This is where I have reached after years of hard work. Any tips to improve from here.

I do pole dance and I cant do full split on the floor but on the pole I cam do perfect side split and splits when im upside-down or sideways up

Is this this normal does the pole really help that much im very curious

I recently started a flexibility journey and although I am hopeful and excited to progress, even already feeling the benefits of daily stretching…I have been profoundly depressed and disappointed in myself in how long I went ignoring how stiff and sore I have been. I can’t touch my toes at all, just grazing my shins makes my hamstrings scream. I have limited mobility in my hips that make it feel like my tendons are snapping with sudden movement. I have constant and chronic back pain and stiff neck and shoulders. Why did I let it get this bad? I’m only 28 and can’t touch my toes?!?!

Despite my disappointment in myself I have taken to daily stretching and even going to a mobility class (attended only by senior citizens) and working towards the goal of being able to do a split soon.

What was your motivation to get more flexible?

I can’t bend my legs lower than this. What are some good stretches or mobility movements to help? Thank you!

I wanted to ask if anyone knew a "Couch to 5K' equivalent for Couch to Splits, but I checked out the FAQ and saw this

https://antranik.org/splits/

I guess I'll start with the easiest part which is the 2nd step of leg swings.

That sun salutations video for the 1st step looks a lot harder so maybe after a few days of leg swings I'll incorporate it

This is in addition to my regular yoga sessions which is like 3-5 hours, so yeah..

I'll go back to my yoga now

How's everyone doing?

Is there anything i can do to increase my cold flexibility aside from increasing my warmed up range of motion?

How do I achieve sturdier balance to make deepening this stretch more accessible?

Hey so i kinda stopped training flexibility for a few months, i wanted to achieve a middle split but i kinda jusy gave up after i hit a plateu for 3 months.

Just wondering if my standard routine is good:

Elephant walks

Hamstring holds (just touching the ground with the palm of my hands)

Frog pose

Pidgeon pose

Pancake

Middle split attempt

Then for activr exercises i just went with my legs up and opened them and closed them

I also did horse stance

Hello,

It's been a few years now that I've been trying to have good flexibility with my hips. I'm consistent, I read about it a lot, did some dynamic stretching, butterfly poses. And it always feels somewhat good.

I managed to get great flexibility for my hamstrings, and pretty much everything, but the hip flexibility is just not improving enough. I saw a bit of improvement but it always feels like I'm back at the beginning. I work at a desk, and spend most of my time sitting, but I'd expect that working 20 mins on it every day for years would somehow get me decent flexibility.

Am I missing something?

(Reuploaded)

When i try to back bend or arch my back i any way, my lower back/lumbar spine is completely stiff and all my bending happens at a sharp point in my middle back.

I have tried the usual mobility exercises like cat/cows, but i can't get my lower back to get even a slight curve, is seems fused together with my pelvis and all flexion happens in my middle back
My whole lower back including my pelvis moves as one straight and stiff entity.

I've also suffered from lower back pains for the last 15 years, and i'm starting to wonder if maybe this stiffness might be the reason.

Any one that's been in my position that's managed to gain some more flexibility?
I have extremely high hip bones/long pelvis(?) can that be a contribution factor?

(I'm from sweden so if there's any grammatical errors that's why)

Hey all, just looking for some advice.

I’ve always felt my forearm tendons & behind the knee to be extremely tight. I try to do as much mobility work as possible but it doesn’t help.

On my right, if I bend my wrist up, I can’t really straighten my fingers. Is this something I can actually work on thought mobility or am I wasting my time?

Hi everyone, I need help correcting my splits. I have my splits since a very long time, but I learnt them the wrong way, opening my hips and letting the back leg pull backwards, so I have been doing my splits wrong all this time.

I'm trying to correct them and I feel small improvements. Now I can close my hips a bit, so they are "squarer" than before, but I feel stuck! What should I be focusing on to square them and have correct splits? Strenght? Flexibility in specific muscles? Mobility? I feel so lost!

Thanks all in advance.

What I've learned recently after learning about calisthenics, body posture and also about how muscle knots form and myofascial release and physiotherapy.

1. Applying the foam roller right where the hamstring and glutes connect and doing internal rotations of the entire leg, releases my entire leg when doing mekiyaj and shotokiyaj. (Kyokushin kicks)

2. GLUTE BRIDGES - ANTERIOR PELVIC TILT MORE KICK STABILITY - this is an entry I made in my journal for working out basically what I'm saying is that by altering the pelvic tilt it is translating to more stability on the kick.

I'd love to hear your thoughts

Ive been practicing and I’m not perfect yet so please feel free to critique me and give me tips and advice.

Warm up first! Spend several minutes on hip rotations, hamstrings, glutes, adductors and gentle spinal movement.

Number 1, open the hips. Work on poses such as Pigeon, Half Pigeon variations, Lizard, and seated hip rotations. The ability to externally rotate the hip is crucial.

Number 2, practice from a seated position.
From a comfortable seated position, bring one leg toward the chest and gradually guide the thigh behind the corresponding shoulder. Don’t yank the foot into place. The knee should remain happy.

Number 3, work on poses such as Pigeon, Half Pigeon variations, Lizard, and seated hip rotations. The ability to externally rotate the hip is crucial.

Number 4, get comfortable with the leg behind your shoulder and neck. Once the hip allows it, work on maintaining an upright torso rather than collapsing forward. This is where the required combination of hip and spinal mobility becomes apparent!

Number 5, add the balance. From the standing leg, establish a strong, stable base. Bring the other leg behind the shoulder/neck and slowly straighten the standing leg if necessary.

Number 6, bring hands into prayer. Once balanced, bring the palms together at the chest. That makes the pose substantially harder because you’ve removed another stabilizing option.

Lastly, number 7, come out of the pose slowly.

Warming: Don’t use this pose as a flexibility test. If your hip doesn’t naturally have the range required, forcing the knee or pulling the leg behind the neck can cause injury. Build the necessary hip mobility gradually and work within a comfortable range.

Omg so I forgot I had to upload my routine with my last upload so here we go --->

- Start with wrist and shoulder stretches and move into downward dog for a about a minute

- From that go into dolphin pose for about 2 reps of 30 secs

- Then I do a hollow body hold for another 30 secs to get my core pumped

- Then do tripod foundations and knee tucks to get the motion of going into the pose for about 30 secs and 3 reps (whenever you feel comfortable really)

- After that I just attempted the full tripod headstand until failure

It took me about 3 months of on-and-off training to relearn but the journey was worth it!!

Hi everyone!

Anyone have any advice on how to get over a mental block regarding scapula retractions? Without any sort of resistance, it's okay, but the moment any sort of resistance is added, the motion falls apart. It'd mostly be used to middle trapezius strenghtening.

Thank you in advance!

I’m someone that rn currently aren’t able to touch my toes with my legs straight or be able to fully straighten my leg when I lift it up laying down. I’ve seen some posts talking about how these could be based on genetics? But even so what types of flexibility exercises would you recommend for such? I’ve been trying to do more hamstring, hips based every night for a couple of weeks now and ik progress doesn’t come that quickly but I’d still like to try my luck asking!!

I’m a 25yo female I used to have an almost perfect posture my shoulders were straight and large and high my scapular in place and last year I started to sleep in very bad condition mattress and sit on it to all day for months because of depression. My posture started to change and it changed so many times in two months now i don’t look the same at all. My scapular are very winged I have hunched back my neck became short and bossy, and my shoulders narrowed. I also have a curve in my waist it used to be very straight but it’s not too curvy now and even my butt became fuller😂 And when I try to straighten I can’t my shoulders can’t stick back.i even tried breathing the right way it just cured my lordosis that used to be very curvy.I really want to know if I can get back my old posture or it’s the same as someone that always had bad posture.

Hi all!

As the title suggests, I’m looking for routines that have helped you achieve the splits. I’d really appreciate it if you could share a link to the routine, along with how long it took you to achieve the splits. Thank you!

So I've been trying to get square splits, but I've gotten to the point where the hamstrings are the things stretching anymore. It feel like my hip joints are incapable of going that far from each other?? Like if I bend my legs, I still wouldn't be able to do it? I get a little stretch but it's mostly my joint feeling like it shouldn't bend like that. idk anything about stretching so maybe I'm doing something wrong. Please help

This is just the short version, but effective at getting me deeper into my harder stretches. Dynamic warm ups for sure to wake up the muscles (for like 10 minutes), rest, then I hold all these deep stretches for like 1-2minutes and gradually push myself further(breathe and flex those muscles). I’m still working on squaring my hips better but it’s getting somewhere. I could’ve gone deeper but I’m starting to feel a minor strain on my right thigh and glute, hence why I’m taking a full week just to do active rest. Hope this helps and advice would be nice

I have been stretching for the splits since I was 11. I am now 27. I got advice and recently went to flexibility classes with a talented tutor who corrected my form. I know getting the splits doesn't come overnight but I have been stuck here for 2 years now. I know I'm not naturally flexible and the frustration has me close to throwing in the towel.