Stretching does not either increase or reduce strength, power or speed but power and flexibility do have an oppositional relationship in that the more muscle you have the more difficult it is to be flexible. However if you consider power-lifters or gymnasts it is very clear that you can be strong and powerful with good flexibility.
To improve flexibility you should stretch every day. You should start with a warm up that elevates your heart rate and gets your joint limbered up. For left and right splits kicks forwards and backwards, bird-pickers, hitch-kicks, jumping between alternate left and right lunges and split jumps would be good. For box splits jumping jacks, star jumps, ice-skaters, kicks to the side and straddle jumps would be good. Not necessarily all of those, just a few minutes of energetic activity incorporating some smilar movement patterns.
Then you would do preliminary stretches which target the same muscles as splits but not all of them at once. For L/R splits knee down lunges, knee down heel/calf stretch and swan/pigeon pose are the best. For box splits the best stretches are sumo squats, frog with your knees bent 90 degrees and your thighs are parallel (not with your feet touching and legs making a diamond as for improving turnout in ballet), and japana where you sit in straddle and reach forwards to ty to get your chest on the floor without rounding your back or letting your knees roll in. Then the actual splits themselves.
In all stretches you need to be working in the zone where you are challenging your range of motion, i.e. past comfort but before real pain. The phrase "no pain, no gain" does not apply to improving flexibility. You are aiming to train your muscles to accomodate an increased range of motion but if you push too far not only do you risk injury (which will certainly hamper your flexibility) but you instead train your muscles that the range of motion is painful and dangerous and to be resisted. Stretching should be gradual and controlled so use your hands for support and balance (with props if necessary.)
You need to hold the stretch at a point of discomfort until you relax into it. With passive stretching this typically takes 30 to 40 seconds. You can speed things up using PNF stretching where you inhale, tense against the stretch, then exhale and relax. Whichever method you use you can do a few cycles but you get diminshing returns quite quickly so more then two or three cycles becomes pointless. Holding a stretch at the same point after you have relaxed into it is also pointless because you are no longer challenging your range of motion. This means that you will spend less than two minutes on each stretch and can probably get done inside half an hour even if you work all three splits. You could also only work one type of split in a stretching session and have several short stretching sessions through the day.
At least four times a week for trying to increase your flexibility. If you just want to maintain how flexible you already are then you can stretch less than that.
When you stretch something try to do it in increments of at least 10 seconds, but I suggest doing it for 30 seconds for better results. Do three sets of these increments for each stretch you want to become more flexible in
Hi I do stretching exercises everyday as i could. To improve your flexibility try the split. If you can't try raising your legs against the wall then stretch. You can also do it on the floor, sit on the floor the spred your legs as further as you can then bend your back forward.
Improving flexibity wont decrease your strength. It will help you increase it.
To get a better result you should stretch every single day, twice a day but you must make sure you're PUSHING your limits, make them as high as possible. Also, you will know if you're improving if your feeling the pain because as they always say no pain no gain.
I don't see a limitation for flexibily. You can stretch your body as much as you want. Also remember something. The more you strech the more you loss power and speed
Hi. i wanna be flexible. how many hours shall i do exersices ??? and how often?? 2 times a week???
