Just Wondering: Do Genetics Affect Flexibility?

Welcome to our Just Wondering series, in which local experts tackle your most burning health and fitness questions. Got a question of your own? Send it here!

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Woman Lunging on Mat – Flexibility and Stretching

I’ve noticed my muscles getting tighter and my toes becoming increasingly out of reach lately. How much do my jeans—er, genes—determine my flexibility? Can I budge that threshold or is there just a point when my body won’t stretch any further? And what ways can I improve my flexibility?

“Yes, we are a little limited based on genetics, but you can certainly optimize that and make the most out of what your body has available. Just like certain talent predispositions, the proportion [of genetic determined flexibility] is dependent on the type of muscle fibers you have, so I would just say, an even balance of genetics and hard work.

Our muscles like a variety of exercises and when they’re stimulated, they’re going to continue to make more improvements than if we tend to stick with the same routine over and over again. And the same thing holds true with stretching.

The tough one is when I see people try and do long stretches before they start exercising. That actually can damage the muscle, versus if you’re starting to jog and then you do more of the dynamic stretching, which would be leg swings, some basic jumps—things to get the hips loose—that way you’re priming and getting the muscles moving. Then after the exercise, once your muscles are fully warm, you can go down to your longer stretches. If you’re sitting or standing, doing your toe touches, whatever they are, then that’s when you can hold them for 20, 30 seconds and really get a good stretch in. Because if you stretch them like that too early, you lose a little bit of the muscle integrity and the strength.

The irony in all this is, no matter what tips I give somebody, the biggest hurdles to improving anything—in this case, flexibility—is recognizing your roadblocks. So, when I’m planning on stretching and then I have to go pick up my kid or I have to do X, have those mental contingency plans just to make sure you’re still getting it in. It’s the inconsistency, especially on the front end, where people are going to lose those gains.”

— Russ Flatten, certified mental performance coach and co-founder of Change Mechanics

So, how do I build stretching into my schedule while accommodating my other demands too?

“I spend a lot of time with parents and, especially right now, they have their kids,” says Flatten. “The easiest way to build it in is to make it a joint activity. If you have your kid with you, have your kid do it with you so that they’re involved. That way if you have multiple responsibilities going on, you can double dip a little bit.

Unfortunately, the biggest undercut is if the people you’re spending day-in and day-out [with] aren’t promoting and supporting your growth. That’s a huge obstacle. Identify the people you’re closest to, whether it’s family or friends, start there with someone who you can trust to hold you accountable.”