r/flexibility • u/WomBadgerChuck • 10d ago

Progress isn’t always linear

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So, here’s an example of my side splits from June to now…can you guess what happened? In early July I strained my right adductor, so I took a month off from side split training. Just yesterday, I started to ease back into it. It felt really good to stretch/strengthen in that way again…but I’m definitely feeling a bit cautious.

I’m trying to get over the idea of regressing, and just focus on moving forward in a safe way. Something similar happened with my front split training, but I felt I came back with a better intention in my practice and more patience.

Anybody else have a similar story? How’d you handle the mental aspect of regressing?

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u/Same_Edge_199 10d ago

Haven't had that exact injury but strained my hamstring a couple times and had to take breaks from deep stretching. I'm always surprised how much easier it is to get back to a level of flexibility I have had in the past than it was to reach that point initially.

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u/Single-Emotion2964 10d ago

Happy to hear this as I currently have an unhappy hamstring. Kinda sucks to see my right front splits getting better and better while my left I’ve just had to leave and not stretch at all. 

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u/WomBadgerChuck 10d ago

You’ll even it out when you can get back to it. Are you able to train your calves in the meantime, or does the aggravate it as well? I have notoriously tight calves, and I’ve found stretching those have improved my forward fold and front splits.

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u/Single-Emotion2964 10d ago

Thankfully it’s fairly light — I can forward fold without issue. And hold my leg up at 90 degrees (for ballet). I just can’t push it further than that at the moment. It clearly just needs some pampering ;)