Iron Yoga – Flexibility Using Weights

Using barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells to “force” flexibility

I train at my local YMCA on the complete downlow. I slip in and out during off hours. I arrive at 6:30 am when they open. Deserted, I lift weights, hit the steam room, swim in the 50 meter pool, follow with a sauna and cold shower. All done within 90 minutes. On those rare occasions I am forced to train at the Y during busy hours, I am immediately reminded why I avoid it. Recently, I had occasion to train on a Saturday at 10 am, primetime at this facility.

As I worked out, out of the corner of my eye I watched a gruff old man train. I had seen this fellow in here before. He was, in a lot of ways, a fitness cliché, “tight-as-a-drum,” “musclebound,” “stiff-as-a-board,” between sets he lumbered around like an aging Frankenstein, the antithesis of grace and flow. None of which mattered to him: he was too ego-invested in presenting the “I am still massive and powerful.” This guy could not run 25 yards without toppling over and I doubt he could squat all the way down and stand back up more than five times.

Tall, 6-2, grey hair, barrel-chested, he had what Leo Tolstoy called, “old man skinny legs.” In his mid to late sixties, he was intent on showing everyone he still had it. He spent all his training time playing to his strengths while ignoring his obvious weaknesses. His extended workout was exclusive: chest, shoulders, and arms. Lots of flat benching, machine benching, seated overhead presses, seated curls, tricep pushdowns, on and on it went. He was benching when I arrived, and he was flailing away at his shoulders as I left the facility 90 minutes later.

He wore a tight white t-shirt, this despite it being a 20 degree January day and a cool 70 degrees on the gym floor. I wore two sweatshirts atop my tank top. He purposefully shortened the rep stroke in every exercise, thus enabling the outsized senior citizen to use a whole lot more poundage. He did half reps in the barbell bench press. I doubt he could have done 185 for 5 full range-of-motion paused reps. Be it a tricep pushdown or a seated overhead machine press, his ROM started off short and got shorter as each set progressed.

After every set, he would stand up, red faced, flushed, breathing heavy. Obviously, this was all the cardio this guy got. He wore a massive lifting belt like an outlaw biker would fly club colors. The belt was superfluous since he did no back or leg work. Who needs a massive lifting belt to do a set of flat bench presses, incline presses or seated dumbbell curls? Is the belt protecting his lower back during his lateral raises or tricep pushdowns? The t-shirt was too tight, the belt too big, the expression too severe, and the training too one-dimensional.

While I avoid prime time, this man loves prime time. He craves the attention that no one is really paying. As I watched him half-rep a machine press, I thought “Big fish, small pond.” He pushed most of the stack in the tricep pushdown using a tremendous amount of body English to commence each rep. The jolt would cause the weight to move 6-10 inches. He used this same strategy in all his lifts, his lateral raises with massive bells required tons of heave and moved 10-inches at most.

Watching this 280 pound, greying ox of a man walk around between sets, a shapeless upper body supported by two stilt legs, I was struck how rigid and inflexible he was, how wobbly he was due to no base and no flexibility or agility. He was rigid and growing more rigid with each passing year. He was the polar-opposite of neuroplasticity, i.e., rather than try anything new he continually played to his strengths, so much so that his one-dimensional training had, over time, deformed him, fossilized him, made him stiff and brittle.

His lack of legs, his high center of gravity, his lack of any semblance of cardio fitness, no agility or flexibility – this man was at great risk – as much from falling or tripping as from obvious heart and circulatory issues common to big, aging, out-of-shape people with bad diets and bad habits. If this fellow ever fell, it would be like a redwood and he would not bounce well. For more info on quality training as we age, check out the posts below.

Enforced Flexibility

Barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells can (and should) be used to improve flexibility. Tightness can be overcome with weighted implements that force relaxed muscles to stretch further than possible without the additional poundage. Regimented breathing is used to induce muscular relaxation that is further amplified by “forcible elongation” of the targeted muscle or muscle group. Skillful techniques are combined with light payloads to gently extend to end point, the limit, of the same stretch done without augmentation.

Warm muscles are more susceptible to being elongated than cold, stiff muscles. Too that end, “weighted stretching” is done after the targeted muscles are flushed, warm and awake. How this occurs can vary, but keep in mind the indisputable fact that any muscle stretches with greater elasticity when warm and supple than when cold and stiff. Once the targeted muscle is ready, highly specific techniques are used with great precision. Breathing is coordinated with technique to induce the relaxation that must precede elongation.

Weighted stretching can range in complexity from the simple-Simon hang technique to the highly complex techniques used in ultra-deep squatting. In the ultra-deep squat, the desired degree of stretch is easiest attained in the goblet squat, using a kettlebell or dumbbell. While the dead-hang simply requires hanging for time, the ultra-deep squat has ten technical points to consider.

For more info on how to maximize our signature techniques check out the posts below.

If the gruff oldster got smart and applied some neuroplasticity and joined a conventional yoga class, even the easiest asana, say a cobra pose, would prove insurmountable for our stiff-as-a-board oldster. This man has a difficult time getting his shoes and socks on and off due to a big gut and zero hip or leg flexibility. He needs some Iron Yoga.

Below are some weighted stretches that I would recommend. Also you can check out Jujimufu's new book "Legendary Flexibility" by clicking the link. I was inspired to write this post after reading this book as it confirmed techniques that I have been utilizing with everyone from elite to average for many years. 

Weighted Stretches

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