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It is fine to take a break from training; it might even improve your flexibility.
People are often nervous about taking time off flexibility training because they’ve worked hard for their progress and don’t want to lose it. The good news is that maintaining flexibility is relatively easy, and it can often benefit from a break.
Like other forms of training, the longer you’ve worked on your flexibility, the easier it will generally be to maintain. You may be able to go longer without training before noticing a difference, and it may take less work to return to your previous baseline. Active people can also maintain a good degree of their flexibility with relatively little ongoing training (Konrad et al., 2025).
In fact, it’s not uncommon for people to return from a holiday and find that their flexibility has improved. A large component of flexibility training is increased stretch tolerance, so taking time out, de-stressing and enjoying yourself may reduce your body’s sensitivity to stretching, making movement feel safer and training more comfortable.
In addition, if you are guilty of overtraining, a break may give your body a chance to recover, allowing it to finally express the fruits of your hard work.
Learn more:
If I Stop Training Flexibility, Will I Lose It?
Should You Train Flexibility Over the Festive Period?
You don’t need to be stretching further each time to make progress.
You don’t expect to run faster on every jog or lift more every time you go to the gym. In fact, that usually isn’t the goal. So why would stretching be any different?
Because a large part of flexibility training involves increasing your tolerance to unfamiliar loading, submaximal training is arguably even more valuable for flexibility than it is for many other training modalities. In most cases, the increased familiarity and sense of safety that come from consistent, submaximal training will beat inconsistent maximal training.
And stretching further is often one of the last signs of progress.
Other signs that your flexibility is improving include:
- You require less warm-up to reach the same range.
- You feel more comfortable at the same range.
- You can hold the stretch for longer.
- Your active flexibility or control within the stretch has improved.
- Your alignment has improved.
- You can move in and out of the stretch more easily or with more variety.
So take the pressure off yourself to go deeper every time you stretch, and start recognising and enjoying all the other progress you’re making.
Learn more here:
Common Reasons for a Plateau in Flexibility
References
Konrad, A., Warneke, K., Donti, O., Panidi, I., Gaspari, V., Nakamura, M., Thomas, E., & Bogdanis, G. C. (2025). Detraining effects following chronic stretching training on range of motion: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine - Open, 11, 141. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-025-00935-5
