Most of us get stiffer as we get older, we lose what is known as Range of Movement (ROM), unfortunately working with children I see many of them are not as flexible as the children I was working with just ten years ago. As a species we are not designed for sitting down all day and yet that is what we do in our work and our play. Because of this our muscles become shorter and tighter. It really is a case of use it or lose it. There is no reason for us to become less flexible if we continue to work our bodies through a full range of movement. There are many different ways to stretch and the knowledge of when and how to stretch has changed over the past twenty years considerably. From the days of Jane Fonda and filling the burn to the full of the Berlin Wall and the influx of Eastern European sports coaches. No longer do we start sports with flexibility training, now we do an active stretch working on the Range of Movement used during the sport and moves that replicate the actions that will follow.
To be continued.