Hamstrings and Touching Toes

kieranb

well, I can put my palms flat on the ground without much warm up, years ago I used to be able to sit on the ground, legs straight out in scissors formation and bring my forehead to the ground between my legs. Although I haven't done any stretching for years I've always been pretty flexible.

oldwelshman

fidbod wrote:

Ruth,

What is your view on flexibility as an aid to injury prevention?

purely from anedotal evidence, the two most flexible blokes I know at the rugby club are also the most commonly injured, it makes me suspicious of how highly rated flexibility is

I have never heard flexibility prevents injury before.
Warming up and stretching is not the same as being flexible.
warming up and stretching does not preven all injury but minimises muscular injury and with respect to your mates who are flexible and get injured more, they are just unlucky
I am generally wuite flexible, but broke my leg playing rugby so not sure how eing flexible helps there, broke elbow and thumb playing squash, felxibility does not hep there either
Gave up those sports due to injury so touch wood, cycling will be a bit more injury free

liversedge

oldwelshman wrote:

fidbod wrote:

Ruth,

What is your view on flexibility as an aid to injury prevention?

purely from anedotal evidence, the two most flexible blokes I know at the rugby club are also the most commonly injured, it makes me suspicious of how highly rated flexibility is

I have never heard flexibility prevents injury before.
Warming up and stretching is not the same as being flexible.
warming up and stretching does not preven all injury but minimises muscular injury and with respect to your mates who are flexible and get injured more, they are just unlucky
I am generally wuite flexible, but broke my leg playing rugby so not sure how eing flexible helps there, broke elbow and thumb playing squash, felxibility does not hep there either
Gave up those sports due to injury so touch wood, cycling will be a bit more injury free

Make sure your brakes are in good condition then?

FWIW, I recall from a training talk recently that too much flexibility in the ankles is a good way to get injured running - a lack of flexibility here actually helps to stabilise the joints over uneven ground and prevents injury. Not that that is at all relevant to this poll :roll:

Crapaud

BeaconRuth wrote:

Very interesting! 59% of the 61 people who've answered the poll so far can touch the floor. :shock: I wouldn't have guessed that. I wonder how that would compare with a cross-section of the general public? I'm guessing it's a great deal better.

Ruth

At a guess, I would think that, as folk who exercise regularly, we don't have to overcome a spare tyre / distended gut before the hamstrings come into play.

I've always, AFAICR, been able to touch the floor. I've found that streching my quads and calfs has been more useful, in cycling terms, than streching my hamstrings, but I've no idea why.

vermooten

Crapaud wrote:

At a guess, I would think that, as folk who exercise regularly, we don't have to overcome a spare tyre / distended gut before the hamstrings come into play.

Ummm.. yeah .... right....

Captain Fagor

"To ankles" for me.

My flexibility is shyte and I know it! I have bought a few good books on stretching. I even read some of them, but can I be bothered stretching regularly? No.