Here’s How Being Flexible Is Good for Your Health

Exercise routines often focus on building muscle so you can get faster, stronger and more toned. But what about getting more stable, balanced and looser? That’s where flexibility comes in.

Flexibility is the key to how your body moves and grooves. And training your body for flexibility can look a little different from training it for strength.

Exercise physiologist Katie Lawton, MEd, discusses the importance of flexibility and how to improve it.

What is flexibility?

Flexibility is the ease with which you can move your joints and muscles in different directions. When you’re flexible, you can reach, bend and stretch without feeling tight or uncomfortable — whether you’re getting something off the shelf or competing in sports.

Instead of building muscle, flexibility helps stretch your muscles. “Flexibility is when you work on elongating the muscle or work on range of motion and mobility,” explains Lawton.

Benefits of flexibility

Being flexible has more pros than just impressing someone by doing the splits or a cartwheel. It can help with keeping your body strong, loose and ready for anything you throw at it.

Some of the benefits of flexibility are that it:

• Improves range of motion.
• Reduces risk of injuries.
• Helps with posture.

Improves range of motion 

Flexibility helps you move more easily. This means you’re straining less and feeling less stiff when doing certain physical activities. If you’re an athlete, or even a casual hobbyist, this can help with movements like pitching a baseball or swinging a golf club.

In addition, flexibility benefits more than just your ability to do sports or workouts. It can also help you move throughout the day and complete everyday tasks like picking up groceries, cleaning or gardening.

“It helps you feel better overall when doing everyday activities,” says Lawton.

Maintaining flexibility as you age is an important way to stay mobile and independent. Simple tasks like reaching, bending over and lifting all require flexibility.

Reduces risk of injuries

Having good flexibility can ultimately protect you from injury. Especially if you’re doing heavy lifting or sports, your body can become at risk for muscle and ligament strains. Flexibility can help reduce your risk for these kinds of injuries by helping your body handle the stress of physical activity.

“If you don’t have good mobility or flexibility, you’re going to start overcompensating with other muscle groups like your shoulders or lower back,” Lawton explains. “And that's where it can cause some of those joint issues or hamstring injuries.”

Helps with posture 

Building flexibility can also improve your posture. Just as a strong foundation keeps a building upright, good posture keeps your body balanced and aligned. Flexibility plays a key role in maintaining good posture by lengthening your muscles, improving joint mobility, aligning your spine and strengthening your core.

What causes us to lose flexibility?

You may remember being more flexible when you were younger. So, you might think that age is the main culprit for becoming stiff. And, yes, age is a factor. But as Lawton points out, a combination of other factors can also cause you to lose flexibility. As we age, our lifestyles change, which can affect how much we use our flexibility. 

“I don't know if it’s the aging or the amount of work that we do sitting behind a computer that’s creating a lot of that tightness,” Lawton poses.

Losing flexibility over time can happen for many reasons, including:

• Sitting for long periods of time.
• Aging.
• Injury. 
• Inactivity.
• Stress.
• Genetics.
• Medical conditions. 

“Sitting for long periods of time actually shortens up a lot of those muscles,” she adds. This can affect the flexibility of our hips, hamstrings and even our mid-back or chest muscles. 

Exercises and stretches to improve flexibility

Depending on how tight you’re feeling, Lawton recommends doing some stretching or flexibility training twice a day if possible. And this doesn’t have to be a huge part of your day either. Work it in wherever you can and try to stick to it.

“Consistency is the big piece here,” Lawton highlights.

Here are three stretches to get you started.

Piriformis stretch

Different versions of the piriformis stretch can greatly improve your flexibility. This stretch mainly focuses on the piriformis muscle, which is located in your buttock area. But it also engages your hip muscles, helping with mobility. 

Here’s how to do it:

1. Lie flat on your back. Bend your knees.
2. Cross your right ankle over your left knee. You’ll want to create a figure four with your right knee. 
3. Wrap your hands around your left thigh and gently pull it toward you. You can slightly lean into the right knee as well. You should feel a stretch in your posterior hip on the right side.
4. Alternate by putting your left leg on your right knee and repeat the steps.

Child’s pose

This is a simple yet good one. Child’s pose is meant to stretch out your hips, thighs and back. You can do this on the floor or even while sitting at your desk.

Here’s how to do child’s pose on the floor:

1. Kneel on the ground with your knees apart and your bottom resting on your heels. Keep your big toes touching while you widen your hips.
2. Hinge forward at your hips, letting your belly rest between your thighs.
3. Reach your arms straight in front of you, with your elbows touching your ears. Your hands and forehead should touch the floor. (If you’re unable to rest your forehead on the floor, you can rest your forehead on a block to keep your neck straight.)
4. Hold for several seconds and breathe deeply.

“You’re going to feel it in your middle back and potentially even your lower back, depending on how tight you are in your lower back,” Lawton clarifies. “But it’s good for those posture muscles as well.”

Chin tuck

Have you ever turned your neck too fast and felt it stiffen up? Suddenly, even the smallest movement puts you in pain. Increasing flexibility in your neck area is also an important part of keeping your body functioning well.

Lawton suggests a simple exercise called the chin tuck. Starting with your head in a neutral position, gently push your chin inward toward your neck. You should feel a stretch in the back of your neck and even a bit in your shoulders.

Other ways to improve flexibility 

Along with stretching, you can improve your flexibility through specific exercises or even by using certain tools in your workouts.

Just some of these include:

• Yoga. 
• Foam rolling. 
• Tai chi. 
• Use stretch bands.
• Get a massage. 

“Sometimes, we just get those knots within that muscle that stretching isn’t going to necessarily do anything for us,” explains Lawton. “So, we have to break up those knots within those muscles as well.”

Avoid sitting too much

Many of us know the downsides of sitting too much. Losing flexibility is one of them. As Lawton notes, flexibility helps with range of motion. If you’re not moving enough, that range of motion becomes smaller.

“You can do as much stretching as you want,” she says, “but if you’re sitting behind a desk for eight to 10 hours a day, your muscles are likely to tighten back up.” 

Aim to get up out of your chair at least once an hour during the day. Or try a standing desk or even a walking pad to help vary your position and keep you active while you work.

Stretch after working out 

Finally, the best way to improve your flexibility is by making it a conscious part of your workout routine. Stretching after exercising is the best way to do that.

You should focus on doing static stretches, which will help improve your range of motion. Some of these stretches include:

• Hamstring stretch. Sit on the floor, one leg straight, the other bent. Lean forward, reaching toward your toes. This helps loosen tight hamstrings after workouts.
• Toe touch. Stand with your feet apart. Bend forward from your hips, reaching toward your toes. This stretches your hamstrings, lower back and calves.
• Spinal twist. Sit cross-legged and gently turn your body to the right and left sides. Keep your hands relaxed as you turn and look over your right and left shoulder.
• Downward dog pose. If you’ve done yoga in the past, you may already know this basic pose. Start on your hands and knees and lift your hips up and back. Straighten your arms and legs, forming an inverted V shape. This pose stretches your entire backside.
• Butterfly stretch. Sit with the soles of your feet together and your knees out. Hold your feet or ankles and press your knees down with your elbows. This stretch lengthens your inner thighs and hips and improves your mobility.

In general, you can begin by holding the above stretches for about 20 to 30 seconds each, especially if you’re just starting out with your flexibility journey. But if you’re trying to increase your flexibility even more, Lawton recommends making each stretch longer, rather than harder. “I think stretching for longer is one option,” she says. You can hold each stretch for up to a minute or two. 

Lawton also adds that you shouldn’t push yourself too hard when stretching. Listen to your body and stop if you feel any pain. “Stretching could be kind of uncomfortable,” she clarifies. “And if you really want to elongate that muscle, you want to get into that uncomfortable zone a little bit, but it shouldn’t be painful.”

The bottom line

Flexibility plays a big role in how your body works and feels, so don’t let it slip by the wayside when you’re planning your fitness goals. The more flexible you are, the easier it will be to keep yourself healthy as you exercise, perform sports or dance, and even go about your day-to-day life.