Never been able to do this. I managed once after stretching every day for a couple weeks and after finding that a bit tedious couldn’t do it again after a couple days slacking off.
Never really found my inability detrimental. Is it something some people can simply do naturally?

I can see them, does that count? Same story as you, naturally inflexible, always have been. Could just about touch them when stretching regularly, dunno how far off I’d be now. Don’t see it having any effect on the rest of my life. My wife is much bendier, doesn’t seem that useful a skill (um…well…occasionally…)

Easily….but harder without sitting down…..even more so without bending my knees

Nope, probably 6 inches off touching them, I’m 27.
I stretch most days too…

Yup, 44 years old, 6″ and 14.5 stone and I can do it on demand. I don’t think it is any measure of fitness or even flexibility, some people are just the right shape where others are not.

I saw a thing on TV the other day that was saying that if you are only in your 40’s and cannot sit cross legged then stand up from this position without assistance or using your own hands for support, you should really take a good look at yourself. I, to my shame, could not do this. I can touch my toes though.

Never been able to do this. I managed once

Once <> never

HTH

Yes. I can also rest my palms/backs of hands on the floor after I’ve warmed up my hamstrings.

Yes i found foam rolling my Hamstrings helped alot and focusing on pushing my bum up and backwards.

might be of interest:
http://graycook.com/?p=1261

Yes. Can make a fist and place my knuckles on the floor… No leg bending. 32“ waist.

Without bending my knees, I can barely touch my ankles much less my toes. tight hamstrings.

Yes.

Never understood why it was so “important” If you’re looking for the “fold in the middle” look then it’s all about hip flexors, and hamstrings, and cycling don’t do much for them (nor does sitting on yer arse all day either)

I always understood a better method of judging flexibility is the ability to go from standing to sitting (without holding onto anything) cross-legged on the floor, and then get up again the same way…

Edit: As per Jef…

I can barely reach my knees FFS.

I can touch your toes. If you like.

I saw a thing on TV the other day that was saying that if you are only in your 40’s and cannot sit cross legged then stand up from this position without assistance or using your own hands for support, you should really take a good look at yourself.

It would be interesting to see what the source of the data is for that – whether its a national or international dataset.

My physio was blaming ‘the chair’ for a lot of the woes of the western world. Other cultures don’t use them so much and will kneel and sit on the floor much more through the day. That means someone in Japan in their 90s will regularly be sitting on the floor and getting back up again, where as in the UK someone in their 60s or 70s in the UK might not have sat on the floor for such a long time that they can develop a have a fear that if they fell they wouldn’t be able to get back up and that fear means people become less and less active as they have a dread of getting into a situation they can’t back out of again.

Can put palms flat on the floor.

I can touch other people’s toes, gets you in trouble on the train though.

Due to doing Pilates every week, yes I can. Couldn’t before I started.

52 and can touch toes comfortably ….. can’t even start getting off the floor cross legged though! 😳

No, it hurts too much. I can get down to my shins at most.

Does this matter?

I would recommend people to stick a tennis ball under their glutes and hamstrings, front thighs and lower back and erecetor spinae once a week to release muscles. Bet more people could reach their toes after that. I’ve realised soft naturally chilled out muscles don’t hurt when pressed onto a tennis ball, only angry shorted muscles. And I had a lot of them!

Floor bound since Friday due to muscle spasm in my hamstrings and glutes. I have released all muscles in my lower body for 2-3 hrs per day trying to find the evil.muscle causing the lower back pain. Twas the left glute and hamstring.

47 and can just about do it.

I can barely reach my knees FFS.

nope, couldn’t when i was a kid, still can’t now

I was in the “not within 30cm” until about 10 or so years ago. A fair bit of cycling, office job, short hamstrings and frequent back problems. Started doing Yoga then. It took a while (was probably about a year of a class a week) before it got a lot more flexible but I’ve kept it since then and can quickly get it back if I slip out of doing any stretching/yoga for a few months.

Very rarely get any back problems now.

Yes, palms flat on the floor. I can stand up from cross legged from the floor. I can also crouch down on to the balls of my feet, but with my feet flat on the floor, heels down, and “walk”.

I’ve had spinal fusion. I’m big boned a fat biffer. You lot need to stretch more.

Wow, this says a lot for STWers, I can touch my knuckles on the floor without the slightest problem and I’m 59 next week.

I can touch my toes without bending my knees, I’ve just turned 40 and have a 36″ waist!!

I can also do the standy uppy thing from sitting crosslegged.

nope, couldn’t whe I was a kid either. when I was a teenager I stretched a lot during karate classes, then I could just touch my toes. then cycled lots into my early 20’s and couldn’t.

dropped a shed load of weight I didn’t have in my late 20’s due to cycling lots and could nearly touch my toes.

now, at 41 same situation I’ve been in for the last 10 years, can get just past my knees.

interestingly, doing some basic yoga and have been labelled as mr bendy.

not quite sure why I dont’ do more of it, I’m pretty sure that being flexible in every direction will help if I crash and mangle myself into the floor.

It’s clearly nothing to do with how young or fit you are – I can still get the palms of my hands flat on the floor, and I’m late fifties, and a few stone overweight 😀

Hands flat on the floor here too – but I’ve always been really bendy. Until I was 36 I could lay on my stomach and arch backwards until I could put my feet on my forehead – not that I ever found a practical use for that particular party trick.

Out of my 4 children only one is anowhere near as bendy as me – which is fine as some of my joints aren’t great, and I wouldn’t want them to have inherited that from me.

When I was little I did loads of gymnastics and yoga – hence the adjustable Wench nickname – I’m still bendy but try to keep my joints within their normal ranges these days

Can do the cross-legged thing easily enough though, not sure what it’s supposed to prove.

Pilates every week for 12 years & still can’t do it. I’ve always been pretty stiff and tight even when I was young. Genetics trumps a lot of things.

I’m going to assume I can. To lazy to find out.

How hard can it be?

I’ve always been somewhat flexible, so yes – but wouldn’t if I didn’t stretch at 40.

Wow, this says a lot for STWers

Doesn’t mean they are unfit or in any way decrepit. I’ve a mate who would put most of you to shame on a bike, but he is far less flexible and always has been. The two things might well be related.

Yup, 44 years old, 6″ and 14.5 stone

You’re not exactly far away from them, though 😀

Yes, can touch my toes – though other flexibility has never been fantastic, even when I was doing a lot of martial arts. Cycling isn’t great for flexibility.

I’ve never really had to make any concerted effort to touch my fists to the floor. But I go to yoga fairly frequently and my flexibility is absolutely appalling to almost everyone else in the class, so it’s all relative…

6ft1, 47 years old and 15st and can easily get the backs of my hands down flat on the floor, never mind touching my toes. Only ever stretch before running (so not since January!)

Seems like a lot of STWers have a high percentage of ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex’
DNA in them (explains why they eat so much and so messily)

I can do it and i don’t need to warm up or do stretching things. Hands, fingers, boobs the works.

My bragging rights are rather tragic 🙁

At the moment I can barely touch my toes when I’m sitting down and have one leg bent of the other. But I’m getting physio for tight hip flexors,

Physio was working on my fascia around my hips last week which was apparently very very tight.

I could be doing with an extra hand to get my socks on as I need one to pull my leg up and then two to get the sock on.

Things are improving though, slowly.

I can do it no bother, standing or sitting, can go past if necessary, so it’s most definitely not an indication of fitness or flexibility! 😆

yup, have been able to – was tested for flexibility at the Pleasance in Edinburgh, was at top end (on that measure). Can – just checked – do the cross legged to stand to crossed legged. Find it quite easy to sit squatted on flat feet, on heels or whatever. Just a freak I think. 52..