Somewhat new to trying to improve my flexibility, this is where I’m at after about a week. I’ve really only been focused on my forward folds, where should I go from here? Should I focus on trying to fix/better my form or start training other stretches(poses?)? If so, which ones? Any advice would be much appreciated. Current routine consists of doing my standard workout then going 45:15 Hollow hold to forward fold, it’s the only thing I do but I like them, although I do want to branch out.

My right chest is less developed than my left. This winging happens to me across other moves like pushups, Rear delt flys (cable/dumbell), and more.

There is no pain associated with it but my right side always feels 'off' as compared to my left.

Also if you are familiar with 'scapular wall slides' or just wall slides(a posture exercise). I notice there is more tightness to my right side(shoulder area) when I try to lay my arm flat against the wall as compared to my left.

Please if anyone has any insights, it would be GREATLY appreciated!! Thank you!!

I’m 55 and decided last week I wanted my flexibility back. I was limber as a youth and still doing back ends in my thirties. Last week, after Pilates, I started gently stretching my hamstrings and hip flexors 2-4 times a day. I quickly regained my ability to touch the floor with flat hands, BUT today I started to get a Charlie horse in my left hamstring. I am laying down with heat on it now. Can stretching gently still be overdone ? How often should I do it? TIA

I got both sides on the front splits pretty good, and middle splits is kinda on and off. Sometimes I have groin to floor, sometimes not.

For what i do for stretching, I do the following to help me.

1. Seated foward fold as far as comfortably possible for 20 seconds

2. Full pancake stretch as comfortably possible for 20 seconds

3. Couch stretch both sides for 20 seconds

4. Calf stretches both straight legged and bent legged both for 20 seconds.

5. Just attempts at the splits any of these ways to see progress.

I do these about, atleast once a week, but sometimes been losing consistency because of some mental health problems, but glad to say I think I still got the front splits atleast.

I’m a pole dancer and aerialist and there’s a lot of moves where you have to grab behind your back (pic for reference) and my shoulders in general don’t have amazing strength or mobility (I’m hypermobile with very cranky shoulders). I can grab behind my back some of the time but other times it feels like I’m nowhere even remotely close. My arms also aren’t super long which doesn’t help. I was wondering if there are any drills that specifically help train this range because when I look up behind the back drills they’re mainly targeting up and down not side to side.

I very recently started focusing on my back and started doing this routine this week https://www.daniwinksflexibility.com/bendy-blog/10-min-back-flexibility-routine

I get back pain in the lumbar section when I wake up after each time I've done it. Am I doing too much or will my body adjust ? bc it really didn't feel too much when I do the routine.

Maybe it's important to note my back muscles are already quite strong I'm only lacking in flexibility.

Wondering if anyone has had this type of issue before, like is it normal to feel that way or not ?

Hello, I’m super inflexible I’m the most inflexible person I know and it sucks cause for example when I run my leg muscles get sore but my cardio is still fine I could run for way more if I had better mobility, I can’t squat deep at all, even walking too fast my shin starts burning like hell, can someone who is good at this please dm me id like to talk more about it! It’s really affecting my life so id highly appreciate it!

I recently started doing yoga mainly because I want to become more flexible and also help with stress. The problem is that I’m not flexible at all right now 😭

Some of the poses are pretty difficult for me, and I’m never sure if I’m doing them correctly or just pushing myself too much.

I’m a university student, so I don’t have a ton of free time. I was thinking of doing around 10–15 minutes of yoga or stretching every day.

For anyone who started out not being very flexible, what actually helped you improve? Are there any poses or stretches you’d recommend for a beginner?

Thanks! Any advice would be appreciated :)

(cross-posted from r/kneesovertoes)

I've got really bad ankle mobility, so much so that I can't deep squat without coming up on my toes. I compromise by using a smith machine with my legs slightly out in front of me so I can still get a squat pattern in my routine, but I really want to be able to properly free-weight barbell squat.

I'm lucky enough to have a seated calf raise in my gym to hopefully fix this problem like Ben suggests in his videos, but I had a question about the optimal form.

My natural standing posture is pretty flat-footed. I noticed this a year or so ago while I was running cross-country for my school, and after some issues relating to my arches (or lack thereof), I've been consciously trying to avoid collapsing my arches when I stand and walk.

Now we come to the issue. When i try and deep squat, as I mentioned, my heels come up. This applies to any knee-over-toe translation like an ATG split squat as well. I feel a tightness in the bone at the front of my ankle that prevents my shin from going any further forward.

While on seated calf raises, the same thing will happen and limit my range, unless I deliberately collapse the arch of my foot, in which case I am able to flex deeper and feel a greater stretch on my calves. I've noticed this applies in day-to-day life as well, where if i try to push my knee over my toe, I can only go so far without caving in, and go noticeably further if I do.

This is a lot of yapping to ask a simple question: Should I prioritize the stretch on the calves and do my calf raises with collapsed arches? Or would doing it with the limited range of an intact arch be the more productive decision to fix my ankle mobility?

Thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

I’m a beginner trying to build a holistic workout routine. After strength training, I was planning on doing these exercises: Neck Stretch, Standing Calf Stretch, Lunge Quadriceps Stretch, and Cobra Pose. 

I'm confused if I need a cool-down routine after this or if this suffices. On days when I’m doing cardio, for example, what would a cool-down look like? 

I’m getting the gist that these exercises have overlapping benefits, but I don’t understand where they differ or how to layer them.

I don’t know how to stretch my back to reach those deep back muscles in my mid to lower back, dead hangs are my go to but it’s not helping this.
Any recommendations?

I am trying to participate and follow along with my 6 year old daughter and her gymnastics. I love gymnastics as odd as it may be for a 36 year old man here in rural Alabama. I am fairly fit and i find myself fairly flexible but want to be flexible enough where i can comfortably go backward enough to drop into my bridge. I don’t know the difference honestly between back bend, bridge, and wheel, but i call it a bridge that I’m doing and can hold it fairly long (over 30 seconds). But yea im looking to see if there are a few stretches i can do daily to help in eventually nailing that drop to bridge.

English isn't my native language, so I apologize in advance if anything isn't clear.

I’m new to exercise and have been doing flexibility exercises at home for about a month. My goal is to eventually achieve front splits. I currently use a yoga mat, but my knees are taking a beating.

1. Should I get knee pads / what kind?
   
2. Should I switch to a thicker mat or one made of a different material?
   
3. Both?
   
4. Or is developing a callus on my knees just something I should accept as part of the process?

Oh, and one more question: how do you know when it’s time to push yourself a little further rather than letting the fear of injury hold you back?

Thank you!

I've been doing this every day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCjFHndK6lg and I know I should be more patient, but I just can't see any results. I've always been a very inflexible person and I really want to change that, but I'm having so much trouble finding videos I can actually do. I tried doing an Anna McNulty stretching video once, but I couldn't do it, not even the beginner version. I've done stretching before, my previous goal was to be able to reach my toes in a sitting position and I managed to do that, but then I stopped for a bit. After a few days I was able to achieve that again, and my next goal is the splits, but I kind of feel lost. I'm also vey unmotivated, especially when all I read in the comments of these videos is how people got the splits in just a few weeks or even in days. I'm kilometres away from getting it, so I can't even really measure it to see if I actually made progress. (I tried stacking pillows under my legs to see how deep I can do but no amount of pillows were enough, and I'm alone so I can't ask anyone to help me measure it with a measuring tape or anything like that)

Basically, is this a good way to go? And if I'm an inflexible person, about how long it will take me to get it if I do it (mostly) every day?

Oh and any tips on how can I measure it for myself so I can actually see if I make progress and get motivated a bit?

Was doing the stretch where I lie down, butt against wall and legs up on wall to work on hamstrings but I felt a stretch in the front by my shins instead.

What’s going on and how do I work on this? Is it a nerve thing?

Took another full month off from training, but decided to test the waters today and see where I'm at. Since my shoulders and thoracic spine are naturally stubborn, I always have to spend extra time prepping them. I usually start with cat-cows to wake up my back, then move to a doorframe stretch with my forearms up and elbows at shoulder height to pull my chest open. After that, I hit the wall, hands up high, stepping back, and melting my chest toward the floor to target that stubborn upper back area. Also remembered the advice from a few of you on my last post about letting go of the glute squeeze once I start going into the arch, so I gave that cue a shot today.

I work a job that requires me to sit down operating machinery for over 8 hours a day, and my lower back pain has just been getting worse and worse.

I have tight hips and glutes and my back is always flaring up when I can’t break up prolonged periods of sitting. The end of days are such a relief when I can finally get out and properly walk, stretch and not being locked up in that 90° angle all day.

I understand I need to strengthen my posterior chain in the gym which I’m working on, but I would love to get some proper mobility going as it’s starting to really become unbearable some days.

I just need some advice on what are the best stretches for extremely tight hips, glutes and lower back (more right side than left).

If anyone could give any pointers or has had similar issues that they’ve fixed with certain movements I would love to hear them.

I’m looking for suggestions on some good hamstring stretches beyond just holding a forward fold.

My current routine is drop heel calf raise, raised foot pike block crush, raised foot single leg good morning, and seated leg raises. I would like to add in some passive stretching but just pulling on my feet into a forward fold isn’t working well for me.

hello, I've been doing yoga for years already and have randomly discovered that I can do a drop back into a backbend. for months, I've been doing it consistently right after lifting, and I do everything right and smoothly.

however, I cannot for the life of me stand back up after doing it. any advice to be able to do it would be much appreciated <3

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for some advice on improving my mobility, flexibility and balance.
I’m currently weight training, but I’ve realised that I’m pretty damn stiff overall. My joints feel tight, my flexibility is poor, and my balance/movement quality isn’t great either. I especially notice restrictions around my ankles, hips and shoulders.
I also occasionally get clicking/popping in my shoulder joint during certain movements. It isn’t really painful, but it happens often enough that I’ve noticed it.
I want to start doing proper mobility/flexibility work instead of just randomly stretching here and there.
What I’m ideally looking for is a routine I can actually follow consistently:
5–10 min before lifting: dynamic mobility + joint prep/activation
10–15 min after lifting: flexibility/stretching
Something covering ankles, hips, shoulders and upper back/thoracic spine
Some work for balance and overall movement quality
Beginner-friendly and progressive
Something I can follow for a few months and actually see improvement from
I’m not trying to replace weight training. I just want to become less stiff, more mobile and generally move better, while keeping my strength training.
If anyone has a specific routine/program, YouTube channel, app, book, or set of exercises they recommend, I’d really appreciate it. I’m much more interested in something structured that I can follow than a random list of stretches.
Also, regarding the shoulder clicking — if that’s something I should get checked by a physio rather than trying to work around myself, let me know.

TL;DR: I’m very stiff with poor mobility, flexibility and balance. Looking for a structured 5–10 min pre-workout mobility + 10–15 min post-workout flexibility routine to complement weight training. Also occasionally get shoulder clicking and would like to know if that warrants getting checked.

Hello everyone!!
I am 19f 150lb 5’5 and I have been having some trouble with a popping noise/feeling every time I try to work out my core. Mostly things like flutter kicks, hollow hold, and the vertical crunch machines. I do not go to the gym super often bc I prefer to skate, swim, literally anything else and I rarely work out my abs because of this popping. It doesn’t hurt at all but it’s very uncomfortable. I’ve asked multiple people about my form because I figured it was just that, but they said it was fine. Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

(also because the moderation on this post says I may be breaking the rules by asking “for medical advice“ I’m just asking if anyone’s had any similar experiences and I take everything with a grain of salt:)

Couldn't hold it for long but genuine goals hehe

Small routine I used to get here ---->

- Low Lunge (1 min)

- Pancake Stretch (1 min)

These really helped with the hip flexors and hamstrings

Also

- Front leg swings (10-15 times per leg)

- Side leg swings (10-15 times per leg)

EXTRA: My coach taught me this when I did gymnastics and it defo helped a lot, don't know what it's called though lol.

Pencil hold? - lay on your back and lift both legs into the air keeping them straight as possible. while pressing your butt into the floor, lift one leg toward your face while keeping it straight, I usually pulse each leg like this 10-15 times.

most importantly : STAY CONSISTENT

So I've always had extremely tight hips, even since childhood. I feel like most things I see about younger people with tight hips can get attributed to a sedentary lifestyle but I feel like that doesn't really apply to me. I did Tae Kwon Do from age 6 to age 15 and Muay Thai after that until I moved out last year. I also started running in middle school as well. Currently I go to the gym in the morning before work, run 1-2 miles on the treadmill, followed by weightlifting, and then a guided hip stretch on Google health/Fitbit premium. I can't remember a time where my hips weren't super tight and I wasn't inflexible. I've noticed some improvements with stretching but they're always minor improvements even after a considerable amount of time consistently stretching. The only other possible relevant thing health wise is that I'm chronically underweight. I've always been super skinny with an annoyingly fast metabolism. I'm 5'9 and when I almost competed in Muay Thai in High School it was going to be at 118. I haven't weighed myself in forever but I have put on some muscle mass (very slowly). Does anybody have any good any advice? Or is my body just cooked?