Climbing and Flexibility
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When athletes are heard discussing flexibility an image of Russian children wrapped around each other in brightly coloured cat suits is conjured in the brain. In reality flexibility used to be one of the most overlooked elements of training for sport. Fundamental to the notion of flexibility is the co-ordination of a muscle, (or muscle group) that causes a movement by contracting and a reciprocal muscle (or group) on the opposite side of the joint being allowed to stretch (the antagonist muscle). If a person is flexible then they can move joints and muscles through a full range of motions, allowing greater performance in a given sport. For example having good movement in the hip and shoulder allows a climber to be more efficient in the use of legs and arms. This can help save energy during climbing and allow difficult moves to be carried out without being hampered by the problem of, "My leg won't twist that far." Flexibility also depends on your age and sex. Young children are flexible and for the majority of people it continues to improve until adolescence. At this point flexibility deteriorates with age. However much of this decrease in flexibility comes from inactivity as much as from "getting old...