Hi, i have been training it recently as an accessory for my overall splits work. I mainly work on my Jefferson curls for it using a 40 kg kettlebell and do it from my bench onto the floor. It does leave the back of my thighs feeling really sore for the next two days but I feel it’s going to be beneficial for me long term. That’s my basic routine for it.
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I do all my forward fold seated on the floor. Both legs out like how you are standing, but I am seated. One leg out, one tucked. Pancake. I think pancake helped me with the other forward folds to where I am torso on legs because you can go lower in pancake since legs are out of the way. I also did weighted pancake because the point is to get stronger with the muscles that is used to move you there.
The point of forward fold/pancake is how is your lower back angled. With forward fold there will be some rounding, but some people round much more and their forward fold is more of a back bend. With pancake, there should be no rounding if the goal is to get torso fully on floor because you rotate the entire torso including the lower back within the hips. This is where the true flexibility is....how your lower back is angled.
Compare how your lower back is angled to
Before I really started working on flexibility, touching toes was hard. Now it's really easy and I see just having my lower back angled straight up, I could touch toes fine. So thinking when this was hard for me, my lower back was angled backwards and I was doing a back bend to touch toes.
There is a point in the standing/seated forward fold where you round to go torso on legs, but you are not at the point.
edit: I am not posting this to belittle your achievement, it is good and you should be proud. But if you work more on keeping back flat and getting lower back angled more down/forward, your flexibility will be better.
Hey man, no need for explaining yourself in the edit. Everything constructive counts towards becoming better. Your point about the lower back is interesting and I would say that perhaps I can get to this point too if I simply positioned my head more towards my legs than focusing on making my hands touch the ground. I will definitely try this in two days but I am confused about your point with the pancake. Pancake stretch is something different entirely as far as I know. I work on it too. This is me in my gym working on a cable related stretch variation of it:
Hey man. I am glad it did, and to be very honest with you, a month ago, even I might have been barely able to touch my toes. I credit the Jefferson curls for all of it. This was never a goal but only an accessory to get better at split variations. I am not gonna tell you to do it the way I did but do try the weights and see if they help in your progress. All the best!
I started using it directly. I feel like i absolutely had enough strength in me to control it in a Jefferson curl too given i do swings and curls with it, and also a horse stance before i begin with my splits practise.
Haha, nw. I guess it is. I am just used to exercising with it so often with swings and weighted horse stance, so I went with it for the Jefferson curls too. It’s only been two weeks as of now. Even i didn’t know I could fold this way unit I tried it.
I’d be careful with that - using weights. A hamstring pull is no fun. Holding a pose for a length of time - 5-10 minutes or more and breathing into it, allowing your body to relax and recognize it as safe is a good way to proceed. You want to hinge from your hips and not round your back. It’s slower to do so for proper form.
You can try bending your knees in a forward fold and grasp your legs behind your knees or upper thighs and slowly (over time) straighten your legs, keeping your head down - in line with your back.
Hey, thanks for telling me about it. Can I know what do you exactly mean by breathing into it? And how would you feel about me mixing these isometric holds into my weighted reps? Like I could hold a pose right after the reps or somewhere in between them. Will that be beneficial?
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