2015 Splits Challenge
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Juicy3 ·
I'm in tooooo. I've already set myself this challenge. I've been stretching for a while but my hip flexors are so so tight. I'm really having trouble with the front splits, im the unflexiet person ever lol. My front splits are not too bad but still need a lot of work. My middle however are virtually standing up with my feet slightly apart 🙈. I would so live to achieve front and middle by the end Of the year. However middle I'm a little doubtful I'll achieve. However....I'm reAlly glad this thread was started and I'm really happy to be part of it 😃. I'll post regular photos of my progress too. This is my starting point for front splits. I'll post middle next re-post.
Juicy3 ·
Sorry that was meant to say, I'm really having trouble with my middle splits haha 🙈
i am exactly the same Allyson!! i am improving, but cold you would never be able to tell.. =/ i want to be able to bust out party trick splits anywhere too hehe!! i think you just have to keep on and on working at it and it is possible eventually, you see it a lot in martial arts etc. maybe when we can oversplit we can split cold??? i cant wait =D
Allyson I wondered that myself lol. I went to a yoga studio yesterday to talk about my lack of progress with front splits. She did two quick prep stretches, one for hammies, then one for hip flexors, then just quickly dropped into gorgeous squared front splits. I know it's her job, took years, and she's dedicated and passionate, but jeez, lol she wasn't even warm I just randomly walked in and started talking to her and she did it. When I see people doing splits in photos at cool places I'm just like, 'how long did it take em to warm up and did they look crazy doing their warm up.' Lol I also wonder about some of the less intense forms of yoga and how people stay warm throughout all of it. I know ashtanga bikram and power keep someone warm. But something like, I beleive maybe yin yoga, correct me if I'm wrong. But they stay in poses for ages and I wonder how their body stretches 'cold' throughout the entire sequence. I can only stretch if I'm excessively hot cuz my central nervous system is relaxed into submission and I'm calmer and readier but I wonder if that affects my cold flexability.
Gizy ·
Thanks for the response :) It is nice to ask and share so you can get different views and learn in order to progress. I mentioned about dragon pose in an other discussion on SV. It really helps me when I practice about 10 minutes for each side before the split.
Veena ·
Ok, here's what I've seen over my years of training and stretching myself....Keep in mind there are TONS of theories on stretching. When I started watching gymnastics on TV as a kid and began training myself I have always been able to do an OK front split BUT not squared, I had to work on squared a lot! My families hips have natural "openness" that helped me in that way. Middle splits I had to work for and my BACK mobility was almost non existent!! I've worked hard on that. Through my personal experience training my Back Middles and squared splits I've found that it took a year or more of CONSISTENT training to be able to do a GOOD (I'm not gonna regret this tomorrow) back bend cold. I think a lot of people forget how long someone has worked consistently on something for both the body and mind to remember what you're asking of it. If you have only begun to get serious about flexibility training you will probably not see an increase in cold stretch for quite some time. HOWEVER.....someone who's naturally flexible in an area will progress faster and be more likely to do splits and such cold. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND YOU DO NOT NEED TO TRAIN EVERYDAY! STRETCHING DAILY IS OK...BUT FLEXIBILITY TRAINING SHOULD NOT BE DONE DAILY!!! DO NOT PUSH AND TRAIN TO GAIN FLEXIBILITY MORE THAT A FEW TIMES PER WEEK. TRAINING TOO OFTEN WHEN STARTING CAN SLOW PROGRESS!!!!!!!!! If you guys are looking for a good guideline try following the Stretching section here for more tips and help with stretching. xoxox
Gizy ·
Thank you so much Veena ! I will definitely listen to. I have been stretching everyday at least an hour and if I work on my pole,I stretch once more after... As I said I go totally maniac when I start and thinking that it's ok because I'm not hurt in fact feeling and getting better! I think I had to hear it from a professional what I'm doing is not right. Thank you for your helpful message again :) xxxxx
Saeth ·
I have a kidney infection so I'm having to drop off any form of working out right now. I feel horrendous! I'm becoming best friends with my hot water bottle, painkillers and my bed. My pole is silently crying! Oh well, I'll get back on track in a week or two :)
Gizy ·
Hope you get better very soon and I'm sorry about your sickness but 2 weeks isn't a long time I'm sure you'll be in just where you left when you start again. All the best wishes xxx
Adrestia ·
Ok I'm in! I had been posting to the Christmas Splits Challenge but I never managed to get pics taken with the darn tree! haha. Anyway, I've been doing Cleo's splits stretches two-three times per week but now I'm going to do Cleo twice per week and Veena's splits stretching once. Hopefully three times a week is adequate? I find that I can get a little sore so a rest day in between feels pretty good.... Here are pics I took TODAY.... I'm SOSOSOSOSO far away from my straddle splits... but I think I'm a contender for getting my front splits this year!! What do you think?
I'm so happy you girls were wondering the same thing as me! I was thinking maybe I was alone in experiencing a lack of change in my cold flexibility and maybe I was alone (and superficial) in wanting to bust out splits in fun places. :P I'll continue to work on my warm stretching and maybe one dayyyy..... :)
allysonkendal, I have noticed that my cold flexibility has increased as my active flexibility have increased. meaning that strengthening my opposing muscle to actively stretch the other muscle without gravity or a strap, etc. example. as I have been strengthening my quads I am better able to stretch my hamstring by just lifting my leg with my own muscles. I can lay on my back on the floor and pull my leg higher towards my head by using only my quad muscles. is it as high as I can pull my leg with my hand after I have warmed up? no. but strengthening the opposing muscle has given me a more noticeable flexibility base without having to be warm. But I ALWAYS stretch warm. strengthening my glutes has given helped to open up my hip flexors some too. I am re-thinking my approach to stretching. instead of thinking of stretching my muscles I also focus on contracting the opposing muscle as I am stretching. for me, I have found that flexibility requires alot of strengthening as well as stretching. before, I was approaching flexibility by just focusing on stretching and I ended up with a torn hamstring that set me back 6months. my muscle was not strong enough to stretch that far although my muscle just kept stretching. also, working on pefectly square splits while training has allowed for me to easily do an unsquared split when dancing and not having to do a ton of stretching before hand. just regular warm-up with mild stretches.
I am by no means flat in a square split by the way. that is something I just recently started working on since I recovered from my torn hamstring. but working on that has opened up my unsquare splits. hopefully i can get flat square splits this year
Yep! What pheonix just described is the miracle known as reciprocal inhibition :) and if you don't want to exercise to warm up, taking a bath beforehand is a good cheat ;)
yessss definitely, and active stretching is good for helping prevent injury too - the bigger the difference between your passive flexibility (ie how much you can push into the stretch) and your active flexibility (how much your muscles can lift or pull into the stretch) the more chance of injury there is... =/ strong muscles can be stretched more! and don't freak out about it as much as weak ones. and i do all my front splits stretching with squared hips, you get a better more even stretch through your hips - and its good to get into good habits right from the start =)
here's me so far.. ive been stretching intensively since nov 2014 =) i feel sooo close to touchdown on my fronts!!! im hoping jan will be the month!! =D middles: knees forward / middles: knees up / pancake straddle / fronts: left and right
oops haha posted my right leg forward pic twice. here's my left leg forward; this is my good side =)
My standing splits today were loads better than when I first tried them a few weeks ago! I was really shocked because I haven't been practicing these, and my front and middles splits felt tight today. I only tried these as an afterthought! =] just goes to show keeping consistent in stretching is always helping even when u don't think it is =]
Slow and steady
Great job everyone!!!!!! I'm here with more stupid questions! Besides immediately post-stretching, when do you find yourself the most loose? Or tight? An hour? A day? A few days? When I stretch at home for my splits it takes LOTS of warming up and then I rotate between my hamstrings, quads, hip flexors, and foam rolling all until I feel loose enough to try my splits stretches. OK, sounds normal enough. BUT what if I'd like to feel loose and limber before pole class (makes things like chopsticks or jade better/easter)... In class we always warm up and stretch and stuff... but not like to the same degree obviously (or we'd never have time for anything else). So I'm wondering if there is a way to pre-stretch? And what would be a good time to do that? After almost an hour in the car on the way it's hard to stay warm, so its not like I can just stretch and show up at class with that same looseness! I'm wondering if pre-stretching would help at that point or make me tighter. Maybe I should stretch really thoroughly the night before?!? This may take some trial and error but I'm just throwing it out there to see what other people do/think! :D ---- How is everything else going guys? I'm stretching or at least trying to stretch after my showers a few nights a week. The other day my side splits felt tight but I miraculously felt better in my middles. :)
mmmmh this is a tricky point... i agree it would be lovely to be all limber and juicy starting pole session but doing a deep stretch before any strenous activity is not recommended - it actually stretches & weakens your muscles straight after - so if you were to go running or weight lifting (or pole!) then actually you are more likely to injure yourself than if you hadn't stretched.... sounds mad i know!! =/ although there is a studio in my town which offers a flex class before pole, i thought that would be awesome but didnt know whether it was such a good idea in principle.... i tend to use poling as my warm up for stretching haha. im not sure how well it would wor kwarming up before your journey.... maybe if you could keep your car really hot !! =P a good way to stretch before activity without weakening your muscles is to do active stretching rather than passive - so lots of leg raises, kicks etc starting small and working through your range of flexibility as you warm up a bit. And foam rolling is good just before too, if you can be bothered to take your roller in because you can roll cold muscles more than you can stretch them. and i find rolling helps to warm me up a bit too =) and what you mentioned with your fronts/middles is standard =) ive been stretching intensively (at least 5 times a week) since joining the fb splitters group 1/11/14 - if i am having a good day for fronts my middles will be extra stiff and vice versa haha! so now i always try run through the whole gamut of: front splits, both legs/middle splits knees up/middle splits knees forward/pancake straddle/standing splits etc cos you usually surprise yourself with something! and i found that if i have a really good day and get my lowest then i can expect to be extra stiff for the next few days so it feels like ive regressed, but i just keep consistent with stretching and a few days later i feel lower again =) flexibility is definitely not a linear process !!! The key is staying consistent even when it doesn't feel like you are improving =) =)
Thanks Polekat! I'm glad I asked! Part of me thought it might help, and the other part thought it might just make me tighten up! I think I'll stick with my current routine of stretching and just be patient. :P I just get frustrated because I know my flexibility soooo much better after a good stretch of the right muscles... and then we try banana splits and it looks like this: https://www.studioveena.com/photos/view_photo/54a090ee-48d8-48af-91bd-59090a9aa0eb HAHAHHAHA
Veena ·
Polekat is correct about flexibility training before heavy workouts 😊
So I decided I'm on a roller coaster battle with these splits of constant regressions and progressions. I've kept a workout journal of my workouts and when I'm most flexible and strongest and somehow it turns out I am most flexy around my period... wtf... I thought it was the opposite. I've decided it could either be my birth control which effects my hormones. Or the fact that I'm tired during that time and don't strength train my legs out of tiredness therefore my legs are less tight. Although I've kept it easy on my legs at a different times of the month to recreate those circumstances but my body still feels tight and less receptive. The only thing I have energy during my monthly is generally just the elliptical and stretching. For some odd reason my body is very receptive to flexability training at that time... It hurts less and my muscles are like 'yea give me this, I'm not gonna be tight on you today!' Once again I thought it would be the opposite and I would be less flexy at that time and more receptive to pain. If you ask me to get on a pole during that time I'll be like, 'no pole burn hurts my thighs, my thighs are too sensitive, it's not happening, oh just climbing it feels like a struggle, waaaah.' So yea, I can drop a split during my period (after two warm ups on the elliptical and a thousand prep stretches in between and after that wah) but ask me any other day and I'm like 'no, it hurts go away.' Such a sad story. I can't take pretty split pictures at a nice bar or something. The only time I can take a split pic is during a certain time of the month where I'm bloated, after elliptical training, no make-up, a hundred prep stretches, and disheveled hair from all that work... Life ain't fair... Come on, I figured by now after all this flexability training my ego would be fed, but it's not. I know this is about our journey etc, but come on, we all wanna take cool pictures and drop a split at the drop of a hat. I'm sure it will get better and as I keep stretching it will be easier and more consistent etc. I just wanted to vent was all. I feel much better.
AllysonKendal, when I am at the studio and we are working on tricks like Jade, I usuallly just do a few more intense stretches specific for that trick right before I do them. I dont go crazy with overall flexibility training just key areas for my jade. by time I get to doing this I am already warm from our class warm -up. I have good instructors who usually think out what to work on in our warm up. so if she knows we are doing a jade she will usually lead us through a splits stretch, I just dont go as deep as I would if I were doing flexibility training. I find this to be a safe compromise and as my flexibility improves I dont need as much intense stretching to get into these poses. that being said, some days I'm just not as flexible as the others.
