Please help me with flexibility!

[JessieMcJessie]

I have never ever been flexible. I have never been able to touch my toes and I remember being utterly bemused in the 80s and 90s when exercise routines would involve that thing where you spread your legs out in a V, grab your toe and lower your head down to your knee. At my maximum flex I still look like I am sitting upright! Any Scots on here will recognise the description "stechy"

For a while I was fairly cardio fit (ran a half marathon once) but I let that slide about 5 years ago and am just about to embark on a plan to improve my fitness again, but this time I'd really like to prioritise improving my flexibility as well as my cardio fitness. Generally I stick to running and swimming. Does anyone have any recommendations for a plan to make me flexible? It would need to be a total beginner approach as I am almost off the scale inflexible. Please don't say yoga, I tried it once and had real trouble with balancing and not having enough upper body strength. Just felt shaky and dizzy by the end.

Thanks!

start slow and go with quantity over quality regular gentle stretching is a good start and resistance bands with a resistance band training book would probably be a good idea, I just bought a set for a friend and for £15 I think it's pretty good value. It comes with a small booklet with some stretching ideas.

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Please don't say yoga, I tried it once and had real trouble with balancing and not having enough upper body strength

That was the wrong yoga class then (or, possibly, just the wrong teacher...). I would definitely give it another go, and maybe try a few classes until you find one you're happy with. A beginners' yoga class will be much more about standing poses so upper body strength shouldn't be an issue; and the teacher ought to help you with balance.

Have you tried foam rolling? You can get them for a tenner on Amazon, and it's great for releasing and softening.