Tuesday, January 18, 2011

What's the best type of flexibility training to do?

There are many different types of flexibility training and classes; so what's good for you and what's not? How do you know if your flexibility training is right for you?

Flexibility Training Techniques that I endorse

  • passive flexibility training - this is where you hold a position and use gravity or a partner to help you move further into a position.
  • active flexibility training - this is where you use your own strength to move into and out of an exercise (commonly called strength flexibility). This type of flexibility is most useful for what you need to achieve proper movement every day and involves movements more than isolating a muscle group such as squatting, bending, reaching, walking, etc.

Is all flexibility training equal
No, it is not. Flexibility training is a complex issue and I could get very wordy on the subject however i'll save you the time to say the following:

I makes sense to mimic the movements we do in everyday life (especially from birth) so what I teach and practice myself is based on movement patterns of mobile and healthy joints (usually found in babies, young children).

So flexibility training should address joint mobility and stability (to prevent injury) and it should also both strengthen your muscles and lengthen equally. 

In the coming months i'll post some exercises that focus on what is mentioned above.

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