Want to be more flexible?

Hi Folks,

For those of you keeping up with the newsletter, you know I’ve been all about Peter Attia’s work on longevity lately. This week I wanted to keep the party going by talking about eccentric strength and how it can help us develop flexibility and avoid the kinds of debilitating injuries that can impact the length and quality of our lives. 

When people struggle with flexibility, they often assume it’s just a matter of not stretching often enough. But static stretching alone only goes so far  in improving our ability to lengthen our muscles. This is because the body has a built in protectivestretch reflex” which keeps our muscles from lengthening beyond their capacity to safely hold the position without tearing. In other words, flexibility is a function of strength! Being limber means being strong in multiple directions in the body. 

It’s important for people to understand that there are two types of strength. There is concentric strength, which is the strength involved in contracting the muscle (like doing a bicep curl) and eccentric strength, which is the strength involved in lengthening the muscle. When it comes to eccentric strength training, the goal is the anti-goal. For example, when doing a pull-up, eccentric strength is the ability to lower yourself back down in a controlled way. 

As Attia points out in this article, eccentric strength in the lower body works as an important shock absorber against gravity and is vital for avoiding falls and injury, especially as we age. Check out this video from Attia for a simple exercise to develop eccentric strength in the lower body! 

With care,

Bob


Bob was recently interviewed for the BK Reader. Check it out!

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