Why Flexibility Exercises Sometimes Don't Work
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Matt addresses why flexibility exercises sometimes fail to yield results, despite following routines correctly. He explains that muscle tightness is governed by the nervous system, not just the physical stretching of muscles. Matt delves into how stability, coordination, and psychological factors affect flexibility. He references Wilhelm Reich’s work on the mind-body connection, showing how emotional tension can manifest as muscle rigidity. By understanding both physical and mental aspects, Matt offers a holistic approach to improving flexibility through conscious movement and awareness.
Takeaways
- 😀 Flexibility exercises may not work for everyone, even if they work for many people.
- 🤔 Flexibility is not just about pulling on muscles; it’s also about the nervous system.
- 💡 The nervous system controls muscle tightness and can prevent muscles from relaxing during stretching.
- 🧠 Poor coordination, stability, or muscular control can hinder flexibility improvements.
- 💪 Muscle tightness is often maintained by the nervous system, not by physical issues in the muscles themselves.
- 📖 Flexibility techniques often involve waiting for the nervous system to relax, but this process can be slow and requires patience.
- 🧘♂️ Psychological factors, like emotional stress or mental rigidity, can manifest as physical muscle tension.
- 🧠 Muscle tension can be linked to mental and emotional states, such as stress, anxiety, or trauma.
- 💬 Certain postures, like hunched shoulders or back pain, can be related to emotional experiences or feelings of burden.
- 🌀 Addressing muscle tension may require not only physical stretching but also addressing mental and emotional factors.
Q & A
Why do some flexibility exercises not work for certain people?
-Flexibility exercises might not work for some people because the nervous system can maintain muscle tightness. If the nervous system feels that the body lacks coordination, stability, or muscular control in an elongated position, it contracts the muscles to protect the body, preventing flexibility gains.
What is the mainstream misconception about how flexibility is gained?
-The mainstream misconception is that flexibility is gained simply by pulling on a muscle, which is thought to make it longer, like stretching a rubber band. However, this overlooks the role of the nervous system in maintaining muscle tightness.
How does the nervous system affect muscle tightness during stretching?
-When a person tries to elongate a muscle through stretching, the nervous system may interpret it as a threat if the body lacks stability or control in that position. The nervous system then causes the muscle to contract, limiting flexibility gains.
What is the role of stability and coordination in achieving flexibility?
-Stability and coordination are key to achieving flexibility. If the body lacks these elements, the nervous system will not allow the muscles to relax and elongate during stretching exercises, which prevents progress in flexibility.
Why do some people experience temporary flexibility improvements that later revert?
-Some people experience temporary flexibility improvements because their nervous system might momentarily allow muscle elongation, but without addressing underlying coordination, stability, or emotional factors, the body reverts to its previous state.
What did the speaker discover about their own flexibility journey?
-The speaker discovered that despite trying various flexibility routines for years, including yoga and other stretches, they made no progress until they realized the importance of the nervous system's role in maintaining muscle tightness. They later made progress by focusing on more holistic flexibility training.
How does the nervous system 'release' muscle tightness according to the speaker?
-The nervous system releases muscle tightness when it senses that the body is in a safe, stable position. Initially, it may resist by clamping the muscle, but with proper training and time, it eventually relaxes and allows for muscle elongation.
Who is Wilhelm Reich, and how does his work relate to muscle tightness?
-Wilhelm Reich was a German psychoanalyst who theorized that muscular tension could be related to emotional and psychic rigidity. He noticed that when his therapy clients had psychological breakthroughs, they often experienced physical muscle releases as well.
How can emotional factors affect muscle tightness?
-Emotional factors can manifest as physical muscle tightness. For example, someone who feels the weight of the world on their shoulders may develop tight shoulder muscles. Similarly, emotional protection or stress can lead to rounded shoulders or back pain.
What is the 'muscular tension release system' mentioned in the video?
-The 'muscular tension release system' is a program created by the speaker that addresses muscle tightness by focusing on both physical and emotional aspects. It involves specific movements and exercises to release long-held muscle tension and improve flexibility.
Outlines
🤔 Why Do Flexibility Exercises Sometimes Fail?
In this introduction, Matt addresses a common question about flexibility training. He explores why exercises designed to improve muscle flexibility might not always work, even when others report great success with them. Matt shares personal experiences of doing exercises regularly without achieving the expected results, despite following routines like the Russian ballet-inspired flexibility routine. He highlights how some people might not benefit from these exercises and uses his own struggles with flexibility training as an example.
🧠 The Role of the Nervous System in Flexibility
Matt explains the deeper, often overlooked role of the nervous system in muscle flexibility. He argues that muscle tightness is more of a nervous system issue than a physical problem with the muscle tissue itself. When attempting a stretch, if the nervous system feels unsafe due to a lack of stability, control, or coordination, it responds by contracting the muscles, preventing them from elongating. He references the book by Kit Laughlin, which supports the idea that flexibility comes from the nervous system and must be trained properly to improve.
🌀 Breaking the Flexibility Plateau: Physical and Mental Blocks
Matt dives deeper into the complexity of flexibility training, explaining how personal experiences differ when doing the same stretches. He reflects on how, in the past, his body resisted certain stretches, causing discomfort and pain without any real progress. Over time, he discovered that flexibility could be hindered by other mental and emotional factors. He touches on the work of Wilhelm Reich, who suggested a link between mental tension and muscle tightness. Matt notes how emotional or psychological stress can manifest as physical tension, preventing the muscles from relaxing.
🔄 Emotional and Psychological Factors in Muscle Tightness
Matt elaborates on how emotional and psychological factors can cause muscle tightness. He gives examples of how stress or emotional burdens can manifest physically, such as tight shoulders representing 'carrying the weight of the world.' He emphasizes that muscle tension can develop from seemingly insignificant moments in life, and until the emotional root cause is addressed, the tension may persist. He also explains that working through physical exercises can help release these tensions, leading to improved flexibility and muscle function.
🌍 Mind-Body Connection in Fitness and Flexibility
In this concluding section, Matt emphasizes the importance of the mind-body connection in fitness, especially flexibility training. He critiques mainstream fitness advice for focusing solely on physical exercise without considering the nervous system or mental factors. He promotes his content as exploring the deeper aspects of flexibility, such as how the mind affects muscle tightness and how improving mental awareness can enhance physical performance. Matt invites viewers to subscribe and explore his website for more insights, particularly his 'Muscular Tension Release System.'
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Flexibility
💡Nervous system
💡Muscle tension
💡Coordination
💡Wilhelm Reich
💡Stability
💡Psyche and muscle rigidity
💡Back chain
💡Emotional tension
💡Muscular tension release system
Highlights
Exercises designed to increase flexibility may not work for everyone, even if they are proven to work for others.
Flexibility exercises may fail to produce results even after being performed daily for extended periods.
The speaker had poor flexibility for over a decade despite trying yoga, stretches, and multiple other methods.
Muscle tightness is primarily controlled by the nervous system, not just physical properties of the muscle.
Flexibility can be limited by a lack of coordination, stability, or muscular control, which are connected to the nervous system.
The nervous system can resist flexibility gains, but over time it may learn to release tension in small increments.
Flexibility training has to address both physical and neurological aspects for effective long-term results.
The speaker introduces a product called the 'Muscular Tension Release System' that addresses these issues.
Muscle rigidity and psychological rigidity are interconnected, according to the theories of Wilhelm Reich.
Reich's work showed a connection between emotional states and physical muscle tension, suggesting that flexibility may be influenced by emotional and mental factors.
The speaker provides examples, such as tight shoulders being related to stress and back pain being connected to anger.
Emotional experiences, even minor ones, can create lasting muscle tension, which may require specific movements to release.
Releasing long-held tension in muscles can lead to increased muscle mass and improved physical function.
Mainstream fitness advice often overlooks the influence of the nervous system and mind on flexibility.
The speaker promotes a holistic approach to flexibility, combining physical exercises with nervous system and emotional awareness.
Transcripts
hey it's Matt in this video I want to
address a common question about
flexibility which is why do exercises
that are designed to make a particular
muscle or muscle group or a kind of like
you know area of the body more flexible
why do they sometimes just not work like
you might see the person instructing do
the exercise and it you know clearly is
making the the muscle lengthen and
you've also heard that this exercise
works for many other people and yet when
you do it it might not necessarily give
you results you might do it every single
day
go-go-go-go and then like people say oh
yeah just did this for 30 days and so
much flexibility but you doing it's just
like you might get nothing more you
might get some temporary flexibility but
it just kind of like goes back and then
it's as if you never did anything so I
recently put up a video and it was a
flexibility routine for the kind of back
chain all done the hamstrings and calves
in the back to make that area more
flexible and it's a routine from the
Russian ballet so it's a completely
legitimate very excellent flexibility
routine that has done wonders for many
people and yet I know for a fact that
some people if they tried it it wouldn't
work for them just just wouldn't work
for them they would they would run into
some problem and better just be like
whoa I'm not gonna do this because it
doesn't work and I know that's true
because it was completely true for me
although I've been getting great results
from that routine I couldn't have even
contemplated trying that routine until
recently I had started getting terrible
flexibility when I was 18 or something
and I'm 34 now and I could not improve
my flexibility for like 12 or something
year
like at all I couldn't make any progress
it's just like I went to yoga I did it I
looked up every stretch on the internet
read all these articles and I tried all
these stretches I would do stretches and
stretches and stretches for two hours a
day and you know if I looked at myself
in the mirror and I looked at a picture
or a video I'd be like I am doing this
thing completely right or even if I was
with a yoga teacher they'd be like yeah
you're doing it right and then they'd be
like me
this idiot can't do it right can't can't
do the flexibility but the thing is like
flexibility exercises are extremely easy
they don't complicated in any way like
however you think you're meant to do
them that's probably how you meant to do
them in terms of kind of like the
intention the physical actual form that
you're meant to take however sometimes
they don't work now I'm going to explain
why in a couple of layers okay now the
first as I mentioned before and I kind
of say it a lot but it's so relevant to
say because it's so against the idea
that is deeply deeply entrenched in the
mainstream thought that really needs to
be like karate chop this but is it just
busted out of mainstream thing is that
the way flexibility is gained is simply
by pulling on a muscle and then like a
rubber band it gets longer edge in the
elastic properties of the muscle like as
if tight muscles there's like some
physical wrong thing with the tissue you
like I used to envisage based on what I
was told that you know the muscles are
all knotted up or the fibers are kind of
like tangled or they're like stuck
together and that's why when I pull on
them they kind of like can't get them
but that's just not how it is that's
like this terrible awful myth propagated
by I don't know who maybe it's why the
medical establishment who wants you to
come and get massages or something
like physical things done to your
muscles to supposedly fix them but
muscle tightness is maintained by a
nervous system and you can go and even
read book babble to Selena Belarusian
guy who is very well known for
flexibility any or all these famous
techniques from lrl showed up to the
United States and trained trans people
and you know he's very smart and he
pointed out that you know it comes from
the nervous system like your brain here
then those motor cortex somewhere I
don't know exactly where and then from
the motor cortex come all these motor
neurons you know down through your
spinal cord and then they branch off
into your muscles and when you try and
do a stretch something to make the
muscles elongate let's say if you lack
the coordination or stability or
muscular control or any sort of like
physical skill that would be required to
allow your muscles go to you know let's
say say for like operate correctly in an
elongated range like if you lack any of
that than the nervous system is like on
a novice it's not trained right and it
just contracts ok now as I said I was
gonna explain them in glass so that's
the first layer now that's just a
physical layer that is one reason why
muscles can stay tight but even even
still you would think it's quite simple
you would still think you could get
results like oh okay well like in in
suits Elaine's book he says ok well all
you have to do is you have to wait out
this this process that the nervous
system goes through in which you know
you start to take your muscle into an
elongated position and then the nervous
system kind of freaks you out and then
it kind of just clamps for a while but
then it eventually goes oh no
everything's okay everything's okay
release and it releases a bit and Jim
didn't want just release like one
millimeter or something like that and
then you have to go through like the
whole process again
yeah the what he's different is reality
like it
like that like that is how flexibility
works from me these days right like now
now that I'm doing real pretty hardcore
flexibility training I can say that's
exactly how it works however it wasn't
always like that from me like years ago
when I would try to do flexibility if I
tried to do something I didn't really
have the same experience that I tried to
do now that I get now I would just do it
don't do like well I don't know I feel
nothing I just feel tightness
I just feel pain it's horrible and
nothing's happening like I could stay
here for as long as I want and if I even
just stay here my arm won't like just
goes numb and that's like and it becomes
excruciatingly painful and I don't get
this release at all like nothing nothing
happens and I could not improve my
flexibility at all so what I eventually
discovered is that there is and there's
other reasons why your brain slash
nervous system can keep your muscles
tight apart from just this physical
reason of not having enough stability
coordination or strengthen the muscle
with something like that and I
discovered this I actually explained
this in great detail in the video that I
created the cold my 1-hour muscular
tension manifesto bit of a flashy name
but basically for 45 minutes or so I
explained exactly what's going on with
this whole process of muscular tension
and then in the 15 minutes at the end I
kind of explained like my product called
the muscular tension release system but
I go into great detail what was like
ongoing to that kind of detail right now
but I explained that I discovered the
work of this German psychoanalyst named
Wilhelm Reich and he was a student of
Freud and contemporary of Carl Jung
disagreed with both of those guys on a
number of matters this I do as well
and he discovered that when he would
have clients come into therapy that you
know the worse they were the work the
more messed up they were let's just say
like the more issues they had he would
also notice that those is correlation
between that and like physical tightness
right muscular tension and he also
noticed that when he would coach people
to have like breakthroughs mentally or
he used the words psychically just to
refer to the psyche he would be like
Aden there was a releases and muscles as
well and that led him to state that
muscle rigidity and psychic rigidity are
kind of like you know oh related are two
related concepts let's say the way I
like to put it is that physical
tightness like extremely talking muscles
can be like a physical manifestation of
you know just whatever mind stuff right
like I don't want to create some Steamer
aren't that's like something that you go
to psychoanalysis
or anything like that because what I
discovered is that you can get ty
muscles from just like any regular
typical stuff right like check out these
examples right like if you if you're
like shoulders are up tight like this
right that can just be because you feel
like there's a weight on your shoulders
and the whole world is kind of like
right and I've had experiences where I
do particular exercises that I kind of
like
invented myself in a way where you know
you can do physical exercises and then
trigger a release and then you actually
notice like oh this horrible feeling or
kind of like thought that you had that
was kind of an irrational thought that
was related to ideas like that like the
weight of the world being on your
shoulders another example like no it's
very common people have these rounded
shoulders right it's like chest pulling
forward and
might sound almost too spiritual for
some people to believe but that is very
much related to you know protecting the
heart or just protecting just stopping
yourself from like opening up and just
experiencing life in a more connected
way I don't really get it for all the
spiritual stuff but sometimes you just
need to use those words or if you have
like you know low back pain and you're
you know rounded like this and kinda
right-right like even in a book there's
a book by a guy called John sana
who read a book about how back pain can
be related to anger and he would notice
patients come in and he would coach them
on anger and things like that and voila
their back pain would go away but these
are like really kind of like clear
obvious examples but sometimes like
these things can just happen all over
your body just like just one little
moment or something where you had some
small kind of thing that happened in
your life but isn't even really
significant you would never even really
think it was significant but there might
have been some emotional reaction to it
and then what there was like some
muscular tension induced due to that
experience and it just you don't really
think of it or know about but it just
goes and it sits in there and it just
kind of stays there forever until you
kind of like figure that out and you
don't have to just do it mentally you
don't have to go like therapy you can
just do like particular movements and
get the body movement moving and do
special things where you just become
more conscious of your muscles and it
kind of you can kind of just trigger all
that to kind of leave your body and
after you kind of get rid of like a lot
of that stuff like I don't know 90% of
it or whatever is something then your
body starts to feel really no
you know just it can move you know
really freely and all that stuff and
even notice that you gain muscle because
like muscle that was kind of was like
dead like completely inactive it was
just like not able to function correctly
so you gain muscle mass as if by magic
so that's a pretty good process right so
this is the kind of stuff that I talk
about on my channel like most mainstream
stuff is just like do physical exercise
get results and they don't talk about
how mind is involved at all or the
nervous system there's just like nothing
it's just like bro do these push-ups and
bench pressing going to big chest or if
you've got boots that aren't working do
a glute bridge and your glutes will be
working and if you've got tight
hamstrings and just reach down to your
toes and touch them every day and then
your hamstrings will be loose so if you
like this kind of content that's maybe a
little out of mainstream maybe a little
bit esoteric but you sense that there
might be something to it like you sense
that yeah it could be true that there's
something to do with the mind then the
subscribe to channel or you can check
out my website which is matt coke
movement calm and if you want to find
out more about that muscular release
tension system that I created that's
also my website but also created a
special website for it's called the
movement video comm so feel free to take
any of those options other than that
just people look out for more of my
videos and I'll see you soon
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