How to increase forward fold flexibility?
In my last post, we spoke about how to increase core compression strength. Forward fold flexibility and core compression strength go hand-in-hand. It's best to train them together for maximum results.
Forward fold does what it says on the tin - it’s all about folding yourself in half.
Sound familiar?
Forward fold flexibility is pretty much the same as core compression strength. We’re trying to close the angle between the torso and the legs. But instead of focusing on the anterior chain strength, we’re talking about the posterior chain length.
Forward fold flexibility is about stretching the posterior chain muscles - soles of the feet, calves, hamstrings, glutes, back, and even neck muscles.
Most adults find it hard to touch their toes. Bringing your nose to your shins often seems like an impossible feat.
This is where choosing the correct progressions is critical to your success.
Why train forward fold flexibility?
Aesthetic Component: In gymnastics, aesthetics and form play a significant role in the look and feel of different skills. Movements such as L-sits, V-Sits, Press-to-Handstand, and Stalder Press all look and feel better when you have excellent pike flexibility.
Performance Enhancement: Pike flexibility allows gymnasts to execute specific skills more efficiently. For example, when performing a press-to-handstand, a flexible pike position brings the feet closer to the hands, which decreases the strength demands and improves efficiency.
Injury Prevention: Maintaining proper pike flexibility helps reduce the risk of injury. If we lack pike flexibility, we may strain our lower back or hamstrings when attempting certain moves requiring deep hip flexion.
Skill Progression: Many advanced gymnastics skills require high pike flexibility. Without this flexibility, we may struggle to progress to more challenging movements.
Core compression strength: Forward fold flexibility directly impacts core compression strength.
The forward fold flexibility journey
There are many ways to train forward fold flexibility, and choosing the correct method is essential to your success.
An adult who has tight hamstrings and poor pelvic tilt awareness isn’t going to start with movements like Jefferson curls (a movement that requires a certain level of flexibility before you start training it).
The human body is a remarkably adaptive organism whose main goal is survival. Hence, the body is always trying to protect itself.
When a muscle is weak, the body tries to protect the muscles by not allowing it to lengthen. If the muscle is weak, do we really want to move into the end ranges of motion? It’s probably not a good idea.
This is why it’s essential to strengthen the muscle as you work on lengthening it. As we open up new ranges of motion, we must also strengthen those ranges of motion.
Therefore, starting a forward fold flexibility journey with weighted movements like Romanian deadlifts (RDLs) is best. One critical first milestone is performing an RDL while maintaining a flat back and getting the torso parallel to the floor.
It’s important to note that adults often have lower body asymmetries, and working on unilateral exercises, such as split stance RDLs can help to minimize asymmetries.
For this reason, we would like to start the forward fold flexibility journey with split stance RLDs and split stance Goodmorning.
We then move into bilateral RDL’s and Goodmornings to add more load and increase strength in the new ranges of motion.
Only once we’ve achieved this level can we start training rounded-back movements like Jefferson Curl.
You’ll notice that all of these exercises are performed standing. This is because standing forward folds are assisted by the gravity vector. As we flex at the hips and fold the upper half of the body down, gravity assists us.
Seated forward folds can also be helpful, but gravity doesn’t offer much assistance here.
What about the glutes?
Although RLDs and Goodmorning are great for stretching the hamstrings, they’re not the best for stretching the glutes.
Hip external rotation stretches, such as pigeon variations, allow us to stretch the glutes and increase hip internal rotation.
Why is hip internal rotation important?
As we tilt the pelvis forward, anterior pelvic tilt (APT), the upper leg bones must internally rotate inside the hip capsule. Tight hip external rotators (glutes) limit hip internal rotation.
Hence, we use several pigeon stretch progressions to increase hip external rotation gradually.
What about glute strength?
RLDs, Goodmornings and even Jefferson Curls strengthen the glutes. Hence, we don’t need to add any additional glute strengthening exercises.
What about the calves?
The calves are often overlooked in forward fold flexibility, which is a mistake. Tight calves limit ankle dorsiflexion and knee extensions, which are essential for standing forward folds.
Seated forward folds don’t require ankle dorsiflexion, but they do require knee extensions.
As discussed, standing forward folds are the most effective way to train forward fold flexibility. We don’t want the calves to be the limiting factor that slows down our standing forward fold progress.
Therefore, we must stretch and strengthen the calves in straight-leg and bent-knee positions.
Straight leg calf exercises target more of the gastrocnemius muscle, the muscle at the top of the calf. In contrast, bent-knee calf exercises target more of the soleus muscle, the muscle at the bottom of the calf.
This is where calf raises are essential.
Straight-leg and bent-knee calf raises can strengthen and lengthen the calves, especially when we add isometric holds in the stretched position.
Although calf raises are effective, the Achilles tendons are the thickest and strongest in the human body. Stretching these suckers requires a lot of time and work.
Therefore, we need to add in additional flexibility work. To save time, we can dorsiflex the ankles in movements like RDL’s, Goodmornings and Jefferson Curls to emphasise the stretch on the calves.
Due to leverage and the gravity vector, it's best to save the ankle dorsiflexed variations until you can achieve the flat back torso parallel to the floor milestone.
Where to from here?
Now that you’ve unlocked the flat back torso parallel to the floor RDLs and Goodmornings, you’re ready to train Jefferson curl. The Jefferson curls is an advanced forward fold flexibility exercise that can be dangerous when the prerequisites aren’t in place. I plan to write more about this in a later post.
This is why we must take the time to prepare the body for Jeffersons.
Jefferson curls are a fantastic posterior chain flexibility exercise that can help close the angle between your torso and thighs. We can use several variations to progress the flexibility gains.
Whether you take your forward fold flexibility further depends on your goals.
Are you happy to touch your toes?
Does this level of forward fold flexibility allow you to unlock gymnastics skills goals like press-to-handstand?
Or are you looking to unlock more forward-fold flexibility?
Either way, the TSTM Core Compression Strength and Forward Fold Flexibility program is an excellent starting place for most adults looking to improve their flexibility. And, it’s 100% free.
If you're an adult gymnastic skill seeker who wants to build core compression strength and forward fold flexibility, look no further.
Here is your chance to unlock core compression strength and forward fold flexibility with our FREE Core Compression Strength & Forward Fold Flexibility Program.
