can't go lower

[Dream_Catcher]

I'm trying to get lower and lower with the hope of making splits on day. At the minute I can go down pretty low however whats stopping me going further is the pressure on my hips and inside of knees rather than my legs. Is the normal?

[Patrick Smith]

What kind of pressure is it? Does it hurt?

This is what Van Zandt says about pain/pressure in the hips.

Get a pain in the top of your hips when you do the side split? Rotate your pelvis more. That pain is you jamming the top head of your femur (thigh bone) into your acetabulum (hip socket). Bye bye cartilage, hello hip replacement! Seriously though, you got to rotate your pelvis if you want to touch your crown jewels (if you have them) to the floor.


Maybe your knees aren't strong enough.

[Van Zandt]

Dang it Patrick, you're gonna put me out of a job! (Kidding ;) )

Dream Catcher,

Can you do the following:

Run 4 miles within 30 minutes
200 bodyweight squats non-stop
Hold the horse stance for 5 minutes unassisted

One after the other, without getting sore the next day?

If not, then you aren't yet strong enough to do a full split. If you can do the above, but still can't get lower, it's most likely to do with your posture.

[Kwajman]

Why is it important to you to be able to do the splits?

[Van Zandt]

Because the limit of your kicking range of movement is determined by your flexibility in the full split.

And it looks cool.

[Halma]

Pain in your hips: Is it the outside of your hips, where the leg meets the hip? If so, it probably means that you're pulling your legs apart at the wrong angle from your hips. If that's the case, then here's what you do: tilt your pelvis forward and/or rotate your legs so that your toes point toward the ceiling as you do the splits. The reason you get the pain is that your legs just don't bend that way in that direction.. It's hard to explain why, but look at the picture of the joint at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip, you can see that if you move the leg straight outward from a standing position, the leg bone will hit the hip bone and not be able to move further; you have to rotate it and push your hip out of the way.

Pain in your knees: Yeah that one's annoying. If you have a partner, you can try doing the stretch without putting your entire weight on your knees, by sitting down, and asking your partner to sit it front of you, hold your hands, put his feet on the insides of your knees, and push. Alternatively, if you point your toes up while stretching, it puts less strain on the knees. Also helps to do some strength work on your legs, to make the knee stronger.

Tip: Do a groin muscle stretch before the splits stretch, it helps you to get the alignment right so you don't hurt your hip. (Sit down, put the soles of your feet together, pull them in, and try to get your knees to touch the ground.) Shiko-Dachi (horse stance) also helps.

[Hatamoto]

Can you do the following:

Run 4 miles within 30 minutes
200 bodyweight squats non-stop
Hold the horse stance for 5 minutes unassisted

One after the other, without getting sore the next day?

If not, then you aren't yet strong enough to do a full split. If you can do the above, but still can't get lower, it's most likely to do with your posture.

Not meaning to derail this thread at all but why do you have to be in such good shape to do the splits? Given the weight of the body and the presence of floor I thought all you needed for the splits was the flexibility to open your legs wide enough, unless you wanted to push yourself up again. Obviously this is an assumption based on ignorance. Would appreciate some aid in understanding if you don't mind, would be most grateful.

[Patrick Smith]

Dang it Patrick, you're gonna put me out of a job! (Kidding ;) )

Hah! :woo:


Not meaning to derail this thread at all but why do you have to be in such good shape to do the splits? Given the weight of the body and the presence of floor I thought all you needed for the splits was the flexibility to open your legs wide enough, unless you wanted to push yourself up again. Obviously this is an assumption based on ignorance. Would appreciate some aid in understanding if you don't mind, would be most grateful.

I could be wrong, but it's my understanding that flexibility without strength within the full range of motion is considered unstable and risky. One of the reasons that your body will not allow you to just drop into a split is because its safety systems think you would injure yourself (and they're usually right!). Another reason could anatomical hip problems or improper positioning of your hips.

Van Zandt - as you already know I am recovering from knee injuries, and I can't do squats quickly yet, however, during therapy my therapist told me that doing squats quickly is bad for the knees. I've never heard anything to back this up (it sounds like the ol' "Full squats are bad for you!" arguement), but it sounds logical for someone in my situation.

[adouglasmhor]

Not meaning to derail this thread at all but why do you have to be in such good shape to do the splits? Given the weight of the body and the presence of floor I thought all you needed for the splits was the flexibility to open your legs wide enough, unless you wanted to push yourself up again. Obviously this is an assumption based on ignorance. Would appreciate some aid in understanding if you don't mind, would be most grateful.

I used to know an out of shape ex cheerleader my age who got out of puff climbing 2 flights of stairs, but could do the splits no problem. (She has now taken up dance classes lost a lot of weight and is much healthier).

[Van Zandt]

Not meaning to derail this thread at all but why do you have to be in such good shape to do the splits? Given the weight of the body and the presence of floor I thought all you needed for the splits was the flexibility to open your legs wide enough, unless you wanted to push yourself up again. Obviously this is an assumption based on ignorance. Would appreciate some aid in understanding if you don't mind, would be most grateful.

There are three things you must do to increase your flexibility:

1) Trick your muscles into relaxation with various natural reflexes.
2) Convince your nervous system that the new range of motion is safe.
3) Reinforce the new range of motion so that it becomes permanent (not a "one off").

Strength training is the key to achieving all of the above. The myotatic (stretch) reflex, which is the tension you feel when you stretch, is overridden primarily by isometric contractions. These are a strength exercise. The nervous system considers a new range of motion "safe" when the body is strong enough to support itself in that position. Again, strength training achieves this. The new range of motion is maintained by repeating the exercises which made it safe in the first place; i.e. more strength training.

Generally speaking, the criteria I posted above (running, squats and horse stance) is the level of strength one needs to achieve before the body feels that full splits are "safe." Flexibility actually has very little (if all) to do with "stretching."

Hope this helps? :cool:

I used to know an out of shape ex cheerleader my age who got out of puff climbing 2 flights of stairs, but could do the splits no problem. (She has now taken up dance classes lost a lot of weight and is much healthier).

She probably started training as a child, before the growth spurt when it is easier to manupulate the length of muscle fibres and connective tissues. But as she gets older, she would gradually lose this flexibility as elasticity decreases. No doubt the dance classes will help her maintain it for longer.

[Hatamoto]

Suffice to say, Mr Van Zandt, thanks a lot, I get it now :)

[adouglasmhor]

There are three things you must do to increase your flexibility:

1) Trick your muscles into relaxation with various natural reflexes.
2) Convince your nervous system that the new range of motion is safe.
3) Reinforce the new range of motion so that it becomes permanent (not a "one off").

Strength training is the key to achieving all of the above. The myotatic (stretch) reflex, which is the tension you feel when you stretch, is overridden primarily by isometric contractions. These are a strength exercise. The nervous system considers a new range of motion "safe" when the body is strong enough to support itself in that position. Again, strength training achieves this. The new range of motion is maintained by repeating the exercises which made it safe in the first place; i.e. more strength training.

Generally speaking, the criteria I posted above (running, squats and horse stance) is the level of strength one needs to achieve before the body feels that full splits are "safe." Flexibility actually has very little (if all) to do with "stretching."

Hope this helps? :cool:



She probably started training as a child, before the growth spurt when it is easier to manupulate the length of muscle fibres and connective tissues. But as she gets older, she would gradually lose this flexibility as elasticity decreases. No doubt the dance classes will help her maintain it for longer.

She was 47 when she showed me. (She is 3 weeks older than me). But your explanation makes sense.