Parabolic Phases of Flexibility Training
In mathematics, a parabola is a plane curve which is mirror-symmetrical and is approximately U-shaped. Based on my experience training flexibility over the years, I have noticed similar trends where the later phases of the journey start to mirror the beginning phases of training.
For instance, techniques and drills that were useful in the beginning start to not work as well in the middle stages and result in flexibility progress plateauing. Then as you get more advanced and start to close in on your goals (like full splits) you start to get more out of the drills that were helpful in the beginning, and they can be used to help close the last bit of gaps.
Let me provide some examples:
1) Amount of External Load- If you are on the stiffer end of the spectrum or having stubborn muscle groups that do not want to open, you may respond well to using heavier load to assist you into a great end range of motion when stretching. In the beginning of one’s flexibility journey, it is helpful to work up and progress to heavy weights to get restricted joints to budge. For instance, when I was training seated butterfly exercise for groin flexibility, I had to work up to around 28KG per knee to get to my deepest range! Once I started getting accustomed to the depth and strengthening the opposing muscle group (glutes/hip rotators) to pull me deeper in position, I was able to use less weight to assist me deeper. On one end, my end range of motion was greater therefore the lever length was now longer, so less weight still seemed just as heavy as before. One the other end, I was able to create more force internally by pulling myself deeper with my glutes contracting in a shortened position. This resulted in a progressive underloading effect where I was able to get more of a training stimulus with less external load needed.
There will be a period where not too much load is needed to reach a position but eventually you may plateau. At this point you may need to utilize more weight to assist you into a deeper position and restart the process. Outside of assisting a deeper range, this also serves to strengthen a position so your nervous system will be able to accept or allow the body more range of motion.
So in summary, you go through a period of needing more external load to pull you into deeper position, to less load because the new leverage between muscular insertion points is long enough to provide adequate load to achieve max depth. This goes in phases where once you plateau in progress, you may restart the process where you add more load or subtract it to “stabilize” the current range.
Loaded Wall Middle Split- 20 KG (44lb) Each Foot
2) Static passive flexibility- As I spoke about before, all stretching is loaded but sits on a spectrum. Static passive stretching may not be the tool initially that gets you your split, but only because many people simply will not understand how to relax enough to let the tissues yield to the tensile load and “let go.” Static passive stretching will help in creating tolerance to pain in a stretched position. Therefore, people in the beginning stages of their flexibility journey will benefit from passive stretching to build their tolerance to stretch and learn how to relax into positions. They will get somewhat far with this, but eventually they will need more intense methods to achieve deeper ranges of motion. In reference to point #1, supported and relaxed positions may not be enough to assist someone in their range of motion close to their neurological limit, so they may need to load their ranges and learn to contract hard at end range. Building strength may be what they need to actually create a sense of trust to move deeper into a stretch. Later on in the journey when you are getting deeper in your splits, passive stretching all of a sudden becomes extremely effective again to build stretch tolerance to the new ranges you’ve built through loaded methods. This will also make the ranges more useable in practice. I’ve seen plenty of people get splits with loaded methods yet can’t last long there at all which means they cannot tolerate the intensity of the position. If you cannot breathe in a position, and cannot get there without a significant level of assistance, then you do not truly own the range. Let’s face it, splits are painful especially in your maxed out range. More exposure to the position will help build more comfort and tolerance to it overtime. Once you have spent time stabilizing the ranges you’ve build and truly owning it then it’s time to add load again to start building new range. I like to look at it like this- Use loaded/ strength methods to build range, then use relaxed static methods to own a range.
Static Passive Front Split Hold
3) Frequency- I like to think of flexibility as a skill first and foremost. Skill training requires frequency. The more you can practice and recover from it, the quicker you get results. Many people aren’t even getting to their biological limit of range of motion when they first get into flexibility work. High frequency tends to work well in these beginning stages especially if intensity is low. In the beginning, it is more about creating familiarity with ranges of motion you never visit in daily life. This means technique is prioritized and you are understanding how to get the most range out of a stretch based on what your individual body needs. People will progress a lot with this type of approach. Unfortunately, the gains from this high frequency approach lasted very shortly for myself. Eventually I needed greater intensity which means I had to train less and less frequent progressively. The deeper I was getting in my ranges of motion, the more intense the stretch felt, and more recovery was needed between sessions. If I didn’t rest, I picked up joint pain or overuse injuries. This lead me to training splits 1-2 times a week with a deload week every 4 weeks. This helped significantly in keeping me healthy and progressing my splits insanely fast. Once some milestones are hit, it is important to dial back a bit and drop intensity for some time. If intensity drops then frequency can rise. This will allow for the nervous system to catch up with biological changes made in flexibility. In reference to point #2, this means more static passive work in deeper positions to get you progressing further.
Jefferson Curl with Moderate Weight trained Twice Weekly
4) Short Range Strength- Methods that build strength on the opposing side of a joint to the tissues being stretched are something I give very early on to clients in order to balance out reciprocal tensions across a joint surface. In other words, being able to contract the muscles hard in their shortened positions will lead to flexibility gains in the muscles that are lengthening without stretching being the main focus. For example, strengthening the hip flexors to create more hamstring flexibility. Physiologically this is referred to reciprocal inhibition. This typically leads to very quick neurologic improvements in flexibility simply because people aren’t used to training muscles in their shortenend positions. Most importantly, people then understand how to fire these muscles during their loaded stretches. For instance, firing the hip flexors hard at the bottom range of a Jefferson curl to pull them deeper. At this point, short range strength can be maintained for a while and more focus can be placed on loading the lengthening side which will offer more bang for your buck in terms of flexibility development. Short range training is very neurologically demanding alongside deep loaded stretching so it can impede progress if used simultaneously year around. Eventually you‘ll reach a point when training for the splits when strengthening the shortened range may be useful again to break through plateaus. The more similar we can make our active and passive range the better chance our body will begin to accept more range again. For example, once my calves started touching down in front split, I found it very useful to start strengthening my glutes and hip flexors again to help pull myself deeper in the front split. This helped a lot in the beginning, became less effective in the middle stages, and effective again in the later stages.
90/90 External Rotation End Range Lift Off (Short Range Strength for Hip External Rotators)
5) Concurrent Training- Everyone wants to train everything at once and for good reason. It is simply badass to be able to both strong, flexible, and highly skilled. I do believe you can always keep multiple different qualities running in a training program at all times but the difference between smart and messy programming is knowing when to prioritize one quality and when to put one on maintenance or drop it all together. Beginners can get away with doing everything at once. They can train heavy squats, splits, acrobatics, BJJ and still make gains across the board… Until the gains stop. There will always come a point where more intensity and focus are needed to toward a given quality in order to keep it progressing. More intensity allocated in one area of training means less allocated to another. Unfortunately, physiology gives and it takes which is why understanding concurrent periodization is so critical when juggling multiple different goals.
I was able to make a lot flexibility progress while simultaneously setting back squat personal bests. Eventually, I had to prioritize my flexibility work and accept the decrease in my strength training. Of course, I always kept some form of strength work in the program, but at lower doses. This was a tradeoff that paid off significantly as flexibility started progressing through the roof for myself. Going all in on flexibility can come with some pitfalls though. It requires much more autoregulating and being in tune with how the body is feeling. Tugging on your muscles constantly and fighting for end range is very strenuous on tendons and connective tissue. Tendons are strengthened through heavy resistance training which means the stronger they are, the more your connective tissue can tolerate more intense stretching. I find it is important later down line to prioritize heavy strength work again while maintaining range of motion to keep the connective tissue healthy. I started to pick up some a nasty tendinopathy in my adductor when I made middle and front splits my main focus in training for too long and my back squat strength became a bit deconditioned. Many people are going to respond differently on this front. Some can train heavy year around and still get flexible, some need to drop it completely. This requires self-exploration.
Maintenance Lower Body Strength During Intensification Flexibility Phase
I find a great concurrent strategy for most people can look like this:
Mesocycle 1: 12-24 weeks
Heavy Strength work 2 x weekly
High frequency low intensity flexibility 3-5 x weekly
Mesocycle 2: 12-24weeks
High intensity flexibility work 2 x weekly
Maintenance Strength work once every 7-14 days
Mesocycle 3: 12-24weeks
Heavy Strength work 2 x weekly
Lower frequency/ lower intensity flexibility work 3-5 times weekly
Then repeat meso 2 format to progress further in flexibility
Conclusion
Programming for flexibility is relatively straight forward. I like to think what someone will respond best to is more so based on where they are in their current stage of development and less about a certain technique or drill in isolation. Progress from training comes in waves. The more training experience you gather, the more you can approach previously effective drills with a fresh and new perspective. A specific drill doesn’t actually lose it effectiveness. We can only get so much out of them based on our current stage of flexibility development. Once we progress further and gain more experience, we can return to those drills and squeeze more juice out them.
So stop thinking about the journey towards impressive flexibility as a linear methodology. Think of it more as a parabola and “U” shaped in nature.
If you find yourself trying to implement every technique at once, you may need some coaching guidance. As always, please reach out if you want to explore the range of motion potential of what your body can achieve in a structured way that fits your lifestyle and goals.