Flexibility level is not usually one of the topics that people talk about when discussing their fitness levels. It may seem like a rather irrelevant subject as it doesn’t affect your strength or stamina, but flexibility is one of the most important foundations to building strong, functional body.
Today, we’ll be covering the importance of improving your flexibility level and how it can help you to improve your body composition.
Flexibility is the the range of limb movement surrounding the joints. In every movement, there are always two groups of muscles at work to move your joints; the agonistic muscles and the antagonistic muscles.
Agonistic muscles allow for the movement to take place, whereas antagonistic muscles oppose the movement. As you can see, flexibility levels depend on the antagonistic muscles since it is the limiting factor. Although the largest limiting factor of your flexibility is still the structure of the joint itself, most adults that have fully matured have barely even reached their maximum levels of flexibility due to lack of stretching resulting in “stiff” muscles and tendons.
The reason why improving your flexibility level is so important is because it enhances performance in aerobic training and muscular conditioning, in addition to decreasing injury.
What happens when you perform activities with poor flexibility or before warming up, is that your joints are unstable due to the lack of elasticity in muscle tissue, tendons, and ligaments. This ultimately leads to tears, sprains and even dislocation of joints.
A lack of flexibility level can lead to deteriorating posture especially when a muscular imbalance is involved. From there, many other problems could arise, leading to chronic pain due to uneven tension placed across the joints. This is why it is so important to incorporate flexibility exercises into your routine on a daily basis,
There are different types of stretches, including static stretching, ballistic stretching, and dynamic stretching that are recommended daily. Static stretching is the safest amongst them all can and can be practiced at virtually any place. Choose one according to your needs, practice regularly and before you know it, you’ll be on your way to building a strong and functional body.
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