As a professional athlete, my job was essentially to follow orders without question. The results were great at the time. I was bigger, stronger, and faster than at any other time in my life. But the realities of chasing a max bench and squat started setting in only after my playing days were done.
I had aches and pains that prevented me from doing the activities that I loved. The only solution? Do what I always did: Train. Hard. This had been the philosophy drilled into my psyche for many years. Hurt? Work through it. Pain? Walk it off. Only the strong survive. **pound chest and grunt**
Well, no. Only the smart survive.
When I finally summed up the courage and ignored the machismo voice in my head, I hesitantly stepped into my first yoga class. It was a Yoga Tune Up® class in Santa Monica. Humbled would the most politically correct way of describing how I felt after the class finished. Flexibility was a word that obviously never found its way into my vocabulary. It was time to learn.
Importance of Flexibility
While many people focus on strength and cardiovascular exercise when they enter the gym, it is actually flexibility that should be the primary focus as it is the foundation of physical health. With an injured shoulder or hip you can imagine not being able to reach above your head or taking a full stride when walking. The body will protect itself and prevent you from moving into ranges of motion that cause pain. This is a normal and natural protective mechanism since the body in not in perfect health. This is also why health can often times be gauged by how wide your sphere of movement stretches from your body’s center. Your sphere of potential movement starts with flexibility, since tight muscles can inhibit potential movement in much of the same way as an injury.
Improving flexibility will have an instant and drastic impact on athletic performance and decrease your risk of injury. Needless to say, I don’t talk about bench pressing or squatting anymore. Those are just numbers on a piece of paper that once served to inflate ego. Now, when I wake up in the morning, I move. I feel for tight spots and stretch. My Downward Dog looks more like a pointed arrow than a rainbow. I can comfortably reach down and palm the floor with locked legs. I’m a couple of blind spots away from doing a hand stand without the use of a wall. Oh yeah, and I don’t hurt.
Try this YTU pose called Asymmetrical Uttanasana (and for more like it check out the Quick Fix for Hips videos) to access the flexibility you need to forward bend successfully!
I actually think this post is not complete. Yes, you were a stiff guy who suffered from your inflexibility. But I was the opposite. Years of extreme yogi-ness left me in constant pain–sound familiar? I turned to strength training to cure my aching body. I am now proud to wake up every morning knowing how much I can bench and squat!
Truthfully, both of us are on the right track. As Jill ( and Kelly Starrett) emphasizes, we want to have healthy tissues and move in a healthy way. For some that means getting more flexible. For others it means picking up some weights and getting stronger.
Hey Elizabeth,
You are absolutely right. True health/performance comes from the optimal combination of flexibility, strength and power. Each individual will have different weaknesses they need to work on that will ultimately impact the other two. That being said, this post was much longer and touched on that, but both YTU and myself though it best to separate the long post into two or three shorter ones so it’s easier to digest. Hope the next one you see will touch on what you just mentioned! Thanks for your feedback!
I always find it interesting to hear the stories of how people came to find yoga as a part of their life. I actually experienced an increase in my strength over the initial few months of practice. It was empowering to match my inner strength with my outer strength. The one thing that kept popping out at me while reading your blog, was a lack of emphasis on AGILITY rather than flexibility. It is the ability to be agile in our movements that we carry us gracefully into older age.
Yup! Absolutely right! Power is another word for agility. At least in my book. The ability to transmit force (strength) through an optimal range of motion (flexibility) as quickly as possible (quickness/agility). Kristen, you are definitely right about agility being the determinant of longevity.
One great connection here is the individual proprioceptions; being aware of where one’s body blind spots exist is the point of departure for creating healthy strategy plans (for some it may be focusing on strength traininig and for others is flexibility or perhaps even a cobination).
Thank you for your perspective. It is always wonderful to hear what brought an individual to yoga.
I however believe that flexibility it just as important as strength, not one over the other. It is about balance. Each one of us is either more flexible or stronger. Through yoga we may work to find the optimal balance.
i teach a seniors yoga class & i’ve been teaching the same group for 3 1/2 years. Last week, as they were moving through their Sun Salutations (modified!) I looked around the room and saw 15 older bodies beautifully, and carefully, folded forward in Uttanasana. There were some full folds, some bent knees, some hands on blocks – all variations for various ailments – even one chair fold. But what struck me was that 3 years ago, this same group of 70 and 80 year olds balked at the idea of reaching for their toes, even in theory. Now, they were stronger, more flexible, and most important, more confident. Flexibility is not only a signifier of health, but a happier way to live in your own skin.
Good post. I tend to lead towards what Hawley P. is saying just above me about the combination of flexibility and strength moving toward a space where we find balance in our physical traits in turn “center’ if you will. Health and well being of the physical body is seen through the myriad of conditions we exercise to make the homeostatic whole. But I’d agree with the post that flexibility is often over looked and or ignored by many people, especially with the “chiseled” physique often displayed to exemplify over all health on the cover of so many magazine covers. We all see through a different lens, but the lens that mainstream media presents to us is often very skewed towards the condition of strength-seen to be healthy.
Luke, you raise a valid point here, there is often a false dichotomy drawn between strength and flexibility. I have witnessed those who focused too much on building strength gains alone, and present with huge shoulders and beach muscles for yoga classes and be unable to think of being able to touch their toes because their traps are the size of footballs. Jill has some absolutely fantastic hip openers in this video! Thanks for sharing.
I am right in the same boat as Elizabeth. Being a hyper mobile person, my work in Yoga has been not to get more flexible, but to find my midline, my center, and to create strength, stability, and integrity in my body. Alignment based yoga has helped me to map my body better and understand where my limbs are in space so I can better keep myself together. Yoga should really be about balance. The trouble with most yoga class cues is they are generalized. When I would “take my shoulders back” I would also flatten my thoracic curve, and I would “tuck my tail bone” I would flatten my lumbar curve, when I would “forward fold and put my belly on my thighs” I would do it passively not actively, and create tiny hamstring tears. Yoga has to be smart, and it has to be tailored to the needs of unique bodies, which is why everyone needs to be self responsible and educated about their own body! This is also why Yoga Tune Up is so great!
Want to be flexible? You need to be strong.
I feel like this term ‘flexible’ gets thrown around so much in yoga and often in tandem with the image of bendy, bound creature in a yoga pose to the point that people associate the concept of flexibility with loose joints. A loose joint is as unbalanced and problematic as a tight joint and is the same in terms of range of movement in so much that it does not have a good range of movement that the owner is in control of…. which effectively isn’t a useful range of movement.
I am in the hyper-mobile camp and became a performing contortionist through which (contrary to popular belief) required strength training so that I could get on stage and take my own joints through a range of movement that was fascinating to a spectator. So really it brings up the question of ‘what is this flexibility that is the holy grail in yoga?’….. being able to be pushed, pulled and ‘adjusted’ into any position, being able to collapse to a depth that looks like you have exceeded the normal range of movement, or simply exploiting those joints that can and will bend with ease?
To my understanding flexibility requires stability, and stability requires strength.
And strength requires mobility. And therein lies the challenge.
It is so nice to hear men breaking the mold and trying yoga out. I know a lot of people think it is not really athletic or good exercise but hello?!?! Have you seen Yogi’s bodies?!? Not to mention, not just the abs but the peace of mind we all seem to share, and oh yeah the incredible flexibility! I believe that if everyone did yoga there would be a lot less crime and anger everywhere in the world. Stretching alone just makes the body breathe, all the muscles and bones slowly open and become happier as does the mind. In my two years of practice I have become a much happier person, off of anti-depressants and sleeping pills ( I used to have terrible insomnia) I also think it helps with the CNS, anxiety, and I could go on and on about the benefits, It is so inspiring to hear about other peoples journeys to find yoga, because I always try and introduce people and they are intimidated because they think they are not flexible or won’t look good in spandex, but if more people were aware of all the benefits, it would be growing even more rapidly in popularity than it already is!
It’s so wonderful to hear how an athlete discovered the benefits of yoga. Yes, weight training was big for me too in the 80s and I still believe that you need strong bones and muscles for a healthy body, but discovering that our own body weight can do all that and more for us is so powerful. Yoga humbles many of us; it is often regarded as not a great workout by many of my gym brat friends, but once they try it and notice how tight their body is from the pounding on the treadmill or the excessive weight training, they are hooked and realize that yoga is much more than a workout. I’ve encouraged so many people to take a yoga class. Yoga has helped my 86 year old mother-in-law deal with pain from knee and hip surgery. It has also helped my 21 year old daughter and 20 year old niece develop a love for exercise and their bodies. I love when yoga becomes a part of someone I love life.
Well said. Now only if I could find the optimal combination of flexibility, strength and power. Feels like everytime I turn up the flexibility I lose strength and when I turn up the strength I lose flexibility
I just went running for the first time in years. Due to imbalances created by running without balancing it with strength and flexibility training, I continuously injured myself to the point of no longer being able to run. During today’s run two amazing thoughts came into my head:
(1) I was running for me, not needing to look at my watch or care about how long I went for.
(2) My body was pain free, and I was focusing on how my body moved, enjoying the fullness of movement and breath. I no longer cared to push myself to a place of imbalance and pain. Instead, I found myself fascinated by my body and the sensations I felt, and feeling that running could actually be a way to connect to myself and my structure, instead of a way of punishing myself.
The other amazing thing I realized. YTU has helped me to improve my body structure in both strength and flexibility, and I truly credit this modality with with the freedom I felt today.
This post made me “laugh out loud.” I thought I was such an amazing athlete myself (swimming, running) when I walked into my first yoga class only to be very humbled! My muscles were strong but tight! I think this is an important point for all athletes and yogis. Now I have been doing yoga for five years and I hardly ever swim or run for exercise (although I walk a lot) and very rarely lift weights (although I hold my own body weight in many poses!). I think it important to explore both strength and flexibility and the relationship between strength and flexibility.
I go by the idea that a tight muscle is a weak muscle. When I first started doing scorpion pose I realized much later that I could do the pose because my muscles were tight. It took me quite a while to realize that flexibility would make the pose work with awareness and therefore the proper balance between the two (strength and flexibility) was and is the place I want to be. And now much later, the humbling aspect of yoga has taught me to go even deeper into the lessons of yoga and life.
I love to hear stories of athletes, especially men, that have found that flexibility has helped their performance. A strong long muscle is much healthier than a short tight muscle, athletes are now educated that by “re-habing” their bodies, they are able to be strong in their sport, and smart! Yoga Tune Up Balls are a great therapy tool to bring suppleness to our muscles!
Thanks for your story!
I am fairly lucky in that I have always been fairly flexible. While I feel it has helped me pick up many different sports and modalities easily, I’m wondering if being too flexible has caused some of my injuries. Is that possible?
This is so true!!! keep a good balace healthy body is not just strength and cardio exercices, and peaople so often pay so litlte attention and time to stretch after practicing sports. Combine flexibility and strenght will protect us from injuries.
So often I see this in dance fitness as well…..lots of moves but not a lot of stretching time and mobility work. Everyone has imbalances and needs to listen to their body. Proper Stretching…,and breathing have made a big difference with my classes. Thank you for this reminder for us all to facilitate with what we do!
Great post Luke,
I’m finding more and more everyday that you just have to mix it up, you can’t always be doing one type of exercise or train too much in any linear pattern. I used to only practice hot yoga, the same 26 postures and that was it. Down the road I started having neck and lower back pain. Now i take into account my weaknesses and try to incorporate exercise and daily life activities that will help strengthen and lengthen every part of my body, even though at times it can be very humbling.
Hey Luke, I resonate a lot with this post! My deadlifting and squating dramatically improved when I started being able to open my hips and get fuller ranges of motion. I think every strength and conditioning program needs to be paired with a mobility/yoga practice! Thanks!
so true. I always try to do my best at stretching when training, but sometimes I see how it can be an area of the training or practice that is neglected. As my fitness coach say: training doesn’t finish until you have your post workout meal and shower. this including obviously a good amount of time in proper stretching. Prevent injuries, recover faster and the body just feel better! thank you for this post!