What is the function of flexibility training?

The core function of flexibility training is to increase joint range of motion and reduce the risk of injury in sports and daily activities. It can also help optimize sports performance and improve daily body comfort. It is far from as simple as "stretching legs" as everyone thinks.

I have been leading an amateur running group for almost five years, and I have seen too many enthusiasts who have problems because they neglected flexibility training. I once had a boy who ran half marathons for two years. He never took the time to stretch his muscles. His iliopsoas muscles were so tight that he could only raise his legs to 45 degrees when sitting in a normal sitting position. After running for a long time, his knees I had pain on the inside of my cover, and my pace was stuck at 6 and a half minutes and I couldn't get up. Later, I was advised to add 10 minutes of dynamic hip stretching + post-race static stretching three times a week. After only one and a half months of practice, my pace was directly at 6 minutes, and my old problem of knee pain after running didn't happen again.

However, there are now different opinions on the role of flexibility training in the industry. Many strength training practitioners are clearly opposed to long-term static stretching before a game, saying that it will instantly reduce muscle explosiveness and increase the risk of injury. I have also verified this myself. Before leading the team to sprint for a 100-meter test, a little girl secretly pressed her legs for 20 minutes. When she started, her feet went soft and she almost fell. Indeed, you need to choose the right method for flexibility training in different scenarios. Dynamic stretching is suitable for activation before a game, while static stretching is more suitable after a game or on non-training days.

In fact, not only sports enthusiasts, but also ordinary people cannot do without the support of joint flexibility in their daily lives. Nowadays, many sedentary office workers sit in front of the computer for eight or nine hours a day. The chest muscles, iliopsoas muscles, and hamstring muscles are in a state of contraction for a long time, and gradually contract and harden. Let alone exercise, it is difficult to bend down to tie shoelaces, and the waist will bend when lifting heavy objects. A friend of mine who is a designer is like this. The last time he moved a 27-inch monitor, he twisted his waist. The first thing he did when he went to the rehabilitation department was to ask him to practice chest muscle stretching and hamstring muscle stretching for 5 minutes every day. After only two weeks, he said that after get off work, his back was no longer as stiff as before.

Some people also say that flexibility training can help you grow taller. This is really a misunderstanding. After the epiphysis is closed, no matter how much stretching you do, it will not make the bones longer. At most, it will expand the two or three centimeters that you usually have with your chest and hunchback. This will only make you taller visually. Don't believe those exaggerated propaganda. Some people think that excessive pursuit of soft openings is a good thing, but it is actually wrong. If you have loose joints and do leg splits every day, the ligaments will be too loose and the joints will lose sufficient support, making them more prone to sprains and sprains. There is no need to pursue extreme flexibility training. It is enough to achieve the normal range of motion of your joints, unless you are a practitioner with special needs such as dance and gymnastics.

You can think of muscles and fascia as rubber bands that are often used. If they are stretched in the same state for a long time without loosening, they will gradually lose their elasticity and may break if pulled with a little force. Flexibility training is actually to regularly maintain these "rubber bands" so that they can use force when they need to be tightened and stretch when they need to be stretched. Whether it is running or jumping, reaching for high objects, squatting down to carry express delivery, it is not easy to get injured.

Even if my training volume is reduced to only two or three times a week, I will still take 5 minutes a day to stretch my shoulders and hips. After all, compared to spending several months recovering after an injury, this time is well spent.