In the book Relax Into Stretch, Pavel Tsatsouline says that “Stretching is NOT the best way to become flexible!”. The statement goes against what we have think we know all this while. Pavel explains that the Western approach to flexibility has failed because it assumes that the muscles and connective tissue need to be physically stretched. Pavel thoughts on this are exactly the opposite. For him, you don’t need to stretch if you want to be flexible.
Contrary to the Western school of thought, Pavel says that what really prevent all of us from being flexible has nothing to do with “short” muscles, it’s the nervous system. The fear of injuring yourself fire up your nervous system to tense up your muscle. The muscles tighten up and resist lengthening. Russian scientists call it antagonist passive insufficiency.