Lucas Rockwood – Gravity Yoga Video Series – Double Your Flexibility

In stretching terms, “doubling” actually means “halving” the difference between your current range of motion with functional targets. Remember, our goal is functional range of motion, not contortion or tricks, so a doubling is very attainable.

PHOTOS: in the first photo I am palming the floor in a forward bend. Try this pose, and measure how far you are from this goal. Within 30 days, you should be able to half that, aka double your range. In the second photo, I’m sandwiching my legs in double pigeon. Measure the gap between your knees today, and within 30 days, you can expect to cut that distance in half, aka double your range in this pose.

My “Stiff Office Guy” Story

I remember going to a crowded party in New York City in 2002. There were no chairs left so my friend suggested we sit on the floor—and why not? Sitting on the floor is a perfectly normal human thing to do, except that, like most people, I had not sat on the floor since elementary school.

This is where it got ridiculous.

The girl I was with was an avid yoga student, so she flipped one leg on top of the other sitting in Lotus position as if it were the easiest thing in the world. But me? My hips were so tight, I couldn’t sit on the ground without my knees bent up to my chest and my back curled up like Quasimodo.

After 10 minutes, I was literally sweating in discomfort, red-faced, and embarrassed. It was so obvious I was suffering that a guy sitting nearby started teasing me about my tight hips. It sounds like a small thing, but it was a moment of truth for me. I realized I had let myself go, and I needed to do something about it.

I was 23 with the flexibility of a 73-year-old, and my stiffness was affecting my life. That night, I did some ad hoc self-tests at home to see just how stiff I was. I started by checking my profile in the mirror, and right away noticed my standing posture was horrible. I had lower back pain while driving, sitting on airplanes, and at work in my office chair—I constantly had to get up and walk around to work out the kinks in my neck. I was not fit by any means, but I did go to the gym and workout. All I did was ride an elliptical and lift on some weight machines, but I was still getting minor injuries.

When I bent forward, my hands reached just halfway down my shins; I couldn’t reach my ankles, much less my toes. Backbends were out of the question, and my hips felt like two big blocks of ice. All that aside, I knew that there had to be a way to fix this. I knew this was a soft tissue problem—not a bone problem—so I set out on a mission to find a solution.

It’s Not Too Late

Ask yourself, “What if first thing in the morning, I could bend over and put the palms of my hands flat on the floor in a forward bend?”

What if you could sit cross-legged with no back support for an hour in the middle of a room without any discomfort? What if you could twist 180 degrees, do a full backbend with your arms straight, and clasp your hands behind your back in a shoulder stretch?

All of those movements sounded impossible to me during my flexibility crisis, but I now know that they are basic movements that can be relearned by anyone who is willing to set aside 15 minutes a day for flexibility training and add specific micronutrients to their diet to support their tissues. Proper flexibility training and proper nutrition are where you’ll find the biggest results.

Why Yoga Classes Often Fail
(for flexibility)

There is a stereotype that yoga classes are all about flexibility, but that’s almost never the case. Most classes focus on strength, balance, breath, concentration, and the mind-body connection. Flexibility is surely on the list, but it’s usually at the bottom of the list of priorities in most classes.

I didn’t know that, so I became a yoga maniac going to class every day. The other students seemed pretty limber, so I thought it was logical to sign up for a membership. Much to my surprise, after weeks of suffering through classes, I hadn’t achieved noticeable results.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved yoga. I felt more calm, my balance was improving, and I was even losing weight; but I was still as stiff as a board and didn’t see that changing anytime soon.

Then I met this weird guy named Anthony.

In yoga class, you’re supposed to stay focused, but I couldn’t help staring. After six weeks, Anthony could lay flat against his shins in forward bends, cross his legs in full lotus, and go three times as deep as I could in backbends. He had leaped from beginner to intermediate extremely quickly. Whatever he was doing, it was working; and what I was doing clearly wasn’t.

Finally, I had to say something.

After two painful months of Hot Yoga torture (I was going every day), I finally got up the nerve to invite Anthony for pizza after class (this was before I learned how to eat properly for flexibility). Anthony reluctantly agreed, and although he didn’t eat anything during our meeting, he did tell me three secrets to stretching flexibility that I later learned are true for almost everyone.

#1. Anyone Can Become ‘Wow’ Flexible

What most people would consider extreme flexibility—Splits, Full Lotus, Wheel pose—is actually just natural Basic Range of Motion (bROM). If you doubt this, spend an afternoon with any six-year-old kid and you’ll realize that we were all naturally flexible, we’ve just lost it. The ‘wow’ factor shouldn’t be a wow at all. It should just be normal, but we’ve all let ourselves get to a ridiculous state of inflexibility, where basic tasks, such as bending over, involve stretching.

#2. You Don’t Become Flexible Going to Yoga Classes

This was a real eye-opener for me. I used to think yoga was all about stretching and flexibility, but Anthony taught me that most yoga poses demonstrate rather than develop flexibility. “Yoga is a holistic health practice,” he told me. “If you’re stiff, you don’t need yoga. You need to stretch!”

After struggling through daily yoga classes for two solid months, this was the last thing I wanted to hear, even though I knew it was true from experience. Despite all my efforts and commitment, my stretching flexibility had barely improved at all.

#3. Pizza Makes You Stiff

Well, not just pizza, but nutrient-poor food in general. Anthony told me, “It’s possible to eat junk food and improve, but if you want to increase your stretching flexibility fast, you need to eat better and take care of your micronutrients.”

He said, “To think that if you stretch more you’ll become more flexible is like saying if you eat less, you’ll lose weight. In theory, this is true, but in the real world, it just doesn’t work like that. To lose weight, you’ve got to eat right, and to get flexible, you’ve got to stretch right and get proper nutrients.”

I could tell Anthony was getting sick of my questions, but before he left, he wrote down a series of awkward yoga poses that he claimed he practiced every night before bed for about 15 minutes. He also made me a list of foods and supplements—most I had never heard of before.