How to Combine Strength and Flexibility Training for Faster Gains

Strength and flexibility don’t operate in isolation. Both attributes must be developed to promote optimal performance, reduce injury risk, and enhance recovery. They work in tandem, assisting each other in various tasks. For example, improved flexibility helps you build strength more efficiently by allowing you to access a fuller range of motion and perform exercises with better technique. Strength and flexibility training enables you to build both attributes simultaneously for better performance. Developing strength and flexibility for the squat will help you achieve your goal faster and enhance your performance in the lift. This article will explore the benefits of incorporating strength and flexibility exercises into your fitness routine and how to get started.

One effective way to boost strength and flexibility is by using Pliability's mobility app. This valuable tool can help you achieve your objectives, such as building strength and flexibility simultaneously, allowing you to move better, gain muscle efficiently, and prevent injuries without compromising mobility.

What is Strength and Flexibility Training?

Strength training involves exercises and activities that challenge your muscles against resistance, helping them become stronger over time. Flexibility training emphasizes improving the range of motion in your joints and muscles, enhancing your body’s mobility. Integrating both leads to better movement efficiency and physical resilience.

What are Strength Exercises? 

A strength exercise is any activity that makes your muscles work harder than usual. This increases your muscles:

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• Strength
• Size
• Power
• Endurance

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The activities involve using your body weight or working against a resistance. Try to do two sessions or more of muscle-strengthening exercises a week. Muscle-strengthening activities include lifting weights, working with resistance bands, and doing heavy gardening, such as:

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• Digging and shoveling
• Climbing stairs
• Hillwalking
• Cycling
• Dance
• Push-ups
• Sit-ups and squats
• Yoga 

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What are Flexibility Exercises? 

Flexibility exercises are activities that improve the ability of a joint to maintain the movement necessary for carrying out daily tasks and physical activity. Flexibility activities include stretching, yoga, tai chi, and pilates. 

What is the Difference Between Strength Training and Flexibility Training? 

Strength exercises are any activities that compel the muscles to work harder than usual. They involve using body weight or working against resistance, increasing muscle strength, power, size, and endurance.

You must engage in at least two muscle-strengthening exercises weekly for the best results. But when doing an activity, you should work the muscles until they reach a point where a short rest is inevitable before continuing. For example, if you are weightlifting, the threshold should be the point at which you must put the weight down after several lifts before you can carry on. 

Strength exercises should be challenging, but they should not be stressful. You should lift a weight you can comfortably manage in several repetitions. Strength exercises include:

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• Lifting weights
• Hillwalking
• Climbing stairs
• Working with resistance bands
• Yoga
• Dance
• Push-ups
• Sit-ups and squats
• Cycling
• Heavy gardening such as shoveling and digging

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Flexibility exercises are any activities that improve the ability of your joints to maintain the movement necessary for undertaking daily tasks and physical activity. Flexibility is the range of motion in a joint or group of joints or the ability to move joints effectively through a full range of motion. Flexibility training includes exercises that stretch muscles to lengthen them. Common flexibility exercises are:

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• Pilates
• Tai Chi
• Yoga
• Stretching

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You can begin your flexibility training with a slight stretch, then repeat three to five times. As your flexibility improves, you will stretch farther with every session. Ideally, you should engage in stretching exercises only when your muscles are warm, typically after weightlifting or aerobic sessions. 

Related Reading

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• Why Is Flexibility Important
• Does Flexibility Increase Speed
• Can Anyone Become Flexible
• Does Stretching Make You More Flexible
• Why Is Flexibility Important for Team Sports
• Increase Back Flexibility
• How Long Does It Take to Get Flexible
• Which Activity Is a Type of Flexibility Exercise?
• Sports That Require Flexibility
• What Is the Best Strategy to Improve Flexibility in Your Legs and Back
• Mobility vs Flexibility
• Sports That Require Flexibility

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How to Combine Strength and Flexibility Training

Strength and flexibility training complement one another beautifully. Strength training builds muscle and helps to stabilize joints and improve overall athletic performance. 

Flexibility training helps to improve the range of motion of muscles and joints to allow for better movement, less chance of injury, and improved performance in strength training. 

Structuring Strength Workouts

For strength training, start with compound exercises and finish with isolation exercises. Compound exercises use many major muscle groups simultaneously and involve many joints. Isolation exercises target specific muscles and usually involve one joint.

For example, before doing pull-ups, it would be a bad idea to do sets of bicep curls. Why? Because then your pull-ups would start to fail because your biceps are giving out and not your lats. It would similarly be a bad idea to hang until failure, exhausting your forearms and grip strength before doing pull-ups because your grip strength will fail before I can do all your pullups properly. 

The other way around works perfectly: 

Work on the compound exercises first and finish off with isolation exercises. This will allow you to get far more volume (sets and reps), efficiently build strength, and gain hypertrophy (muscle mass).

Structuring Flexibility Workouts

For flexibility training, you want to do the opposite: stretch individual muscles before moving to the final stretch. A few significant poses for flexibility are the:

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• Front splits
• Straddle splits
• Bridge pose

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The expression of these poses requires flexibility of multiple major muscle groups simultaneously. Your range will be limited by whatever muscle is tightest, so working on the particular muscles first is crucial to remove those limiting factors as much as possible before moving on to the grand-daddy stretch.

Going from “small” to “big” is the proper way to structure a stretching session. Doing it the other way would be highly inefficient and possibly downright dangerous. Going into a bridge (full-wheel pose) when you haven’t stretched your hip flexors will cause your lower back to arch far more than it should. 

Training for Flexibility is Like Training for Strength

Train for flexibility as systematically as you do with strength training for the most predictable progress. Flexibility training is like strength training, except it focuses on the end range of motion. Why do people work methodically when it comes to strength training (being very meticulous with logging their sets and reps), but when it comes to flexibility, they hold a stretch for however long they “feel” is “enough” rather than using a timer to make sure they’re doing it for a significant amount of time?

The way you strength train by doing 3-5 sets, resting between sets, is the same way you should stretch. Holding a stretch for 3 minutes nonstop is not as effective as breaking it into three sets of 1-minute holds. The body benefits from resting in between sets to recover and give you the best results, just like when strength training.

Balancing Intensity, Frequency, and Recovery

You need to balance intensity, frequency, and recovery for any training. More intensity requires more recovery time. Less intensity allows you to train more frequently. 

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• Volume = Total amount of work (sets+reps). 
• Intensity = Amount of weight/load. 
• Frequency = How many times a week you train a muscle group.
  
  

Want to train 5-6 days a week? High frequency equates to few rest days, so you must purposely limit how hard you train (low to medium volume and/or intensity) during any workout session so the body doesn’t have as much to recover from. (This means that you should not go to absolute failure, leave some gas in the tank, and end the session while you’re still ahead!)

You Don't Have to Stretch Everyday to Make Progress

You don't have to stretch every day to make progress. In the same way, you don't have to strength-train every day to make progress. How often have you read that you must stretch every day if you want to get flexible? Why don’t people say, “If you want to get strong, you must lift daily?" Because the accumulated fatigue would destroy your performance and eventually lead to injury.

(Note: Stretching daily for “limbering up” (loosening up) is excellent. But if you’re trying to exceed your current flexibility and make lasting progress, it is not entirely necessary to do it daily.) Whether you’re training for strength or flexibility, you could do as little as 2x/week or as much as 6x/week, but you need to choose the appropriate intensity and volume. 

The Minimum Effective Dose is Strikingly Similar Between Strength and Flexibility Training

The minimum effective dose of total time under tension is strikingly similar between strength and flexibility training of 2-3 minutes. 

For flexibility training: To improve with a 3x/week routine, you want to stretch a muscle for an aggregate (total) time of 3 minutes or more. (Two minutes is the threshold, so 3 minutes is a good target.)

For example, if your goal is the front splits, you might structure the bulk of your stretching session like this: 

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• Hip Flexors: 3 sets of 1 minute (per side) = 3 minutes per side 
• Hamstrings: 3 sets of 1 minute (per side) = 3 minutes per side 
• For strength training: To induce strength gain with a 3x/week routine, you want to do 3-4 sets of 8-12reps. 

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Each set takes about 30- 45 seconds (give or take), about 2-3 minutes under tension. 

Finding the Right Training Frequency

The best frequency, intensity, and volume allow you to train consistently and sustainably for your lifestyle. When you train with high intensity and volume, you cannot repeat that routine daily because working out doesn’t make you immediately stronger. 

You’re getting weaker and weaker after every set. That’s why you need rest days and de-load weeks. The recovery phase is when your body starts to rebuild itself and gets stronger through super-compensation. 

The Benefits of Training Frequency

It’s good at building the habit. You get more practice with exercises to clean up your form faster and build confidence. It also toughens you up, reduces the excuses, and makes you more in tune with your body. 

If you’re aiming for 5x/week and you happen to miss a day, it’s not detrimental if you miss a workout and only get 4 days. (Versus if you workout 3x/week and miss a day, and now you only have two workout days in.) 

Related Reading

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• Why Is It Important for Athletes to Be Flexible
• Flexibility Sports Examples
• How Many Days Per Week Can You Perform Flexibility Exercises?
• How to Become Flexible if You Are Very Stiff
• Flexibility Exercises for Kids
• Flexibility Exercises at Home
• How Can Flexibility Training Reduce the Risk of Back Pain?
• Flexibility Exercises for Beginners
• How Frequently Should Flexibility Exercises Be Performed for Best Results?
• Benefits of Flexibility
• Flexibility Workout Plan
• Types of Flexibility Exercises
• Back Stretches for Flexibility

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How Long Does It Take To Acquire Strength and Flexibility?

Progress in strength and flexibility is not acquired overnight. When it comes to building muscle and improving flexibility, speed is the enemy. As a rule, anything gained quickly will not last, and only a slow, steady, and consistent regimen will deliver your desired strength and flexibility. It takes at least six weeks of training to see a significant change in a muscle, whether in terms of length or strength. 

During the weeks of training, the muscles learn to stretch and retain their shape under a load. So make sure to avoid a haphazard approach to your strength and flexibility training and to do exercises purposely and regularly, such as three to five days a week for at least 5 minutes. 

The First Step To Long-Term Gains: Consistency And Frequency 

Keep it simple and build over time. You should keep your selection of strength and flexibility exercises simple, utilizing classic compound exercises for maximum muscle recruitment. For instance, you can start with about 10 minutes of stretching daily, focusing on the major muscle groups:

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• Upper body (neck, shoulders, arms, and back)
• Lower body (ankles, thighs, and calves)

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Depending on how you usually spend your time, you can focus on specific stretches for problem-prone areas. You can give extra attention to your shoulders and lower back if you’re always seated at your desk from nine to five. But if you are constantly moving, extra attention should go to your arms and hamstrings.

Gradual Progression: The Key to Injury Prevention in Fitness

Building strength and flexibility gradually over time is the safest way to prevent injuries. Many injuries incurred during exercise and fitness routines stem from advancing too quickly, which causes overuse of specific muscles, joints, or muscle groups. To prevent injury and achieve the best results long-term, you should use a program that runs over several weeks or months.

Variety is The Spice Of Life: Make Gains in Strength And Flexibility Training More Interesting 

Variation is essential in maximizing the gains in strength and flexibility over time. Include exercises of varying intensity (weight lifted and amount of rest) and volume (sets, sessions, and repetitions), providing more significant stimulus for strength and flexibility gains than simply following a set program and progressively increasing the amount of stretching or weight lifted. Weight training three times per week with at least one day between sessions is generally adequate, and rest days between sessions are critical for recovery and adaptation.

Choosing The Right Exercises For Strength And Flexibility Training 

Use appropriate exercises. Too much or too little weight or stretching won’t help much. The ideal should allow you to go for 8-12 repetitions, with your muscle or muscle group feeling fatigued at the end of the session. You are not using the correct weight if you can take 20-30 repetitions per session. And if you have to swing your body to gain momentum for completing your repetitions, then the weight is too much. You should not do it by more than 5 percent at a time when advancing to the next weight. 

Include upper body exercises targeting multiple muscle groups and joints such as arm muscles (like biceps and triceps), shoulder and chest muscles (like deltoids and pectoralis), and back muscles (erector spinae, trapezius or rhomboids). Such exercises include:

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• Bicep curl machine
• Pec fly
• Chest press
• Shoulder press machine
• Tricep extension machine
• Lat pull down machine

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You also should include lower body strength and stretching exercises in your sessions to help strengthen and stretch muscle groups in your legs and hips such as the hamstrings, glutes, quadriceps and calf muscles. 

Examples of lower body exercises are:

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• Leg extension machine
• Leg press machine
• Seated leg curl machine

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Since your core muscles help to stabilize your body as you progress in your exercise routine, you should include exercises that work the abdominal muscles and obliques in your training. Such exercises include:

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• Bicycle crunches
• Supermans
• Crunches
  
  

You should ensure that whole-body exercises are also part of your sessions to quickly work out multiple muscle groups. Examples of whole-body exercises are:

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• Push-ups
• Lunges
• Planks
• Squats
• Sit-ups
  
  

Try dumbbells, weight machines, and resistance bands to help you build muscle. With bands, you will be exposed to resistance in various positions instead of the limited amount of movements you execute using weight machines or free weights. Weights and bands resist the muscles, igniting physical change in the tissues and allowing your muscles to generate more force.

Track Your Progress For Strength And Flexibility Training 

Keep track of what you are doing. Strength and flexibility training relies on utilizing a progressive load. Every time you meet your desired rep range, you move up in weight to continue to make progress. Keep track of every lift you make to stay on track with your progress.

Recovery Is Key: Don’t Push Through Pain 

Take a break when injured. Muscles sometimes may stretch or get into a range of motion that they are not ready for, particularly when overloaded. As a result, you may have a muscle strain injury. If you repeatedly apply more stress on the strained muscle, the injury may worsen, resulting in:

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• Swelling
• Muscle aches
• Pains

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The ability to rest will determine your extent of progress. During workouts, you should rest for 3-4 minutes between sets to allow your body to recover enough to move safely and perform the next set. Remember that the goal of workouts is to meet your rep range successfully. Rest between sessions enables your body to recover and grow.

The Importance of Rest and Sleep for Muscle Recovery

When you strengthen or stretch your muscles, they need 48 hours to re-knit, making it necessary to avoid exercises on the same muscles on consecutive days. Sleep is another essential part of muscle recovery, as it enables the proper healing of stressed tissue. 

You need 7-8 hours of sleep to give your body time to repair muscle tissue and replenish muscle energy stores. Without enough sleep, muscles continue to break down without rebuilding. 

Nutrition Matters For Strength And Flexibility Training 

You will be working hard on your muscles, so you must adequately fuel yourself. A proper diet gives your muscles the building blocks they need to become stronger and more flexible. You need a combination of protein sources, grain-based carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables to achieve your strength and flexibility goals. 

A typical range includes 130 grams of carbohydrates per day, 46-56 grams of protein per day, and nine servings of fruits and vegetables. But you can work with a dietitian to devise a baseline for keeping energy, building muscle, and remaining flexible.

Professional Guidance Can Help 

Work with a professional. A certified physical therapist can create a personalized program that meets your needs and abilities. Such a program will help you to achieve results without risking ligament tears and muscle strains. 

You can ask your doctor to recommend physical therapy if you are struggling with a chronic health problem or recovering from injury. But if you are in good health, you can seek a supervised program.

Related Reading

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• Pliability vs Flexibility
• Flexibility Workout
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• Best Stretches for Flexibility
• Best Flexibility Apps
• StretchIt vs Pliability
• Bend vs Stretchit
• Bend App Alternative

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Improve Your Flexibility with Our Mobility App Today | Get 7 Days for Free on Any Platform

Flexibility training is designed for athletes by athletes. If you’ve ever watched an NFL game, you’ve probably seen one of the players on the sidelines doing strange-looking stretches with a resistance band or foam roller. These mobility drills and recovery techniques help the athlete prepare for the next play and avoid injury. 

Pliability takes the science of flexibility and recovery to another level, with its app designed to improve performance, reduce pain, and speed up recovery for athletes. The app features a video library that includes:

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• Mobility routines
• Recovery techniques
• Yoga videos

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Pliability also helps users track their progress with a unique body scanning feature to target areas that need improvement.