What is Flexibility Fitness?

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Flexibility fitness is one of the most misunderstood andt neglected areas of fitness training. In a time-strapped world, flexibility fitness is all too often cut from the overall training routine to save time and overlooked as a nonessential.

Furthermore, it is frequently relegated by some, as fitness for the super bendies, designed for the dancers, gymnasts, and contortionists of the world only. However, whereas the super limber MAY excel in this type of training program, flexibility fitness is for everyone, especially for those of us who may find it challenging to move on some days.

There are 5 key components to physical fitness. (1)

  • Cardiovascular endurance

  • Muscular strength

  • Muscular endurance

  • Flexibility

  • Body Composition

As you can see, flexibility fitness plays a vital part in the building blocks of your overall training. Flexibility fitness will optimize your movements and functional fitness, enabling you to extend, contract, and rotate in many different directions freely.

A good flexibility program will improve not only your mobility but also your muscular strength, muscular endurance, and body composition so you can engage in a healthy active lifestyle with low risk of injury.

In otherwards, 4 out of the 5 categories listed above as key to fitness training can be satisfied by simply implementing a proper flexibility program. Not bad, huh?

This post will provide more clarification on flexibility fitness and what to look for in a quality program. For the many great benefits of engaging in a good flexibility routine, there are 2 separate posts that will walk you through the Top 10 Performance Benefits and the Top 10 Health and Beauty benefits of flexibility fitness.

Defining Flexibility

So, let’s get a better understanding of flexibility. First, what’s a good definition of flexibility?

Flexibility comes from the Latin verb flectere, which means "to cause to go in a different direction, bend, curve" or more directly the Latin adjective flexibilis (neuter flexible), which means able to be bent, pliant. (2,3)

A nice clean definition comes from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM):

“Flexibility is the ability of the human movement system to have optimum range of motion (ROM) as well as neuromuscular control throughout that ROM in order to prevent injury and enhance functional efficiency.”
— National Academy of Sports Medicine (5)

When muscles are flexible, strong, and healthy, they shorten, lengthen, turn, and twist as they should. When we have true flexibility, we can move freely in all directions without injuring ourselves.Therefore, when we speak about a flexibility fitness program, we are looking to:

  • gain muscle resiliency and pliancy

  • improve mobility and range of motion (ROM) through the joints

  • increase skill performance and control

  • prevent injury or re-injury from occurring


Good Posture for Quality Movement

Good posture, alignment in the body, is fundamental to quality movement; it is the secret sauce behind any quality flexibility and functional fitness program. Correct posture supports our musculoskeletal system, improves our circulation and breath, and keeps our muscles, nerves, ligaments, and tendons in peak performance.

When we exercise good posture, we correctly distribute the force of gravity throughout our body, which helps to avoid overstressing our joints and straining our muscles and connective tissues. We are also able to move and work more efficiently, with greater ease and flexibility.

Unfortunately, society can literally bend us out of shape, leaving many of us with less than good posture. It happens for variety of reasons:

  • texting in a hunched position

  • working long hours on the computer while slouching

  • compensating for an old injury

  • living a sedentary lifestyle

A quality flexibility fitness program will introduce techniques to increase the pliancy and resiliency of the muscles, overcome imbalances in the musculoskeletal system, and strengthen and retrain tissues to unlock overall freedom in movement and to help quickly regain good posture.

To achieve this, the program will typically consist of a series of gentle, low-impact exercises that incorporate:

  • Self-myofascial releasing (SMR)

  • Stretching

  • Strengthening

  • Stabilizing

  • Synthesizing

 


SMR (5, 11)

Sometimes, before we can even begin stretching, it is necessary to release excess tension in the muscles. This is especially true for muscles and tissues that are overexcited, overactive, overused. Just by stretching the fascia alone we can experience a great improvement in our flexibility. Self-myofascial releasing (SMR) works on reducing adhesions, sometimes called "knots" or "trigger points," and getting the soft tissue back to its original structure by gently applying self-compression on unusually tight areas (eg, use of foam rollers, balls).

 
 

Self-Myofascial Releasing (SMR) Equipment


Stretching (5-15)

Stretching exercises will be a primary part of the flexibility fitness program. Stretching improves muscle elasticity and resiliency. It will also help with range of motion through joints as muscular imbalances begin to improve and nerves get retrained. The stretches should focus on the major muscle groups of the body including hips, lower back, legs, chest, shoulders, and neck. These are the areas that tend to be used repeatedly during our daily activities.

There are primarily 3 types of stretching techniques: static, dynamic, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF).

Static stretching is the most common technique; it involves holding a position for a given amount of time to elongate a muscle or a group of muscles (extensibility). Even though this stretch can be done any time, it is a great stretch to do after an intense workout as a cool down while your muscles are still warm.

Dynamic stretching is another type of lengthening technique. Whereas static stretching requires holding a position, dynamic stretching involves moving your joints through a range of motion by using the momentum and force of your body (eg, arm circles, leg swings), starting at a slow speed that gradually increases to a comfortable tempo. In general, dynamic stretching is performed before an activity or sport; it can be designed to be functional so that the exercises mimic the actual activity or sport that will be performed.

PNF, or neuromuscular stretching, involves isometric (muscle length stays the same) stretches of lengthened muscles at full ROM performed in an alternating sequence with static stretching. This type of stretching is a very targeted approach to stretching; studies have shown this technique to be very effective in increasing ROM quickly.




Two women stretching

Strength Training (5-15)

Unfortunately, stretching alone is where flexibility fitness begin and ends with many programs. However, there is so much more. It is important to next strengthen what is lengthened. Many of the weak, contracted muscles that have been released and lengthened will need strengthening. In addition, those loose, underactive muscles that have returned to normal length will need to be activated and strengthened too.

Strength training within a flexibility fitness program will include resistance training with creative use of concentric (shortening muscle length), isometric (same muscle length), and eccentric (lengthening of muscle) exercises targeted at key muscle groups.

 
 

Woman performing core-strengthening exercise.




Stabilizing (5-15)

Stabilizing exercises become the next step in flexibility fitness. Here the focus is on balancing and proprioceptive (body awareness in space) exercises to reprogram the use of muscles and joints through the newly achieved ROM.

This part of the training may include plyometric exercises (eg, alternating one leg jump) or tailoring and intensifying a familiar static exercise to an unstable surface, like a half stability ball. The goal at this stage is to achieve intramuscular synchronicity so that there is coordination and balance within the targeted muscle groups.




Woman performing plank exercise for strength and stabilization.

Synthesizing (5, 16)

The final step in flexibility fitness is multimodal or multitasking exercises. This is where it all comes together and where a series of exercises are thoughtfully pulled together to get the whole body moving synergistically. The multimodal exercises will incorporate movement that coordinates all elements of the body: postural alignment, the core, upper, and lower extremities.

Some examples of multimodal exercises include completing a machine circuit in the gym or performing a HIIT routine.

 

Let’s Dance! (17)

Dance brings all elements of flexibility fitness together.

 

One of the most effective forms of multimodal exercising is dance. It wins hands down in creatively building agility, coordination, balance, and motor fitness. It also tones and strengthens, and depending on the pace of choreography can have a cardio element added to it. Not only is dance a great mood booster and a wonderful expressive outlet, but the greatest hidden bonus of dancing is it is proven to boost cognitive performance significantly as compared to conventional fitness methods. Sharpen your mind while you move, not bad huh?


At the end of the day whatever the form of multimodal exercise used, the key is to creatively design a routine that inspires the individual to move and use their newfound freedom of movement.

In Sum…

There are several steps that should be incorporated in a good flexibility fitness program, including self-release techniques, stretching, strengthening, stabilizing, and synthesizing. At the core of this program should be the structural alignment of the individual.

Now that we have a better understanding of what flexibility fitness entails, in the posts that follow we shall look at the benefits of consistently engaging in a good flexibility routine.

See also:

Top 10 Performance Benefits of Flexibility Fitness

Top 10 Health and Beauty Benefits of Flexibility Fitness

References

  1. Gummelt, D. The impact of flexibility training on performance. ACE Fitness Org website. August 13, 2015. https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/professional/expert-articles/5598/the-impact-of-flexibility-training-on-performance. Accessed August 16, 2020.

  2. Merriam-Webster website.https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flexibility. Accessed November 15, 2017.

  3. Wiktionary website. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flexibilis. Accessed November 15, 2017.

  4. English Oxford Living Dictionaries website. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/flexibility

  5. Clark M, Lucett S, Sutton BG; National Academy of Sports Medicine. NASM Essentials of Corrective Exercise Training. 1st ed. revised. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2014.

  6. Alter M. Science of Flexibility. 2nd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 1996.

  7. Appleton B. Stretching and Flexibility – Flexibility. http://web.mit.edu/tkd/stretch/stretching_3.html. Accessed November 17, 2017.

  8. Kurz T. Stretching Scientifically: A Guide to Flexibility Training. Island Pond, VT: Stadion; 2003.

  9. Gummerson T. Mobility Training for the Martial Arts. London, England: A&C Black; 1990.

  10. Page P. Current concepts in muscle stretching for exercise and rehabilitation. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2012; 7(1):109-119.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3273886. Accessed July 11, 2021.

  11. Jules Mitchell: The Science of Stretching. Liberated Body website. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-9-jules-mitchell-the-science-of-stretching/id885440301?i=1000316997281. Accessed July 11, 2021.

  12. Konrad A, Tilp M. Increased range of motion after static stretching is not due to changes in muscle and tendon structures. Clin Biotech. 2014;29(6):636-642. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24856792. Accessed November 19, 2017.

  13. McAtee R, Charland J. Facilitated Stretching, 4th ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics; 2014.

  14. Blakey WP. Stretching Without Pain. Stafford, England. Bibliotek Books;1994.

  15. Elson LE, Gardiner J, Underwood A, Coltera F. Harvard Medical School Special Health Report Stretching: 35 Stretches to Improve Flexibility and Reduce Pain. Boston, MA: Harvard Health Publications; 2014:1-37.

  16. Schega L, Kaps B, Broscheid KC, et al. Effects of a multimodal exercise intervention on physical and cognitive functions in patients with chronic low back pain (MultiMove): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Geriatr. 2021;21(1):151. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33653286. Accessed July 9, 2021.

  17. Rehfeld K, Lüders A, Hökelmann A, Lessmann V, Kaufmann J, Brigadski T, et al. (2018) Dance training is superior to repetitive physical exercise in inducing brain plasticity in the elderly. PLoS ONE 13(7): e0196636. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196636.




Robyn Reid