Every boxer, MMA fighter, or bodybuilde has a so-called belief that they have to sacrifice flexibility to build muscle and get bigger. The quick answer is “Wrong.”
Muscle mass can affect a person’s flexibility. Well, it’s possible!
In this article, you will figure out the right answer and explanation for this. Let’s go!
How Does Flexibility Help You?
Gaining muscles and losing fat are the goals for every gymer, boxer, and fighter. They all have specific training programs to maintain and achieve that muscular body.
Though muscle mass can affect a person’s flexibility, it is still not a compulsory factor that everyone may need.
Here are the benefits of flexibility:
- Improve your posture: Flexibility helps you be in proper alignment, correct the imbalances and facilitate the movements. You will find it easier to sit or stand in a certain way. Check out best Chiropractors near me to help you improve your over-all posture.
- Prevent injury and muscle soreness: Being flexible can enhance your performance in physical activities, help you easily move a joint in various directions, and reinforce proper body mechanics that put less stress on your body as you move.
- Improve circulation to increase the speed of muscle recovery: Stretching helps to increase your blood flow to the muscles to effective muscle revival.
- Think positive: Regularly practicing poses that stretch and open up your body can bring about feelings of relaxation. Besides, physical health and mental health are closely connected, which means that the physical benefits can extend to a stress-free state of mind.
Factors That Affect Flexibility
- Joint and skeletal structure: The structural classification of joints in the human body includes fibrous (immovable), cartilaginous (partially moveable), and synovial (freely moveable) joints. If you are a fibrous joint type, poor you! It is the reason why you find it challenging to pose and stretch. But if you are a synovial joint type, then congratulations! You can move freely and comfortably.
- Age and sex: As you get older, you can realize the decreased flexibility and mobility. At the same age, women tend to be more flexible than men thanks to the bone structure. However, in general, we can increase our flexibility at any age and any gender with proper training and exercise.
- Activity level: The more you train yourself, the more flexible the body is. If you rarely do exercise, you will have lower flexibility compared to those who practice a lot.
What About Muscle Mass? Can It Affect a Person’s Flexibility?
Muscle mass can affect a person’s flexibility in an unfavorable way. It may be difficult for very muscular athletes to accomplish certain stretches because their muscle bulk gets in the way.
A person with huge muscles, for instance, can have trouble extending the arms above the head. If you regularly do weight-lifting exercises, flexibility can also be decreased as muscle density and mass increase.
Proper and well-designed training exercises will enhance both muscles and mobility. Only when you ignore the others and keep working on certain muscles, or keep overdoing muscle mass development without stretching, will your flexibility be affected.
It is the reason why a well-planned workout routine to boost your flexibility comes in handy.
In conclusion, you already get the answer to the above question. “Yes, Muscle mass can affect a person’s flexibility”.
Best Workout To Enhance Flexibility
The flexibility exercises stretch the entire body with a focus on the hips and back. Here are some of the best routines:
- Shoulder rolls: stand straightly, chin up, roll your shoulders backward and forward, then shrug shoulders up and down gently.
- Extended angle side posts: open hips naturally, step your feet apart, rotate the front leg out to make the front feet parallel to the long end of your mat; open up your arms, bend your front knee in line with your second toe.
- Neck sides stretch: bend your right ear toward your right shoulder, hold it for 10 seconds, and then switch to the other side.
- Head turns: keep your head straight, look to the right and hold for a few seconds, and then straight the head and then turn to the left.
- Head rolls: drop the chin towards your chest, and slowly turn the head to the right and then to the left
- Arm stretch: place your left arm across your chest, hook it with your right hand, and then hold for a few seconds and vice versa.
Conclusion
After reading this article, have you found out your query of whether muscle mass can affect a person’s flexibility? No matter what the answer is, well-designed training exercises are the keys to your body’s health. Last but not least, don’t forget to pay attention to your diet, manage your lifestyle and follow your interest!