How to become more flexible? (Make your asanas practice more comfortable and effective, updated)
In the previous article we dicussed how a great part of the asanas practice involve a big dose of stretching and we gave some guidelines on how to stretch properly and comfortably. Some principles suggested holding the poses for as long as 5 minutes if your goal was to increase the flexibility and range of motion (ROM), besides collecting the mental benefits of the asanas practice. Although effective, that can be quite demanding and time consuming but we have good news.
As Dr. Andrew Huberman pointed in his podcast on the science behind range of motion and flexibility, holding the pose for 30 seconds can be as effective as longer durations if we are practicing with the right frequency. So, which are the parameters we shoud take into account? Let’s review them:
The recommended DURATION for a pose to be effective to increase Range of Motion (ROM) is 30 seconds. Shorter durations (like 15 seconds) deemed to be 4 times less effective to increase flexibility, so if our goal is to increase range of motion, just “flowing” between poses is not the best approach (see the graphic below)
TOTAL TIME PER WEEK for a given set of muscles should be at least of 5 mins per week. If we are holding the asana for 30 seconds that means that at least we should go into a pose that stretch that particular group of muscles for 10 times along the week.
FREQUENCY: Evaluated data indicates that practicing 5 days a week for at least 5 min per week, per muscle, may be beneficial to promote ROM improvements. Taking this frequency into account we could do our asana or asanas for a certain group of mucles twice in a day, 5 days of the week. for better results.
As Dr. Huberman explains, increasing the time you hold the pose, you can reduce the frequency (such as practicing every other day as opposed to 5x per week) but we cannot try to do it only once or twice a week for a longer time and expect much progress; it is better to do a little bit each day or so. The research shows that consistency beats duration and intensity if the goal is to increase flexibility.
INTENSITY: An study performed with dancers shows that low intensity stretching known as micro-stretching can be even more effective than a moderate to high intensity stretching. A principle developed by Apostolopoulos suggested that the stretch intensity should be reduced to 30%, from the more commonly recommended 80%, and that the participant should be as stable as possible. And once more probably yogis already knew that because if we go back to Maharshi Patanjali Yoga Sutras, we get to the famous sutra 2.46: “Sthira Sukham Asanam” which means “A Yoga posture must be steady and comfortable”.
So let finish with a practical example. Let’s say that we want to increase the range of motion of our hamstrings. For that we could select set of asanas like: pascimottanasana, janu sirshasana, padahastasana, parsvottanasana… and then choose one and perform it twice for 30 seconds in our asanas practice for at least 5 times a week. Of course we don’t need to do the same asana every time as far as it is one of that same group which target the same muscle group (the hamstrings for this example).
REFERENCES:
The Effect of Time on Static Stretch on the Flexibility of the Hamstring Muscles: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/15133359_The_Effect_of_Time_on_Static_Stretch_on_the_Flexibility_of_the_Hamstring_Muscles
Stretching Protocols to Increase Flexibility and Support General Health (hubermanlab.com): https://hubermanlab.com/stretching-protocols-to-increase-flexibility-and-support-general-health/
The Effect of Time and Frequency of Static Stretching on Flexibility of the Hamstring Muscles: https://bit.ly/3aKIDRN
The Relation Between Stretching Typology and Stretching Duration: The Effects on Range of Motion: https://bit.ly/3aXtpcw
A Comparison of Two Stretching Modalities on Lower-Limb Range of Motion Measurements in Recreational Dancers: https://bit.ly/3Hkpy5q