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There are five different fitness components that are all considered very important. When one or more of these components are lacking or not trained, they affect fitness health.
For example, in gyms, you often see people doing cardio training combined with muscle strength or endurance exercises. There are also many who only do strength exercises or only work on their conditioning on a treadmill or elliptical machine. This means that important fitness components are skipped or not trained. For example, if due to time constraints, only strength training is done without cardio, this is not a problem, but if cardio training is never done, the body does not receive all the health benefits it could. Unfortunately, one component that is often overlooked by many people is flexibility.
Flexibility
Flexibility is the ability of a joint to move fully (full range of motion) within a normal range of motion. Flexibility is also joint-specific, so all major joints need to be trained, not just a few. Flexibility has to do with the elasticity of soft tissues surrounding the joint. The type of joint also affects flexibility. For example, the shoulder joint is more mobile than the elbow joint, and this is a factor that cannot be changed by flexibility training. Soft tissues such as skin, muscles, tendons, and ligaments also influence joint flexibility.
Many people have muscles that are too short around certain joints (muscle imbalance), leading to postural deformities. Causes of this can include physical tension, emotional stress, repetitive movements, accumulated traumas, poor training technique, weak core, and poor neuromuscular efficiency.
An example:
Many people with sedentary jobs, for example, have short hip flexors. As a result, the Gluteus Maximus (hip extensor), the muscle with the opposite function (antagonist), becomes weak, causing the hip joint to become unbalanced. Other muscles like the hamstrings then have to take over the function of the Gluteus Maximus, resulting in these muscles being overloaded, leading to incorrect movement patterns that result in injuries.
Often, people have short muscles because they repeatedly make the same movement at work. If you do this continuously and often also in a bad posture, you may develop injuries. You also see many men at the gym who train their chest much more than their back, which can lead to them hunching forward with their chest out and retracted.
There are different ways to work on flexibility. When there is an incorrect balance in a joint, such as the example of the hip flexor and hip extensor, you always want to stretch the short muscles and train the weak muscles to make them stronger so that the joint returns to balance.
Forms of Flexibility Training
Static Flexibility
Below this falls stretching and lengthening muscles without moving. It is important to perform 1 or 2 sets of a stretch and hold it for at least 30 seconds. This method of stretching is the traditional form that is most common in gyms. It is important to stretch after training or when the muscles are warmed up at least. Short muscles can indeed be stretched before training to increase the range. However, it is not recommended to statically stretch before explosive training or maximal strength training.
Active Isolated Stretch
This form of stretching can be used well for a workout or training session. A good form is to do 5-10 repetitions of each stretch and hold the stretch for 1 to 2 seconds.
Dynamic Flexibility
This includes stretching and lengthening muscles with a full range of motion of the joint, with little resistance. The intention is to do about 10 repetitions and perform 3-10 different exercises. This form of stretching is also ideal to do before a workout.
A newer way of stretching is by self-massage with the foam roller, how this works exactly can be found here: stretching with foam roller
Often, too little attention is paid to flexibility among athletes. This can lead to an incorrect balance in a joint, which can lead to injuries. Try to do a short stretching session at least three times a week. Especially the muscles that feel short or tense. You will notice that after a few weeks your flexibility really improves.
