why overstretching backfires
There are two things that inspired this month’s post. Injured athletes are my bread and butter. While it’s easy to lump them into injury type (labral tears, herniated disks, knee stuff) or body parts (knees, backs, ankles, hips, shoulders), there’s a broader wider category system that I’ve been working in lately.
- Insanely tight and lacking functional range of motion
- Hypermobile/EDS/super flexible and lacking functional stability
What’s interesting here, is that in both populations, I’ve been working with “The Gray Space” and “Playing in the 1-99%”. During Soul Stretch this week, I kept returning to how important “The Grey Space” actually is for our nervous system and our muscle tissue, which leads us to today’s blog post.
What’s the Grey Space?
Technically speaking, The Grey Space is something I totally made up to help clients better understand their range of motion.
When it comes to stretching, most of us have been taught that we need to push ourselves so deep into a stretch that we hit “The Edge” – the farthest point of tension in our available range of motion. While I blame my third grade teacher for his crappy teaching methods, (seriously, who walks around and pushes third graders further into a butterfly stretch? Serious side-eye Mr. C, you big old jerk) it’s also a very common cue in fitness classes to “find the edge” when stretching.
The Edge is typically very uncomfortable, may feel really awkward and can even be painful.
The “Grey Space”, on the other hand, is a comfortable, safe range somewhere within the 1-99% of our movement capacity. I even like to coach clients to see what’s going on at 75-80% of their available range.
Why Pushing to the Edge Backfires
When you stretch to your absolute limit, you may feel a burning, stinging, ripping, tearing, excessive pulling or painful sensation. Your muscles may start to shake and you might pop out into sweat beads. These are all signs of overstretching and are all sensations that your nervous system may interpret as unsafe or threatening.
Overstretching causes muscles to contract reflexively in an effort to protect against damage. Ironically, stretching too far can actually reduce range of motion, make you feel tighter and teach your nervous system that stretching is unsafe. When your nervous system interprets stretching as unsafe, it will be on high alert every time you stretch, which is the exact opposite of what we need to promote lengthening muscle tissue.
Repeatedly pushing your body to The Edge can create lingering tension, and over time, may even lead to injuries and setbacks in flexibility and mobility goals.
The Grey Space
Instead of stretching to the edge, I like to pull clients off of the ledge and introduce them to “The Grey Space” – that 1-99% of the available range. Stretching in The Grey Space is a lot gentler and much more subtle than we’ve been taught…and that’s why it works.
When we work within The Grey Space, and allow the body to feel safe, controlled and calm, the nervous system calms down. Most of us are already living with lit up nervous systems. Constantly approaching The Edge and operating in the Red Zone makes it worse. Stretching in the safety of The Gray Space allows your nervous system to calm down and feel safe, which in turn makes it easier for muscles to release tension, naturally. Without excessive force from you.
As we work within the Gray Space, you may find that your range of motion and flexibility are getting better. By avoiding forceful ranges, we can completely break the cycle of overstretching. We can also teach the nervous system that stretching is a safe and pleasurable activity, priming it towards relaxation rather than hypervigilance.
What About Hypermobility and EDS?
Folks who are hypermobile, super flexible or have EDS tend to have a very large available range of motion and may not even have “An Edge”. While that excess ROM can create beautiful shapes for dancers, gymnasts, yogis and other athletes, it can also lead to joint instability that may cause pain, flareups, injuries and dislocations.
Despite being able to access a huge range of motion, literally every single one of my hypermobile clients came in with complaints of chronic tightness. They were stretching every day and finding zero relief.
Two things were most likely happening to create that tight sensation. One, when the tendons and ligaments aren’t stabilizing the joints, the muscles have to take over. That can feel like a constant grippy sensation in the muscles that never releases. And two, I’ve found that my hypermobile clients have super hypervigilant nervous systems. Because they are so flexible, normal daily activities can cause them to hyperextend or dislocate joints. They tend to guard against any potential movement that may cause pain and injury. Cue grippy tight muscle sensation.
For these clients, we use The Gray Space to learn how to control and stabilize around the joints. We learn to work in the 80% of available range instead of always pushing to the end limits. This softer approach helps protect the body while also building the structural foundation needed for safe mobility in daily tasks.
The “Grey Space” approach isn’t just about flexibility.
It’s also about honoring the nervous system while focusing on stability, proprioception and body awareness. Regardless of their flexibility status, every single one of my clients has benefitted from prioritizing the nervous system, working on stability, proprioception and body awareness.
Backing off of The Edge has helped every one of my clients find better mobility and functional movement and it’s something I wish more people knew about. If you’d like to play around with The Gray Space, a quick intro is included below.
Cheers to whatever gets you moving this week-
Rubecca
How to Play in The Grey Space –
Want to join me in some Gray Space movement? Check out this quick practice below and let me know what you think.
Non-Hypermobile folks
Start by approaching this practice with a curious explorative mindset and pick a super familiar stretch. Something easy.
Did you go immediately in to The Edge? That’s ok. Let’s rename that 100%.
Back away from 100% and find where 75% or 80% live. What does that feel like? What happens if you close your eyes and take a few long slow deep breaths? What sensations do you feel?
This is where we get curious. Is this actually your Edge and you’ve been blowing past it into a canyon below? Rename this 100% and find that 75%-80% again.
Do you feel a pleasant tension here? Something that is soft and subtle? Something that you can ease into and that you’re able to drop into without stress or strain?
This is how stretching should feel.
Hypermobile folks
Start by approaching this practice with a curious explorative mindset and pick a super familiar yoga or stretch pose. Something easy.
Did you go immediately in to The Edge, create a super big shape with your body and hyperextend your joints? That’s ok. Let’s rename that your 100%.
Back away from 100% and make your pose 25% smaller or 25% more contained or controlled.
What does that feel like? Which muscles do you have to activate to create a smaller more controlled shape? What happens if you close your eyes and take a few long slow deep breaths? What sensations do you feel?
Can you make that pose 40% smaller or more contained? What about 50%? What does that feel like?
This is where we get curious.
Do you feel a pleasant working muscle tension here? Something that is subtle and supportive? Something that you can ease into and support without stress, strain or fear of hyperextension? This is what stability will start to feel like.