Eveyone has a different degree of natural flexibility. Generally speaking, women and children are more flexible than grown men. This has a lot to do with the flexibility of the hip joints and spinal column but it is also a reflection of the fact that their major muscle groups are not strong and therefore do not need to be held so tightly by tendons

There are three general basic body types: endomorph, mesomorph and ectomorph. These will put on muscle in response to exercise at different rates, and are listed in descending order. Most people will be a mixture of two types although there will be some who will fall squarely into one or the other category.

Unless extra work is done by each body type, the order in which they are listed in the paragraph above will also give a fairly accurate reflection of the degree of natural flexibility of each type. Endomorphs tend to be the least flexible. Mesomorphs have an acceptable level of natural flexibility and ectomorphs are the kind of students who may come into a dojang, do minimum warm-up work and then slide into the splits!

In this day and age, very little is ever taken for granted, and flexibility should be treated no differently. Just because a person may not have inherited a naturally flexible physique, it does not mean it will be impossible for him of her to look spectacular in the dojang.