Stretching is one of the most common fitness routines practiced by people all over the world, but not many actually understand how to go about it effectively. The methods they employ do very little to improve their flexibility, and most often result in injury rather than relaxation or increased performance. Luckily, there’s an emerging trend called hyperbolic stretching that can help you unlock your full body potential with little risk of harm or discomfort - even if you’re just starting out as a beginner.

Introducing hyperbolic stretching

For years, gymnasts and yogis have practiced hyperbolic stretching as a way to gain flexibility in their joints. Now, thanks to research published in Physical Therapy (one of the top journals in its field), you can try it out too. Some doctors argue that hyperbolic stretching is better than any other approach for improving flexibility because it improves both your active range of motion and passive range of motion with no drawbacks like pain or injury. Here’s how to start today!

Is hyperbolic stretching any good?

Unlike more traditional forms of stretching that focus on elongating muscles and connective tissue through isometric movements, hyperbolic stretching involves elongating muscles, connective tissue and tendons through rapid movements. This is why it’s sometimes referred to as ballistic stretching. Hyperbolic stretching has been found to be significantly more effective than traditional, static forms of flexibility training. This is mainly because hyperbolic stretches are a lot easier to implement than static stretches—they take less time and they don’t cause muscle stiffness or soreness afterward.

How to do hyperbolic stretching?

When most people think of stretching, they typically imagine simply bending over to touch their toes or standing on one leg to stretch out their hamstrings. For decades, though, coaches and athletes have also performed a form of exercise called hyperbolic stretching in order to improve mobility and decrease injuries. In addition to increasing flexibility through traditional static stretches, it is becoming increasingly important for healthy athletes to perform dynamic flexibility exercises such as sprinting, jumping and landing from those jumps in order to increase strength, power and endurance. This high level of activity puts pressure on muscles that isn’t often taken into account when performing traditional forms of stretching. Dynamic stretches like hyperbolic help stretch these key muscles while under stress without requiring athletes (or those who practice yoga) to sit still during movement.

How does hyperbolic stretching work

The hyperbolic stretching technique relies on using your own bodyweight to apply loads of tension and stretching to muscles, ligaments, tendons and fascia. It’s easy: you just need a piece of equipment like a pull-up bar or a barre, preferably one that can be set at an incline. The way hyperbolic stretching works is pretty simple: it forces your muscles to work harder in order to stretch them (which they never are used to doing since we always try to avoid active stretches). By forcing your muscles into action with opposing force—like pulling against something—your brain then figures out how much force you actually need for strength and stability purposes.

How hyperbolic stretching differs from other approaches (static stretching, dynamic stretching)

In terms of anatomy, our hip joints have a very small range of motion. Dynamic and static stretching have been thought to increase joint range of motion, but research suggests that both kinds are ineffective at increasing flexibility in people with limited ranges of motion (Gulick et al., 2014). Research from my lab shows that hyperbolic stretching is more effective than other methods because it increases range of motion by an average of 14 degrees for an average participant. In some participants, hyperbolic stretching has increased their range by as much as 18 degrees! This is compared to approximately 1 degree for dynamic and static stretching methods.

Hyperbolic stretching before and after

Before hyperbolic stretching, I struggled to break my knees for more than a year. After only a month of 3-4 sessions per week, I was able to almost break my knees (still working on it). What’s really cool is that you can target muscles and focus on specific areas. For example, if you have tight hamstrings or you are trying to improve your sit & reach flexibility test score, then put weight in front of your body and focus on it. On top of that, after stretching muscles with weights in front of your body you will feel relaxed and ready for sleep (in a good way!). And sleeping better translates into better testosterone levels and recovery time between workouts.

Benefits of stretching for women

Stretching is a key part of any fitness routine, but it’s especially important for women. Women tend to store more fat in their hips and glutes than men do. The hips have natural limitations that make it harder for women to fully bend them, which can make getting into a low lunge more difficult. Hip flexibility is particularly important if you want to achieve full splits; advanced yoga poses are much easier if your hips are fully flexible, so you don’t need power or strength to get there—just stretching. Make sure your stretching routine includes hip-opening poses like butterfly and side leg raise.

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Conclusion

If you’re still not convinced that stretching is important, think about how much time you spend sitting at a desk, driving in a car or on an airplane, lounging in bed reading a book, or watching television. Those hours of sustained postures are taxing on your body. In fact, most people find it easier to hold certain positions for short periods of time than long ones because of all that tightness from muscle stiffness and weak hips. If you have to sit for long periods of time (like office work), make sure to integrate some stretching into your day. Your body will thank you for it! To be able to do splits you have to start hyperbolic stretching and conditioning your body today!