Ray's Views On Flexability / Stretching

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I'm a very tight, inflexible guy. I was wondering if ray has ever spoke about this?
I assume flexibility comes with good thyroid function?
 

narouz

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I wouldn't necessarily assume so.
John MacEnroe (sp?) always has been famously inflexible.
Couldn't stretch worth a damn.
But look at him play tennis!
And he's still playing, amazingly great.
Saw him playing on TV last week--going strong.
 
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Mittir

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Someone asked RP about Yoga and his response was that it was good for muscle.
I believe stiffness is a result of over all health status.
 
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tara

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One of the key clinical signs of hypothyroid was a slowed relaxation response. I'm guessing that means hypothyroid folks could easily get tighter muscles because they don't relax as quickly and fully in between contractions. Lately I'm suspecting my chronically tight achilles are a sign of this, and I wonder if that is also a contributor for the many people I know who have torn achilles tendons or calf muscles.
Also, isn't there something about stretching muscles producing ATP?
 
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I always have had excessive flexibility for a male and never had a good metabolism as well. Insensibility to pain is the main factor in this but possibly not the only one.
 
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Spokey

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I played at the martial arts for many years, but I never achieved good flexibility. In the end I adapted my technique to fit my body's limitations rather than the other way round. I think we're all built differently, but my family has some extreme examples of this, like congenital fusing of bones in the wrist. No amount of stretching will address things like that. And I know someone who despite never having trained a day in his life can just do side splits. I always have these thing in the back of my mind whenever I hear someone saying there's a 'correct' movement in some art. Better to listen to your body than injure yourself trying to move in a way you're not built for.

In fact most of my limits occur around stress on the joints, rather than lengthening of muscle. The downside of flexibility in joints tends to be a loss of strength in stressed positions. This is why excessive flexibility in the knees is usually not good for people like powerlifters, they can't rely on some intrinsic strength in the tissues to help them handle load. Metabolism may well have a role (certainly this problem really plagued me when I was consuming a lot of PUFA (arthritic symptoms, slow recovery from injury)), but how you're put together might be just as relevant.
 
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tara

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Good point about the distinction between weak over-flexible joints (prone to injury - not good) and long muscles (good). Strong muscles can stabilise joints, which is good. Chronically contracted short muscles can't do as much work. I think they don't get as good a flow of blood, either? I think I've read that joints need to be stable before muscles get the message that it is safe to lengthen in a stretch. My most recent yoga teacher always emphasised the importance of muscles being active when we stretched them, so that we worked on the muscle, not just pulling at the joints.
Bet Pranarupa has opinions about this.
I've had joint injuries in places that I was not particularly flexible, where the muscles were also too weak to protect them.

Regarding this:
tara said:
Also, isn't there something about stretching muscles producing ATP?
I found this:
Ray Peat said:
When muscles are stretched, they synthesize ATP (Experientia 1971 Jan 15;27(1):45-6, "Stretch induced formation of ATP-32P in glycerinated fibres of insect flight muscle," Ulbrich M, Ruegg JC)
http://www.members.westnet.com.au/pkolb/peat2.htm
(employed Dan's PeatSearch: a Ray Peat-specific search engine - Toxinless)
 
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I always wondered whether I have Ehler-Danlos or Marfan syndrome because of the joints thing and scoliosis, pectus excavatum, high palate, nearsightedness, astigmatism, arrhythmia, GERD, hiatal hernia, POTS. I think these syndromes can be much milder than thought and aren't strictly genetic after all.
 
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tara

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I've just enjoyed Pranarupa's March blog post - relates to muscle fibres and their metabolism developed by different kinds of exercises and contractions.
 

narouz

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tara said:
I've just enjoyed Pranarupa's March blog post - relates to muscle fibres and their metabolism developed by different kinds of exercises and contractions.

Don't have the time to read it carefully just now,
but glossing it
it does look really cool. ;)
 

Frankdee20

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Muscle tightening can be helped with magnesium. Must be a correlation between hypothyroid and inability to hold magnesium, if Thyroid is implicated in stiffness
 

Motif

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I think in most cases it's just because we are moving not enough. Sitting too long. Lay on the couch after work.

Plus working out not right which leads to muscle imbalances.

I will work more on stretching and back workout now. I think having that much back and neck issues can be root of other health issues that you maybe would never imagine.

I mean it's so much stress for your body to have chronically issues like that.


It's bad for blood flow to specific areas, lymph flow, stress hormones and who knows whatelse.



Edit: oh i just remembered I know a guy who got extremely depressed over years and he said it was all his back tensions! After working on it everyday he was like a new person.

He's the cousin of a good friend of mine and he confirmed that it's crazy how he changed
 
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Runenight201

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I’ve never been a very flexible guy, but I do stretch multiple times a week, and I will say that when my stomach is not-inflamed and I have a lot of energy, I am much more flexible than when I am in poor health.

I’ve always admired how dancers move. I think the most graceful of dancers to be an absolute beautiful art, and I do think they must maintain an inflammation free body to be able to move like that.

When there is perceived weakness around a joint, secondary muscles lock down to assist with the protection of the at-risk joint. For instance, many people have very weak intrinsic core stabilizing muscles (transverse abdomonis, internal/external obliques, quadratus laborum, etc...) since these muscles all stabilize the hip, when they are weak, the prime movers of the hip tighten up to protect the hip. This usually manifests as tight hip flexors and external/internal rotators of the hip.

If one has poor metabolic function, so they aren’t producing enough energy in general, the primary stabilizers don’t have sufficient energy to do their job, so muscles that shouldn’t be stabilizing also have to assist, leading to further tightness, movement irregularities, poor coordination, excessive tendon and cartilage wear, and eventual pain and injury.

I’ve had two ACL surgeries, due to me pushing myself beyond the energy my body was able produce, leading to dysfunctional movement and injury. When I’ve eaten well, my muscles are so primed and strong, that at the end of a workout, my muscles are sore and I don’t have any joint pain. When I do a lot of movement with a poor diet, my joints hurt and not my muscles, signaling that my muscles didn’t have enough energy to do their job, and my joints began taking excessive load.
 

Cirion

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I have had good result from increasing flexibility just from full range of motion exercises, so more "dynamic" stretching.

I think a lot of loss of flexibility occurs both from lack of exercise & being overweight. I have been out of the gym for a while and also gained weight starting off a Peat inspired diet, and have lost a lot of flexibility as a result, I would actually say mostly because of the fat gain, but also because of not exercising probably.
 

olive

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There’s a correlation between thyroid status and flexibility.

Stretching increases ATP, IGF-1 and protein synthesis.

It’s been shown to be tumour suppressive, in rats.

Morning yoga in the sunlight and weighted stretching post weight lifting has given me tremendous benefit.
 

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