Online Flexibility Training from Toe Touches to Head Sits

By popular demand (at least according to Google…) here’s a quick, basic back flexibility routine you can use when you’re crunched for time, or as a base to build a longer training routine off of. Note: this routine focuses primarily on backbending (arching) flexibility, not literally stretching the back muscles (which would involve rounding, not arching, the back).

This is a question I frequently get in group classes as well as private lessons - there are some people out there that, based on their hip anatomy, have a hard time feeling inner thigh stretches in things like straddles, middle splits, and frog stretches. Instead, they feel like their legs just get “stuck” when trying to open them out to the side, or may even feel a “pinch” in the front or side of their hip. This can be frustrating because no matter how much you try to stretch, you don’t see any progress in your middles or straddles.

Now what if I told you the solution to this flexibility plateau was NOT trying to push the stretch deeper?

Do you really need to warm up before stretching? Isn’t stretching usually a “warm up” for other workouts?

This really depends on the type of training you plan on working on. The goal of “warming up” is to prepare your body - your muscles, your joints, your cardiovascular and nervous systems, etc. - for your upcoming workout. For some hobbies, like martial arts or pole dancing, that often means including stretches as part of the warm up to be able to use that flexibility in their skill work.

But what about for flexibility training as a “work out?” This is where it really depends on the intensity of the stretching you’ll be doing.