Your hip anatomy isn’t limiting you.
Anatomy certainly influences, but there is almost always something else that is limiting your hip flexibility more. In fact, believing that you can't achieve your hip flexibility goal based on your anatomy undoubtedly limits your flexibility more than your actual anatomy ever will. This belief leads to inconsistent training that lacks focus or causes you to stop altogether. It’s hard to commit if you don't believe your goal is achievable, and you won't reach a goal you're not working towards.
Learn more about how hip anatomy influences splits
Learn more about how belief is important to achieving flex goals
Don't be afraid of pain.
Pain when stretching is common and usually not a sign that you are causing damage. We often experience pain in response to unfamiliar stimuli such as stretching further because our pain systems are designed to be protective (Pain wouldn’t be very helpful if we only felt it after we had already hurt ourselves). A big part of increasing flexibility is increased pain tolerance. Your body learns over time that deep stretches are not dangerous, so they become more comfortable. If you avoid pain when stretching, you deny your body the opportunity to learn that stretching is safe, and you may even increase your sensitivity to stretching.
Learn more about pain when stretching
Overtraining is killing your flexibility progress. Flexibility training can be as hard on your body as strength training. It takes time for muscles to recover, and without adequate rest between sessions, your nervous system will become overly protective, leaving you unable to express your full range of motion or get the most out of your training. Overtraining also significantly increases your risk of injury. If your training is particularly intense or loaded, recovery between sessions is even more important than your actual training. You also need to be mindful of the load of other training you are doing, as this will impact how much recovery you need.
Learn more about flexibility training principles
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