The Hidden RISK of Stretching for Ages 50+

This is such an important video for me because it explains why I get injured so often at the gym. I am 75 years old and am very flexible. I come by it naturally, I can do toe touches effortlessly, get up off the floor with no hands and really don't have to do much in the way of stretching for most of my resistance training. That said, I am always getting injured, and don't realize it until the body part starts to hurt within a day or two. I did not feel pain at the time of the exercise. So, the notion of control is a huge revelation for me. I would like to explore the concept of developing that ability further. Right now however I am having issues with the hands and feet. Will be doing the ankle exercises.

I taught myself this lesson over 50 years ago, as a teen following along with Lilias, Yoga and You. I overstretched and destabilized my low back, initiating (I think) my degenerative disc disease.

Tight muscles (often)=weak muscles. So stability/strength need to be dealt with as you increase flexibility.

Excellent demonstration Will Once again appreciate all the time you spend preparing such valuable information to help improve our health safely ❤

I’ve been doing bridges for about 12 months , with no noticeable improvement at all even though I tried to keep my back from arching (following an L4/5 fusion ). Your way is probably how I should have been doing them ! Thanks so much Will !

This was spot on! Just did the ankle exercises and l will do this for the lower back and shoulder. Thanks for your help. You are a blessing!

This is so important 17 years of martial arts and around the shoulder I was hypermobile Injuries! Stability work so important. Dynamic stretching. Functional movement. Well explained. Well done Will! Matt the pilates teacher.

Oh so true!! I was doing my stretches at home just keeping flexible a bit of Pilates a bit of yoga..so the downward dog? I convinced myself it’s time to push those ankles to the floor (at 64!) and TWANG! Achilles Tendon has been swollen ever since. Months of no exercise totally out of condition and no respite on the horizon until it settles down!!

I am 58 yr old F. I used to be really into yoga. I gave it up and have no more pain in my lower back and SI joint. I never realized yoga was the problem. Until I stopped.

Spot on, joined an exercise class and my ankles, back and shoulder were in loads of pain.

Excellent video, as usual! Future suggestion: At the end of the video, summarise the recommendations: 1. Band rotation (shoulders), 2. Heel raises (ankles) 3. Curl up (lower back), and maybe a visual diagram. Thanks heaps for everything; truly appreciated.

Yes, this happened to me with my left hip. I had to do a ton of strengthening over about 6 months to fix this.

So true. I am that flexible yoga woman and i actually started to limit the range of rotations.

A great video Will. I have recently been doing more stretches but fortunately found your video with three strengthening exercises to prevent injury to the rotator cuffs, lower back & knees which have helped to strengthen the muscles around those areas. Am recovering from a torn achillies tendon and after 18 months it has healed very well. I am currently doing the heel raises then transferring all my weight to the weak leg and slowly lowering myself down to a flat surface. Fortunately the gym physio suffered a similar injury & so offers sound advice.

In defense of yoga let me say this: asana practice, properly taught, is all about awareness, which equals control. Flexibility has nothing at all to do with yoga, itself. Flexibility is just a fringe benefit. The postures in asana practice are templates laid over the body to provide a specific object of awareness. Movement is coordinated with an intentional breathing technique and this all manifests as control. This is what yoga teachers mean when they tell you to "listen to your body". Too much of modern day yoga is the product of marketing, and under poor direction it can end up being performative. This can lead to injury.

Thank you for educating us! 🙏🏻

So important for me! . I am and was a very stiff person, and I watched a flexibility channel and was too lazy till today to establish a routine .

This is fantastic- thanks Will!

Hi Will, clicked the link, filled in the form, no email. Yes I have checked my junk folder😂 Would love to see more mini work out sessions in real time to enable me to follow along.

One thing I've noticed forward stretching the spine before doing warm ups for kickboxing or BJJ is that it inhibits my ability to transition smoothly from sitting to standing and then running which appears to be the standard format for these classes, something never feels right, so I now arrive early and warm up not by stretching but by doing light weight training with compound lifts every minute on the minute for ten minutes, that seems to work better.