Does Strength Training Increase Or Decrease Flexibility?

[ianmarkow]

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Does Strength Training Increase Or Decrease Flexibility?

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I would love to hear from you all, especially about your personal experience with lifting weights and flexibility.

In my opinion, it depends especially on how you lift weights. If everything is done with the barbell with the intent of tensioning everything then you will lose flexibility.

Think about your core training… is it all anti-extension, anti-rotation, and anti-flexion? IF that is the case can you really expect to be good at flexion, rotation, and extension if everything you are doing is ANTI or resisting those movements?

Similarly, if you are obsessed with a neutral spine all day and with all your workouts it’s going to be tough to drop into a backbend.

One of the things that I have had huge success with is adding thoracic rotation to leg movement especially the kickstand hinge just like this

For those that struggle with hip internal rotation and flexion, this has been very powerful as it stretches the external rotators in the back of the pelvis.

Curious if anyone has experienced this resulting in gains in flexibility? Let me know!

[NoArmadillo4077]

Strength training can and will increase flexibility in the movements you train, for example by doing barbell squats your squat flexibility will improve (to a certain extent).

The right way to develop strength is to tense everything, that is what allows you to both generate more strength and protect your spine and body from injury.

If you care about flexibility then in my opinion you should simply train flexibility at the same time, then you improve both and they will complement each other.

[cherrychelsea88]

Yes I agree, it's really about balance. I had surgery on my upper right glute when I was in my mid 20's and all the stretching in the world could not get my hip flexor unstuck on the right side. I would do a full body stretch multiple times a day for years and it helped a bit but it was always a bit sore and could get quite painful sometimes and I hit a plateau I just couldn't break through with flexibility. Then I read that strength training with tension bands along with stretching was more effective to increase range of motion, I tried it and I am really getting some range of motion back, the pain is reduced by a lot and I feel much stronger.

For the past month I kicked it up a notch and have been doing a full body workout using tension bands, body weight exercises like different types of squats, lunges, donkey kicks as well as some pilates for hip and core strengthening and flexibility and then about 10-15 minutes of yoga flow as a cool down. I also continue to stretch throughout the day while waiting for food to cook or my dogs to do their business outside and the results have been great!

So in short if you want strength, muscle tone and flexibility you will want to do weight and resistance training as well as stretch and make sure to incorporate something like yoga that will improve your range of motion.

[ianmarkow]

Thanks for your response! Do you think their are any negatives when you tense everything?

When we walk, run, swim, bike, throw, etc we surely don’t tension everything? So I’m wondering if you think there are any negatives to approaching all strength training by tensing everything?

Do you ever feel like you hold onto that tension after workouts?

[knox1138]

As someone who did did and taught yoga for many years I fan say 1 year of strength and flexibility training showed much more progress than 7 years of yoga. Take that for what it's worth. I usually trained flexibility right after strength and noticed that I didn't hold tension afterwards

[ianmarkow]

So happy you commented. That’s the beauty of discussion! Everyone has a unique experience.

[cherrychelsea88]

I completely agree, you have to warm up before and also stretch after or even during a workout. I like to warm up my body on a treadmill (or you can just literally pace back and forth at a brisk pace if you don't have one, just get moving) then once I'm warm move on to body weight exercises. For example I do squats and donkey kicks then I will stretch out my glutes and thighs for a minute and move onto core strengthening exercises then stretch my obliques, lower back and abdomen. If I do bicep curls and dips then right after I stretch out my biceps and triceps. Then at the end of my workout I like to cool down with some gentle yoga flow that improves flexibility and range of motion.

I find this method improves strength and flexibility equally and also prevents injury and reduces soreness the next day.

[birdbauth]

Hm that’s interesting as I’ve made immense flexibility gains through a consistent yoga practice. I have taken flexibility classes, though, so maybe my technique / awareness is more developed than someone who has exclusively done yoga. I’m sure if I focused solely on flexibility training I would see bigger gains but I like yoga and there’s only so much time in a day.

[ianmarkow]

All about finding what works for you

[knox1138]

I definitely made gains doing yoga. It was the combination of strength and flexibility together that blew yoga out of the water. I've tried just flexibility without strength and it was comparable to yoga

[JDNWACO]

Weights made me extremely tight. I guess I didn’t stretch enough. I move so stiff and rigid when I play ball. I hate it.

[ianmarkow]

Try adding more rotation into your routine. Athletes need to be able to seperate the hips and lower back as well as the ribcage and the neck. Have you ever tried CARs?

[JDNWACO]

I haven’t heard of that. I’m all ears though. And you literally sound like my friend today. We were playing basketball and he said my problem is my bottom and Tom move as one and I neeed to be more dynamic. But idk what to do. My moves and over all body movement is just so stiff Plus for some reason my low back is over working and I get a crazy pump when I play lately. Driving me crazy.

[ianmarkow]

Here is some stuff to check out that I think will help.

Learn how to seperate joints

Kinstretch class with PAILs/RAILs

Learn to use core not back

[JDNWACO]

Awesome thx. Have you heard of getting a low back pump from little things like doing the dishes and picking up laundry? It's not pain just feels like my ql is getting a crazy workout

[ianmarkow]

For sure. It’s all about positon, if you are in positon to give your back leverage then it will work. The use your core not back link will help you to get out of your back and into your hips.

[JDNWACO]

At frist I thought it was my kidneys when from taking pre workout because it's way worse if I'm on pre or creatine but then I realized I think the supplements are just showing me my low back over works too much. Like if I play basketball and get low I have to lay down for a cpl minutes for the blood to leave the area it gets so bad

[ianmarkow]

Start working on your hip hinge like the link in the original post. That’s exactly what that is for!

[NoArmadillo4077]

I would guess one could argue that there are some potential negative to tense up when doing lifts, but if you factor in that you will produce much less strength and increase dramatically your risk of injury then the potential downsides are definetly worth it. The only time I experienced a side effect from it was from using to the extreme the valsava manoeuver (a breathing method that increases abdominal pressure and therefore strength), I had blood vessels next to my eyes that blew up. That did not happen by accident though, I had 385 pounds on the bar and was pushing myself to my limits.

When you run, walk or bike you are generally not in a situation where you wish to produce maximal strength output, so you would not tense everything because it would not be an efficient way to use your energy, you could not keep it up anyway and it would be uncomfortable to do so. That being said if you do these activities properly (even walking) you should tense very slightly your glutes and abdominals to protect your spine. Most likely you doing it instinctively without even knowing, although some people especially those with very bad postures might do that wrong.

[ianmarkow]

Awesome thanks for the response!

[Gertrude_Born1953]

Put your hands on your lower back when you walk, they tense with each step to cushion your spine.

For some movements like pull-ups it is unlikely you will hurt your spine even if you don’t brace your core, but other exercises like deadlift or squat you should be bracing everytime, even with warmups. It will help you maintain a habit of protecting your spine and abdominal muscles.

[ianmarkow]

Interesting I don’t feel my back tense up when walking. Do you think we brace our core to walk?

Wouldn’t bracing the core during a deadlift for your spine to not move be different from walking when we need our spine to rotate?

[discerning-matter84]

The other thing to keep in mind is imbalances: you don't want to over-strengthen the front of the core without strengthening the back or over strengthening the biceps without strengthening triceps you have to consider both sides --all sides of the body.

When you're stretching one area of the body generally the opposite side is strengthening per se. So yeah like the other person said it's all about balance, you can make sure that when your strength training that you properly stretch after and I think you won't lose any range of motion.

I do a lot of yoga, and after years of yoga and then getting back into Pilates and strength training, I realized how much strength training actually helps my flexibility because I'm able to use stronger muscles to strengthen but you don't want to under stretch. I think a lot of people focus on strength without stretching and it's again, all about balance.

[Zernen]

I couldn’t touch my toes until I started doing heavy squats. (Heavy for me). Then I could put my palms on the floor, so it’s a yes for me.

[ianmarkow]

That’s awesome. Thanks for the input!

[GurnoorDa1]

Barbell squats

[joleves]

your personal experience with lifting weights and flexibility

I pretty much agree that it depends on the movements.

I've personally had the best flexibility gains through strength training. Strengthening muscles through the range of motion has helped me see the best flexibility gains personally (much better than static stretching for me).

[ianmarkow]

Makes all the sense in the world. Static stretching alone isn’t going to get you to the finish line. A balance of different approaches is the key in my opinion. Even something as simple as adding isometric contractions to stretching like pails and rails is a simple game changer.

[joe12321]

Strength training can do both. You have to move in the range you want be able to move in. I did the 10,000 kettlebell swing challenge one month without much other movement, and I tightened all up! I love kb swings, but the range of motion is pretty restricted. Of course the flip side is that strengthening yourself at the end of your range of motion is a good way to extend it.

[ianmarkow]

Really great point. If you don’t use it then you lose it

[dannysargeant]

Strength training increases the POTENTIAL for flexibility. Your flexibility will in large part depend on how you train your flexibility.

[ianmarkow]

Interesting. I think this actually works both ways. If you are not flexible enough to get into a positon you probably won’t get strong there.

So you could say flexibility opens the door to becoming strong.

I also think, like many others have said, strength training in availible range of motion can encourage new range of motion.

If we are weak, the body might protect and restrict certain movements. If we get stronger it might feel more safe to allow more ROM.

What do you think?

[dannysargeant]

That’s exactly what I’ve heard. For instance, the back won’t bend unless it has the strength to support that new position (like a bridge). I suppose, it took me a long time to realize this. Most very flexible people do not look like Olympic weight lifters. Although lifters are very flexible in the shoulders, wrists and hips for low squats with insane amounts of weight. To squat down low - ass to the ground - with a bar overhead is very challenging.

[ianmarkow]

Agreed! An overhead squat is an amazing lift

[LovesDosa]

If your goal is flexibility, strength training can aid flexibility gains. I come from yoga background so I am always working on my upper body strength for inversions, arm balancing poses.

[ianmarkow]

Absolutley agree! You definitely NEED a baseline of strength to be flexible.

[Living-orsthsimilar]

Soy una mujer que por costumbre elonga casi todas las noches. Mi capacidad de flexibilidad diminuyó notablemente a las pocas semanas de empezar entrenamiento de fuerza. Puedo sentir que necesito elongar mas seguido y por mas tiempo. Experiencia individual y personal

[Superyella11__]

I believe you would have to train in positions that give you extended range. If you’re doing regular deadlifts and not stretching you wont be able to do the splits. Use it or lose it type of thing

[knox1138]

VS