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How to become more flexible, without any special equipment

I can barely touch my toes and as I age I want to keep a healthy lifestyle. I've always wanted to be able to do a split, but it's so painful to try and I'm scared that I might tear something! What can I do to become more flexible without buying any additional equipment?

  Topic Health Subtopic General Health Tags stretching yoga flexible
3 Years 2 Answers 1.3k views

Emma Aspinall

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Answers ( 2 )

 
  1. J Starr 4425 Community Answer

    Yoga

    Yoga is the schlitz for flexibility.  Yoga is an amazing work-out which not only massively increases flexibility, it increases strength all while mostly not hurting you, unlike so many other exercise programs. 

    There's also an old pre-CDs/streaming video called Callanetics by Callan Pinckney.  ( https://www.amazon.com/Callanetics-Official-DVD-Callan-Pinckney/dp/B00B835Y36 ) Like yoga in some ways, the body is put into unusual positions, and mostly very small movements are used to stretch and tone muscles.  They work a treat and are easy on the back, too.


    Yoga-  it's the schlitz for flexibility.

    UTC 2020-10-22 08:32 PM 0 Comments
  2. K Grace-Lily 3000

    I'm with you, age made the parts rustier. Yoga is a great way to stetch, strengthen and stay toned. If you can't do full on yoga, which I can't myself, I do what I call yoga-revised. It's essentially just stretching in close to some yoga positions. If you look at how a cat stretches after a nap, that's the idea, to extend and twist your body gently to relieve some of the muscle stress.


    • Overhead stretch - standing with your legs together, looking upward, reach both arms above your head pointed toward the ceiling, and count to 8.
    • Side stretch - standing with your legs together, reach one arm up in the air, and the other arm to your side then bend your body slightly to the side, with your other arm going down as your raised arm goes up. Then reverse sides, hold both for 8 count
    • Bendover stretch - stand with legs apart about 2 feet or so, bend your upper body forward so you are parallel with the floor, and extend your arms level to the side (like you're a airplane), hold for 8, then move the arms to face in front of you and hold.  Continuing from that bend over, reach your left arm down to your left foot, hold for 8, then reverse and reach your right arm to your right foot, and hold for 8.  If you feel comfortable, then you can try reaching for your toes - you don't need to touch toes, just reach toward them.
    • Come back up again and do shoulder rolls, forward and back, a few times.
    • Then stretch your arms outward to your sides and gently twist to the right, hold for 8, then twist to the opposite side, the left, and hold for 8. You can do that a few times if it feels good.
    • Then you can do a foldover - where you bend over forward with your arms down in front of you, and let the hands just go down as far as they can - don't worry about touching toes, just fold the body over and let the arms hang. If you want to try and touch toes, just be easy.
    • I do a leg and lower-back stretch after that, it helps when you've been sitting for a lot during the day - holding on to a chair or other support, and with feet apart just a few inches, put one foot forward about a foot ahead of the other foot - like you were taking a step. And holding on for balance and support, just bend your upper body to the waist till you feel the muscles stretch a bit, and hold for 8. Then put the foot back and do the same with the other foot. 
    • And to finish, do the overhead stretch again - with your legs together, both arms raised over your head, and count to 8 again. 

    That's an easy routine for most anyone to do, it takes less than 5 minutes. I used to do a moderate version of Yoga, and I did develop this little routine with a physical therapist because of a health issue I have, and I've been doing it about 10 years now, it always helps. And fact is, any movement you make can be helpful if you don't strain yourself and it feels good to stretch the muscle. You can do it in the morning or at night before bed, it can help relax muscles for sleep. 



    UTC 2021-05-03 06:23 PM 0 Comments

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