If you have been told that being able to touch your toes is a good barometer of your overall fitness and flexibility, then you need to watch this video. Here I’m going to show you why you not only want to stop trying to touch your toes and instead do the move I show you as an alternative. All you have to do is look at the implications this position has for hiding postural flows and imbalances and you will see quickly why it’s something you will not want to keep doing to help you feel more flexible.
It starts by letting you test yourself. Can you actually touch your toes? Many people will be able to, but many more will not. Even if you cannot, I can make it much easier for you if I tell you to be sure you roll your butt underneath you before you attempt to bend down. This will place a lot less of a stretch on the hamstrings making it easier for you to fold.
The issue with this modification is that many people do this naturally anyway in order to cheat their way to their toes. This really isn’t giving them any valuable information regarding their own flexibility and the health of their posture. In fact, it’s doing them a disservice by convincing them that they are more flexible than they really are and therefore allowing them to shrug off doing anything about it.
When you slump forward to touch your toes you are actually initiating much of the range of motion through the thoracic spine. You are flexing forward into severe kyphosis in order to achieve the hands to the toes position. This is only reinforcing a bad tendency for having slumped posture. It gets worse from there however. The low back is forced to round and the pelvis is thrown into a posterior tilt. This is the exact position that someone who is aged and has lost all semblance of good posture will adopt.
Even more, the shoulders themselves slump forward and are lacking any kind of scapular stability. All of these issues combined are a recipe for disaster when it comes to proper posture and the insinuation that being able to get into this position of hands to toes is in some way a good thing is misleading to say the least. Instead of being obsessed with whether you can still touch your toes I’m asking you to try something else.
Stand about 3 foot lengths away from the wall and reach forward with one leg until you can prop your toes up against the wall. Immediately, you should feel a stretch on the calf of that leg and likely already the hamstring. From here, reach your hands up against the wall slightly over shoulder height and place your palms flat against the wall.
Simultaneously walk your hands up the wall while leaning your chest in. The goal should be to ultimately touch your chest against the wall without any care towards whether you are bending down or forward. You are simply supposed to reach your chest forward. If you cannot get there, don’t worry, this is normal. You will however want to work towards getting your chest closer over time. Hold this position for 30 seconds to a minute and don’t forget to repeat on the other leg to balance out both hamstrings.
The benefit to this position rather than the slumped forward posture that bending over to touch your toes places you in is the fact that you can maintain thoracic extension while at the same time keeping your pelvis in an anterior tilt. This position of the pelvis is going to place a higher demand on the hamstrings, however in doing so, will reveal any tightnesses in them that you will want to address rather than hiding them by simply allowing your pelvis to roll back during the stretch.
This is just one example where old school methods of measuring and working on your flexibility are not helping you. If you really want to get to the bottom of your postural flaws and figure out ways to improve your forward head, rounded shoulders and slumped posture be sure to subscribe to our channel here on youtube at the link below and turn on your notifications so you never miss a new video when it’s published.
If you want to get a complete workout program that will get you strong, lean and muscular while at the same time helping you to fix bad posture and muscle imbalances, be sure to head to athleanx.com at the link below and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System that best matches your current goals. Start training like an athlete today and stop overlooking the important things in your workouts.
Build Muscle in 90 Days –
Subscribe to this channel here –
40 comments
NOTIFICATION SQUAD GIVEAWAY – Alright guys, I’m giving away a complete 30 Day Workout program to 100 lucky clickers within the first hour this video is published! Remember, this is NOT THE FIRST 100, but those randomly selected within the first hour the video is published. Click the link to see if you’ve won. No strings attached!
https://giveaway.athleanx.com/ytg/no-touching-toes
If you don’t win, no worries. Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again. Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…
i actually can’t touch my toes lol i’m working on it
but i ended up geting a good poster from doing what your telling me not to do🙁
Comments got me laughing, can't believe soo many people are soo funny
me: attempt to do something
Jeff: just stop, you need to stop
They do this stretch in Martial arts and I can’t do it
We gotta change the game they teaching kids to touch their toes in Taekwondo and other Martial Arts and everywhere in school
You can't get into the military if you can't touch your toes
WTF
Should my back foot be flat on the ground?
This is very right
Someone needs to send this video to all the Yoda instructors in the world. Even doctors say not to do this. And this is liek the main thing yoga instructors have you do and there are so many other great back stretches
Jeff, i just commented on a previous video that i can touch my toes no issue. I'm glad i caught onto this vid. I shall never do it again. I thought that touching my toes meant my hamstrings weren't tight. My bad.
Can we get schools to stop making kids do unhealthy stretches
Jeff: "we're all going to be able to do that"
Me: "umm…"
I can only touch my knees even in the wrong position. Always told myself it’s cause of the growth spurt in my legs when I was young giving me longer legs but short abdomen, like Conan O’Brian, but I’m only 5’10”.
Just come across this – I am 76 and can touch my toes, but am going to stop now. I thought I was great to be able to, but what you say makes so much sense.
If you're having to put your thoracic spine into "severe kyphosis," then that's indicative of limited hamstring flexibility, which is one of the leading causes of low back pain. Stop trying to be different. Read ACSM GETP 10th addition. It's a standardized test.
This is a great stretch,
Who tf feels confident because they can touch their toes?
Jeff is the Bible
I tried doing the 'trick' but I ended up with less flexibility and my hips hurt :/ I know being able to touch toes was not the point of the video but still a little disappointed it did not work for me.
Touch your toes per se is not bad. It is supposed to provide stability and mobility. But it has to be done correctly. Calisthenicmovement have done a great video on this.
Jeff trolling again 😂
please jeff don't yell at me
Thanks been bending down touching ground for years. Thought is was helping me stretch out.
I'm glad I can't touch my toes I never liked doing that anyway
I dont think this is. There is a yoga pose called Padahastasana & it helps me to stretch out my back & legs & it feels good for me still.
Well done
Not convincing logic ..in fact he does not mention why forward bend shouldn't not be done
this makes so much sense, can't believe I did it wrong all this time…
Next Video : Stop wearing a red T-shirt during workouts.
Jeff, is this stretch safe for someone with a herniated l4/l5 or l5/s1 disc?
Man this guy is like the undisputed lord of injury
preventionfrom- wrong exercise,this should be on YouTube as long as there is YouTube.Had never thought there would be so much to a simple toe touch ,bravo.Hey man I enjoy your videos and seeing you assisting others with the knowledge that you have is very inspiring
I used to avoid stretching my hamstrings because I thought it was bad but for me personally I feel way better when I do. But Jeff knows his shit!
Crazy !!! I've been doing this stretch since High School.
We called it , "Up Against The Wall"
{""Put Your Hands Behind Your Back"" LOL}
No Just "Up Against The Wall"
Great explanation , learning lots from your videos.
Thanks.
But everyone who performes this stretches backward too
Isn't being flexible being good tho
Brilliant God Bless Cavalier