Functional
Flexibility Exercises
What
it is
Functional Flexibility is the ability of the pieces of the
skeleton to freely, easily, and fluidly float through the
ranges of motion the joints and hinges were designed for.
What it isn't
There is something else which looks a lot like Functional
Flexibility. but isn't. I call this something else, which
most yoga modalities produce, contortion-ability. Contortion-ability
comes from over-stretching tendons across joints or hyper-loosening
specific joints.
Yoga practitioners (includes teachers) I've worked with, on
first glance, appear extremely flexible, especially compared
to the normal bloke off the street. Working with them though,
I became aware of a common shared trait among them all. They
could bend themselves in the most amazing ways but when I
addressed them skeletally I found incredible rigidity; lacking
the free, easy, fluid ranges of motion through all the joints
and hinges I've come to recognize as "true, functional
flexibility".
Sure they could cross their feet behind their head and do
back walk-overs (standing, leaning back, placing hands on
floor and kicking up and over, to place feet on floor again),
but one is accomplished by over-stretching tendons and cartilage
through joints, and the other by hyper-loosening a single
vertebral joint in the spine. I've found stiff hip joints,
tight backs, and locked up pelvises on yogis who could cross
their feet behind their head and tight rigid spines (except
in one lumbar joint) on those who can perform a back walk-over.
Looks like flexibility, but is really only contortion-ability,
and ultimately has detrimental effects on the structure.
Conventional
stretching
I believe conventional stretching, as we know it, is rarely
and half-heartedly practiced, with negligible results, because
it doesn't contribute in any holistic, meaningful way to the
structure.
Stretching doesn't lead to functional flexibility anymore
than weight-lifting leads to functional strength.
Conventional stretching is linear and isolated in nature.
Linear and isolated because individual muscles are addressed
on a single plane. The problem with inflexibility is that
the joints and hinges of the skeleton are asymmetrically compromised
/ compressed. As many muscles cross any given joint, stretching
one or two of said muscles contributes negligibly to the problem
at hand; better than nothing but still missing the mark.
The
foundation of functional flexibility lies in the ability of
the pieces of the skeleton to interact inter-dependently with
each other; the spaces between the bones decompressed sufficiently,
and symmetrically capable of free and easy, geometrically
accurate fluid movement. For this to occur the muscles, tendons,
ligaments, and most importantly, the cartilage, must be decompressed,
fluffed-up, separated, and organized; this does not happen
by indiscriminately stretching muscles.
For one thing it's impossible to stretch dense, dehydrated,
disorganized tissue; it needs to be worked by a 3-dimensional
movement of the bones it connects, of the joints and hinges
it crosses.
Comprehensive, and systematic, skeletal range of motion movements
are called for, being infinitely more effective and appropriate
than stretching, in the quest for flexibility.
Danger
As we abuse the body through one-sided repetitive exercise,
or isolated weight training, mobility through the joints and
hinges is diminished. As we ignore available movement through
the joints and hinges, this neglect (like rusty hinges on
a seldom-used gate) diminishes mobility as well.
The cartilage in and around the joints has no fluid flow through
it and is flushed out and fluffed up by movement of the bones
only. As movement through the area diminishes (or ceases!),
the cartilage, which should be like a water-saturated sponge,
begins to dehydrate, becoming dried out and dense, rather
like beef jerky. Over time it loses it's ability to cushion
or allow movement of the bones. It's not hard to notice when
this has happened to someone and perhaps you know someone
like this personally? It hurts to move and so movement is
restricted even further and the process snowballs…
Over-stretching tendons and hyper-loosening joints through
extreme contortion isn't necessary for achieving Functional
Flexibility, and is to be avoided, as it is injurious
to the structure.
Ballet
/ Dance / Gymnastics
These movement modalities can also give the illusion of grace,
fluid movement, and flexibility. Granted, dancers and gymnasts
have greater ranges of mobility than the average person, but
I'm suggesting that it can be refined and taken to another,
deeper level.
Watching (most) dancers and gymnasts with a trained eye, it
can be observed that the movements are not as free as they
are controlled, and it is accomplished with great muscular
efforting as opposed to a skeleton easily floating through
the ranges of motion.
A new way of experiencing the body / helpful images
When the muscles are firing and engaged during movement, there
is a noticeable tension through the structure. What is possible,
and is of an entirely different quality, to move as though
the movement is initiated by the skeleton itself and not moved
around by the muscles. The muscles remain loose on the bones
during movement, allowing there to be space between the bones
(in the joints and hinges). As though the skeleton is wearing
the "muscle-suit" like loose-fitting garments. This
image allows that the muscles are not responsible for creating
movement but simply hold the bones together and protect them.
After all, if I put a skeleton and a muscle chart in front
of you and told you to focus on one or the other as you move,
imagining you are using either muscles or bones to move, which
would be infinitely easier? There are way too many muscles
to consciously, or unconsciously, focus on to initiate movement.
It's extremely easy to imagine initiating movement with the
bones of the skeleton. And it doesn't matter what the scientific
reality is; accepting this conceptual image will change the
quality of your movement and take you one step closer to achieving
Functional Flexibility.
You
also don't need to master the hundreds of yoga postures to
achieve Functional Flexibility. I really don't believe most
people have a need to cross their feet behind their head or
otherwise tie themselves into knots. I've discovered most
folks just want to have a pain-free body which won't hold
them back by limiting what they want to do; whether it's playing
week-end sports, skiing, hiking, or simply picking their kids
(or grandkids) up off the floor without injuring themselves.
Ultimately, that's what Functional Flexibility is all
about.
Functional
Strength is achieved by holistic movement; utilizing the entire
body in an integrated way, not by repetitive, isolated movement
exercises that will pull your skeleton out of alignment. Your
time will be better spent outside engaging in well-rounded
activities than it would be in a stuffy gym, under fluorescent
lighting, struggling with machines having nothing to do with
functional strength.
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