Place your hands on your hips and keep your back straight. Gradually shift your weight forwards until you feel a stretch around your hip and the top of your thigh. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat on the other leg. Stretch your quads and hamstrings. Your quads and hamstrings are two of the most important muscles involved in the splits, so it is important to get them as flexible as possible. Here are two more useful stretches for these muscles: [8] X Trustworthy Source Mayo Clinic Educational website from one of the world's leading hospitals Go to source To stretch your quads, kneel down in a lunging position, using a pillow to support your back knee if necessary.
Keeping your back straight, reach back and grab the foot of your back leg and pull it towards your butt until you feel a good stretch in the quadricep. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat on the other leg.
To stretch your hamstrings, lie down with your back on the floor and your legs propped up against a straight wall. Keeping your lower back on the floor, reach towards your toes until you feel a good stretch but no pain. Hold for 30 seconds. Method 2. Warm up before you stretch. It's absolutely essential that you warm up properly before stretching or attempting the splits.
You can warm up any way you like, as long as it gets the blood flowing around the body—try doing 5 to 10 minutes of jumping jacks, running around the block, or energetically dancing to your favorite song. Practice for 15 minutes, twice a day. If you want to achieve the splits in a week or less, you're going to have to really commit to your stretching routine. You will also need to be fairly flexible already.
You should already be able to get close to the splits on a regular basis if you want to get to full splits within a week. If you can get a third minute session in without pushing yourself too hard then that's even better. Try to accomplish other tasks while doing your stretching to make the time go more quickly. Listen to music, do it while watching TV, or while learning something for school—like spellings or math tables.
Enlist a friend to help you. Doing any task is easier when you have a friend there to help you and push you to do better. Just make sure that they'll stop immediately if you tell them to—you need to be able to trust them completely! You could also try to make it a competition to see who can achieve the splits first—this is good motivation to work harder at your stretching. Wear the right clothes. Wearing the right clothes will help you to feel more comfortable and flexible while you stretch, and will also help to prevent clothes from ripping while you're doing the splits.
Martial arts gear is also a good choice. One good tip is to wear socks while practicing your splits, as these will allow your feet to slide along the floor more easily, helping you to achieve a deeper stretch. Know your limits. Achieving the splits in a week or less is a pretty difficult task, so it's important that you don't push yourself too hard trying to achieve it -- your safety is more important. You will slow yourself down if you are injured.
A good rule of thumb is to only stretch mildly if you wake up sore. Wait a whole day or more if you totally bypassed your limits to do any intense stretching. Prevent needing this by taking it slow and always warming up. If you experience pain, this is a sign that you are pushing yourself too hard. Pushing yourself too hard can lead to strained muscles and other injuries, which will prevent you from achieving the splits anytime soon if at all.
Remember that it's better to take your time and achieve the splits safely, than it is to rush and hurt yourself. Method 3. Get yourself into position. After each stretching session, you should spend some time actually practicing the splits.
First, get yourself into position: [15] X Research source If you're doing a right or left split, kneel down on the ground and extend your preferred leg out in front of you, with the weight on the heel. Keep your back knee bent so the shin is resting on the ground.
If you're doing a center split, stand up straight and slide your feet out into a wide-legged stance, with your toes and knees facing up at the sky. Lower yourself down slowly. When you're ready, start to slowly and carefully lower yourself down into your chosen splits position. Use your hands to support your weight as you lower yourself down. If you're doing a right or left splits, place a hand on the ground on either side of your front leg.
If you're doing a center splits, place your hands on the ground directly in front of you, less than a shoulder width apart. With most of your weight supported by your hands, spread your legs further and further apart by allowing your feet to slide along the floor. Keep going until your legs are at a degree angle. Congratulations, you're doing a split! Relax your muscles. If you're having trouble getting all the way down, take a deep breath and make a conscious effort to relax all of your muscles.
Studies have shown that relaxation techniques can make a significant difference to a person's flexibility levels, especially if they are incorporated into a regular stretching routine. Hold the split for 30 seconds. Once you've accomplished the split position, try to hold it for 30 seconds.
It should feel like a deep stretch, it shouldn't be painful. If holding the stretch does feel painful, come out of it immediately and continue with your stretching routine over the next couple of days until you can hold the splits without feeling any pain.
Aim for an over-split. You may be perfectly happy once you achieve your splits and have no desire to go any further. However, if you want to keep going, it's possible to do an "over-split" where your legs are split at a wider than degree angle.
You can train for an over-split by putting a pillow under your front foot or under both feet if you're doing a center split once you're in the split position. Over time, you can gradually add more pillows to increase the stretch. Did you know you can get expert answers for this article? The month began with a lot of questions: Could a monthlong foray with my yoga mat, some stretches, and 10 to 15 minutes a day help reverse the effects of my sit-all-day work routine?
Would this actually work, even for my yoga-antithetical self? Thirty days later, my hips have stopped snap-crackle-popping every time I sit down. As for whether or not I can ease into a split as gracefully as the bendy stars you see on Instagram, keep reading to find out. I strength train, run, and do CrossFit regularly.
Or even a week. Sure, he may have been trying to help temper my expectations. But as a former college athlete and current CrossFit competitor, I took it as a challenge. Each day during the challenge you have to do stretches numbered 1 through 5 out of 30 , your foundational stretches. Sheppard confirms that the variety of stretches in this day challenge was a real positive because each stretch would help target all those small muscles.
Once I settled on the plan, I printed it out and set daily reminders for 2 p. I work from home and I figured a midday stretch session would be a nice break from my work. I was ready to embark on my journey to a swole and flexy future.
The first day, my alarm bleeped with the same tune I use to wake up in the morning. This alarmed pun intended me so much, that I jumped up from my chair and rammed my kneecaps into my desk. For the next 10 minutes, I bent, folded, pulled, and lunged my body into positions my body was definitely not used to.
I held each position for one minute, as instructed — which felt, truly, like the longest minute of my life. By the end of those 10 minutes, my hips felt a little looser, but those minutes were not easy. The rest of the first week was pretty similar: Every day at 2 p. Wickham says that for the first week in particular, I should pay attention to how my body was feeling during the stretch.
If it still hurts, try changing the angle a bit. And if you ever feel a sharp or tingling pain, stop. That first week I had to do a lot of readjusting. But by the end of the week, my body felt more comfortable getting into and holding each pose for 60 seconds. The first week, I did my best not to push too hard while I was stretching. And remember that you should be able to breathe as you stretch, too. Bottom line: Don't get discouraged, and keep on persisting safely toward your goal.
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