Many people believe that they can’t be flexible unless they’re born with it. Although genetics do play a huge role, with some hard work and determination, anyone can develop flexibility.
However, contrary to popular belief, flexibility is more than just being able to touch your toes without bending your knees. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, flexibility is the range of movement of a single joint or group of joints in one skeletal muscle.
Although flexibility isn’t considered to be a very important skill, having it can have numerous benefits such as alleviating lower back pain, mitigate the risk of injuries, and can result in increased strength.
Keep reading this article to learn some effective ways to improve your flexibility.
1. Try Attending A Yoga Class
Not only does yoga help you deal with stress and anxiety, but it also improves your balance and flexibility.
Attending a good yoga session and trying various postures will help stretch and relax your muscles which can lead to enhanced flexibility. Yoga requires one to stretch multiple parts of the body at the same time, and you can also focus on stretching specific areas, like shoulders, back, or hips, where you feel you need more flexibility.
2. Stretch It Out
Dynamic or static stretching is a great way to reduce rigidity and tightness from your muscles. While doing static stretches, hold your position for 30 seconds or more, and make sure to do these stretches after exercise when your body is still warm.
For better results, give dynamic stretching a try as it prepares your body in a more efficient manner for the various types of poses and movements, you will do in your workout.
3. Try Joint Mobility Exercises
Mobility exercises that focus on various joints are an easy and effective measure to enhance your flexibility. Workouts like neck half-circle, shoulder pass-through, walking hip openers are simple and require very basic or no equipment.
4. Give Pilates A Try
Pilates is an excellent tool to enhance joint mobility and improve flexibility.
Pilates involves stretching and lengthening all the important muscle groups in the body and helps improves muscular and postural strength and increases flexibility.
