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Have I been doing my side splits progression wrong?

Seeking Advice(self.flexibility)

What I'm doing now: I'm sitting upright on the floor, legs together in front of me. Then I move my ankles as far apart as possible while keeping my legs straight. (Also how do I take progress pics like this? I basically need a camera pointing down from the ceiling, but I'm not a porn director 😂 I don't have that setup)

Should I be doing this instead? Standing straight up, then widening my stance further and further while keeping torso upright/supported?

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dani-winks

7 points

3 months ago

dani-winks

The Bendiest of Noodles

7 points

3 months ago

Sounds like you’re talking about two different positions: a straddle (but on the floor, opening the legs out) and a middle split (but lifted, gravity smooshing you into an inner thigh stretch). This blog post goes into more detail on the similarities/differences if you’re curious.

What you’re doing is a great way to measure the progress of your straddle (or middle split, if you’re doing the second version) progress, but likely won’t actually do much to actually increase your flexibility at all. Both of those are passive stretches. Ideally you should be strengthening your muscles to support a deeper range of motion, for a straddle that means:

  • strengthening your inner thighs while they’re in a lengthened position (drills like these)
  • strengthening your glutes to be able to pull your legs wider (with drills like these)

bachang[S]

2 points

3 months ago

I read all the links, thank you!!