Flexibility - anyone transformed themselves?! Aiming to touch my toes in 2021

[bytheby]

Pretty please help a girl out.

I am 36 and have never been able to touch my toes. It is my new years resolution! I feel like lack of flexibility is holding me back exercise wise and I know it is only going to get worse if I don't address it.

I have been looking online but I'm struggling to work out what my problem is. I suspect hamstrings but please please enlighten me if you have tips or have transformed yourself. If I try to do the stretch in the attached image my back just doesn't fold forward at all - I can barely reach past my knee. I know everything is connected but, to me, it feels like it is more my pelvis area that is restricting me. Who knows!

A bit about me in case relevant. I have never been into fitness but this year have found my groove and have been doing workouts at home - mainly strength and resistance training - abs are starting to show!
I've never been overweight - getting fit is purely about health for me.

Yoga did this for me - after a few months of regular (every day) practice, I could touch my toes. My hamstrings are still quite tight but I think that's just the way that I'm built.

I do yoga twice a week but it is a class with a great teacher which has moved online. So there is more likelihood of me sticking to it. Presumably we will go offline at some point in the future (though exercising in your own home is quite nice). I can't seem to find the determination to practice on my own from youtube or whatever. I'm almost 70 and can easily touch my toes btw.

I always hate yoga because I am so inflexible gahhh. Vicious circle but perhaps I need to bite the bullet... It just makes me feel a bit disheartened when I can't do it (however soothing the instructor is!).

I also have slight fears about it because I had back pain after attempting to commit to yoga a few years ago (needed steroid injections).

Hmmmmm

@PinkyParrot that's great. You sound like the person I envy in yoga classes I have been to.

People are surprised by me because I look active/fit but then I creak about and stay rigid and generally feel useless

No, but I would be willing to join a support thread for it! I used to be able to get my hands flat on the floor when bending to touch toes (no mean feat for a very short hamstring-ed person) but I have had so many problems with my joints and back I have lost all flexibility. It's making me feel old before my time. I can't bend/twist on one side much thanks to an accident.

@bytheby

I always hate yoga because I am so inflexible gahhh. Vicious circle but perhaps I need to bite the bullet... It just makes me feel a bit disheartened when I can't do it (however soothing the instructor is!).

I also have slight fears about it because I had back pain after attempting to commit to yoga a few years ago (needed steroid injections).

Hmmmmm

I felt exactly the same and was way too embarrassed to go to a class or anything - I did one of Yoga with Adriene's 30 day challenges and found it much better in the solitude of my own home!

What I think I need is a little routine to follow that purely focuses on hamstrings? Then I might be more up for yoga.

If you're not up for yoga there are a few things like this on Youtube

Yoga, yoga, yoga. Yoga with Adriene is quite good, she does 30 day programmes that always make me more flexible by the end (I do her January programmes every year), and I do a regular yoga class at least weekly. At least with Adriene it's in the comfort of your own home, you don't have anyone else to compare yourself against, and you can modify to your heart's content.

Make sure you're adding in plenty of stretching after your normal workouts too.

Yoga! It's the only way.
I am the least flexible person I know. I'm a keen runner (4-6 times a week) and have massively neglected any form of complementary exercise in the last year (I used to use the gym for strength stuff). I have dabbled in yoga, which is always embarassing when the teacher says 'forward fold', and I can't get below a right angle!
I've been doing 30 days of yoga with Adriene (I think it's the first one, from 2015) and I'm really enjoying the slow progression. It's a really well put together programme - different every day, but using the basic yoga principles/poses, so I think some form of improvement will be seen even in the first 30 days.
I'd really recommend her - I think she's great.

Yoga for me. I am naturally flexible but have really stiffened up over the years. Another suggesting Adrienne 30 days of yoga programme. I'm doing well this year and can feel my flexibility improving every session. I also have v tight hamstrings and Pyramid pose really got to them.

My mum is a Pilates devotee and is hugely flexible in her 70s. She does a weekly zoom class

You might prefer Pilates to yoga because there's quite a lot of flexibility stuff but it's not the be all and end all. My instructor is doing online classes now, she's really good at seeing how to adjust things for each person. The fittest person in the group is the least flexible.
Some of the good hamstring exercises use a flex band, you might want to get one.

It sounds like you need to be quite careful about pushing your flexibility. Perhaps try thinking about mobility instead (ex-dancer here) - what do you want flexibility for?

I can touch my toes - get my hands flat on the floor in fact - but why? I do it because my back gets tight, and bending forward from my hips, and thinking about getting my 'sit bones' (the sticky out bits at the back of your pelvis) towards the ceiling, and me head towards the floor, with relaxed, flexed (ie slightly bent) knees really helps stretch out my back in a relaxed non-stressy way.

I can do the splits - but why - actually I don't bother with doing them much, but it's a nice stretch out of my hips.

If your hips get sore - you maybe need to do some stretching of the hip flexors. Go gently and deeply, follow good advice. There's some terrific stuff online, but look for physiotherapists not yoginis stuff in tiny shorts.

Use your breath. Breathe out on the effort. Never do passive stretching unless you're really warmed up - so stretch after a run.

Before a run, mobilise, not stretch.

OP I am similarly inflexible but I've been doing yoga for 8 years and I love it! I enjoy the strength aspect more than the flexibility aspect (I do mostly vinyasa or power yoga) but I see quick improvements in flexibility when I practice regularly.
I'm not keen on Adrienne (she talks a lot and her classes are sooo slow). I would recommend Yoga with Kassandra, also on YouTube.

Hi.. I have a 15 min daily full body stretch which includes hamstrings on my YouTube channel.. theres also a beginners yoga for hips & hamstrings.. Lower back tightness will prevent toe touching as well as hamstring tightness.. find at least 1 or 2 stretches & do them daily for best results if you’re not able to follow a video everyday. Good luck x

This is also my goal for 2021. I found a few simple stretches on a bbc page when I was googling for ideas. I'm going to try stretching every day. Good luck

Think about mobility rather than stretching or flexibility as such.

@bytheby it might not help your overall flexibility but most people who can't touch their toes can if they do this....
Instead of trying to use both hands to touch both toes, bend over and try to touch right toe with left hand then left toe right hand.
As to continue to gently repeat this, you will find you gradually reach lower and lower.
My DH insists he has NEVER been able to touch his toes but now he can.

I can't be dealing with yoga. I've tried it, but it's not for me. All that Inhale / Exhale drives me batty, I'm always doing it wrong and I get stressed trying to get into the poses. And unless someone actually wants to explore yoga, it's pointless recommending it - it's a whole discipline and it's not for everyone.

I much much prefer Flexibility training. I joined r/flexibility on Reddit and they had some good resources in their FAQ (which is in the About section). There are some videos linked about how to learn how to touch your toes.

They're all mad to learn how to do the splits there, just ignore that because they have some great beginners guides on stretching and loosening.

My tip for yoga in normal times is to join a class with a mix of males and females. I'm shockingly inflexible for a female, but don't stand out in a mixed class.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=VVPyAU4l-sw

This is a good beginners stretching video. I think they have other videos for specific areas but I used to really like this one when I started as it's easy and gives you confidence.

(That's one of the ones recommended on r/flexibility)

And this is a 30 day toe touching Challenge also recommended on there:

antranik.org/toe-touching-routine/

But the best way to wreck your back & your hamstrings is just to bend over & try to touch your toes! Please don't do it.

Instead:
Drop your chin to your chest, and let the weight of your head help you roll down your spine, vertebra by vertebra. Suck in your stomach along the way (navel to backbone), and as you roll over, soften your knees. Bring them into as deep a knee bend as you can while keeping the top half of your body rolling forward.

Keep the weight firmly and evenly forward over your feet. Use your hands on the floor to balance you (with knees bent!)

Try to think about your body folding at the hips, and as you roll your torso forward over your knees - think of sending your sit bones (the back of your pelvis, up to the ceiling. Hang there and feel your back stretching out.

If you then want a hamstring stretch, put your palms flat on the floor, with your knees bent, and send your sit bones up to the ceiling y - gently - stretching your knees to as near to straight as you can get without pain.

To develop flexibility, you need to maybe feel some discomfort, but not pain. Do it slowly and gently.

Breathe out as you stretch.

Guys thank you all SO much - life has got in the way so I am only reading all this now. I'm going to take a photo today of day 1 and come back when I have made some progress!