Flexibilty

Flexibility- Sit and Reach

Each flexibility test is specific to a particular movement of joints, therefore there is no one set test to determine a person’s flexibility. We look here at the sit-and-reach test. The sit-and-reach test measures the flexibility of the muscles in the back and hamstrings. This test is safe to perform unless the athlete has a lower back injury, particularly a slipped disc. The test is performed in the following way:

•          Warm the athlete up with five minutes (jogging)
•         Ask the athlete to remove their shoes and any clothing which will limit movement
•        The athlete sits with their legs straight and their feet against the board
•     Their legs and back should be straight
•       The athlete reaches as far forward as they possibly can and pushes the marker forward
•            Record the furthest point the marker reaches
•           Repeat the test and record the best score

	Males (cm)	Female (cm)
Elite	>27	>30
Excellent	17 to 27	21 to 30
Good	6 to 16	11 to 20
Average	0 to 5	1 to 10
Fair	-8 to -1	-7 to 0
Poor	-9 to -19	-8 to -14
Very poor	<-20	<-15

Categories for sit and reach scores (adapted from Franklin, 2000 within Stafford-Brown& Rae, 2007)

Name	Attempt 1 (cm)	Attempt 2 (cm)	Attempt 3 (cm)	Mean
Millie	37	39	40	38.6 (Elite)
Darby	29	30	32	30 (Elite)

http://www.seriousgoalkeeping.net/FitnessTests/images/SitAndReachTest.jpg [accessed online][March 25^th 2013]