How to Touch Your Toes
Generally speaking, if you can't touch your toes,
it's a sign that your body is not flexible enough.
The ability to touch your toes is the summation of a number of different physiological factors, many of which we have no control over. “The two biggest factors are the flexibility of your hamstrings and the range of motion of your hip joints,” says Jeffrey Jenkins, a physiologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. “But the other big factor is the relative length of your arms and your torso to your legs.”
Hamstrings are the set of three muscles that rest behind the thighs, running from your pelvis and hip area down to your knees. When you bend down to touch your toes, hamstrings do the most work. The range of motion of your hips is equally important. When you bend down to actually reach the ground, you have to be able to bend your hip joints forward. In conjunction with that, Jenkins says, you also have to be able to flex your lumbar spine. If you have an arched or a stiff back or a lot of injuries to your spine that inhibit your ability to bend forward, that could also alter how far down you can reach.
Since you can’t do anything about the relative length of your arms and your torso to your legs, we suggest stretching out your hamstrings instead! Here are four stretches to get your started. Any combination of these stretches will help you improve your flexibility as long as you consistently work on it a tiny bit every day:
STANDING TOUCH: Flex the front of your legs, keep them straight, and bend over at the waist just past the point of discomfort; hold that position for 30 seconds. Repeat this process every other day and hold it for 30 seconds.
CAT/COW: We can loosen up a tight lower back by doing 30 seconds of moving back and forth every few seconds with “cat” and then “cow.”
STAR STRETCH: Stand with your legs spread wide and arms extended. Then reach down with one hand to your opposite leg; hold for five seconds, back to start, and repeat with the other leg.
MOON THE SKY: Squat down and put your hands under your feet. Slowly move your butt up with your hands remaining under your feet. Raise your butt and try to straighten your legs. Go a little bit higher each time until you can fully straighten your legs!
Yoga is also a great way to stretch your hamstrings, hip flexors and lower back. You can join Success Studio yoga classes or you can try these few poses to get started:
EXTENDED CHILD’S POSE: From a kneeling position, reach your arms forward as you exhale and press your hips back toward your heels. Rest your forehead on the floor or a block. Hold for five long, deep breaths. This stretch is intended to stretch low-back extensors and encourage the pelvis out of an anterior tilt.
PYRAMID: Step one leg back 18 to 24 inches with your toes angled slightly out. With both legs straight, hinge from your hips to bend forward, placing your hands on your forward leg as low as possible without rounding your back. This pose stretches your hamstrings with proper pelvic alignment.
RAGDOLL: Standing with your feet hip-distance apart, exhale as you bend forward, hinging from your hips, rather than pulling from your low back. Clasp your hands around the opposite elbow and let your head hang loosely. With your weight evenly distributed in your feet (not just your heels), straighten your legs by engaging your quadriceps (the muscles of the front upper leg). Firing your quad muscles allows your hamstrings to relax. You’ll also want to engage your deep core muscles to release your low back during this stretch. Remain here for 10 long, deep breaths.
The overall benefit of being able to touch your toes is having proper flexibility in your hamstrings, calves, and lower back. Generally speaking, more flexibility is a good thing. It promotes blood flow and, according to Jenkins, flexibility training and muscle elasticity itself can prevent certain kinds of injuries in sports and other recreational activities.
If you want to have an expert review your stretches, or teach you how to do others, our personal trainers here at Success Studio would be more than happy to help! If you want to learn more about our yoga classes, just click the button below.