Quote Originally Posted by 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...
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.