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Flexibility: The Cornerstone of Any Fitness Program

By Mark Mogavero

Are you able to reach down and touch your toes? I’ll bet that if you cannot answer this question without standing up and trying, you can’t. You are not alone. In a world where we are spending more time sitting in front of a computer screen, sitting on the couch in front of the television, and sitting in out cars while commuting to and from work, our flexibility has taken a major hit.

Nearly all of my clients suffer from tightness in both their lower backs and hamstrings (the back of your thighs). And the reason for this is simple: too much time sitting down. Combine this with a more sedentary lifestyle, where our bodies are not forced to physically perform through our musculature’s natural range of motion, and you have over 80% of US citizens that either have or are expected to suffer from some type of lower back pain in their lifetime. And the tragedy of this is that it can be easily fixed. All we need to do is workout safely and properly, and make sure that stretching our muscles is a daily routine.

I have worked with clients who have had back surgery, and as a result they were unable to reach down to tie their shoes. Some of my clients are extremely overweight, and their bodies have become so inflexible that have great difficulty walking up and down a flight of stairs. Others cannot clasp their hands behind their backs due to chest muscles that are too tight to allow the shoulders to properly retract. In most cases, the clients are amazed when a dramatic improvement in flexibility is demonstrated after only a few sessions with me.

There is one segment of our society that is affected by a lack of overall flexibility more than any other: the elderly. Experts can claims that much of this can be related to osteoporosis, arthritis, and other degenerative diseases, and in some cases I will agree with them. Yet it is my opinion that a large majority of the elderly who struggle to walk and show a “hunched over” appearance are suffering from the culmination of inactivity and lack of adherence to a flexibility program. The sad part is that in most cases, the condition could have been avoided.

So how does a person become flexible? The answer is really very simple. Just as a fit body requires a series of good habits to achieve, a flexible body is the result of several factors. First, and most important, is to properly warm up the muscles prior to performing weight bearing exercises and/or stretching exercises. I was fortunate to be under the tutelage of a fantastic football and track & field coach who related the muscles in your body to sharing the characteristics of a rubber band. If you were to take a cold rubber band, one that was in a freezer for instance, and try to stretch it while it is cold, it would tear very quickly. Take that same rubber band, soak it in some hot water, and then try to stretch it, and you would find that the rubber band is quite pliable and easy to stretch. If we use that analogy, it is easy to see why it is so important to properly warm up our muscles before exercising or stretching. Failing to do so will result in injuries.

Warming up is very simple, but will require a bit of patience on your part. There are times when we are pressed for time and need to rush through a workout, but the warmup could be the most important part of a workout. There are many ways to warm up. Some people choose to perform the exercises in their routines with a very light weight and gradually build up to heavier weights. This is fine, and can work for some people. My recommendation is to perform very moderate cardio work for approximately 5-10 minutes, or until you have a decent sweat built up. This warmup will allow your body’s temperature to elevate, and prepare the muscle tissue to work through a full range of motion.

Significantly improving your joints’ range of motion without also improving the strength of your surrounding musculature can be an invitation for injury.

About the Author:

Mark Mogavero is the owner of Dynamic Personal Training, located in Verona, NJ. His website is www.dynamicpersonaltraining.com