Hey, ive been stretching for splits for a little bit now and i'm pretty close to a full side split. But ive been stuck at this same place for a few days now. Any ideas?
A few days? That's nothin'. Expect to stay at the same level for a few weeks or even months. Do strength exercises to bust through your plateau. Y'know, squats, deadlifts, climbing stairs, pulldowns, PNF, etc.
If you haven't already done so pick up a copy of "Stretching Scientifically" by Thomas Kurz. Isometric stretching from that video got me to full splits from 90 degrees in one month.
Man, I just tried some isometric stretches after my cardio. Dang that was intense! I was almost in a full side split!
Another quick question, when i'm doing my side spilt, and I get down low, my torso gets quite low to the ground, like im doing a push up. When I see more flexible people do the side splits, they can go down and keep there torso upright. Is that just because there more flexible, or when I do the side splits should I try to keep my torso more straight? Thanks
Both are well defined stretches but I think you're better off (at least for now) if you try to improve the one with the upright trunk.
The upright one will help build the strength necessary to stretch farther. When you get all the way to the bottom and you're straight up then you lean forward as you have scribed and point your toes foward so the inner side of your foot is flat on the ground. The let's you stretch even farther to get max range of motion. If you're watched the whole video Kurz mentions this toward the end before the lecture section.
Ask your training partner to hold your legs when you try to open your legs up. When you can't resist any more, ask your opponent to let go your legs, you may be able to break throgh your limit right way. There is inner and outer thigh machine in the gym that can help you to do this too. http://www.fitnessfactory.com/Home/item.cfm?id=3236
Keeping your body upright will stop your pelvis falling forward. I strained a hip flexor doing that so try to stay up.
You can just use a belt to tight both of your legs at the ankle. You then try tp separate your legs. Since your legs are tied by the belt, you can't separate your legs. But you try to use your legs to fight against the belt as hard as you can. When you get almost exhausted. You release the belt and do your split. You will feel so comfortable and you can have much better result.
