July 6, 2025 • 27 mins
Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness Programs and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really works and, mostimportantly, why things work.
Hence the name there is aMethod to the Madness.
(00:23):
Before I get started today, letme thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilden GroupRealty Pros.
They are committed to providingthe highest level of customer
service in home sales.
Why don't you give them a shoutand figure out what your home
is worth?
386-451-2412.
(00:44):
886-451-2412.
Good morning, good evening,good afternoon.
Whenever you are listening tothis, this is Coach Rob here,
and today I'm going to talkabout flexibility and mobility.
This is a subject that wehaven't talked a lot about on
(01:08):
the podcast.
I think it's kind of like oneof the forgotten about health
and fitness components.
But it shouldn't be.
It shouldn't be neglected.
So hopefully I do it justicetoday and even though I haven't
talked a ton about it, when Ilook back over the previous
episodes you know, let's reallymake up for that by at least
hoping that you understand a lotmore about flexibility,
(01:31):
mobility, what it is and whatyou need to do to improve it.
So let me back up just a secondand repeat what I said about
the health components ofphysical fitness.
Flexibility is one of the fivehealth components of physical
(01:51):
fitness.
The other four arecardiovascular health, body
composition, muscular strengthand muscular endurance, and then
flexibility.
Those are the five healthcomponents to physical fitness,
and there are six performancecomponents to physical fitness,
(02:13):
but I'm not going to go in thatdirection, so don't worry, I'm
not going to list those rightnow, because the important thing
is to understand what these are.
They're the health components,because they are the parts of
physical fitness that impactyour physical health.
That's why they're the healthcomponents to physical fitness.
(02:35):
I think it's pretty obvious toeverybody that body composition
impacts your health.
Cardiovascular fitness impactsyour health, muscular strength
and muscular endurance impactsyour health.
Cardiovascular fitness impactsyour health, muscular strength
and muscular endurance impactsyour health, and flexibility and
mobility impact your health,because if we're not mobile,
(02:58):
we're not getting around verywell, and if we aren't getting
around very well, chances arewe're not going to be very
healthy.
And if we're not very flexible,we're also not getting around
very well and we're also morelikely to pull muscles and have
some other soft tissue issueswhich will affect our health.
(03:19):
So we really need to be workingon all of these components not
just one or two, but all of themto be as physically fit as we
can be.
Now let me give you thedifference between mobility and
flexibility.
So a lot of times people thinkof these two things as the same
(03:43):
thing, but they're different.
And when clients come in andthey talk about that, they hear
they need to improve theirflexibility and a lot of times
it's that like they hear thatbut they're not really sure why
they're being told that or maybeif they're even talking about
flexibility.
But a lot of times when theysay that and I ask them to kind
(04:07):
of elaborate a little bit morethey're really talking more
about mobility versusflexibility.
Now, both are important and letme tell you what they are.
So mobility is your ability toget around, your ability to bend
, your ability to go through afull range of motion or at least
(04:30):
a normal range of motion inyour daily activities.
That's mobility.
So the inability to say, getout of a chair comfortably, like
maybe the chair is low to theground or maybe your car is low
to the ground, because you'redriving around in a really cool
(04:52):
sports car or something that'ssuper low to the ground.
That's great, until you startedrealizing you have some
mobility issues and getting inand out of the car becomes a
challenge.
That's not really flexibility.
Sometimes people will say, oh,I'm not very flexible, I can't
really get down on the groundanymore.
Well, that's mobility orstrength.
(05:14):
But in many cases they'retalking about mobility issues.
When they bend their joints,when they flex their joints in
certain directions, then theyhave pain, they have discomfort
or they just have fusion like itdoesn't move.
That's a mobility issue, allright.
(05:36):
So your ability to bend at thejoint, your ability to go
through a full range of motionor to get down into a chair and
out of a chair, or get down ontothe floor and get up from the
floor, that's not flexibilityissues.
Flexibility could be a part ofit, but that's a mobility issue
(06:00):
Now.
A flexibility issue orflexibility is the point to
where your muscles can stretchcompletely through a full range
of pain, free motion.
So that's a little bitdifferent.
Flexibility can impact mobility, but it's not really a
(06:22):
flexibility issue now.
So flexibility is important.
It's important for a number ofreasons.
But it's important becausebeing flexible to an extent you
don't want to be hyper flexible,and I'm going to get into that
(06:43):
here and a flexible muscle isless prone to injury and that is
important.
A flexible muscle allows you tohave more full range of motion
and full mobility.
But it isn't mobility.
So when our muscles areinflexible, that means that the
(07:06):
muscles are shortened.
So your muscle fibers when theycontract, they shorten.
That's what we call aconcentric contraction.
When the muscle fiber contracts, it is literally shortening.
If you can watch me, I kind ofalways do that with my hands and
(07:31):
fingers because I'm alwaystrying to explain when I was
teaching, or just to clientswhen I still teach, what that
looks like.
But the muscle fibers literallyshorten.
So if you take your indexfinger and your thumb and you
bring them together in ashortening motion, that's what
your muscles fibers do.
When they contract, thatshortens.
Now when they habituallyshorten and don't return back to
(07:52):
a normal full range of motion,that's when we call an
inflexible muscle.
So an inflexible muscle groupcomes from many, many, many,
many, many inflexible musclefibers and part of it's genetic
I mean part of it is we're.
Just some people are moreflexible than others.
So part of it is genetic likehow long are your muscle bellies
(08:15):
and how short are your tendonsare going to be maybe more
inflexible, because thosemuscles have the capacity to
grow.
They have the capacity to getbigger, go through hypertrophy.
(08:35):
People that have, say, shortermuscle bellies and longer
tendons tend to be a little moreflexible.
So there is a correlationbetween muscle mass and
flexibility because as you'regaining muscle size, as you are
going through hypertrophy, yourmuscle fibers are shortening to
an extent.
(08:57):
Now, having said that, themuscle-bound myth isn't true.
So just because you are gettingmore muscular, it doesn't mean
that you are losing thatflexibility and you can't move
anymore.
You know, like they used to sayoh, he's just kind of an
inflexible oaf, oaf, he ismuscle bound, or she is muscle
(09:17):
bound.
Well, that's not necessarilytrue.
There are plenty of very, verymuscular men and women that are
also flexible.
It just means that you have to,or they have to, stretch.
If they are stretching thosemuscles, then they're not going
to get muscle balance.
So just because you are addingmuscle doesn't mean you're
(09:38):
becoming more inflexible.
That is not true.
But it does mean that the moremuscle you add, you still have
to pay attention to thatflexibility, all right.
So, in short, regarding genetics, part of it is genetic how
flexible we can get.
There are some people that canjust naturally palm the floor
with their legs straight andthere are some people that, no
(09:59):
matter how hard they work at it,they can never touch the floor,
touch their toes.
I mean, we can all improve Isay that all the time with every
aspect of fitness.
We can all improve.
But we do have to understandthat, just like every other
aspect of fitness, there isgoing to be a genetic
predisposition of just howflexible you can get, and you
(10:21):
have to understand that we don'tnecessarily have to get beyond
good or above averageflexibility.
Beyond good or above averageflexibility, there is no studies
that show that the person thatis hyper flexible or hyper
mobile, the person that can,like, do crazy things, like put
their feet out and, you know,spread their legs eight inches
(10:42):
or so and then be able to puttheir nose on the floor, you
know that kind of like insanelooking flexibility there is
absolutely no evidence thatshows that those people get
injured less.
In fact, people that arehyperflexible tend to get
injured more because they have aweakness, oftentimes in those
muscles.
So really it's like many things, it's about just getting good
(11:07):
and not perfect or good not thebest.
So that is the case withflexibility.
So it is important to havebecause, again, it's just very
simple the more the flexible themuscle is, the less likely it
is to get injured, unless againwe're getting into that super,
super, hyper flexible mode,which is typically a genetic
(11:28):
thing.
But you know, I don't think toomany people have to worry about
that and then being moreflexible will help you recover
and it will assist you in yourmobility.
So for me, that's an area thatI struggle with in some of my
muscle groups.
It's kind of funny, like myhamstrings are actually pretty
(11:49):
flexible because I continue tostretch them for many, many,
many years, I think, justhonestly, to be, you know,
truthful, just because it wasconvenient and when clients were
stretching their hamstrings, Iwould stretch my hamstrings.
Now there was a time when I hadpretty darn flexible quadriceps
(12:09):
, like I could easily pull myheel back into my buttocks as I
stretched.
And then, like through theyears, I just started neglecting
that and I didn't really do it.
And now I'm back to reallyworking on it and I was very
proud of myself Like it waseither.
Uh well, it was the last partof last week.
(12:31):
I um showed Ellen, I said, hey,look, I'm able to pull my left
heel back into my buttocks, likeI was able to get it all the
way up and like I don't know,just a couple of months ago I
was like three, four inches away.
So I was proud of that becauseI really started to get back
into stretching my quads.
Now I tell these storiesbecause hopefully it will help
(12:53):
you.
So, number one why did I do that?
Was I getting injured?
No, I noticed that when I ran,when I looked at pictures, when
I looked at video, I could seethat I was not lifting my leg.
I was not really lifting my legin the back on flexion, it was.
Basically I was shuffling.
You know they call that thatold man shuffle Like I'm looking
(13:15):
at that going well, geez, youknow that's not good.
You know my legs are really notgoing through a good rotation
when I run.
And then I realized I'm like,well, let me, you know, stretch,
let's see what's going on withthis.
And I realized, man, my quadshad gotten so tight over the
years that I had trouble kickingmy foot up to my hand to even
(13:37):
pull it back into a quad stretch.
Now why did it get that way?
Very simple, we use it or loseit.
I didn't stretch.
You know that could be anuncomfortable thing.
You know that could be anuncomfortable thing.
So if I'm realizing that myfoot isn't just kicking up into
my hand like it used to, I'mlike, yeah, I just don't do it
because I didn't see thepriority of it and then I let it
go.
And I let it go.
(13:57):
I continued to stretch mycalves because we have a slant
board and so I would get on thatand kind of zone out for a few
minutes and stretch my calves.
As I already stated, I wasstretching my hamstrings because
clients were stretching thehamstrings.
And a little caveat to that thereason why that is is because
80% of the population has backissues and one of the correlates
(14:20):
to back pain is tighthamstrings.
The other correlate is weakerector spinae muscles.
The other correlate is weakerector spinae muscles.
I meant to say spinal erectors,but erector spinae muscle being
weak, and then tight hamstringsare the two correlates of back
injury other than fluke injury.
So I have clients typicallystretch their hamstrings because
(14:42):
I don't want them to get anykind of back problems, so that's
why.
So I will do that with them.
And so my hamstring stayedpretty nice and flexible, but my
quads got neglected.
So now that I'm back to it,then I'm starting to show
progress again.
I'm able to, as I said already,closely get my heel into my
(15:02):
butt on my left side.
On my right side I'm stillabout an inch away.
So I got some work to do, but Irealize I need to do it because
I want to improve my mobilityand, as I said, flexibility is a
part of mobility.
All right, so now let's justtalk about different ways we can
do that.
So let's go back to mobility.
(15:23):
It's very important that when westrength train, we go through a
full range of motion for thejoint, because that is what is
going to increase mobility.
So if you want to be able toget out of a low chair when you
sit, or your low Maserati, oryour 300Z or whatever it is
(15:44):
you're driving around in, oryour Porsche if you're one of my
clients who races his Porschearound, you know if you want to
be able to get down on that badboy which is almost on the
ground and get back out, that'sa mobility issue, and so when we
strength train we have to gothrough a full range of motion.
So a lot of times we'll seepeople squat and they're not
(16:07):
going all the way down.
Now we don't have to go ass tograss, like some of the other
fitness organizations suggest.
You know, some of thecompetitive fitness
organizations suggest no, youdon't have to do that, but we do
(16:29):
have to get down to parallel,keeping our back straight and
good alignment, because that'swhat our joints do.
So if we're always kind ofgoing halfway down because we've
gotten lazy or we've lostposture or we're not flexible,
see, that's where all thesethings come into play, because
people that have really tighthip flexors can't squat properly
.
So that's where flexibilityimpacts mobility.
So if you're always squatting,say, halfway down, you might be
(16:51):
building up some nice strengthin that half range of motion or
three quarters range of motion.
That's great, that's betterthan nothing.
But if you want to be able toget out of chairs, you have to
strengthen your squat from afull range of motion.
And I'm just using squat as anexample.
It's going to be true for anymuscle group.
(17:12):
You have to train through afull range of motion to make
sure that those joints areadequately strong in a full
range of motion.
And Arthur Jones and some of theother nautilus greats of the
1960s and 70s talked about itforever that if you really want
(17:32):
to work on your mobility whenyou strength train or you know
whatever and I think that's allego driven it can partly be lazy
, and you know, we all have toremember that we have a capacity
(17:54):
to be lazy.
We have to fight against ourinstincts to go the path of
least resistance.
And you know those are the tworeasons why someone might not go
through a full range of motioneither the fact that they don't
know and they're ignorant, or,you know, it's just lazy.
You know, and the ego could saywell, I can use more weight if
I go halfway down, and that'strue, but that's not the best
(18:17):
choice, right?
It would be better to use lessweight and go through a full
range of motion on whateveryou're doing.
If you're doing pushups, youneed to go all the way down.
If you're doing squats, youneed to go all the way down.
Full range of motion.
If you're doing leg press, youneed to come all the way back.
If you're doing pull-ups orpull-downs, you need to go all
the way up and all the way down.
I see it a lot in pull-ups,where someone will go all the
(18:39):
way up and then they'll comemaybe halfway down or tops three
quarters.
They won't lock those elbowsout.
We have to use full range ofmotion if we're going to improve
our mobility.
Now, when it comes to improvingour flexibility, we've got to
stretch.
There are three types ofstretching.
That is recognized, but reallyonly two or three.
(19:03):
One of them is kind of likeI'll tell you, I'll just tell
you.
So there is static stretching,and that is the type of
stretching that you're thinkingof when you think of stretching.
Static stretching means youpull the joint into a stretch.
So let's use my example of quads.
You pull your foot back,bending your heel back towards
(19:24):
your buttocks, and you get tothe point of mild discomfort,
never pain, and you hold thatstretch from anywhere to 10 to
30 seconds, and you could dosets of that.
You know, like, what I'll dosometimes is I'll do 30 seconds
and then 30 seconds, and thenI'll do 20 seconds and 20
seconds and then 10 and 10,something like that.
There's not a perfect formulafor it, we just know that 10 to
(19:48):
30 seconds per stretch isusually very adequate to get
something out of it and domultiple sets.
Now I will do that throughoutthe day, because flexibility is
one of those things that if youdon't do it very, very
frequently, your muscles willreturn to a shortened position
very, very fast.
Muscles will return to ashortened position very, very
(20:10):
fast.
So, honestly, if you thinkyou're going to stretch like
once per day and your musclesare going to stay loose, that's
just not the case.
But the good news is you don'thave to do it for a long period
of time.
I mean, like I said, juststretching your quads for 30
seconds, stretching yourhamstrings, touching your toes.
You might feel goofy doing itin the elevator or at the
airport or whatever, but heck, Imean you're benefiting yourself
(20:31):
.
I mean you might as well do itin places like that where you're
kind of stuck standing aroundor sitting around.
I mean the airport, when you'rewaiting, can actually be a
great place to work on thingslike getting in your steps and
getting in your stretches andthings like that Long car rides.
I mean absolutely it's best toget out at every break and
(20:51):
stretch your muscles a littlebit.
Again, two or three minutestops, and you can have an
adequate flexibility session forsure.
So that's static stretching.
Another kind is called PNF orproprioceptive neuromuscular
facilitation, and that's a veryfancy way of saying contract the
muscles and stretch them.
(21:11):
I mean, I don't advocate thatfor the average person.
I mean in sports we'll do itwith people, like when I'll
stretch out people back when Iwas doing some strength and
conditioning, and I still dosome of that with the football
players but you'll have themcontract against your hand, tell
them to relax and then youstretch them.
That's PNF, because theresearch shows that if you
(21:35):
contract a muscle just prior tostretching it, you're going to
get a greater stretch.
But here's some news for you Ifyou do the stretch right after
the exercise, like if you'resquatting, you finish your
squats and then you go rightinto a quad stretch, you're
doing the same thing and that iswhat I often recommend the
people to do.
It's like, right, when youfinish the exercise, just go
into the stretch for thatparticular muscle group.
(21:57):
It's already warmed up.
It's a great time to stretchthe muscles.
So I don't really think youneed to do PNF.
I think static stretching isadequate.
And then there's dynamicflexibility and that is where
you're kind of like moving thejoint into the range of motion.
So things like that would bewhat we call butt kicks, where
(22:18):
you're bringing your heel up toyour butt quickly, or you're
doing what we call monster walks, where you're kicking your leg
up or leg kicks.
I mean that is a great way towarm up, it's a it.
Some people like it betterbecause it's more fun, it's
movement.
A lot of people get boredduring static stretching.
I mean I don't cause, I kind ofuse it as a meditation, almost,
(22:40):
you know, like an activemeditation.
I'll just, uh, take fiveminutes or so after a workout
and I will just stretchparticular muscles, you know,
and zone out and really feel thepull in the muscles and hold it
.
But some people find it boring,so they like to do what we call
dynamic flexibility, which ismoving stretches.
I mean that's fine too.
We'll use that with someclients.
(23:00):
We'll use it as warmups.
You know, I hesitated in thebeginning talking about that,
only because there's a form ofstretching that I don't
recommend, called ballisticstretching, and it looks a lot
like dynamic stretching and thatis where you bounce in the
stretches.
Now people think, well, that'sthe same thing as dynamic, what
the athletes do.
(23:21):
And no, it's not.
So.
When the athletes are doingdynamic flexibility, it's very
controlled.
They know what they're doing.
With ballistic stretching, it'squick bouncing.
I don't recommend that Slowbouncing, yes, in the eyes of a
trainer, do it with them.
I know Ellen's really goodabout doing floor touches with
some of the clients and sheteaches them how to do it in a
(23:43):
controlled way.
But, like, as you see, there's,like this subjective difference
between active flexibility andballistic.
So you know, if you don't know,I'm cautioning you just to
stick to static flexibility,unless otherwise directed,
because static flexibility, justsimply holding the tension for
(24:03):
10 seconds up to 30 seconds, isjust a great way to improve your
flexibility.
The last thing I want to sayabout this is stretching is not
a warm up.
Oh man, that's like goes rightalong with spot reduction.
You know that.
Goes along with that.
Lightweight high reps lead totoning.
You know those.
Those are the big three of justfalse myths.
(24:26):
None of those things are true,right?
I mean spot reduction doesn'twork.
Lightweight high reps doesn'tlead to toning.
Toning is losing body fat andright along with that is let me
stretch to warm up.
Stretching is not a warmup.
It's the worst time to stretchis when the muscles are cold.
(24:46):
You should stretch after youhave exercised, not before.
So that's why I said, like,right after you finish a set of
strength training, add thestretch for that muscle group.
Right when you finish a workoutwhether it be cardio, like you
just went for a run or a bikeride Stretch right after
strength training.
Stretch, that is the time tostretch.
(25:09):
I hate when I hear people saylet me stretch out to warm up.
No, a warm up is raising yourcore temperature by doing light
cardiovascular exercise.
Okay, so I hope this helps.
Try to stretch all of yourmuscle groups on a regular basis
your calves, your quads, yourhamstrings and, as far as upper
(25:33):
body goes, it's very importantto stretch the pectoralis major.
How to stretch anything thesemuscles?
Just let us know.
We have a great book, the BobAnderson stretch book.
We send people pictures all thetime.
There's pages of every musclegroup and every activity, of
(25:54):
exactly how to do it, differentstretches.
But you know, let us know.
But you need to stretch yourpecs, you need to stretch your
lats, you need to stretch yourlower back.
So we need to stretch our wholebody and again, it doesn't take
much at all that what you getfrom what you put in is so well
worth it.
All right, so keep stretchingand keep staying mobile.
(26:16):
Remember full range of motion.
Thank you for listening totoday's show.
I ask you to please follow thisshow on wherever you get your
podcasts, and also please hitautomatic downloads.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Daytona Beach, the
(26:38):
premier garage door company inVolusia County With the best
product with the best service.
I can vouch for Jeff and ZachHawk, the owners.
They are great people.
If you need any help with yourgarage doors, give them a shout.
386-222-3165.
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness.
My name is Rob Maxwell and I'man exercise physiologist and
personal trainer.
I am the owner of Maxwell'sFitness Programs and I've been
in business since 1994.
The purpose of this podcast isto get to the real deal of what
really works and, mostimportantly, why things work.
Hence the name there is aMethod to the Madness.
(00:23):
Before I get started today, letme thank Jonathan and Lynn
Gilden of the Gilden GroupRealty Pros.
They are committed to providingthe highest level of customer
service in home sales.
Why don't you give them a shoutand figure out what your home
is worth?
386-451-2412.
(00:44):
886-451-2412.
Good morning, good evening,good afternoon.
Whenever you are listening tothis, this is Coach Rob here,
and today I'm going to talkabout flexibility and mobility.
This is a subject that wehaven't talked a lot about on
(01:08):
the podcast.
I think it's kind of like oneof the forgotten about health
and fitness components.
But it shouldn't be.
It shouldn't be neglected.
So hopefully I do it justicetoday and even though I haven't
talked a ton about it, when Ilook back over the previous
episodes you know, let's reallymake up for that by at least
hoping that you understand a lotmore about flexibility,
(01:31):
mobility, what it is and whatyou need to do to improve it.
So let me back up just a secondand repeat what I said about
the health components ofphysical fitness.
Flexibility is one of the fivehealth components of physical
(01:51):
fitness.
The other four arecardiovascular health, body
composition, muscular strengthand muscular endurance, and then
flexibility.
Those are the five healthcomponents to physical fitness,
and there are six performancecomponents to physical fitness,
(02:13):
but I'm not going to go in thatdirection, so don't worry, I'm
not going to list those rightnow, because the important thing
is to understand what these are.
They're the health components,because they are the parts of
physical fitness that impactyour physical health.
That's why they're the healthcomponents to physical fitness.
(02:35):
I think it's pretty obvious toeverybody that body composition
impacts your health.
Cardiovascular fitness impactsyour health, muscular strength
and muscular endurance impactsyour health.
Cardiovascular fitness impactsyour health, muscular strength
and muscular endurance impactsyour health, and flexibility and
mobility impact your health,because if we're not mobile,
(02:58):
we're not getting around verywell, and if we aren't getting
around very well, chances arewe're not going to be very
healthy.
And if we're not very flexible,we're also not getting around
very well and we're also morelikely to pull muscles and have
some other soft tissue issueswhich will affect our health.
(03:19):
So we really need to be workingon all of these components not
just one or two, but all of themto be as physically fit as we
can be.
Now let me give you thedifference between mobility and
flexibility.
So a lot of times people thinkof these two things as the same
(03:43):
thing, but they're different.
And when clients come in andthey talk about that, they hear
they need to improve theirflexibility and a lot of times
it's that like they hear thatbut they're not really sure why
they're being told that or maybeif they're even talking about
flexibility.
But a lot of times when theysay that and I ask them to kind
(04:07):
of elaborate a little bit morethey're really talking more
about mobility versusflexibility.
Now, both are important and letme tell you what they are.
So mobility is your ability toget around, your ability to bend
, your ability to go through afull range of motion or at least
(04:30):
a normal range of motion inyour daily activities.
That's mobility.
So the inability to say, getout of a chair comfortably, like
maybe the chair is low to theground or maybe your car is low
to the ground, because you'redriving around in a really cool
(04:52):
sports car or something that'ssuper low to the ground.
That's great, until you startedrealizing you have some
mobility issues and getting inand out of the car becomes a
challenge.
That's not really flexibility.
Sometimes people will say, oh,I'm not very flexible, I can't
really get down on the groundanymore.
Well, that's mobility orstrength.
(05:14):
But in many cases they'retalking about mobility issues.
When they bend their joints,when they flex their joints in
certain directions, then theyhave pain, they have discomfort
or they just have fusion like itdoesn't move.
That's a mobility issue, allright.
(05:36):
So your ability to bend at thejoint, your ability to go
through a full range of motionor to get down into a chair and
out of a chair, or get down ontothe floor and get up from the
floor, that's not flexibilityissues.
Flexibility could be a part ofit, but that's a mobility issue
(06:00):
Now.
A flexibility issue orflexibility is the point to
where your muscles can stretchcompletely through a full range
of pain, free motion.
So that's a little bitdifferent.
Flexibility can impact mobility, but it's not really a
(06:22):
flexibility issue now.
So flexibility is important.
It's important for a number ofreasons.
But it's important becausebeing flexible to an extent you
don't want to be hyper flexible,and I'm going to get into that
(06:43):
here and a flexible muscle isless prone to injury and that is
important.
A flexible muscle allows you tohave more full range of motion
and full mobility.
But it isn't mobility.
So when our muscles areinflexible, that means that the
(07:06):
muscles are shortened.
So your muscle fibers when theycontract, they shorten.
That's what we call aconcentric contraction.
When the muscle fiber contracts, it is literally shortening.
If you can watch me, I kind ofalways do that with my hands and
(07:31):
fingers because I'm alwaystrying to explain when I was
teaching, or just to clientswhen I still teach, what that
looks like.
But the muscle fibers literallyshorten.
So if you take your indexfinger and your thumb and you
bring them together in ashortening motion, that's what
your muscles fibers do.
When they contract, thatshortens.
Now when they habituallyshorten and don't return back to
(07:52):
a normal full range of motion,that's when we call an
inflexible muscle.
So an inflexible muscle groupcomes from many, many, many,
many, many inflexible musclefibers and part of it's genetic
I mean part of it is we're.
Just some people are moreflexible than others.
So part of it is genetic likehow long are your muscle bellies
(08:15):
and how short are your tendonsare going to be maybe more
inflexible, because thosemuscles have the capacity to
grow.
They have the capacity to getbigger, go through hypertrophy.
(08:35):
People that have, say, shortermuscle bellies and longer
tendons tend to be a little moreflexible.
So there is a correlationbetween muscle mass and
flexibility because as you'regaining muscle size, as you are
going through hypertrophy, yourmuscle fibers are shortening to
an extent.
(08:57):
Now, having said that, themuscle-bound myth isn't true.
So just because you are gettingmore muscular, it doesn't mean
that you are losing thatflexibility and you can't move
anymore.
You know, like they used to sayoh, he's just kind of an
inflexible oaf, oaf, he ismuscle bound, or she is muscle
(09:17):
bound.
Well, that's not necessarilytrue.
There are plenty of very, verymuscular men and women that are
also flexible.
It just means that you have to,or they have to, stretch.
If they are stretching thosemuscles, then they're not going
to get muscle balance.
So just because you are addingmuscle doesn't mean you're
(09:38):
becoming more inflexible.
That is not true.
But it does mean that the moremuscle you add, you still have
to pay attention to thatflexibility, all right.
So, in short, regarding genetics, part of it is genetic how
flexible we can get.
There are some people that canjust naturally palm the floor
with their legs straight andthere are some people that, no
(09:59):
matter how hard they work at it,they can never touch the floor,
touch their toes.
I mean, we can all improve Isay that all the time with every
aspect of fitness.
We can all improve.
But we do have to understandthat, just like every other
aspect of fitness, there isgoing to be a genetic
predisposition of just howflexible you can get, and you
(10:21):
have to understand that we don'tnecessarily have to get beyond
good or above averageflexibility.
Beyond good or above averageflexibility, there is no studies
that show that the person thatis hyper flexible or hyper
mobile, the person that can,like, do crazy things, like put
their feet out and, you know,spread their legs eight inches
(10:42):
or so and then be able to puttheir nose on the floor, you
know that kind of like insanelooking flexibility there is
absolutely no evidence thatshows that those people get
injured less.
In fact, people that arehyperflexible tend to get
injured more because they have aweakness, oftentimes in those
muscles.
So really it's like many things, it's about just getting good
(11:07):
and not perfect or good not thebest.
So that is the case withflexibility.
So it is important to havebecause, again, it's just very
simple the more the flexible themuscle is, the less likely it
is to get injured, unless againwe're getting into that super,
super, hyper flexible mode,which is typically a genetic
(11:28):
thing.
But you know, I don't think toomany people have to worry about
that and then being moreflexible will help you recover
and it will assist you in yourmobility.
So for me, that's an area thatI struggle with in some of my
muscle groups.
It's kind of funny, like myhamstrings are actually pretty
(11:49):
flexible because I continue tostretch them for many, many,
many years, I think, justhonestly, to be, you know,
truthful, just because it wasconvenient and when clients were
stretching their hamstrings, Iwould stretch my hamstrings.
Now there was a time when I hadpretty darn flexible quadriceps
(12:09):
, like I could easily pull myheel back into my buttocks as I
stretched.
And then, like through theyears, I just started neglecting
that and I didn't really do it.
And now I'm back to reallyworking on it and I was very
proud of myself Like it waseither.
Uh well, it was the last partof last week.
(12:31):
I um showed Ellen, I said, hey,look, I'm able to pull my left
heel back into my buttocks, likeI was able to get it all the
way up and like I don't know,just a couple of months ago I
was like three, four inches away.
So I was proud of that becauseI really started to get back
into stretching my quads.
Now I tell these storiesbecause hopefully it will help
(12:53):
you.
So, number one why did I do that?
Was I getting injured?
No, I noticed that when I ran,when I looked at pictures, when
I looked at video, I could seethat I was not lifting my leg.
I was not really lifting my legin the back on flexion, it was.
Basically I was shuffling.
You know they call that thatold man shuffle Like I'm looking
(13:15):
at that going well, geez, youknow that's not good.
You know my legs are really notgoing through a good rotation
when I run.
And then I realized I'm like,well, let me, you know, stretch,
let's see what's going on withthis.
And I realized, man, my quadshad gotten so tight over the
years that I had trouble kickingmy foot up to my hand to even
(13:37):
pull it back into a quad stretch.
Now why did it get that way?
Very simple, we use it or loseit.
I didn't stretch.
You know that could be anuncomfortable thing.
You know that could be anuncomfortable thing.
So if I'm realizing that myfoot isn't just kicking up into
my hand like it used to, I'mlike, yeah, I just don't do it
because I didn't see thepriority of it and then I let it
go.
And I let it go.
(13:57):
I continued to stretch mycalves because we have a slant
board and so I would get on thatand kind of zone out for a few
minutes and stretch my calves.
As I already stated, I wasstretching my hamstrings because
clients were stretching thehamstrings.
And a little caveat to that thereason why that is is because
80% of the population has backissues and one of the correlates
(14:20):
to back pain is tighthamstrings.
The other correlate is weakerector spinae muscles.
The other correlate is weakerector spinae muscles.
I meant to say spinal erectors,but erector spinae muscle being
weak, and then tight hamstringsare the two correlates of back
injury other than fluke injury.
So I have clients typicallystretch their hamstrings because
(14:42):
I don't want them to get anykind of back problems, so that's
why.
So I will do that with them.
And so my hamstring stayedpretty nice and flexible, but my
quads got neglected.
So now that I'm back to it,then I'm starting to show
progress again.
I'm able to, as I said already,closely get my heel into my
(15:02):
butt on my left side.
On my right side I'm stillabout an inch away.
So I got some work to do, but Irealize I need to do it because
I want to improve my mobilityand, as I said, flexibility is a
part of mobility.
All right, so now let's justtalk about different ways we can
do that.
So let's go back to mobility.
(15:23):
It's very important that when westrength train, we go through a
full range of motion for thejoint, because that is what is
going to increase mobility.
So if you want to be able toget out of a low chair when you
sit, or your low Maserati, oryour 300Z or whatever it is
(15:44):
you're driving around in, oryour Porsche if you're one of my
clients who races his Porschearound, you know if you want to
be able to get down on that badboy which is almost on the
ground and get back out, that'sa mobility issue, and so when we
strength train we have to gothrough a full range of motion.
So a lot of times we'll seepeople squat and they're not
(16:07):
going all the way down.
Now we don't have to go ass tograss, like some of the other
fitness organizations suggest.
You know, some of thecompetitive fitness
organizations suggest no, youdon't have to do that, but we do
(16:29):
have to get down to parallel,keeping our back straight and
good alignment, because that'swhat our joints do.
So if we're always kind ofgoing halfway down because we've
gotten lazy or we've lostposture or we're not flexible,
see, that's where all thesethings come into play, because
people that have really tighthip flexors can't squat properly
.
So that's where flexibilityimpacts mobility.
So if you're always squatting,say, halfway down, you might be
(16:51):
building up some nice strengthin that half range of motion or
three quarters range of motion.
That's great, that's betterthan nothing.
But if you want to be able toget out of chairs, you have to
strengthen your squat from afull range of motion.
And I'm just using squat as anexample.
It's going to be true for anymuscle group.
(17:12):
You have to train through afull range of motion to make
sure that those joints areadequately strong in a full
range of motion.
And Arthur Jones and some of theother nautilus greats of the
1960s and 70s talked about itforever that if you really want
(17:32):
to work on your mobility whenyou strength train or you know
whatever and I think that's allego driven it can partly be lazy
, and you know, we all have toremember that we have a capacity
(17:54):
to be lazy.
We have to fight against ourinstincts to go the path of
least resistance.
And you know those are the tworeasons why someone might not go
through a full range of motioneither the fact that they don't
know and they're ignorant, or,you know, it's just lazy.
You know, and the ego could saywell, I can use more weight if
I go halfway down, and that'strue, but that's not the best
(18:17):
choice, right?
It would be better to use lessweight and go through a full
range of motion on whateveryou're doing.
If you're doing pushups, youneed to go all the way down.
If you're doing squats, youneed to go all the way down.
Full range of motion.
If you're doing leg press, youneed to come all the way back.
If you're doing pull-ups orpull-downs, you need to go all
the way up and all the way down.
I see it a lot in pull-ups,where someone will go all the
(18:39):
way up and then they'll comemaybe halfway down or tops three
quarters.
They won't lock those elbowsout.
We have to use full range ofmotion if we're going to improve
our mobility.
Now, when it comes to improvingour flexibility, we've got to
stretch.
There are three types ofstretching.
That is recognized, but reallyonly two or three.
(19:03):
One of them is kind of likeI'll tell you, I'll just tell
you.
So there is static stretching,and that is the type of
stretching that you're thinkingof when you think of stretching.
Static stretching means youpull the joint into a stretch.
So let's use my example of quads.
You pull your foot back,bending your heel back towards
(19:24):
your buttocks, and you get tothe point of mild discomfort,
never pain, and you hold thatstretch from anywhere to 10 to
30 seconds, and you could dosets of that.
You know, like, what I'll dosometimes is I'll do 30 seconds
and then 30 seconds, and thenI'll do 20 seconds and 20
seconds and then 10 and 10,something like that.
There's not a perfect formulafor it, we just know that 10 to
(19:48):
30 seconds per stretch isusually very adequate to get
something out of it and domultiple sets.
Now I will do that throughoutthe day, because flexibility is
one of those things that if youdon't do it very, very
frequently, your muscles willreturn to a shortened position
very, very fast.
Muscles will return to ashortened position very, very
(20:10):
fast.
So, honestly, if you thinkyou're going to stretch like
once per day and your musclesare going to stay loose, that's
just not the case.
But the good news is you don'thave to do it for a long period
of time.
I mean, like I said, juststretching your quads for 30
seconds, stretching yourhamstrings, touching your toes.
You might feel goofy doing itin the elevator or at the
airport or whatever, but heck, Imean you're benefiting yourself
(20:31):
.
I mean you might as well do itin places like that where you're
kind of stuck standing aroundor sitting around.
I mean the airport, when you'rewaiting, can actually be a
great place to work on thingslike getting in your steps and
getting in your stretches andthings like that Long car rides.
I mean absolutely it's best toget out at every break and
(20:51):
stretch your muscles a littlebit.
Again, two or three minutestops, and you can have an
adequate flexibility session forsure.
So that's static stretching.
Another kind is called PNF orproprioceptive neuromuscular
facilitation, and that's a veryfancy way of saying contract the
muscles and stretch them.
(21:11):
I mean, I don't advocate thatfor the average person.
I mean in sports we'll do itwith people, like when I'll
stretch out people back when Iwas doing some strength and
conditioning, and I still dosome of that with the football
players but you'll have themcontract against your hand, tell
them to relax and then youstretch them.
That's PNF, because theresearch shows that if you
(21:35):
contract a muscle just prior tostretching it, you're going to
get a greater stretch.
But here's some news for you Ifyou do the stretch right after
the exercise, like if you'resquatting, you finish your
squats and then you go rightinto a quad stretch, you're
doing the same thing and that iswhat I often recommend the
people to do.
It's like, right, when youfinish the exercise, just go
into the stretch for thatparticular muscle group.
(21:57):
It's already warmed up.
It's a great time to stretchthe muscles.
So I don't really think youneed to do PNF.
I think static stretching isadequate.
And then there's dynamicflexibility and that is where
you're kind of like moving thejoint into the range of motion.
So things like that would bewhat we call butt kicks, where
(22:18):
you're bringing your heel up toyour butt quickly, or you're
doing what we call monster walks, where you're kicking your leg
up or leg kicks.
I mean that is a great way towarm up, it's a it.
Some people like it betterbecause it's more fun, it's
movement.
A lot of people get boredduring static stretching.
I mean I don't cause, I kind ofuse it as a meditation, almost,
(22:40):
you know, like an activemeditation.
I'll just, uh, take fiveminutes or so after a workout
and I will just stretchparticular muscles, you know,
and zone out and really feel thepull in the muscles and hold it
.
But some people find it boring,so they like to do what we call
dynamic flexibility, which ismoving stretches.
I mean that's fine too.
We'll use that with someclients.
(23:00):
We'll use it as warmups.
You know, I hesitated in thebeginning talking about that,
only because there's a form ofstretching that I don't
recommend, called ballisticstretching, and it looks a lot
like dynamic stretching and thatis where you bounce in the
stretches.
Now people think, well, that'sthe same thing as dynamic, what
the athletes do.
(23:21):
And no, it's not.
So.
When the athletes are doingdynamic flexibility, it's very
controlled.
They know what they're doing.
With ballistic stretching, it'squick bouncing.
I don't recommend that Slowbouncing, yes, in the eyes of a
trainer, do it with them.
I know Ellen's really goodabout doing floor touches with
some of the clients and sheteaches them how to do it in a
(23:43):
controlled way.
But, like, as you see, there's,like this subjective difference
between active flexibility andballistic.
So you know, if you don't know,I'm cautioning you just to
stick to static flexibility,unless otherwise directed,
because static flexibility, justsimply holding the tension for
(24:03):
10 seconds up to 30 seconds, isjust a great way to improve your
flexibility.
The last thing I want to sayabout this is stretching is not
a warm up.
Oh man, that's like goes rightalong with spot reduction.
You know that.
Goes along with that.
Lightweight high reps lead totoning.
You know those.
Those are the big three of justfalse myths.
(24:26):
None of those things are true,right?
I mean spot reduction doesn'twork.
Lightweight high reps doesn'tlead to toning.
Toning is losing body fat andright along with that is let me
stretch to warm up.
Stretching is not a warmup.
It's the worst time to stretchis when the muscles are cold.
(24:46):
You should stretch after youhave exercised, not before.
So that's why I said, like,right after you finish a set of
strength training, add thestretch for that muscle group.
Right when you finish a workoutwhether it be cardio, like you
just went for a run or a bikeride Stretch right after
strength training.
Stretch, that is the time tostretch.
(25:09):
I hate when I hear people saylet me stretch out to warm up.
No, a warm up is raising yourcore temperature by doing light
cardiovascular exercise.
Okay, so I hope this helps.
Try to stretch all of yourmuscle groups on a regular basis
your calves, your quads, yourhamstrings and, as far as upper
(25:33):
body goes, it's very importantto stretch the pectoralis major.
How to stretch anything thesemuscles?
Just let us know.
We have a great book, the BobAnderson stretch book.
We send people pictures all thetime.
There's pages of every musclegroup and every activity, of
(25:54):
exactly how to do it, differentstretches.
But you know, let us know.
But you need to stretch yourpecs, you need to stretch your
lats, you need to stretch yourlower back.
So we need to stretch our wholebody and again, it doesn't take
much at all that what you getfrom what you put in is so well
worth it.
All right, so keep stretchingand keep staying mobile.
(26:16):
Remember full range of motion.
Thank you for listening totoday's show.
I ask you to please follow thisshow on wherever you get your
podcasts, and also please hitautomatic downloads.
It really helps me and it helpsthe show.
Now I want to thank OverheadDoor of Daytona Beach, the
(26:38):
premier garage door company inVolusia County With the best
product with the best service.
I can vouch for Jeff and ZachHawk, the owners.
They are great people.
If you need any help with yourgarage doors, give them a shout.
386-222-3165.
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