How to Program Flexibility Training: Frequency/ Volume/ Intensity

Pt. 1- Frequency

 We all know the best exercises to Increase flexibility, but it’s the implementation that will dictate the progress we make. First, we need to make sense of frequency, volume, and Intensity in a given microcycle and how we can manipulate these factors to maximize the adaptations we are after

Frequency- How many days a week we stretch

Volume- total workload/ time under tension per week

Intensity- how close to max depth we are training

In this email we will discuss how to optimize frequqncy

Frequency

High frequency stretching- anywhere from 4-7 times a week. In order to stretch this often and still make progress, intensity will be low. The stretch will be easy enough to not require much recovery demand. This works best when recovering from an injury, or trying to make your current range more accessible. Say you have decent flexibility when warmed up, but stiffen up significantly when cold. Reducing high Intensity work for a period of time can help slowly bridge the gap between your warmed up and cold range.

When you stretch with intensity this low, you should do it cold without a warm up to teach your nervous system to be able to access your range whenever, wherever.

In the case of injury rehab, higher frequency stretching can help reduce muscle guarding in protection of a sensitive area. This works especially well with some light isometrics added in at lengthened ranges.

Low frequency stretching 1-2 times a week. This style of stretching will require 4-7 days of recovery… sometimes 10 days (If you’ve ever done loaded middle split eccentrics then you know)

We will talk about Intensity in a separate email but this Is when we will be stretching close to our max range of motion. With low frequency stretching, we have to stretch hard enough to earn the days off. Here Is where we build strength, and Induce sarcomerogenesis- Increasing the contractile units (sarcomeres) of a muscle In series I.e. make a longer muscle. More muscle damage and stress to joint structures means more demand for recovery.

Low frequency stretching Is typically the go to method for increasing max range, just as heavy lifting Is the best way to get strong.

medium frequency stretching- around 3 times a week. This is kind of the sweet spot for areas you want to prioritize. Meaning you have a stubborn area you will emphasize while the other areas are put on maintence or minimal effective dose.

You’ll probably want to choose exercises that don’t require a ton of load or sets to reach close to max depth. 2-3 sets a session Is ideal.

For example, say I want to prioritize my pancake flexibility. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I will stretch the pancake. One option Is to do the same variation every session for the same sets and reps

Pancake goodmorning 3 x 10 reps + 20 sec hold last rep

Option 2- You can switch the variation each session and vary the rep ranges

Monday- Pancake goodmorning 3 x 10 reps + 20 sec hold last rep, Wednesday- Standing Pancake Jefferson Curl 2 x 3 reps w/ 10 sec hold each rep, Friday- Seated Pancake Reach 2 x 6-8 reps w/ 3-5 sec hold each rep

Meanwhile, you may stretch other areas once a week without worry about Improving those areas. Just keep them In the background.

Part 2- Volume

For the sake of simplicity and practicality, we will refer to volume in reference to flexibility as number of sets- not necessarily amount of total workload/ time under tension throughout the week.

In strength & conditioning volume is indirectly proportional to intensity. Meaning the heavier you train, the less total number of sets you’ll be able to use that same weight. With flexibility, It doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes you still get Increased range of motion as you continue to build sets, no matter the intensity of the stretch.

So what Is the optimal amount of sets for flexibility?

This depends on the area that you are stretching. More compound type of stretches like the splits and back bends have a huge nervous system component. Meaning with each subsequent set, your nervous system is recalibrating the stretch reflex based on all the different inputs coming in to the brain. With the front split, you’re not just focusing on hamstrings, but your hip flexors, quads, abs, hip rotators, etc. You also have the opposing muscles that are firing hard to pull you deeper. There’s a lot of sensory info traveling up to the brain in order to get an output which Is increasing range.

Typically with splits I have found 5 sets to be the maximum to where you won’t get much more range out of them as long as you are pushing your range close to maximum tolerance each set. Not max, but maybe 75-90% of max each set.

For smaller areas like piriformis, jefferson curls, wall quad stretches, pancake, etc 2-4 sets seems to be ideal depending on whether you are using them as the main exercise or not.

The idea with increased sets is to Increase range each set. If you do 3 sets and you stop increasing range on the 4th set, then there is no point of doing the 5th really. Unless your goal Is to build strength and you are deliberately not going to max depth.

Here Is a task for you. Take a group of exercises/stretches and train them once to twice a week. Have a set range of 3-6 over 6 weeks and get an idea of how your range tracks each week. See how many sets you can continue to add to where you stop increasing range. Each week, have the intention to hit the top number of sets (5 or 6) but stop when range plateaus. Say you do 2 sets of side splits yielding Isometrics at 30 second holds. If on the 3rd set you don’t get deeper, then do not do the 4th set. Track the trend weekly.

If you continuously can’t continue to 5 or 6 sets, the it either means you aren’t recovering well and adapting, or your end ranges are too weak and you need to do more strength work before pushing range.

This is where we can draw more parallels to strength and conditioning. In this case, we need more “base building” work to create a larger ceiling to make flexibility gains and handle the increased number of sets.

Part 3: Intensity

Last but not least in this series, we are talking about the metric that will dictate change- Intensity!

Intensity in reference to flexibility refers to how close to maximum depth you are performing your stretching exercises. Intensity is inversely proportional to how long you can hold the stretch. If you can hold a 60 second stretch at a given depth, then I can almost guarantee you are not at your physiologic end range.

Most likely, you will only be able to hold your max depth for around 3-5 seconds. It will feel intense and you will feel as If you are at the limit of your joint where the two bony segments are fully compressed.

Getting flexible requires that we not only build strength at end range in the stretched tissue, but also pain tolerance. We simply can’t build stretch tolerance if we are only able to last 3-5 seconds in a stretch. If anything, that is threatening to the nervous system and the brain may not want to push past that point and create muscle guarding instead of yielding to the tensile load placed on the muscle/tendon unit.

Do we need an intense enough stimulus to create change? You bet. But people hear this and make the mistake of maxing out depth each time they train their flexibility.

My friend Wil Brown likes to say “Intensity masks perception.” This means the higher the intensity, the less we can sense what is actually lengthening in a given stretch.

The discomfort level is so high we can’t focus in on the target muscle. We may even just feel the joint being squished, or stabilizing muscles fatiguing. We talk about this on his podcast more in depth. You can listen at this link

A stretch should be intense enough that we are close to max depth, but we can still focus in on the target muscles lengthening, and maintain controlled breaths. We should be able to contract and relax the muscles on both sides of the joint which will signal a sense of safety to the central nervous system.

We need phases of longer hold times- 45-90 second holds to build a base, and phases of shorter duration holds 15-30 second to create more strength and expose deeper ranges. Longer holds will force you to stay more shallow and keep the set submaximal, while shorter holds will be best performed at a deep range.

With the shorter holds, it is best to stay at a depth you can at least hold for 15 seconds, and over the course of weeks build it up to 30 seconds. From there, start back to 15 and add load. Do as many sets as you can while continuing to gain range.

If we want to improve our back squat, we don’t build it by finding a 1 RM each time we train. We keep the weight heavy, but not to the point where we are excessively grinding reps, allowing form to break down, or feeling joint pain. Same goes for training your splits.

I go into depth about my 3 tier approach for guiding stretch intensity based on the exercise in this video. If you haven’t seen it, give it a watch!

Summary

Flexibility adaptations aren’t as straightforward like strength training but we can draw parallels with programming principals. If you would like to understand programming first hand, then you have to put it in to practice. Experiment for yourself to see what works. Getting a coach will be the best possible to way to stay on track and not second guess yourself when progress slows down. Consistency and staying healthy is the biggest cheat code to getting flexible at the end of the day!