How To Improve Your Flexibility Using Active Isolated Stretching
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I’ve always had tight hamstrings. It doesn’t matter how consistent I have been over the years with stretching, I could never seem to make any noticeable progress…
… until I discovered “Active Isolated Stretching.”
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Don’t get me wrong, I still think traditional static stretching is still a great way of improving your flexibility and should be incorporated into your fitness routine. However for those muscles that don’t seem to respond as well as you would like, then Active Isolated Stretching might be worth a try.
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What is Active Isolated Stretching?
Active Isolated Stretching works using the principle of “reciprocal inhibition.” This refers to the fact that when one muscle is contracted, the muscle on the other side of the joint is relaxed. For example if you tense your bicep, your tricep will be relaxed.
Using this approach, you can trick your body into relaxing the muscle you are trying to stretch and then using a towel or a rope, you can increase the range of motion at the joint.
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Active Isolated Hamstring Stretch
This is the stretch that I used to first start making some serious progress with my hamstring flexibility.
Basically you start by looping a towel or rope around your foot. Next actively lifting your leg off the ground as far as you can (without pulling on the towel/rope). By doing this you are activating your quads, hip flexors and abs and because of reciprocal inhibition, your hamstrings are in a relaxed state.
Once you get to the end of your range of motion, you then breath out and pull on the towel/rope to get that little bit extra range of motion. Unlike traditional static stretching, you only hold this position for a couple of seconds. Your brain then remembers this new range of motion and hopefully you can start improving your flexibility at the joint.
I usually do 8-10 reps of the stretch on each leg and that seems to work quite well. Ideally you can do Active Isolated Stretching at the end of your workout (mix it in with your static stretching) or you can also do it any time on a daily basis if your muscles need some extra work.
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Active Isolated Shoulder & Triceps Stretch
This is another good one that might be worth a try to improve your shoulder range of motion…
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- Do 8-10 reps each arm
- Make sure you exhale as you pull the towel/rope
- Don’t try and pull too far – no more than an extra 10% range of motion
Hopefully you have found these Active Isolated Stretches helpful.
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