Can you touch your toes?

[Mrs. Greenjeans]

::nodding vigorously::

Mrs. Greenjeans Reviewed by Mrs. Greenjeans on 02-25-2007. Can you touch your toes? I know, I know I am reaching...but it is a good question. So, can you? I can but I think I should stretch first.;) Rating: 5

[birdgirl73]

I can still go past a toe-touch and put my palms flat on the ground and can also still lean backwards into a back bend and then stand right back up out of the back bend. And I can sit in the full lotus position comfortably. I consider these accomplishments since I'm 45, but I've always done lots of yoga and stretching and have always been flexible and limber. I want to still be able to do all three of these things when I'm 65!

[napolitana869]

yeah I can do the palm to ground thing too. Although I think I have an unfair advantage because all of my ligaments are too loose so I'm extra stretchy.

[Professor Dan K.]

damn i guess ill be the first one to say that i cant do it easily...

im not afraid to admit im out of shape haha, but hey im exercising more often now, played a game of ultimate frisbee a few months ago and was winded.. gotta either exercise more or quit smoking.. i chose the lesser of the 2 evils.

[vileoxidation]

I can, and I can put my palms flat on the ground as well.

I can actually bring one of my legs up and hold it only like two inches from my face, like a high kick.

Are women born more flexible then men? I would think so, because most girls I know are extremely flexible, even without having done any formal type of exercise or stretching or yoga. I have research to do...

[OniEhtRedrum781]

I can't, even if i really tried...

[Purple Banana]

I have an extra bone in my spine, and although it doesn't make much of a difference, it prevents me from being generally flexible...

I can touch my toes, though

[smoke it]

i cant. maybe if i really tried, but im to lazy to get up right now.

[RaoulDuke45]

of course i can touch my toes, of course you never said with out bending your knees, but if i cant bend my knees i cant

[birdgirl73]

I can, and I can put my palms flat on the ground as well.

I can actually bring one of my legs up and hold it only like two inches from my face, like a high kick.

Are women born more flexible then men? I would think so, because most girls I know are extremely flexible, even without having done any formal type of exercise or stretching or yoga. I have research to do...

Estrogen, the same hormone that makes our skin softer and our padding a tad thicker, also accounts for the fact that women tend to be more flexible. Also, if you think about it, we're evolutionarily designed to be flexible enough to bear and raise kids. Men can be very flexible, too, but it's not as natural to them and they often have to work harder at it. We both stiffen up as we grow older and produce less of our respective hormones, which is why to maintain flexibility and combat stiffness both genders have to move and stretch more as they get older. I often wonder if women get some of their flexibility environmentally because we're much more apt to have been exposed to dance and dance instruction, often from a very young age. Just a hunch that that might influence our flexibility later.

There's a hormone called "relaxin" that women secrete in heavier volumes early during pregnancy that makes the joints and muscles even looser and more relaxed and helps prepare our bodies for bringing a baby into the world. That adds a whole new degree of flexibility, too. Men secrete relaxin, too, but just in much less significant amounts.