Modern research shows how long, intensely and often you need to stretch to improve your flexibility

Can you reach out and touch your toes without bending your knees? Can you reach both arms above your head? If this sounds like a struggle, you may lack flexibility.

Flexibility is the ability to move a joint through it full range of motion. It helps you do most sports activities and can prevent muscle injuries. And since most daily activities require some flexibility (such as bending or twisting), this will assist you maintain functional independence as you get older.

Although there are many types reachingstationary stretching is most often. It involves positioning a joint to stretch the muscles and holding it still for a specified period of time – usually 15 to 60 seconds. An example would be to stand in front of a chair, place one foot on the chair and straighten your knee to stretch your hamstrings.

Unchanging stretching is widely used to improve flexibility. However, there are no clear recommendations on the optimal amount required. Our new research you’ve checked how long, how challenging and how often you need to stretch to improve your flexibility – it’s probably less than you expect.

Data evaluation

Our research team has spent the past year collecting data from hundreds of studies conducted on thousands of adults around the world. We analyzed 189 studies involving over 6,500 adults.

Studies compared the effect of a single session or multiple sessions of stationary stretching on one or more flexibility scores compared to people who did not stretch.

How long?

We have found that holding the stretches for about four minutes (total) in one session is optimal for immediate improvements in flexibility. A little longer and there will be no improvement.

To improve your flexibility permanently, it looks like you need to stretch your muscles longer – about ten minutes a week to see the greatest improvement. But it doesn’t have to happen all at once.

How challenging?

You can think of stretching as complex when you feel pain, or straightforward when the stretch you feel is not uncomfortable.

The good news is how challenging you stretch doesn’t matter – both challenging stretching (stretching to the point of discomfort or pain) and straightforward stretching (stretching below the point of discomfort) improve flexibility equally.

How often?

If you want to improve your flexibility, it doesn’t matter how often you stretch each week. It’s vital to spend a maximum of ten minutes a week on each muscle you stretch.

For example, you can stretch each muscle for a little longer than one minute a day or five minutes twice a week.

The amount of time you should spend stretching will ultimately depend on how many muscles you need to stretch. If you are less adaptable, you will probably need to spend more time considering that you will have more “tight” muscles to stretch compared to a more adaptable person.

Can anyone improve their flexibility?

Encouragingly, it doesn’t matter what muscles you stretch, how venerable you are, what gender you are, whether you’re a couch potato or an elite athlete – anyone can improve their flexibility.

Unchanging stretching can be done anywhere and anytime. And you don’t need any equipment. To relax, you can stretch while watching your favorite TV show, at the office, or after walking your dog. It’s a great way to start and end the day.

Although the exact stretches needed will depend on which muscles are “tight”, examples of some very common stretches include:

• place one foot on the bench and bend forward at the waist, keeping the knee straight to stretch the hamstrings
• bending your knee and holding your ankle against your buttock to stretch your quadriceps muscles
• reaching up to one arm, bending the elbow stretch your triceps muscles.

However, the best advice is to see a qualified healthcare professional, such as a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist, who can assess you and prescribe you a list of stretching exercises tailored to your individual needs.

As you can see, gaining more flexibility is not too complex.