How to train to the touch your toes

If you don’t regularly stretch or do exercises that involve a stretch in your hamstrings, low back, or calves, you’ll be surprised how difficult it’s to touch your toes.

As a result of spending long periods of your time in common positions, including sitting and standing, your low back, hamstrings, and calves can become tight, which can restrict your ability to touch your toes.

Research suggests that several training methods can improve the pliability required to touch your toes. These methods include static stretching, dynamic (or active) stretching, foam rolling, and partner-assisted stretching (1Trusted Source, 2).

Additional studies suggest that combining your stretching with resistance training like squats and deadlifts can cause greater improvements in flexibility than stretching alone (3).

Nevertheless, a daily solo stretching routine can improve the pliability in these muscles and permit you to touch your toes, albeit you tend to be tight in these muscles, you don’t have a partner, otherwise, you don’t participate in traditional resistance training.

Common stretches for learning to the touch your toes

As mentioned, touching your toes requires various levels of flexibility in your calves, hamstrings, and lower back. Whether you’re standing or sitting when reaching for your toes also will impact which muscles are targeted.

If your goal is to touch your toes, addressing each of those areas during a stretching routine will rapidly improve the pliability you would like to succeed in your toes.

The best method is to try to do the subsequent stretches 3 times per week after a light-weight aerobic warmup lasting 5–10 minutes, like a brisk walk.

Hamstrings stretch with strap

One of the safest and best methods to enhance flexibility in your hamstrings is that the lying hamstring stretch with a strap. Keeping your back flat on the ground minimizes the involvement of your lower back.

You can perform this stretch together with your |along with your”> together with your feet relaxed for more hamstring focus or with your feet flexed for a further calf stretch.

To perform the hamstring stretch with a strap:

• Lie on your back on the ground with a belt or yoga strap nearby.
• Loop the strap around your right foot.
• Keeping your knee straight and your back on the ground , slowly raise your right leg with the strap until you are feeling a stretch. Keep your left leg straight and extended on the ground .
• Hold the stretch at some extent of mild discomfort for 30 seconds.
• Repeat the stretch 3 times on each leg as a part of your stretching routine.

Seated straddle stretch

The seated straddle stretch will improve flexibility in your lower back, hamstrings, and calves.

To perform the seated straddle stretch:

• Sit together with your legs straight and spread apart as far as comfortably possible. Slowly reach toward one foot with both hands until you are feeling a mild stretch the rear of your leg and in your lower back.
• Hold the stretch at some extent of mild discomfort for 30 seconds.
• Repeat 3 times on each leg as a part of your stretching routine.

Standing toe reach

The standing toe reach will stretch your hamstrings and calves if you retain your back during a neutral position.

To perform the standing toe reach:

• Stand in a natural position together with your feet hip-width apart.
• Move your hips slightly back and slide your arms down your thighs and shins, toward your feet.
• Keeping your back straight, lower to the purpose of mild discomfort.
• Hold the position for 30 seconds.
• Repeat the stretch 3 times as a part of your stretching routine.

Foam rolling for touching your toes

If you’ve got access to a foam roller, adding foam rolling to your program could also be beneficial additions to your traditional stretching.

You can foam roll your calves, hamstrings, and lower back. the method is analogous for all muscle areas. For your lower back, choose a softer foam roller.

To foam roll your hamstrings:

• Start with the froth roller at the highest of your hamstring, below your hip.
• Slowly avalanche toward your knee until you discover a young spot.
• Hold at that spot for 30 seconds.
• Repeat 2–3 times per leg.

To foam roll your calves:

• Start with the froth roller on your calf, slightly below your knee.
• Slowly avalanche toward your ankle until you discover a young spot.
• Hold at that spot for 30 seconds.
• Repeat 2–3 times per leg.

To foam roll your lower back:

• Position a soft foam roller at rock bottom of your lower back, just above your tailbone.
• Slowly roll up your spine until you are feeling a young spot within the muscle tissue.
• Hold at that spot for 30 seconds.
• Repeat 2–3 times.
• To avoid spinal compression, don’t avalanche your spine from the highest to bottom. Always start a coffee back set at the bottom of your spine, just above your tailbone.

The wrong thanks to touch your toes

If your goal is to touch your toes from a seated position, you would like flexibility in your hamstrings, calves, and lower back.

For practical injury and pain reduction benefits, having more flexibility in your calves and hamstrings is best than having tight hamstrings and calves but a loose lower back.

In fact, high flexibility in your hamstrings and calves may reduce or eliminate the necessity for low back rounding to succeed in your toes.

As such, you’re happier stretching your calves and hamstrings directly with the above routine than spending large amounts of your time during a seated toe touch position.

Furthermore, rounding your lower back as a habit is the thing to avoid. While having the pliability to round your back is useful, spending an excessive amount of time with a rounded back can cause problems down the road.

In general, the seated toe touch is best used as an assessment instead of as a stretching protocol of its own. Use this position to check your improvements, but specialize in the muscle-specific stretches for particular improvements to flexibility.

Excessive flexibility carries its own injury risk. If you tend to be very flexible, further flexibility training might not be recommended. However, most people will tend to be “too tight” instead of “too flexible” (4).

If you’ve got trouble touching your toes, excessive flexibility isn’t likely to be a problem.

Why touching your toes is so difficult

Touching your toes are often difficult for several reasons that are all linked to flexibility. Because touching your toes traditionally relies on flexing your ankles, hips, and lower back, stiffness in any of those areas will reduce your ability to succeed in your toes.

Common positions and habits — including extended periods of sitting or standing or wearing high heels — or maybe previous injuries can limit your flexibility in some or all of those areas.

Therefore, following the complete flexibility routine to loosen each of those areas is that the best method for touching your toes.

Benefits to touching your toes

The overall advantage of having the ability to touch your toes has proper flexibility in your hamstrings, calves, and lower back. having the ability to touch your toes reflects good flexibility in these areas.

The overall benefits of flexibility within the areas needed to touch your toes include the subsequent (4):

• reduced risk of hamstring strains
• reduced risk of Achilles tendon injuries
• improved performance in flexibility-dependent sports
• improved movement during functional activities

The bottom line

Touching your toes demonstrates flexibility in your hamstrings, calves, and lower back. To reap the advantages of this flexibility, you ought to perform a comprehensive stretching routine that addresses the muscle areas needed to succeed in your toes.

Whether you’re trying to find improved performance, reduced pain or injury risk, or general movement benefits, working toward touching your toes is a superb method to realize those rewards.