Flexibility: Is It Really Important?
By Alphonso Allen


Most professionals agree that flexibility is an important component of fitness and a critical factor in achieving peak physical potential. However, flexibility has often been overlooked or misused. Some runners and weightlifters, for example, stress their cardiovascular or strength training and pay little attention to their flexibility. Athletes and trainers who do stress flexibility often have different systems of flexibility training, and the scientific data is not strong enough to support the value of one over another.

Definition:  flexibility is joint's ability to move freely in every direction, or more specifically, through a full and normal range of motion (ROM). Within each joint, and for each activity, there is as an optimum ROM essential to peak performance. A number of factors can limit joint mobility, including genetic inheritance; the joint structure itself; connective tissue elasticity within the muscles, tendons or skin surrounding a joint; and neuromuscular coordination. Flexibility training minimizes the factors that limit flexibility and helps balance muscle groups that might be overused during physical training sessions or as a result of poor posture.

There are two basic types of flexibility: static and dynamic. Static Flexibility is the ROM about a joint, with little emphasis on speed movement. On the other hand, dynamic flexibility is resistance to motion at the joint and therefore involves speed during physical performance.

The benefits derived from each full, normal ROM are numerous and include the following:
 

1. Increased physical efficiency and performance

2. Decreased risk of injury

3. Increased blood supply and nutrients to joint structures

4. Increased quality and quantity of joint synovial fluid

5. Increased neuromuscular coordination

6. Reduced muscle soreness

7. Decreased risk of low back pain

8. Reduced stress

9. Enhanced enjoyment

10. Improved muscular balance and postural awareness