Q.Define flexibility.

Flexibility is the range of movement available at a joint or a series of joints. Good flexibility lets an athlete move efficiently through a full range, improves performance and reduces the risk of injury.

Types of flexibility:

• Active flexibility — the range a person can reach using their own muscle effort (e.g. raising and holding the leg high without support). Passive flexibility — the (larger) range reached with an outside help such as a partner or gravity.
• Static flexibility — range available when the body is still (holding a stretch). Dynamic flexibility — range usable while moving, as in a sprinter's stride.

Factors that determine flexibility include the structure of the joint itself (a ball-and-socket hip allows more range than a hinge elbow), the length and elasticity of the muscles, tendons and ligaments around the joint, age and gender (flexibility is generally greater in the young and, on average, in females), previous injury and body temperature / warm-up (a warm muscle stretches further), and the amount of regular stretching training. Note that the efficiency of the lungs has no bearing on flexibility — it affects endurance, not range of movement.