How old are you and can you touch your toes?

[ParisinFrance]

58

No!

Yes. 53 with short legs

Isn’t flexibility partly genetic and innate? My great aunt could do the splits in her 70’s, but was always flexible. Women tend to be more flexible than men. I can touch my toes but always could - 52

40s. No, I never have. Well, maybe finger tips at a real stretch in my early teens or something. Slim and sporty teen dd can't either. I am otherwise v flexible though.

My dad is 75 and can. He can probably still put his hands flat on the floor. He's slimmer than he's ever been nowadays, but even in his 60s with a definite beer belly he still could get his hands flat, I just don't understand it! 😆

46 and yes. But can only get them flat on the floor at the end of a yoga/ Pilates session as I have rather tight hamstrings.

Easily. Early 60s.

I can do that reverse prayer thing too (that I only heard of today).

51 - not straight out of bed but after a few stretches, yes.

I never could, even as a child.

I've got long legs for my height, but not particularly long arms. But also I'm not very flexible.

@Dontmesswithmyhead yes I think genetics has a fair bit to do with it. Lots of people in my family have problems with loose ankle ligaments, over three generations (eg my nephew's party trick is turning his feet entirely inwards to 90 degrees and walking like that) and I reckon I must just have loose thigh ligaments. I'm not hypermobile in other ways.

Nearly 66 and yes, easily.
I can also put my hands flat on the floor.

66, yes I can. It's part of my stretching routine at the gym.

63, short all over, yes easily, hands on floor.

I don't like sitting cross legged, because ankles feel awkward- I'd much rather put the soles of my feet together (butterfly pose maybe? )

Can't do splits though.

I'd never heard of 'reverse prayer', just looked it up...is that supposed to be difficult? ... more usefully I can scratch all of my own back.

Garlicfest · 09/08/2024 02:47

Bloody hell, I had to check that this means what I thought! No way I could ever have done that, even in my super fit & flexible phases. Too much rib cage between the shoulders. Or not enough arm, or something.

I can get my hands together, but can't rotate my elbows enough to point my fingers up.

47 and working on it.
I couldn't do it as a child either. Hyper mobility means very tight muscles compensate for wobbly joints.
I'm learning that the pain of stretching is not damaging anything.
Any stretching, warm up type exercises were terrifying as a child because I didn't understand the pain.

I can touch my toes but my dh cannot. Looking at him, it is not the length of his arms or legs. It is because his back cannot bend forward. If he is sitting on the floor with legs straight and extended, his back stays about 45 degrees to the horizontal however much he tries to force it down.

I can fold up like a suitcase closing and touch my knees with my nose. However, I cannot do the reverse bending backwards. I longed to be like a ballerina where the back bends backwards at the waist to 90% of the pelvis, like a dying swan. Looked so good. Nah, I'd have to break my back first.

Nothing to do with back flexibility. It’s the muscles down the back of the legs and whether they can stretch enough to allow the pelvis to rotate and the upper body fold forward.

when you fold and put your knees to your nose your back is straight. You bend from the hips.

47, yes with a bit of effort but normally quite easily, I have just had a 4 week break from my martial arts class