How's your flexibility?
 

I've never had what I'd call great flexibility, and at the moment, if I lock my knees and try to touch my toes, I can juuuust touch them... with a ruler to extend my reach 4"/100mm, that is :rolleyes: How about you?

Sorry if this belongs in Training & Nutrition, I hope it's not too out-of-place here.

I can touch the floor with my fingertips without prior stretching. After a couple of minutes of warmup I can get my palms to the floor (just barely).

probably my best measurement at the moment.
I measured off the scale for a 30 year old at last
ride4roses expo, not bad for a 49 year old fart, huh?

Marty

I can palm the floor bending over. But really I don't work on this aspect of my workout. I should, but even when I worked out a lot I nver stretched.

I can get all fingers onto the ground but not palms. Mind you, that's without any warming up. I'll have to do a bit of stretching later and give it another go. I'll let you know the results.

Was that before or after you drank the 4 Roses?
Joe
:beer: :beer: :beer:

I used to be able to do the full splits, but now I can just about hold a 5 second count touching the ground with my finger tips...progress eh! :rolleyes:

Rich

You should be a great hit in prison then! ;)

Sorry, please take no offense. I just couldn't resist. :D

Uhm, I don't seem to remember. . . maybe after?
:lol: Of course I NEEDED the 4roses afterwards. . .

Marty

Mine's very good. But then I've been doing it all my life. Palms to floor, elbows bent. I'm going to do my one annoying preach and hopefully that'll be it! Everyone should stretch! If you have alot of strength and not alot of flexibility, or vice-versa, you set yourself up for injury. It's best to balance them. Stretching to warm up is good, but the best time to actually improve your flexibility is after your workout/ride when you're muscles are really hot (before you walk into that muscle-freezing air conditioned room!). Okay, that's all :)
Nat

late last season i took some yoga classes with my wife and my flexibility improved exponentially. it remains wonderful in the tuck position and for the lower back on longer rides.

I have never been particularly flexible and can barely touch my toes after weeks of preparation and stretching exercises. I need to take up yoga again ... you people put me to shame!

Just tried it.

Got my fingertips to touch the floor, felt a slight tug in my...whatevers.

Did I pass? I really need to pass, I want to be a bicyclist...

:D

Wow, I'd better get my act together :eek:

Hey...since I've been riding more, I've gotten stiffer.
Any great stretches you guys do???
I'm particularly stiff in the hams and hip flexors.
It may be old age creeping in...but I refuse to stop riding due to some pain and stiffness.

Mmmm... fingertips on the floor, but any more than that and i'll be begging for some painkillers :)

Oddly enough, though, I'm quite easily able to wrap my legs behind my head and nearly kiss my own rear, lol

I'm typing this reply from the floor because I can't get back up.

You guys make me smile :lol: Well, I do some pretty wierd stretches..I don't know if I can describe them for the person who asked what he/she should do. Hamstrings are just a b!tch no matter what you do. The most obvious one would be to sit on the floor and reach for your toes. But here's the catch...try to keep from rounding your back. Think of pushing forward with your hip bones and everything else follows from that. Otherwise, you're doing a really inefficient stretch, wasting alot of energy stretching back muscles. Even if you're sitting straight up but you still feel a stretch, that's fine. As for hip flexors... That one's hard to explain. I hate to not explain it correctly and have someone hurt something!! Maybe I can find a pic to post.
Nat

Fingertips to the floor unless I bend my knees - hey that's just flexing another joint isn't it :)

I have hyper-mobile joints. Whilst that may sound like they keep moving on their own, it apparently means that I have a bit more space around them than I ought, so they move a lot more easily. Without warming up at all I can get my palms on the floor. With warmup I can get my forehead against my knees. That's just for starters!!

I'm kinda flexible! :)

Ellie

I just remembered this.... I have a friend- Emily- who has perfect center splits. Probably over-splits. Can comfortably lay completely flat on her stomach in center splits. But she can't bend over and touch her toes. Funny huh? I can sit in the splits and lay flat forward on my front leg, but I can't do that standing up. It's all relative. Oh wait...I realized as I was typing that that's wierd. Who the hell DOES that??? Ah well...

stand with hands on wall and balls of your feet on a 2x4

stand on tiptoe, then down etc