Flexibility and strength can sound like opposites, as if you’re either bendy or strong. In reality, they work closely together. A bit of strength through your range can make touching your toes feel more comfortable and more within reach.

Your body likes range it can control

Your nervous system plays a big part in how far you can stretch. When it senses you can control a position, it tends to let you go further into it. When a position feels unfamiliar or unsupported, it’s more likely to hold you back.

So building strength in the muscles you’re stretching can help your body feel safer at the end of your range.

What research suggests

Studies comparing stretching with strength training have found something interesting. Strength exercises that take your muscles through their full range can improve flexibility about as much as stretching does. Doing both may give you the best of each. You get the extra range from stretching, and the control from strength.

Why it matters beyond the floor

Touching your toes is a great goal, but the bigger win is being able to move comfortably through that range in daily life. Picking up a heavy bag, lifting a child or reaching under the bed all ask you to bend and come back up. Having strength through that range is part of looking after your muscles and joints over time.

Bringing strength into your week

You don’t need a gym. Everyday movements count, like bending from your hips to pick something up and standing back up with control. Later in the pathway, we’ll look at simple strength exercises that work through a full range. For now, it can help to notice that coming up from a fold, slowly and with control, is a strength move in its own right.

What to take away

• Flexibility and strength work together, not against each other.
• Your body tends to let you further into range you can control.
• Strength through a full range can improve flexibility as well as stretching does.
• Coming up slowly from a fold builds control.

‍