In this podcast Maddy sits down with coach Josh, who is our in-house flexibility specialist. Josh has invested his time in both understanding the science of flexibility but also putting it into practice. His development of our flexibility plans has greatly impacted the work we do with clients and as a bonus point, has just about resulted in him reaching his goal of side splits!

How to take a practical approach to flexibility training
Understanding your biomechanics to get the stretches right for your level
The importance of strength through ranges of motion.
His approach to the “how” of flexibility training. This is so important for pushing the training (yes, flexibility training should feel challenging!), keeping motivated and monitoring progress.
Topics discussed:

1) Why flexibility is important and how it plays into performance in climbing

2) What is the process you go through when it comes to improving flexibility?

3) The concept of leverage and how we can use gravity to provide the right challenge level.

4) How muscles and joints don’t work in isolation, and therefore how we can best facilitate our stretching in certain positions.

5) Length before strength. Session ordering for improving flexibility and strength through a large range of movement.

6) As with many exercises the “how” is important when we train flexibility. Josh talks about setting tasks in flexibility training.

7) ‘Feeling’ before ‘form.’ What should the main focus be?