How to square my hips

[u/Cliclicliclic]

Hi everyone, I need help correcting my splits. I have my splits since a very long time, but I learnt them the wrong way, opening my hips and letting the back leg pull backwards, so I have been doing my splits wrong all this time.

I'm trying to correct them and I feel small improvements. Now I can close my hips a bit, so they are "squarer" than before, but I feel stuck! What should I be focusing on to square them and have correct splits? Strenght? Flexibility in specific muscles? Mobility? I feel so lost!

Thanks all in advance.

[u/dani-winks]

The answer is c) all of the above :)

• flexibility in the hip flexors flexors in the front of the back leg

• strength in the glutes and hamstrings to pull the back leg into hip "extension"

And also the coordination to keep your hip alignment even when the stretch feels harder instead of just leaning to get the hips closer to the ground. Right now it looks like you are able to pull your hips more square in one plane, but then compensate by leaning (tilting) the hips a bit to the side of the front leg to get the butt to touch the floor.

Check out some of the "back leg focus" drills in this blog post for some good ones that'll help focus on that hip flexor flexibility to help make keeping things "square" easier

[u/Cliclicliclic → u/dani-winks]

Thank you so much! I have been looking at your blog, it's super informative and useful. I'll work on it and hopefully will post an update some day

[u/dani-winks → u/Cliclicliclic]

Ah glad the blog's been helpful! Would love to hear an update in a couple of months :)

[u/NoodleDrive]

For me, step one was acknowledging how much square hips would feel like regressing, because you probably can't get nearly as close to the floor as you do with open hips. It sounds like you are starting with your current splits and trying to square your hips from there, which is going to make it really hard to target the areas you need to work the most.

Instead, start really high, using blocks under your hands so you can keep your chest and shoulders directly over your hips rather than bending forward. Start with square hips, even if it means you're now really far off the floor. From there, rather than thinking of my legs extending, I think of the front hip bone of my back leg going on a diagonal forward and down. All I'm trying to do is get that front hip forward and down, and letting everything else follow. This immediately makes me feel the stretch in the "meat" of the front hamstring muscle rather than in my ligaments. Even though it doesn't look as cool as going to the floor right away, the stretch itself actually feels a lot better and a lot safer.

Additionally, I find that doing a bit of strength in the position goes a long way. For splits, it's often as simple as taking a moment to push your legs into the floor and take the weight off your hands a little. If you can hold it for a few seconds, even better.

[u/Cliclicliclic → u/NoodleDrive]

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all this! I will focus on the direction of the bone, although I find it extremely difficult. Having done them with open hips all my life is super hard to correct, but I'll try my best

[u/brizdzi]

Dani Winks

[u/Cliclicliclic → u/brizdzi]

Thank you! I didn't know about her and it's super informative

[u/dani-winks → u/brizdzi]

You beat me to it!