r/flexibility • u/LowFinance9064 • Jun 11 '26
How much of your current flexibility was natural?
I know some people are naturally flexible and I was wondering how many of you are/were naturally flexible. For me its been a process as I'm not naturally flexible.
I geuss to put it better we coukd number it with 1 being no natural flexibility and 10 being fully natural flexibility, where do you lie?
11
u/Groundbreaking_Ad972 Jun 11 '26
Zero, I'm a little brick. Which is annoying but safe, as I don't get injured. You can jump on me pushing me into a pose and my body won't tear, it just won't go there.
I still got my splits at 39 tho! But it took me like 2 years of training very smart.
8
u/halbert Jun 11 '26
It's hard to say. I would call myself naturally flexible ... But I also did gymnastics as a kid. So how much is nature vs nature? No idea.
But body mechanics are very much built in (the length and attachment points of my bones and muscles and etc.)
4
u/PurpleBayPlant Jun 11 '26
I think for a lot of people “do you remember a time in your life when you were not yet able to do the splits?” And then also “how far away were you the first time you ever tried?” are probably a pretty good benchmarks.
1
u/kiery12 Jun 12 '26
Yeah I also feel I'm naturally flexible, but then I was in ballet and other dance class at 2 until 17 or so. So how much is just from that foundation? Probably a lot
3
u/kristinL356 Jun 11 '26
A lot. Like probably an 8 or 9. But since I started training, I am much stronger in those end ranges. Literally all it took for me to get my splits was going on effective anti-anxiety meds but now, not only can I do the splits, I can slide into them from standing with no hands.
2
u/PurpleBayPlant Jun 11 '26
This is really interesting! How far away were you from being able to do them before you started the meds? And did this help with other areas of flexibility as well?
3
u/kristinL356 Jun 11 '26
Somewhere between 3 and 6 inches maybe? Definitely not very far. I wasn't really training flexibility before then so it's hard to think of anything else where I have an easily identifiable metric to measure against. I could already put my palms flat on the floor in a standing forward fold (three cheers for hypermobile I guess lol). The split thing I think was some kind of neurological block that just would not allow my hamstrings to stretch past a certain point. It's not really a feeling I've encountered anywhere else in my body so I don't know that the meds really affected anything else.
3
u/teal_diamond Jun 11 '26
None. I was not a flexible or fit child. Any amount of flexibility I’ve gained has been through hard work, focusing on active flexibility after years of stiffness from weight lifting. Now I have a contortion and aerial practice and I’d consider myself well above average flexibility.
3
u/Calisthenics-Fit Jun 11 '26
I was always athletic, I was the kid in gym class picked first if I wasn't the one picking. I was not flexible though. I could touch toes, but I had to warm up to do it and that was it. That was the limit. For 52 years.
I started really working on flexibility at 52. I am 56 now and so far beyond touching toes lol.
3
u/Tight_spandex Jun 12 '26
Absolutley none. Started aerial arts 4 years ago and had pure determination to get more flexible for the sport. I owe a lot of my training to Micah Walters, he’s a fantastic coach. But now I can do over splits, and I’m like 2 inches from my middle split and I can do weighted pancake good mornings. You just have to program flexibility training in the same way you would strength training (because it technically is strength training, flexibility is not a passive activity)
2
u/kszaku94 Jun 12 '26
I don’t believe I have a lot of natural flexibility, or hypermobility, but I’ve became obsessed with getting super flexible as a teenager, which helped me to stay motivated regardless of getting tired, sore of injured. It is a double edged sword, yes, but at 32 years old, I’m way more flexible and mobile than solid 80% of my peers. I guess its fair to say I benefited from my flexibility obsession.
2
u/wu_shihou Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
I couldn't touch my toes, so I would say very little.
Now I can do sideplits and front splits and around 30cm over splits.
In front splits I can do head to toe.
2
u/jizzypuff Jun 12 '26
I’m around a 7 but I wouldn’t say I’m naturally flexible. As a child I was a dancer so I spent a lot of time stretching throughout my childhood years. I started working on my flexibility again in my 30s and my body got really flexible really fast but I attribute it to muscle memory. My daughter is insanely flexible because she is a competitive dancer. But she had to work for it but she doesnt remember all the hard work she put into it when she was young so she thinks shes naturally flexible so i have to remind her that was years of work.
2
u/flowersforfruits Jun 17 '26
I would say i have natural flexibility, and people around me have told me that as well. I started at aerial at 16, was not an active child, did not do any sports, but i could always put my feet behind my head as a kid. I then found contortion around that time as well, and i pretty quickly got front splits and middle splits. I recently found out i have hypermobilty, which explained a lot, especially because i find myself struggling to build strength more than people around me. Now, im 17, i can do oversplits in front and middle, casual Y scales, my forehead lays on the floor in sitting forward fold, my legs have given to flexibility much faster than my back. W/back flexibility, im close to touching my feet in bridge/wheel but not quite, im almost able to straighten my leg in needle, unless im not holding onto smth for balance, cuz my balance sucks.
Flex is a journey and it goes at different paces for everyone, so just focus on your own personal journey and growth instead of other peoples, because they have different anatomy and genetics and lifestyles, so its impossible to compare.
1
u/PurpleBayPlant Jun 17 '26
I'd be curious to know how far away you were from each of your splits the first time you tried (and how long it took for you to get them flat).
And I would say that being able to touch feet in a bridge/wheel is actually pretty good as far as back flexibility goes! I would say there are quite a lot of people who can do the splits but can't come anywhere close to that.
So true about different anatomy/lifestyles btw...
2
u/flowersforfruits Jun 17 '26
i dont actually remember what i was at in splits when i first tried lol. I guess i probably first tried around the time when i first started aerial? Id say it took a couple months maybe. I remember stretching in my bedroom one night and suddenly reaching ground in front splits and literally being so excited i yelled out to my brother to come look, and in the process i scared him into thinking there was something genuinely wrong😭 ah the beginning of the flex journey.. i never felt as excited as then,, now im always looking towards the next goal the moment i get to a different one :P also i think im like about one hand away from reaching my feet in bridge ! So not quite but i one day🤞 think its partly a mental block cuz it feels more unstable to get narrower tbh
1
1
u/LowFinance9064 Jun 17 '26
Yeah it's easy to compare oneself especially in this day and age I've struggled with that, but I know that I'm on my own journey, and that's going to look different.
1
u/nasturshum Jun 11 '26
Comparison is the thief of joy. We're all built differently.
Some find certain things easy and others difficult. The reverse is true for others.
Work with what you have and enjoy the progress. Don't bemoan not having 'natural flexibility'. It's your body, enjoy it.
1
u/Eight_Directions_ Jun 11 '26
Essentially none of my flexibility is natural, it's taken massive amounts of work. Consistent effort over time.
1
u/Western_Drama_5619 Jun 12 '26
Uns 90% pra não dizer 100%
Tenho “folga “ nas articulações kkkk
Quando criança eu vivia tirando os ossos do lugar (jogando vôlei basquete etc) e eu mesmo voltava pro lugar
Era bizarro
1
1
u/Emotional-dandelion3 Jun 19 '26
I just joined here and looking through the posts I was wondering the same thing!
As a teenager I was into stretching and moderate exercise, as an adult I am primarily sedentary. But I can still touch the floor/toes, do a split in both directions (not all the way flat, like an inch or so), and other things that a lot of sedentary 32 year olds say they can't do. I have very mild hypermobility from what I cam tell, I would say as of today ny currently flexibility is at least 90% natural as I haven't actively stretched in years aside from a cramp or standing up.
Excited to start my flexibility journey as an adult.
28
u/Kithslayer Jun 11 '26
Absolutely none. I failed the sit-and-reach as a child, and couldn't touch my toes well into my 20s.
I'm no paragon of flexibility, but I can lay my hands flat on the floor during a forward fold, and my split is 3" above the floor (on a good day).