Hi folks, welcome to this video on types of and factors affecting flexibility. So what I'm going to do is a few key definitions that you need to be aware of. We've got static, static active and static passive, so they're both related to static and then we've got dynamic stretching as well. So let's have a look at each one in turn.
So static stretching then is the range of movement, whoops sorry why am I moving that around, it is the range of movement possible at a joint when you get into a stretch position. without movement occurring. So that's your classic, you know, get into a stretch position and hold it still. So static as in still, so the range of movement adjoint without movement occurring. Now within that, we've got static active and static passive.
Static active, you are actively stretching yourself. So what you do is you contract the agonist to stretch the antagonist. So an example there would be giving someone a free ticket to the gun show, contract your bicep, show them how big your bicep is, and will automatically stretch your tricep.
on the back of your arm. Equally you contract your quadricep and extend your knee that will stretch the hamstring on the back of the thigh. So contracting the agonist will stretch the antagonist.
Static passive is where you are taking a passive role in the stretch i.e. somebody's doing the stretch for you. So you know you lay on your back, someone picks up your leg and they you know moves your leg into a stretch position, the partner is assisting you. It doesn't have to be a partner, it could be, you know, if you've used these therabands, these big elastic bands in the gym, you can pull your leg into a stretch position. What we mean by passive is you are not contracting one muscle group to stretch the other. Active, you are contracting a muscle to stretch the partner, whereas here there's no contraction taking place.
You're either using an object or a partner to stretch a muscle for you, for yourself. Finally then, dynamic is the range of movement. at a joint whilst movement occurs at the joint.
So for example arm circles performed by a swimmer, if you watch any of the swimmers you know Ledecky, Phelps, any of these before the Olympic games when they're sitting on the pool they'll be swinging their arms around, big arm circles, they're getting their flexibility, they're improving their flexibility by doing dynamic stretching. Getting the range of movement possible whilst movement is occurring at the joint. So moving on to the factors affecting flexibility then, you'll see, you know, when we've looked at strength and things like that, you'll see quite a few of these factors are the same.
It's making sure we say the right thing about each one. Ones that are unique to flexibility, don't forget, I think we have this issue with flexibility is how much you can stretch, how elastic your muscles are, which obviously is a big part of it. But don't forget there are other factors that affect the range of movement you get at joints. The joint type, for example, ball and socket joints, your shoulders and your hips. naturally have a much greater range of movement than a hinge joint does.
Hinge joints, your knees and ankles, can only move in two directions. They can flex and they can extend, whereas a ball and socket can flex, extend, abduct, adduct, lateral rotate, medial rotation, all those things. So the joint type affects the range of movement possible, therefore affects the flexibility. But obviously, as we've just said, the surrounding tissue, how elastic your muscles are, your ligaments and your tendons. Ligaments hold bones to bones.
Like the joints, there are lots of ligaments holding the two different or three different bones together. How elastic they are affects your range of movement. Your tendons holding the muscles of the bones around the joint, how elastic they are, and the muscles themselves.
The more elastic these three are, the greater the range of movement. The less elastic they are, the less range of movement you're going to have. And then when we bring up gender, ladies, you're usually always on the receiving end, aren't you? You know, you're all, males are generally... Stronger than females and males.
Generally have a higher VO2 max than females. It's payback time, ladies. Females are generally more flexible than males. And it's generally due to the levels of hormones such as estrogen, relaxing and luteinizing hormone. You know, when ladies are pregnant and they're about to give birth, they will release more of these kind of hormones into the system to make them more elastic, particularly the ligaments around the pelvis so that you can squeeze junior out.
Don't want to think about it, but there you go. That's the way it works. But as a result, you know, women generally have higher levels of these or do have higher levels of these hormones anyway, therefore are more flexible than males. And finally, age is just one of those things that, you know, as many things decline with age, so does flexibility. You're most flexible in your childhood.
You might remember stretching and bending your body to all kinds of shapes. And as you get older, you think, how the hell did I do that? But flexibility is highest in your childhood and it generally declines with age. And it's generally the elasticity of the connective tissue.
That's what. declines. Obviously your gender isn't going to change, I mean we do have transgender but obviously not to that extent, your gender type isn't going to change so the only issue that the only thing that can really change your decline with age is the elasticity of the surrounding tissue.
That's a very brief video on the types and factors affecting flexibility. Hope you found it useful folks.