Splits, flexibility, health

I love to experiment with my body when it comes to physical performance, movement, regeneration etc. and also seeing health benefits plus aesthetics of it along the way. I started exercising at 16 when I found out I couldn't finish a 2.5 mile run at our school sport class. The thing is, I always wanted to have a good looking legs; now what does good looking means to me personally, as everybody likes something different? I wanted them toned, strong at sight and defined yet lean and not bulky.

So I started to run. I went from being sore after 500 metres at the beginning to running 9-10 kilometres (around 7 miles) just because I've grown to enjoy it so much. But I had not known about fitness too much, so I noticed that instead of getting on some muscle and definition I was actually only making them slender; not like sticks, but also not the way I imagined them to be.

I researched why it is so and after some time I realised that one can't improve just one part of their body; it is the whole package; and also that there are different types of exercise - endurance, strength, bulking, and yes, toning as well.

I did not stop running, but I have been running only shorter distances since then with more speed, which is when the fast twitching muscle fibre activates. I also added exercising at home; now I wanted all my body to be toned. I worked on my diet as well; I eat honey, fruit, cabbage (for skin) and eggs daily and drinking milk daily, and also not eating any sweets nor drinking sweet drinks at all (except for tea, but I'm generally drinking just plain water) except for a joghurt, cereals and dry biscuits here and there.

It took a long time before I could see any results, as I haven't been using any supplements and have been exercising with my body weight mostly. However I incorportated weights, and then added more after some time. I can say that I'm athletic and toned now, and still improving; I'm building bigger biceps with weights and also the last row (3rd in my case) of abs currently, which will take some time again, but I'm content with that as I'm enjoying the process

And my legs? I love them! Long (that's genetics though) and toned as I wanted them, and still improving as well.

However I don't want them to be just appealing, but also good functioning. I always admired when somebody could do splits as it is a sign of overall health for me; being limber and comfortable enough in your body to perfom them.

On top of that I found out they can not only help, but completely fix an arched back by unlocking hips. I started to develop lordosis because of my sedentary lifestyle as a teen from 11 to 16, and also because of long lasting porn watching sessions while sitting/lying.

I've started to stretch specifically for side splits (I'd love to for front splits as well after I will develop the flexibility for these) over a month ago with altogether just a few days of break to let sinews regenerate, and I can see a huge improvement already. Yesterday I put my palm below me and turned it vertically, and I was touching my hand with my bottom already, which is about 10 centimeters (4 inches) from the ground I also haven't felt any back pain since then, which is a big relief and I'm so happy I found a way back to fixing this without letting it go too far.

Oh yes, and how I'm stretching for splits? I was thinking what were the best positions for it, and I came to the conclusion that while doing some other positions would help, the best way to learn the move is to practise the move, so I'm simply holding the position while letting my legs slide to the sides and supporting my torso with arms for 11 minutes and 1 min rest between each, so 21 mins altogether

I will be posting on my progress with splits (and other flexibility training after that as well) here and I'll also post a picture once I accomplish doing them

 

I got delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after 4 days of stretching for horizontal splits, which lasted for over half a month from then on. It was very uncomfortable at the time, but looking up how people had experienced the same before me and got through them motivated me. Yesterday was my day 36 of stretching (breaks included - those made about 6 days of these altogether), and DOMS were and are no longer present at all, so I'm out of the worst pain and discomfort That doesn't mean I don't feel the stretch and tension over my body when I'm doing them, but it's different from DOMS in a sense that it lasts only as long as I'm holding the position, and even during that it's not nearly as intense as at the time I was experiencing the soreness.

Yesterday I got a bit closer to the ground again and both my thumb and the poiting finger were already touching my bottom when I was holding my palm in a vertical position below me (like this but with fingers reached out). I was not expecting to see such an improvement from day to day, but it's happening almost in a real time now.

Getting enough rest is as important as consistency, plus being active during the day is also helping to keep the flexibily that has been obtained by practise. It can be something as simple as walking

 

Sometimes I feel like that as well My hands are shaking the last minutes as if they were saying to legs: 'Where the hell you think you going? I'm not supposed to do your job! '

Yesterday I was too tired after an exam to do the stretching at evening, and I've just finished the session of split stretching for today, so in the past 3 days I stretched twice. I haven't got any closer to the ground; the areas that are the most tense is below my right knee and also both of hip joints as of now.

The progress seems to follow a pattern in my case, which looks like this:


Right now, I suppose I'm in the middle, but I'm not sure whether I will experience DOMS (see the second post) again. That is yet to be seen; it's an uncharted territory for me.

 

I'm finally moving from the middle point up again, and I was able to reach a little bit deeper today again

It may sound strange at first, but I found out is that a progress concerning this depends on a floor surface as well. When your legs can slide on it with ease, it's a good basis for this type of stretching, as it will push your limbs to reach further all the time of course, until you're sitting with them reached to the sides as far as they can.

Sliding on a floor here at dorms is a bit more rough than at home, so I tried to sweep it and then make it a bit moist, and I could see the difference in the resistance right away; it lessened, so it allowed my legs to go further to the sides.

 

Seems like I have made some progress since the last updating again I didn't expect it will take me something over 2 months, and who knows for how much longer I will have to stretch before I do an actual split; currently my bottom is about 1.5 inch above the floor. The last 3 sessions were 30 mins long, so that has helped as well to help sinews stretch to their maximum current length I suppose.

My goal is to be able to do a split whenever and be comfortable while holding the pose, so that will take some extra time even after I will be able to do a split after such stretching session of course, and I'm counting with it

I'm really close, my hips had to be very dense before, but they're slowly opening. One has to be patient with their body and treat it as an adapting organism, but it's amazing, I'm enjoying this progress very much.

 

I've just tried it right now to see in which areas I will feel stretch and in the case I have performed it correctly (I took a photo) I'd say you need to be able to open your hips enough to sit in the position. The only discomfort I felt was after a minute or two when I started to sense pressure of my ankle on right leg on the leg below.


There are many guides out there on how to open hips; however the stretch I'm practising for splits is basically doing the job. If you added the same type of stretch up onto it, just for forward split, so you would be opening your hips both to the sides and also to the forward and back position (like on the picture below), I'd say you would have the stretches needed for the position in your image covered It's also opening the area below your knees and stretching thighs.

 

I can't touch the ground yet too so I don't think the split-level of flexibility is needed for the sitting pose Consistency is the key

 

Oh yes, I've heard about it, and I've tried to do it but can't figure out how because when I stretch to the furthest point I can at the moment, I feel that I could hurt myself trying to force a stretch like that. But I can see PNF being an effective method to get results faster, I simply haven't found out how to do it properly yet and don't want to tear something that is not supposed to tear, right.
I'm okay with stretching passively you could say, which is basically just holding the position while feeling the tension and then gradually moving further and further, which so far is giving me the results I want. The rule I go by is that when at the end of a stretching session I can feel my sinews no matter what I'm doing, be it sitting or lying, it means I worked them well and that the session will have the desired effect on them

 

Hello
Being able to do splits without having to warm up is basically my goal, so props to you!

• I don't have a specific number of days a week that I train my splits; I do it according to how my body feels. When I'm too sore I take a day or two off.
• I pretty much just stay in the position of trying to do a proper split as far as I can without feeling pain (but feeling the stretch). I have seen a visible progress with this so far.
• I don't know what you consider to be high intensity; I do it for one min and then rest one min, so it's almost always 1/1. Also, as I've said above, during that one min I get to the point I can't go further and stay in it. The point extends and deepens during the whole session of course.
• I had DOMS for a long time at one point, so it feels like if I was just waiting the weeks for it to pass, it would be as if I started from the beginning again and would get DOMS anyway. So I kept stretching (even though more gently) and made some progress during that period.

When I started I didn't know what to expect. However I'm not a fan of the "get abs in 30 days" or "lose 30 pounds in a month* thumbnails either. I just find splits fascinating as they represent a manifestation of an overall health of a body I see it the same way as you; I'm okay with a gradual progress and conditioning.

PS: I haven't been sticking to a proper stretching routine for the last 20 days, even though I have been stretching irregularly. I'm going to get back to frequent stretching again.

 

Thank you for your recommendations
They make sense to me and I like how you have compared it to regular exercising in some aspects as well, that was very helpful for understanding. It's also nice to have somebody with first hand experience to describe what their routine concerning splits is in detail, so I really appreciate your feedback. I will definitely implement some of the things you have mentioned, especially PNF, increasing the time of the last stretch, more resting time, using books as units of measurement, and so on.
Damn, sorry I'm letting myself to go off like this, but this all is so cool! Like, a person can explore so much about one position, take different approaches towards it, play with what works and what doesn't even get to know their own body through this a little bit more. It's just fascinating.
Also your mention on the influence an overall state (mental, emotional, physical) has on the whole session resonates with me and since the beginning that's what I have been doing as well; sometimes I haven't done it all, other times I even went for a little bit longer than a normal one, sometimes deeper, sometimes light... I'm glad that somebody experienced is consenting with it as well

I have one rather expected and I suppose frequent question : How long did it take you personally to get to the point you're at? I'm asking that while being aware we are all different and that it wont ever be same for everyone, but I'm curious and it would also provide me of an example of in how much time it is possible for a person to get there.

 

Thank you for your feedback and now it's my turn to apologise for a late response These were 2 pretty turbulent weeks.
6 months to 1 year sounds like a reasonable and achievable timeline. I was not consistent with my splits, but since I've started it's 4 months already. There were periods of whole weeks when I haven't missed a day (and was okay with it), even pushed through DOMS as I really wanted to continue, but as you've said, life gets in a way every now and then and it doesn't turn around whether we can or cannot do splits. I have to say I'm satisfied with my progress so far, because...

...YES, dang it, I mean, no, I haven't reached the ground with my middle splits yet but, but YES, I actually got so close that the underside of my legs up to my knee (= the whole calves part) was already resting on a floor, which means I was only around 1 or 0,5 inch (2,5-1,25 cm) above the ground with my bottom. I had this urge to push myself lower, but at the same time the stretch was already very intense and I thought that tearing something now is not really worth it.

I was using your advice @laser_focus to not stretch everyday and also am holding the last stretch of the session for a longer time to get to my max potential and really trigger the ability of adaptation of sinews. Sometimes when I remember it during a session I'm doing PNF contractions as well, and I can tell that my sessions are more effective thanks to all these So thank you for your many advices. I'm planning to get into side split stretching once I will be able to sit in middle splits, and I can see myself having a few questions then to which your answers could be very helpful.