Vegetarianism and flexibility: correlation or cause?

[righteousrat]

I have only been studying kung fu for about a year and a half, and became vegetarian about a year ago. My flexibility was horrendous starting out, my elbow being about two feet from my foot when trying to do "elbow to toe" exercises. After a few weeks of being vegetarian, I noticed rapid improvements in flexibility, and within a few months was routinely getting my elbow to my toe, with correct posture (in case anyone was wondering).

Now, this may be simply a correlation, as a high vegetable diet does wonders for my mental health and dedication to the art of kung fu. However, I recently compromised my ethics to eat a sizeable chunk of ham (drinking was involved). For the next few days, my flexibility was significantly lessened. Maybe it was just cold.

Does anyone have personal experience regarding this possible connection?

[David Jamieson]

You honestly don't think it had anything to do with gradually practicing the stretch over time?

[sanjuro_ronin]

You honestly don't think it had anything to do with gradually practicing the stretch over time?

That's just crazy talk.

[righteousrat]

That's just crazy talk.

That is certainly a confounding factor, which is why hearing the experiences of other people would help me form an opinion more well-rounded than based simply on my own experience.

[sanjuro_ronin]

That is certainly a confounding factor, which is why hearing the experiences of other people would help me form an opinion more well-rounded than based simply on my own experience.

Our diet can effect us in many ways, especially in the strength department ( you won't find many vegetarian strong men for example) BUT I have never read any study in regards to flexibility.
That said, foods that help against the issue that training for flexibility can cause, such as inflammation, will probably help.
You will probably find a lot of articles on the net about it BUT I don't think you will actually find a scientific study.
I k now 3 national/Olympic gymnasts ( former) and none were vegetarians.

[GoldenBrain]

Although I don't eat large amounts, I do eat meat regularly, and I can palm the ground with legs straight. What affects me the most in a negative way is not exercising and stretching. Flexibility is a use it or loose it skill in my opinion. Another thing that affects my flexibility is overworking around the farm. Sometimes I do enough repetitive bending and lifting of heavy things that my hamstrings, hip flexers and psoas muscles will get really tight, which also makes for a sore lower back, but it only takes a day or two to get back to normal.

[mickey]

Greetings,

I have met very strong vegetarians who were not very flexible. I have considered the lifestyle. The problem I have encountered with the vegetarians I have met is that their memories suck MAJOR. That is a scary thing for me.

mickey

[GeneChing]

Sometimes I like to attribute my stiffness to the fact that I no longer eat tendons. I used to eat a lot of tendons - chicken tendons mostly but beef tendon soup is one of those classic Chinese dishes that I used to relish.

But in truth, I'm less flexible now because I'm older and not practicing as much.

I think you might be 'overfitting' your experience, to drop some trendy jargon. That's the tendency to perceive correlation as causation - exactly what I was doing with my initial statement. There are plenty of examples of healthy strong flexible people who are carnivorous, vegetarian and vegan. Remember you can eat well or poorly on any diet.

Of course, most yogis are vegetarian. ;)