What Parents Should Know

When it comes to wrestling, we often focus on strength, endurance, and technique. But there’s another factor that plays a huge role in performance and injury prevention: flexibility. For parents new to the sport, understanding what flexibility really is—and what it isn’t—can help your child train smarter and stay healthier on and off the mat.

Let’s explore the science behind stretching, how the body controls flexibility, and why some kids may feel stiff even if they stretch every day.

The Surprising Truth About Flexibility

You might assume flexibility is just about how “loose” someone’s muscles are. But that’s only part of the story. A big piece of flexibility actually comes down to one surprising thing:

Trust.

Your body’s flexibility is largely controlled by your nervous system. It has less to do with the length of your muscles and more to do with how much your brain trusts a certain range of motion. When your brain doesn’t trust a movement, it creates resistance—tightness, stiffness, even pain—to prevent you from going into positions it thinks are unsafe.

Here’s a powerful example used in sports science and physical therapy:

Anesthesia and Flexibility: What It Reveals

In a clinical setting, when a person is under general anesthesia, their muscles completely relax. Doctors can safely move their limbs into extreme ranges of motion with no resistance. It’s as if they’ve suddenly become as flexible as a newborn baby. The same person, when awake, might barely be able to touch their toes.

Why the difference?

Because when you’re under anesthesia, your brain is no longer protecting you. All the muscle tension and guarding vanish. The body becomes fully passive. This tells us that the “tightness” we feel when awake isn’t just about the muscles—it’s the nervous system deciding what’s safe or dangerous.

Flexibility Is a Protective Mechanism

Think of flexibility like this: your brain is a coach watching a young athlete. If the athlete has great technique and control, the coach says, “Sure, go ahead and try that move.” But if the athlete is sloppy, wobbly, or unprepared, the coach steps in and says, “Not yet.”

In the same way, your brain restricts flexibility when it doesn’t think your body can handle that position with control and strength. This is especially true in wrestling, where awkward positions, high impact, and constant movement are part of the sport.

So How Do Wrestlers Get More Flexible?

The key to improving flexibility isn’t just holding stretches for a long time—it’s building strength and control in the new range of motion. This teaches the nervous system that the new position is safe and supported. When your brain feels confident, it loosens its grip.

For example:

Instead of just pulling the hamstring in a static stretch, try active leg swings or slow RDLs (Romanian Deadlifts).
Add isometric holds at the end of a stretch—this tells the brain, “Hey, we’ve got this.”
Practice controlled movement through the full range, not just long holds. Wrestling drills like stance-and-motion, hip heists, and sit-outs build trust in those dynamic positions.

What Parents Should Know About Stretching for Wrestlers

Wrestling is full of fast, explosive, and unpredictable movements. Flexibility isn’t about being able to fold like a gymnast—it’s about being mobile, strong, and ready in every position. A wrestler doesn’t need to do the splits, but they do need to sprawl wide, bridge hard, and twist quickly without pulling something.

Here’s how you can support your child’s flexibility:

Encourage consistent dynamic warm-ups before practice (not just sitting and stretching cold muscles).
Support strength training, especially in end ranges of motion.
Stay patient—flexibility improves with repetition and control, not overnight force.
Don’t compare one wrestler’s flexibility to another’s. Everyone starts in a different place.

Flexibility Is Learned, Not Gifted

Flexibility is not a magic trait some kids are born with and others aren’t. It’s a skill that the nervous system learns when it sees strength, stability, and repetition in motion. It’s your body’s way of saying, “I trust this.” And when your body trusts, it moves better, performs better, and stays safer.

So the next time your child stretches and says, “I’m just not flexible,” remind them: they’re not stuck that way. They’re just learning to trust their body—and that’s something wrestling teaches better than almost any sport.