How to Finally Touch Your Toes, Maybe Even Today
I’ve always had an odd relationship with flexibility. My ankles bend so easily that I can sit in a deep squat just to relax. I got into Olympic weightlifting without worrying about the mobility of my shoulders. And one more thing: I can’t touch my toes. At least I couldn’t until recently.
I’ve had so many learning moments in fitness that I’m now looking for ways to refute my own opinion. I used to skip cardio, which I absolutely hated. But the more cardio I did, the better my lift got, proving with an anecdote what I already knew was backed by science: cardio doesn’t kill your gains , but it can actually be the key to increasing them.
And now I’m questioning one of my even older beliefs: what if stretching is really good for you? As I wrote earlier, I really never stretch . I have the mobility that I need and don’t need any specific types of mobility that I don’t have. (I have also tried to be more flexible in the past and gave up because I never felt like I was achieving anything.) But I have to admit that it would be great to be able to do the splits. It would be great to use a wide stance for the sumo deadlift .
So I’m embarking on a month-long experiment in which I stretch regularly—four out of five days this week. I’ve been looking at the before and after photos on the flex subreddit , so I realize it might be a year or two before I can fully share this. But I suspect I can see some improvement in the first month and it’s time to be sure.
How I Improved Hamstring Flexibility in 3 Minutes
With these modest expectations, I started looking for stretching exercises. And one of the first things I found was a three-minute video that people said improved their ability to instantly touch their toes.
I tried. In the beginning, I could barely reach my toes with my fingertips. By the end, I had my toes fully on the floor and was able to put my hands down, slightly softening my knees.
It’s kind of like a salon trick; I have not physically lengthened my muscles in three minutes and my newfound mobility will not be permanent. (It disappears within minutes or hours, depending on what you’re doing with your body at the time.) But it gives an idea of what’s possible.
The video asks you to close your knees together with a ball or block between your legs. (I used a hard throw pillow.) If you’ve ever been in a yoga class where the instructor asks you to “activate your inner thighs,” you’ll know the move. Supporting your toes or heels will also change which muscles you use to stand bent over.
These actions will help you stretch with the principle of mutual inhibition, in which your body relaxes one muscle, allowing the other muscle to contract. For example, if you tighten your quads, it helps to relax your hamstrings. (This is the same mechanism that relieves a calf cramp by tensing the front of the calf.)
Simply achieving those few inches of mobility seemed like a hell of a breakthrough. I know it will take more effort to achieve permanent flexibility, but it was a fun and inspiring start. If you’ve never been able to touch your toes, try this video. And tune in next week when I give the first post on how my complete stretching program works.