3 Real Reasons Your Flexibility Isn’t Improving (And What to do About it)

At least once a day, I hear frustration from athletes who feel like they are stretching forever with little to no progress. They’re doing the splits nightly, holding stretches for minutes at a time, and still feel stuck.

Here’s the truth that you might be missing:

Your body won’t “give” you flexibility, it doesn’t believe you can control. Strength and stability earns range! Your nervous system, strength, and consistency matter just as much, if not more.

Let’s break down the 3 reasons why your flexibility isn’t improving, and what you can do differently starting today.

1. Your Nervous System Isn’t on Board Yet

We have to remember that your nervous system controls everything. This means muscle tension, joint protection, and how safe your body feels moving into certain positions. If your brain thinks a position is unsafe, it will automatically tighten muscles to protect you, no matter how badly you want more range.

So if you’re feeling

• A hard “block” when stretching

• Shaking or guarding

• Tightness that immediately comes back after stretching

That’s not a muscle problem, that’s a nervous system problem. 

Here’s what helps:

1. Add in a breath

• As you bring yourself to the point of feeling your stretch, take a deep breath in and ease off slightly, then exhale and move deeper into the stretch. Your breath works to naturally calm the nervous system and will allow you to go a little further.

2. Visualization

• While stretching, picture your muscle melting, stretching and extending into the position you want. Your brain can’t tell the difference between imaging it and really doing it, so we can help convince the brain this a safe position.

3. Let go of “no pain, no gain”

• I see far too often athletes, coaches and parents forcing positions which causes more pain, more tension and more nervous system red flags. Your stretch should be STRONG but comfortable, and you should be able to hold it easily for 30s

2. You’re Tight because Your Body Is Protecting You (Not Because You Need More Stretching) 

This one is a game-changer for athletes and coaches to understand. And is a primary focus here at FAME physio.

Sometimes muscles aren’t tight because they’re short, they’re tight because they’re doing extra work to stabilize your joints.

For example:

• tight hamstrings are guarding knee and hip weakness

• tight calves are protecting weak ankles or feet.

If your body doesn’t trust that a joint is strong and controlled, it will keep muscles tight as a safety strategy. Stretching alone can’t override this!

Here’s what helps:

1. My personal favourite is mobility exercises. Not just passive stretching. A quick lesson: Mobility refers to the joint’s ability to move through its entire range of motion with control, whereas flexibility refers to how far your muscles can stretch. Sometimes you need both, but often the mobility piece is missing. If your joint can’t move to its end, it doesn’t matter how far your muscle can stretch.

2. Eccentric Strengthening. Wait? Won’t strength training make me tighter? Nope! The stronger, more stable you are, the easier your body can move. Eccentrics are particularly important because it is the phase of an exercise where your muscle is working in its longest position (think the lowering portion of a deadlift). Strengthening your muscles in a lengthened position will help give you more strength in this new, longer position

3. You’re Not Consistent Enough (Even if You’re Trying Hard)

Flexibility happens through neurological adaptations (your brain learning the movement is safe) and mechanical adaptations (muscles, tendons, and connective tissue slowly adapting to being more stretchy). These improvements can only happen if the same message is being repeated over and over again. Once is never! Stretching needs to be regular, repeated and long-term. That doesn’t mean hours a day, but it does mean every day.

 Here’s what helps:

1. 5-10 minutes a day is honestly enough

   • 10 minutes a day beats 1 intense stretch session once a week

2. Habit stacking

• Develop a routine to stretch every day. The best strategy is to stretch paired with something you already do. Skin care before bed? Do 5 minutes before or after. Waiting for your toast in the morning? Do a quick stretch!

One final reminder: maybe your friends and teammates are super stretchy. They make it seem like it comes easily… Why not me? It is important to remember that every athlete’s body is different, and what is easy for some is not for others. Some bodies are naturally more stretchy; the tissues that make up their body are longer or more elastic from the start. So yes, for them it is easier, but that’s not a property of your body you can change, so for some athletes, they do need to work harder at flexibility than others. Remember not to compare yourself to others; the only fair competition is with yourself.

The Bottom Line: 

Flexibility takes time and commitment to improve. Think of it like a skill that took you months or years to master. 

Want help doing this the right way?

At FAME physiotherapy, we can help you train smarter, not harder!

• Improve flexibility and build strength in a way that helps your female athlete feel confident in their body - not frustrated