I can't touch my toes! Help?

[MattFYF]

I've always been one of those unlucky people who can't touch my toes. I can't stand up, bend down, and touch them... nor can I sit on the ground with my legs outstretched and bend to touch them that way either.

I do exercise (both with weights and aerobic), but I don't stretch. Trouble is, I'm not sure exactly how to stretch, or what I could do to become more flexible in general. Any help?

[newmark]

Find a tai chi, yoga or martial arts class in your area and take their basic program. They will teach you various methods.

[PianoManGidley]

Work on stretching out your hamstrings. There are a variety of stretches for one's hamstrings, and the more you can stretch these, the better flexibility you will have as far as reaching your toes. As far as HOW to stretch, just do some Google searches.

[Keith]

Rule #1: Warm up before you stretch. Stretching cold muscles is a good way to give yourself an injury.

You would probably become flexible more rapidly if you did Yoga, but I found that my muscles became much more flexible just from stretching after twice weekly exercise (I became able to actually touch my toes ).

There are a lot of standard stretches that can be found on the internet. This page looks like a decent overview of lower body stretches. There's a more comprehensive overview, including muscle diagrams here (don't let all the detail of this one put you off - you only need a small section of it. I recommend looking at the associated muscle pictures though, so you understand which part of your body a particular stretch is targeting).

Let your body be your guide. When you do a hamstring stretch you should feel the tension in your hamstring. Move into each stretch slowly. The muscle may be a bit tight and sore from exercise, but any sudden or stabbing pain is a sign to stop immediately. You can also feel which muscles are tightest as you stretch, so you know which to give most attention to - you may even want to revisit particularly stiff and sore muscles later in the day.

[mike1989]

Hi, MattFYF. I used to go to a karate school(I regret leaving it, but I still exercise a lot on my own though ) and at the beginning of every training session we had 30-minute warm-ups. As you may understand, warm-up is vitally important in this sport, so the exercises are actually quite effective. I'll try to give a brief description of some of the moves we did to warm up our leg muscles.

1) Stand straight, put your feet and your knees together, bend your legs a little, put your hands on your knees and rotate them. Switch the direction of the rotation every 5-10 times. Then do the same only this time with your feet separated and put them on a shoulder-length level.

2) Stretch your legs to a double shoulder-length distance and reach for your left leg, then get up, then center, then get up again and then to the right leg. As you may understand, the closer your feet are, the more difficult it is to reach for your legs, so you can increase the difficulty, if you feel you can handle it.

3) Stretch your legs as wide as possible(not to the limit) and twist your torso as if you are switching to do a side split. Try keeping both legs as straight as possible and tolerate as much pain as possible. If you are capable, try reaching the front leg with your head. Then, return to the front split position and try reaching each leg with your head. Use your hands to help you. Try to keep your knees straight. Then do the same, only this time with one knee on the floor and the other leg straight and its' foot facing forward.

4) Swing your legs forward, backward, left, right, keep them straight at all times. Do simple front kicks, as if you are trying to push something forward with your leg: lift the knee, then straighten the leg, pushing the foot forward.

5) Sit on the floor, stretch your legs forward, grab them with your arms and pull your body forward. You can also ask someone to simply put some pressure on your back and hold it, while you are trying to reach your toes. Keep your knees straight and tolerate as much pain as possible.

Of course, that's not all of the moves, but I hope those can give you a kick-start in what you are trying to achieve. I would also advise to find some videos or, if possible, go to a karate school for a seminar or a demonstration and see what they do to warm up.

P.S. I'm sorry for my primitive level of English and the way I express my thoughts in it, it's not my native language.

[Remiel]

My personal trainer recommended Core Performance Essentials by Mark verstegen. I'm reading through it and its written in a manner that anyone can read and understand. Plus its setting you up for a program for life, not a quick fix. I'd highly recommend it.

[VacMan]

Good advice in this thread!

If you want to really make it super simple...

Just try and touch your toes.

And go as far as feels "comfortable" for you. (Don't go so far that it hurts at all.)

Hold that position for 60 seconds or so.

Do that once or twice a day.

You'll eventually just end up touching your toes.

[Remiel]

Originally Posted by VacMan

Good advice in this thread!

If you want to really make it super simple...

Just try and touch your toes.

And go as far as feels "comfortable" for you. (Don't go so far that it hurts at all.)

Hold that position for 60 seconds or so.

Do that once or twice a day.

You'll eventually just end up touching your toes.

Even if that did fix the touching the toes problem I highly doubt that'll help with the lifestyle that lead to being healthy enough to touch the toes. I highly recommend figuring out how to work out to keep fit rather than just being able to touch your toes.

[VacMan]

I don't necessarily think that flexibility and overall health are linked.

You can be extremely healthy, and fit, and still not be very flexible.

Some very "fit" bodybuilders, and fitness competitors are very inflexable physically.

You could run, lift weights, eat 100% healthy, feel great, etc. and still not be able to touch your toes.

[MattFYF]

Wow, lots of advice, thank you all! I'll try to incorporate some of the exercises you all suggested (and your advice, of course) when I work out tomorrow.

[Remiel]

Originally Posted by VacMan

I don't necessarily think that flexibility and overall health are linked.

You can be extremely healthy, and fit, and still not be very flexible.

Some very "fit" bodybuilders, and fitness competitors are very inflexable physically.

You could run, lift weights, eat 100% healthy, feel great, etc. and still not be able to touch your toes.

Good point. For some reason I misread the original post and thought that the problem was being overweight and not touching the toes rather than not touching the toes and being fit. I appologize.

[MattFYF]

Originally Posted by Remiel

Good point. For some reason I misread the original post and thought that the problem was being overweight and not touching the toes rather than not touching the toes and being fit. I appologize.

Oh, no, it's nothing like that! LOL It's probably more amusing to me, considering I'm knocking on 6' and weigh about 125 pounds .