Improve Flexibility with Research-Supported Stretching Protocols | Huberman Lab Essentials
In a Nutshell
Static stretching, especially low-intensity holds of 30 seconds performed at least 5 minutes per week total per muscle group, is the most effective protocol for long-term gains in flexibility and range of motion. The nervous system—via muscle spindles, Golgi tendon organs, and von Economo neurons in the insula—can override reflexive limits, allowing deliberate increases in limb range when discomfort is reframed as purposeful. Yoga practitioners show doubled pain tolerance and increased insular gray matter, demonstrating that stretching builds both physical flexibility and the neural capacity to manage interoceptive stress.
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Flexibility and the process of stretching and getting more flexible involves three major components: neural (nervous system), muscular (muscles), and connective tissue (the stuff that surrounds the neural stuff and the muscular stuff). These components are all woven and braided together in complicated ways.
The nervous system controls the muscles. Within the spinal cord there is a category of neurons called motor neurons. These neurons release a chemical called acetylcholine. The release of acetylcholine from these neurons onto the muscles causes the muscles to contract. When muscles contract, they are able to move limbs by way of changing the length of the muscle and adjusting the function of connective tissue like tendons and ligaments.
Within the muscles themselves, there are nerve connections that arise from a different set of neurons in the spinal cord called sensory neurons. These spindle connections within the muscle wrap around the muscle fibers and sense the stretch of those muscle fibers.
There are two parts to the system: motor neurons that can cause muscles to contract and shorten, and spindles within the muscles that wrap around the muscle fibers and send information from the muscle back to the spinal cord. This creates a loop where motor neurons contract muscles, and sensory neurons called spindles sense stretch within the muscles. If a given muscle is elongating because of increased range of motion of a limb, those sensory neurons send an electrical signal into the spinal cord that activates the motor neuron, which then contracts the muscle and brings the limb back into a safe range of motion.
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