DrillsAndSkills.com

[Shirleygymclub]

Hi all,

I'm a 21 year old recreational gymnast/coach, training on floor, vault, tumbling, sports acro. Whilst my tumbles are good, my handstands and other simpler things are very clean and my strength is very good, my flexibility is unbelieveably shocking in every sense of that statement, which makes certain skills very difficult!! I can barely even sit upright with a straight back in straddle. Now i've read the books, studied the materials and I know the theories but I cannot for the life of me do anything to improve any of my areas of flexibility.

My question to all is has anyone ever had the same struggle and managed to overcome it or has someone got any secret tips they feel like sharing?? Or a routine they followed to achieve good flexibilty?? Oh and I do practice lots before you say anything!! lol

Any help appreciated

Matt

[TipGuy]

How often do you stretch? While the various techniques are all effective the primary factor in gaining flexibility is frequency. Some people gain flexibility easier than others. I had a rough time with it and did not really get flexible until I started coaching, at which point I was stretching 5 times/day. Then I got flexible very quickly. I have to stretch daily to maintain it. I will loose flexibility quickly if I don't stretch. Every day. If you can mutiple times/day.
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TipGuy
Webmaster DrillsAndSkills.com

[Shirleygymclub]

Ok coolio thanks for the advice I am stretching daily atm but not multiple times a day but I could easily just time constraints I guess! Did you follow a strict pattern of stretching or just do different stretches everytime?

EDIT - Just noticed this should be in the strecthing and condition section apologies, feel free to move it if necessary!!

[TipGuy]

I don't deliberately follow a strict stretching route, nor do I advise it. I will fall into a pattern when I'm feeling particularly lazy and don't want to think about it.
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TipGuy
Webmaster DrillsAndSkills.com

[Shirleygymclub]

Ok I think a definate plan is coming together in my mind!! I'll begin stretching every day, numerous times a day soon and before I start I will document in pictorial form my poor attempts at being flexible, I will then make a note of everything I do every day and then post the results with after pictures too. If i get more flexible it proves it and I have proof and a story to tell lol.

Anymore help appreciated, anymore ideas welcomed

Matt

[aqua_flames]

Definately multiple times a day everyday if you can...i found what worked for me was about 3 times for 1/2 hour (so it fit it nicely in a day...in the morning, late afternoon then again at night) and feel free to correct me anyone, but stretching at about 85% rather than 100% each time is better because then you don't tear anything so you can do it more consistently. PNF stretching is also amazingly good with fast results if you can find somebody! Stretching over is also really good (i.e. over-splits without necessarily being able to do the splits) and just doing different ones as well just to keep yourself interested! good luck!

[Levski]

Hi

Recently i have done some research into the whole flexibily topic for an article i am writting (here is some shameless self promotion haha)...
From what i have gathered (and this is not from and exhausting review of the scientific Lit, but from a good decent number of articles and such)..that flexibility training is quite a complicated art.
Static stretches seeem to be most effective from about 30sec onwards. Multiples times a day has not been show to be all that effective, however from anecdotal evidence this does seem to disprove some of the studies conducted testing this hypothesis. Ballistic stretching is underrated... ballistic stretching is a great way to develop flexibility. It has been shown to be about as effective as Static stretching if done correctly, and it can brdige the gap between passive and active flexibility.

PNF is said to be the best method of flexibility training.. THe best method of PNF is the CRAC (contract, relax Antagonist Contract), compared to Contact relax PNF methods, or any other you may have heard about.

Flexibility gains are most obvious within the first couple of weeks of a program..and like all training programs you need to vary the volume, duration, intensities, and frequency.
It has been show that during PNF 20% of Maximal Voluntary Contaction during the contaction part is just as good as 100% or 60%..However there is some evidence to suggest that its best to variate the intensities periodically, which is better then constantly doing the same contaction intensity..

In short I hope to shine some light on flexibility training, and how little is actually raelly know for sure (evidance based)...

All the advice here is really good, and its virtually all correct, but for most part its every much anecdotal, and there isn't any hard evidence to pinpoint any one optimal method of improving flexibility..

Scientific Literature does however suggest that PNF is better then ballistic and static stretching, and that 1 rep of PNF is able to provide acute gains of upto 3-9deg improvement in range of motion...

If you ask me its importatnt to incorporate both static and ballistic stretching..if you can do PNF instead of static...
The more the better but dont over do the PNF...

Anyways keep and eye out for the new The Gym Press newsletter issue which should be out at some point in October...maybe I will have some interesting reading for you on the subject..

Levski
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Valentin Uzunov
The Gym Press
www.thegympress.net