This may seem like a stupid question, but I have zero flexibility, really, My hamstrings might as well be made out of cement for how much I can reach my toes.
Given the prepoderence of my family for arthritis, I would like to increase my flexibility to my various joints.
Does doing Yoga tapes actually work? If I push it a little? I need to see some result, otherwise I will get frustrated.
Anyone? also, any firsthand experience from you non-naturally bendy dopers would be welcome.
I have never, since I was eight years old, been able to touch the toes of both feet while keeping my knees straight. No amount of stretching ever did it. No yoga ever did it.
Your body is capable of becoming more flexible up to a point, and practicing yoga regularly will bring you to that point. It won’t, however, take you past that point–and for some of us that certainly seems to mean our toes are destined to remain untouched.
Age has a lot to do with it, but it seems to run in families to a large degree also.
I’ve had some experience with various yoga-like stretching exercises, some under the direction of a physical therapist, and found that they did indeed help my flexibility. However, the specific ability to touch one’s toes is also a factor of basic body proportion. I have relatively short legs and a long torso for my height, and have always been able to not only touch my toes, but with a little practice place both my palms flat on the floor without bending my knees, even though I am old and overweight.
You can certainly *improve * your flexibility through yoga (and other exercises). That and other benefits might well be worth while, regardless of toe-touching success.
While you are looking for a factual answer, you’ll probably do better if I move this to IMHO, where you can get all the personal experiences that will be offered.
samclem GQ moderator
If you wish to gain flexibility you just need to do some stretching every day, not necessarily take a yoga course (although yoga is very good).
If you are starting from scratch, then you need to be very gentle for the first couple of weeks. Sit on the floor and stretch your left leg forward, put your right leg bent inwards with the sole of your right foot against your left inner thigh. Lean forward to put your chest toward your knee. Don’t try to bend your head toward your knee because this can cause lower back pain, just try to lower your chest.
Hold this position until you feel a slight twinge and hold it for 30 seconds and then do the same with your right leg. If you feel a sharp pain behind your knee, stop immediately and discontine until the following day.
Muscles stretch but ligaments and tendons shouldn’t stretch at all. The tendons behind your knee are your prime consideration. The intention is to stretch the muscles either side of the knee, not the knee itself.
There’s other stretching exercises which you can find online but the main thing is be very gentle. For the first two or three days it will be hell and you will wonder why you are putting your body through this nightmare, but persevere and after a while it starts to feel quite nice and you can do it watching TV and stuff.
I don’t think I agree with any of this. Most people with normal human hips can do the splits within two months providing they do a proper stretching regimen - twice a day, every day. Once when you first wake up and another later on.
The skeletol structure for most humans is the same. Most humans have the same bone structure in their hips. There are some people in whom the hip bone protudes down far enough to prevent them doing the splits but these people are rare. They are not the norm.
Assuming you are a human being, there is no reason to assume you cannot do the splits (within two months).
Age is not a relevant factor, you can be 95 and do the splits because the bone structure of your hips is still the same. The only constraint on doing the splits is the shape of the bone in your hips and 99% of humans have the requisite bone structure. It’s all a question of stretching your muscles and your muscles will stretch no matter how old you are.
So age is not a factor and genetics are not a factor.
I don’t know how old you are, or what your experience in this is. I’m not a doctor either, but I’d be surprised if things like osteoporosis, arthritis and the like did not negatively impact one’s ability to do things like this.
While one’s basic skeletal structure may be essentially the same, conditions of aging can cause changes such as bone spurs, loss of cartilege, etc. At least, that’s what my doctors tell me.
Yes, obviously people with medical conditions in their hips will find stretching harder (or impossible) but I was talking about normal humans of the species homo sapiens - ie those that don’t have abnormal bone structure or a disease of some kind.
Put me down for the 5% that can’t do the splits. From 13-19 years I was very active in Soccer and Judo and specifically tried to stretch into the splits. Never going to happen.
I have taken Yoga classes for a year and it has helped me straigten my back and loosen up my jointes (specifically my ankles).
I have never been able to touch my toes. Not when I was young and flexible and taking ballet classes, and not when I was practicing yoga every day. A doctor told me once that my arms and legs aren’t the right size proportional to my torso, which might be why.
That said, I noticed a significant difference, both in my physical flexibility and in my general mood, when I was practicing yoga every day. I still couldn’t touch my toes, but I could get a lot closer to them.
I’d really recommend that you take a class from a qualified instructor to begin with. Depending, it might not be too expensive: try your local parks and rec department, or a community college.
Like anything, don’t try to “push it” too much too quick. One of the biggest things I got out of my yoga class was paying close attention to my body, and its limits (quite helpful for weightlifting, I’ll tell you!). Not listening to my body ended up with an injury to my trapezius (I can stretch farther! :SNAP: ).
But do have fun! I enjoyed the hell out of yoga, and still use it to some extent every day.
Here’s a testimonial. I’ve been going to Bikram (hot) yoga for over a year. And it has helped me immensely with stress and weight loss and even clarity of thinking.
When I leave a 90 minute class, I feel energized and wonderful. What I didn’t know was how physically challenging this yoga would be. It’s now the only work out I do. Just look at yoga teachers…they usually have great bodies.
I recommend Bikram yoga because you know you’re getting a qualified teacher. They have a very rigorous training program.
Seconded about the class. Yoga is very much about proper alignment - and that can make all the difference in it working or you just getting hurt. But you want to find an instructor and a yoga style that is condusive to what you want. I had an Iyengar teacher who was wonderful for me - Iyengar is assisted yoga with props - it goes slow and is more about the stretch than some other forms of yoga - more forgiving than some schools of us unflexible types. She was a physical therapist by profession, so combined that with yoga. And she wasn’t overly spirital. I’ve gone to other yoga classes that were much more meditative and spiritual - but not really great for stretching. There are other schools that are much more athletic and have more of a cardiovascular element:
http://www.yogajournal.com/newtoyoga/165_1.cfm?ctsrc=blurb2
Whether you will be able to touch your toes or not, I don’t know. It depends on your physiology (I could never do the splits either, however I used to have a dance instructor who said she was in her 20s before she could do a complete extension - and that was after taking yoga), and how much practice and effort you put into stretching - I can touch my toes after about two months of stretching hamstrings - for about half an hour a day - not worth it.
One thing I feel I ought to mention - touching toes or trying to do the splits are not particularly good exercises in themselves. Both can cause excessive pressure on your lower back. If you damage your lower back, it can take you a year to fully recover. Back strains are notoriously painful and difficult to get rid of.
If you wish to stretch then you shouldn’t bother with trying to do the splits or trying to touch your toes - just do these things occasionally to see how far you are progresing. Spend most of your time stretching different muscle groups and only stretch one muscle group at a time. This is very important.
Touching toes or doing the splits stretches several muscle groups at once and is therefore not recommended. Also you need to be gentle - and patient. Sit down and do slow gentle passive stretches. Don’t ever try to force your body to do something it doesn’t want to do.
Splits are really bad as a stretching exercise, and dangerous. Likewise touching your toes. Just do the exercise I outlined above repetitively and also stretch your left leg out and bend your right leg behind you and then lean down toward your left knee, hold for 30 seconds and do the same with your right leg.
Then put both legs out in front of you in a V shape and lean down to your left, hold for 30 seconds, then down to your right, hold for 30, then down to the middle, hold for 30. Try and spread your legs a bit wider and repeat.
To those who have tried yoga and haven’t achieved the desired level, I would ask - were you doing it twice a day every day for a solid month?
Stretching shouldn’t be something you feel you “have to do”. You need to move up a psychological level and start stretching just because you want to. It should be something you find yourself doing when you don’t even realise you’re doing it. It’s almost a zen buddhist thing. You don’t stretch as a “chore”, you stretch because your body is telling you to have a good stretch.
I’ve never been a very flexible person, especially in the hamstrings. When I started exercising a few years ago, I stretched faithfully before and after my workout, working especially hard on my hamstrings, and, nuthin.’ No success. No touchy-toes, no progress whatsoever.
I had been taking a yoga class once a week, which had many nice benefits, but wasn’t really helping much with my hamstrings. When the class ended and summer break began, I picked up AM and PM Yoga. Each session is only 20 minutes or so, and I did one of them every day. The PM session in particular has a lot of hamstring work. When I began, I could not touch my toes with my knees straight. I can now touch my toes easily any time when standing, and when seated with one leg stretched in front of me, I can grasp the arch of my foot and lower my head to my knee if I’m properly warmed up.
I agree with the others that starting out with a yoga class is best. You will become comfortable with yoga much more quickly if you can ask questions and get individual guidance. Even tapes or DVDs labeled “beginner” are hard to follow if you’re all by your lonesome with no expert guidance, but once you understand the basics, they can be a great tool.
Some hamstring-specific advice:
If you have tight hamstrings, it’s easy to hurt your lower back by forcing too much when you touch your toes in standing or seated position. When your hamstrings are tight, the lowest part of your back has to bend quite tightly, which can compress and irritate your spinal discs.
IMHO (I am not a yoga instructor or, for that matter, a very experienced practitioner) Downward-Facing Dog is a miracle for tight hamstrings. Because you are not folding yourself completely in half, it’s not as hard on your lower back as Head-to-Knee (the touch-your-toes pose). Also, there is a lot of work you can do in the posture. You can focus on your upper body, working on bringing your arms and back into a straight line. Then you can shift focus to your hips, concentrating on raising up your tailbone to get the best stretch. Then you can concentrate on your legs, and focus on straightening your knees and bringing your heels down. You keep cycling through those focus points, so it’s not as boring, and throughout you have good leverage to really work at those hamstrings. You can also put your hands on yoga bricks if it’s too intense a stretch for you at the beginning.
The other thing I like about DFD is that there isn’t such and emphasis on reaching a particular milestone. With head-to-knees, you feel like a failure when you’ve been working for weeks and you still can’t touch your toes. But with DFD, there’s no obvious point of “success.” You can feel yourself improving in little ways and growing more comfortable with the posture. However, it would take years before you could look like the lady in the photo in my link. I certainly don’t loook like that when I do it! But I do look a more triangular than when I first started, and it’s my favorite pose. I really feels great.
I love yoga and recommend it highly to anyone who’s willing to try it. I learned to pay attention to my body on a whole new level: the position of my joints, what muscles I’m working, what muscles I’m stretching, what feels tight, what feels loose, so that now my post-workout stretch is much more effective than before. Yoga also taught me to love the stretch. What used to register with me as “pain” or “burning”, something to be loathed and avoided, I now recognize simply as “stretching,” and I find it pleasant to take my time in a stretch and prolong that feeling. It’s kind of a “hurts so good” sensation. Actual pain or discomfort that means I’m doing something wrong and possibly injuring myself really feels quite different—and thanks to yoga, when I feel that sensation, I can figure out what I’m doing wrong and adjust my position to fix it.
Whatever you decide to do, trying to improve the flexibility of just one muscle group sounds like a doomed exercise to me. Work all the major muscle groups every day. Don’t expect immediate results; be patient and continue practicing consistently. I always go for weeks making almost no progress, then I’ll settle down for yet another session and surprise! I can suddenly do something I couldn’t before!
Good luck with your hamstrings! Touching your toes might not be a goal you can acheive, but you can improve your flexibility and feel the benefits!
I love yoga! Don’t know how much it will help with how far you can push your flexibility, but it can make you feel more flexible. It’s a wonderful exercise that helps not only your body but your mind.
I would also recommend taking a couple classes before venturing out on your own. If you have a good instructor, they will never push you beyond your physical capabilities. Usually there are modifications to the poses that are good for inexperience, physical limitations, and medical issues.
I may look myself for a Bikram Yoga class, that sounds wonderful!
I just tried a yin yoga class, and that might be worth a try for you. You hold the positions longer (up to three minutes in the class I took) so you really have time to settle into them.
It took about three weeks of going to classes 3-4 times per week before I was able to progress in most of the positions. But more than that progress, I found that I just felt good practicing. I leave class clear-headed and relaxed, and I feel more in tune with my body all the time.