Wall angels
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3. Roll out muscles with a foam roller
Foam rolling helps break up tight muscle and fascia.
You might feel inflexible due to adhesions in your fascia, a type of connective tissue that covers your muscles, bones and joints. What people refer to as "muscle knots" often actually occur in the fascia (though your muscle tissue can develop knotty areas, too).
If you have a lot of these adhesions, which can develop from long periods of sedentary behavior as well as from intense physical activity, try adding self-myofascial release to your routine. Self-myofascial release is essentially self-massage with the goal of "releasing" those tight knots from your body tissues. You can do self-myofascial release with a foam roller, a lacrosse ball, a muscle roller or a massage gun.
These myofascial release exercises can help:
- Foam roller sit-ups
- Foot rolls with a lacrosse ball
- Figure four stretch on a lacrosse ball
- Quadriceps foam roll
- Hamstrings foam roll
- Calf rolls with a lacrosse ball or foam roller
4. Practice rotational movements
Often overlooked, rotational movements influence flexibility greatly.
Your ability or inability to fully rotate your spine and ball-and-socket joints (hips and shoulders) greatly influences your overall flexibility level. Your spine, hips and shoulders dictate most of the movements you make on a daily basis whether you realize it or not: Every time you step, reach, bend, turn, sit or stand, you're using your spine along with your hips or shoulders. If you don't actively practice rotating these joints, you're missing out on your potential for flexibility.
Try these rotational exercises to improve flexibility:
- Shoulder internal and external rotation
- Shoulder upward external rotation
- Seated hip internal and external rotation
- Standing hip internal and external rotation
- Shinbox
- Windmills
- Seated spinal twist (alternating)
Creating a flexibility training program
In addition to your usual exercise, such as lifting weights or walking, try dedicating a few minutes each day to flexibility training. Time constraints may make it hard to prioritize flexibility exercises, but if you really want to get bendy, you'll have to commit to a regular practice.
Here's one way to incorporate flexibility training into your workout routine:
- Morning: 5 minutes of static stretching, focus on the lower body
- Before workout: 10 minutes of full-body dynamic stretching
- After workout: 5 minutes of myofascial release on the muscles you worked
- Before bed: 5 minutes of static stretching, focus on the upper body
By dedicating just a few minutes at a time, you can achieve nearly half an hour of flexibility training each day you exercise.
You can always slightly cut back on your active exercise time to incorporate flexibility work. For example, if you usually walk for 60 minutes a day, walk for 50 minutes and end your walk with 10 minutes of stretching. In the end, becoming more flexible is all about prioritizing it as a goal.