We all know that flexibility is extremely important when it come to dance and gymnastics, however, not many people realize how important flexibility is when sports are concerned.
Flexibility doesn't necessarily mean that you can stretch your leg as far as the girls in the picture. The definition of flexibility is "the quality of bending easily without breaking." This means that your body should be able to bend easily without any tearing, popping, or breaking of joints, ligaments, and muscles.
Now do you see how important that can be when you think of sports? Imagine if a baseball player didn't have flexibility in their shoulders. Swinging a bat or throwing a ball could tear the ligaments and permanently injure their shoulder.
As an athlete, good flexibility is an important aspect of overall physical fitness and injury prevention. If an athlete is flexible, they are less likely to injure themselves when jumping, sliding, throwing, dodging, etc. They will also have a shorter recovery time if any injuries do occur.
It is important for everyone to have a certain level of flexibility in order to maintain healthy joints. The best ways to prevent inflexibility is by stretching before and after your practice and games. Do a light warm-up to bring blood flow into your muscles, then stretch holding each for about 4 seconds. After practice, hold your stretches for at least 30 seconds to remove lactic acid and to increase muscular flexibility.
Test your flexibility by sitting on the floor with your legs in front. Put your feet flat on the side of a step or block and reach forward. The average person should be able to touch the step or block. Increasing flexibility can take time and can be achieved through massage and stretching.
Make sure you are listening to your body, warming up and stretching properly, and tending to injuries before they get worse. Try some of the stretches that I have posted using the tag, Flexibility. Best of luck with your flexibility journey!
Until next time,
Amanda
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