Flexibility

Flexibility is important for everyone from the sedentary to the Olympic athlete. It is very relative to a person’s needs and life situations. Flexibility primarily refers to joint mobility and how it is affected by muscles, tendons and ligaments. Some fitness arenas tend to overemphasize stretching to the point that functional strength is lost. A functional range of motion should coincide with improved flexibility, to avoid excess laxity and injury. Because of this, flexibility programs should be accompanied by a strength training program. That being said it is important to understand that increased flexibility should have a degree of control to it, where the associated limbs can move comfortably through an entire range of motion.