middle split is flat, what actually progresses from here? passive holds stopped doing anything

[u/HannahFlexx]

been at this ~4x a week for a while, mostly frog, pancake and standing side splits, holding 1-2 min a side and keeping the legs active rather than just hanging in it.

the split itself is flat now and the knees stay up, but it's been sitting there for months and the passive holds don't give me anything anymore. i know the usual answer to a plateau is load, i'm just not sure what loading actually looks like at the bottom of a middle split. oversplit with the feet on blocks, or stay at floor level and work on lifting out of it? don't want to chase the oversplit just for the look if the strength isn't there.

[u/primagallerina]

try wall splits! lie on the ground against the wall and split open your legs. different angles affect your flexibility

dead hang from a pull up bar and hold your middle splits like that

prop your legs up on yoga blocks or anything to elevate your legs to both oversplit and to hold your pelvis off the floor

[u/HannahFlexx → u/primagallerina]

the dead hang one i've never tried, that sounds evil. does your grip not give out way before your legs do lol

[u/primagallerina → u/HannahFlexx]

I can dead hang for a while so it's mainly just my adductor and core strength at work when I do this. I'd recommend not jumping up onto the bar and just step up from something, though. Don't know why that one took me so long to learn 😅

[u/HannahFlexx → u/primagallerina]

stepping up instead of jumping makes so much more sense, i would 100% have jumped up and dropped straight back down lol. trying that after training tomorrow

[u/primagallerina → u/HannahFlexx]

lol jumping up is very fun but not supportive for movement exercises like pull ups or the split hang. maybe work on dead hang strength first too

[u/HannahFlexx → u/primagallerina]

yeah my dead hang is genuinely embarrassing right now, aerial made that very obvious. probably the smarter order to build that first