Flexibility Seems Impossible For Me.

I've recently found my flexibility being more and more an issue with my FSP (L-Sit and Handstands) and really want to do something about it once and for all.

I'm a 24 year old male with dismal flexibility, trying to touch my toes from standing I can reach just past my knees. My standing straddle is about 1m and I can't reach the ground. Hip and back flexibility is also very limited.

I've done 3 years of karate (when I was 16-19) where I made zero progress, months of yoga and even tried "forced relaxation".

I find it hard to stick to any new stretching routine as I never seem to make progress and I'm unsure if I'm approaching it in the right way.

So what do I do?

A little and often? 1/2/3 days of intense stretching a week? Forced Relaxation? Yoga?

I just don't know "how" to improve my flexibility.

Thanks.

"Force relaxation"? Is that anything like mandatory fun?

Flexibility is one of those things like a lot of GB that comes with time and steady progression. The joys of GB and also flexibility is that if you accept this and are wise in your implementation that one day you will realize you have progressed past what you thought your body was capable of doing. The "how" to improve flexibility is just like in anything, do it and don't overthink it.

If you need us to think for you then here is my suggestion for a go-to stretch. You should do this one after (and/or before) each workout, maybe in the morning to wake you up, possibly in front of the TV when you have a few moments.

Low Lunge

Yep, that's it. Do it as much as you can. Get incredibly good at it. Get good at sensing your body while there, feeling the increase in stretch. Do as many variations as you can; hands up, hands down, toe pointed, toe flat, twisted torso, etc, etc, etc.

Get back to us in several months with pics when you've accomplished this.

Besides the advice above I would simply add in how much mobility work do you do? If it's none it could the reason for your lack of flexibility improvements. Adding in some kicks as part of your warm up might help.

Hi mtruelove!

Don't get discouraged.

How strong are you in your squat, lunge, and deadlift? It's probably time that you started working on side/front split specific strength. I'll give more details once you answer the first questions!

jl5555 - Cheers, I'll start lunging - it's a move I'm familiar with from yoga. Forced relaxation is a technique that Pavel Tsatsoulin (no idea how to spell it) teaches where you tense then relax to get deeper into a stretch.

AlexX - I only do mobility drills for wrists/elbows/shoulders. What kicks would you recommend?

Patrick - I don't do any of those exercises... perhaps that's where I'm going wrong? I do pistols and GHRs both with limited ranges of motion once or twice a week both 5x5 rep scheme . is there a way I can gauge my leg strength without gym equipment?

Thanks for the replies.

Never limit the ROM. I would rather see singles with full range than shorter ROM.

mtruelove said:

jl5555 - Cheers, I'll start lunging - it's a move I'm familiar with from yoga. Forced relaxation is a technique that Pavel Tsatsoulin (no idea how to spell it) teaches where you tense then relax to get deeper into a stretch.

AlexX - I only do mobility drills for wrists/elbows/shoulders. What kicks would you recommend?

Patrick - I don't do any of those exercises... perhaps that's where I'm going wrong? I do pistols and GHRs both with limited ranges of motion once or twice a week both 5x5 rep scheme . is there a way I can gauge my leg strength without gym equipment?

Thanks for the replies.

The basic front lift, side lift (roll your knee towards the ceiling) and back lift.

mtruelove said:

recently (...) more and more (...) once and for all (...) 3 years (...) I was 16-19 (...) months (...) hard to stick to any new stretching routine (...) often (...) 1/2/3 days (...) week (...)

Lots of references to time in your words...

In this situation, the best exercise for you is to exercise patience...