Toe Touches

Hello everyone,

 

although I'm not a gymnast myself, I thought it would be best to get mobility advice from the most flexible athletes, i.e. you guys I hope you guys don't mind helping me out a bit.

 

In a few months time I need to pass a medical for a job with the German police. My general fitness level is high and I'm generally relatively flexible. However, I do have one major issue: I have a 20° scoliosis in the lower part of the lumbar spine and a (minor) corresponding kyphosis in the upper part of my spine. Luckily, it's barely visible, but the medical typically involves a toe touch, which I can hardly perform. If I'm trying to maintain a straight back when performing a toe touch without going too much into a kyphosis, I barely get past my knees.  I'm not entirely sure whether this is due to my spine, but I reckon this condition does certainly not help.

 

So I was wondering what I can do to improve my flexibility in order to be able to get further down when doing the toe touch. Are there any additional exercises you would recommend in addition to just doing toe touches all the time?

 

(I'm not sure if toe touch is a universally used term so here's a picture of what I mean:

https://stephajane.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/toe-touches.gif)

 

Thank you so much!!

Doing toe touches all the time won't necessarily help you. You need to build strength at the end of your ROM to be able to gain new ROM. You can do this by adding weight or other types of load to your pike stretches. Also, Google 'pnf stretching'.

Google: jefferson curls

...and please tell them this is nowhere near an appropiate measure to test anything. I know this problem though: a lot if my (fit!!!!) friends failed the test for german police because their BMI was above 25

Thanks you so much guys! I'll definitely incorporate these into my mobility schedule!

 

@DieKatze: I fear they do know that, but yeah you will know, I don't think they care. I've heard about the BMI issue as well, I'm at 23.5 and should probably hold it there

To maintain a straight back and touch your toes with the pelvis anterior you need a moderate degree of flexibility in your hamstrings.  Sitting for long periods puts the hamstring in a short position so many people doing a lot of desk work would be unable to perform this movement.  Stretch your hamstrings for a few minutes each day and you will be fine.  Start with 3 sets of 30 second holds and progress from there working up to 1 minute or longer sets.