Developing a Flexible Body

How many of you feel like you don’t stretch enough and, therefore, don’t have a flexible body? I would raise my own hand, but I might pull a shoulder muscle or something. All kidding aside, achieving and maintaining a flexible body is of paramount importance as we get older to keep our bodies nimble and less injury-prone.

As I’ve alluded to time and time again throughout the Introspective Musings series, balance is key in life in order to achieve the ideal lifestyle. When it comes to physicality, the health and fitness industry used to be segmented off into a variety of programs and routines that only peered into one aspect of physical health. Like many of you, I bought into that narrative and focused on only one aspect of body physicality to my own detriment.

As a guy, I grew up wanting to be big, fast, and strong. Who wouldn’t want to boast having all those attributes, right? But by neglecting the balance that is our body physicality, I had to pay some dues for my negligence. Growing up, I never took stretching and warming up my body all that seriously, nor did I take the recovery process after physical exercise with much care as well. Well back in high school, I remember tearing my hamstring fairly bad and recently just in early 2019 tore my meniscus in my knee. These were hammer blows for me since I loved being able to run and play soccer at a competitive level.

Since then, I’ve taken numerous steps to develop a more flexible body. Building a more flexible body, when you’re as tight and rigid as myself, can be taxing when the results seemingly don’t come your way. Too often, I found myself re-injuring myself even after taking care to stretch pre- and post-exercise. However, like our approach to everything, we continue to carry on with the process with a constant growth-oriented first mindset.

So now the big question: how do you become more flexible? Let’s dive into a couple of stretches that can help:

1. Butterfly stretch

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Think back to little league soccer - the butterfly stretch is great at opening up and stretching your glutes, hips, thighs, and back.

• Sit up tall on the floor with the soles of your feet touching each other and knees bent out to the sides

• Hold either your ankles or feet and slowly lower your torso towards your feet

• If you cannot bend over too far, try pressing down your knees as much as you can

• Hold the stretch for 30 seconds to 1 minute

2. Hamstring stretch

A must for any activity involving running - the hamstring stretch is great at not only targeting your hamstrings but also your neck, back, glutes, and calves if done properly.

• Standing up straight or sitting on the ground with your legs out and torso upright, bend forward at the hips and try to touch your toes

• Relax your head, neck, and shoulders as you bend forward

• Wrap your arms around the back of your legs if you can

• Hold the stretch for 45 seconds

3. Lunging hip flexor stretch

This is a personal favorite of mine - the lunging hip flexor stretch is great at opening up your hips, quads, and glutes.

• Kneel on one knee and place your opposite foot flat in front of you with your knee bent

• Lean forward to stretch out your kneeling leg’s hip, quad, and glute

• For extra stretch on your hip flexor, squeeze your glutes as you lean forward

• Hold for 30 seconds to 2 minutes

4. Quad stretch

Another classic exercise back from PE class - the quad stretch primarily stretches out your quads but also can target your hip flexors.

• Stand with your feet shoulder width apart

• Bend one knee and use the same side hand to hold and pull your foot back towards your butt

• To keep your balance, hold onto a wall or stare at an object

• Hold for 20 to 45 seconds

5. Neck stretch

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Too many hours staring at a computer huh - the neck stretch is often forgotten about but great at keeping you free of structural neck damage.

• Standing or seated, keep your back straight and chest upright

• Drop one ear to your shoulder and hold

• Pull your head down towards your shoulder for an added stretch

• Hold for 20 to 30 seconds

These stretches have helped me tremendously over the last year or so to prevent injuries and lasting health damage. The benefits to your posture, muscular system, structural system, and spiritual well being are astonishing. Staying consistent with stretching is a whole other mind game for me though.

While this post isn’t geared towards health motivation (can check that out in this previous post), motivating yourself to stretch consistently is equally as important to the practice as is performing the practice. Some sources of motivation might include:

• Preventing injuries

• Being able to play with your kids

• Enjoying exercise even more

• Performing everyday, common tasks with greater ease

Above all, I would say that any and all sources of motivation when it comes to stretching will ultimately come back to providing a sense of stability for yourself. Too often, you can find life throwing you out of whack due to health-related issues. While not a complete fix, stretching can prevent you and your livelihood from getting stifled to too large of an extent.

So next time you decide to go for a run or want to play with the kids, think about how much joy and satisfaction those activities bring to you. I want to ensure you can continue to carry out those activities indefinitely, and physical body stretching can do that for you, your friends, and your family. Visualize those moments of joy as you stretch out your hamstring and hips. Who knows.. you might even find that the visualization act allows your mind to stretch into the realm of new possibilities that stems even further than just your physical health and well being. Having said that, it’s time for me to go stretch!

“Flexibility is the key to stability.” - John Wooden