Is flexibility training a sport?

Regarding this issue, there is currently no unified definition in the sports field. In the mainstream perception, it is a general training method. In recent years, there has been a gradual trend of classifying it as an independent mass sports event.

When I worked as a rehabilitation assistant for a provincial team, whether it was the track and field team, the gymnastics team or the women's basketball team, flexibility training was a fixed basic module in the weekly training plan. It was either placed at the end of the warm-up to activate the muscles and joints, or was done after class to relax to avoid muscle agglomeration. It was never used separately for special assessments. To put it bluntly, it is like the chopping and garnishing process when a chef prepares dishes. It is the basis for making a main dish. But you can’t serve shredded radish alone as the main course of a banquet, right? At that time, some young gymnasts who had just joined the team asked me if they could sign up for the "Leg Press Competition". The coach laughed and said that flexibility is one of the scoring items in gymnastics and figure skating in all professional competitions, and there is never a separate event.

However, the situation has indeed changed in the past two years. Last week, I went to see the Amateur Sports Challenge organized by the local Popular Sports Federation. There is an independent competition for flexibility, which is divided into two categories: active flexibility (such as the duration of a static cross, the maximum height of a single-leg lift with hands and feet) and passive flexibility (such as the maximum forward bend and fold of the body with assistance). Participants range from teenage dancers to aunties in their fifties. The scoring rules and completion certificates are very formal. The award-winning Aunt Zhang told me with her certificate that after she retired, she took special flexibility classes three times a week. She neither practiced dance nor did other competitive sports. She just wanted to make her shoulders and neck feel better after the exercises, and she could also compete to make friends and win awards. To her, this was not the sport she had been practicing.

In fact, there is no need to get stuck on the definition. If you practice flexibility to assist running, playing ball, gymnastics, etc., to improve sports performance and avoid injuries, then it is a supporting training method.； If you are just aiming for its own exercise effect, and even with complete competition rules and participation goals, it makes perfect sense to treat it as an independent sports event.