Flexibility - Why It Is Important and How You Can Improve It
FLEXIBILITY is the ability to maximise the range of motion at a given joint.
It is a KEY component of physical fitness and has many positive effects on the body. For instance, it improves mobility, posture, muscle coordination, performance, reduces the risk of injuries and muscle soreness and most importantly I’m hoping it makes me play better golf!
It’s also something that I largely neglected until I was about 35 years old and Dad life kicked in ha-ha. To be honest I think the main reason I didn't put a large amount of emphasis on it was because I never had too many issues with my flexibility, injuries or chronic pain, the other reason would have to be pure laziness.
It never ceases to amaze me though how many people will put up with constant unnecessary aches, pains and discomfort for such a long time before addressing it. Especially when there are some pretty straight forward and effective ways you can improve it if you’re only willing to invest a little time and effort.
But it’s like that with so many aspects in life right…it’s easy to neglect things until they become a bigger issue.
HOW TO IMPROVE IT...
First of all you need to identify where your major mobility limitations are.
There are some pretty common areas but getting some help from a professional or by one of the methods below will be a great start.
Once you know the specifics you can make a plan either from your own research or hopefully from that very same professional on a few drills and exercises to help improve it.
Ad these into your weekly routine either at the beginning and end of your workout or separately during the day. A lot of them can be done on the lounge room floor while watching T.V.
It’s pretty amazing what you can do with just a suitable foam roller and trigger point ball.
For me I’ve made a habit of spending about 10-15 mins before my workout or my warm up on just 2-3 specific drills for a couple of problem areas. Other than that I sneak bits in sporadically during the day or at night on the lounge room floor to simply ease muscle tightness.
WHAT TO DO NOW
Well as we all know things don’t just magically fix themselves, especially as we get older and motivation doesn’t mean jack shit unless you do something with it. The longer you leave it the harder it will be to rectify!
So if this resonates with you or you feel you need to work on your mobility and relieve some chronic pain take action now.
Here’s a couple of helpful resources and ways to get you started.
GOWOD: This an awesome app/program that I can highly recommend. Through the app you can test your mobility for FREE! It only takes 12 minutes of your time. Trust me it could be a real eye opener! From there you will have identified your main areas of limitation and can either use their subscription service to have a daily routine to follow catered to you or alternatively you could do some of your own research to find some exercises and ways to improve it on your own.
You can choose from 8, 15 or 22 minutes depending on how long you either have or want to dedicate to it and it will guide you through each step by step and with a timer.
Just 8 MINS A DAY to make a healthy improvement to your body! Plus they offer a 14 day free trial, and if you continue it’s only $13.49/month. About $3 per week!
Another great resource is anything to do with KELLY STARRETT, The Ready State. His books, socials and YouTube account are like the bible for mobility. Anything you need to improve on you will find numerous ways to via him.
Main point to all of this…
You don’t have to live in constant pain.
There are HEAPS of things to do to help you improve your flexibility/mobility (e.g, massage, self massage/mobility drills, trigger point therapy, stretching, exercising correctly, trying the resources above!)
It NEVER gets easier with age, it gets worse and harder to change.
Lastly…the time to do something will NEVER be perfect so stop procrastinating and do something about it now!
If you need some help let me know.
Dave.