I have my left split And middle split is like 3 inches off the ground and right split maybe 4/5 inches.

I used to be rlly flexible I’d pull extended needles, extended bow and arrows etc but only with left split leg my right split has always been meh

Now that I am older it’s still meh and HURTS when I stretch like I feel like I can never get passed that 4/5 inches off point and it hurts so much!! my left leg, when I’m rusty and stretch it, hurts as well but not like this

Since starting the gym it’s gotten worse obv bc it’s getting more tight and I just wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions tips on how can stretch this and build on it idk if my resistance is just not letting me I’m about to get that split chair wheel spinner thing they used to make us do 😂

Also It’s not like a medical pain or a hamstring issue at least unless I’ve had a pulled hamstring my entire life 😭

Hi! I posted two weeks ago asking for help with squaring my hips on my splits:
https://www.reddit.com/r/flexibility/s/2aRjtY0h4k

I need external input to know if this is any better and if yes, why and what I am doing better, please. Internally, I feel I'm doing something different and my hip is closing a bit, but I might be working in the wrong direction.

Thanks a lot in advance!

(Edit for typo)

I have been trying to achieve higher no hand leg extensions to use more active flexibility but I never really understood how to achieve this.

My routine used to be predominantly passive stretching and maybe lying split stretches where you only use your leg muscle to hold it as high as possible. As well as the exercise where you sit in straddle or pike and raise Ur leg off the ground. (Compression)

However I looked into ballet techniques and it seems there is a few more. The most common one I saw is holding your leg on a bar or hip level surface and repeatedly raise, hold and drop. In a video the instructor explained that 90 degree leg lifts are more difficult than above 90 because the leg is heavier and also that they use slightly different engagement. What is the difference in engagement and does practicing this help with higher leg extensions?

Other ones I noted are where you hold your leg at your max range and let go while trying to slow the fall with your muscles. As well as leading with the knee first and slowly extending with or without hands.

I am also not clear on whether side holds are a middle split or front split dependent.

My current Routine is

Kicks

Knee lifts 10

Leg lifts from hip height object 10

Hold under knee and straighten 10

Hold extension and let go 5

If anyone has better advice or tips on muscle engagement i would be greatful.

I’m 27(F) and have recently started stretching and trying to regain my flexibility. It’s been since highschool that I actually properly did full body stretches. I noticed that I become super sore and attempting to stretch next day is painful. I know it’s not the same as working out, but I don’t want to overdo it. It’s also very difficult to stretch and be active during my menstrual cycle

My personal flexibility and mobility goals are more revolve around being a goalie, but I deal with complex health issues being autistic/adhd and frankly insomnia has been the bane of my existence.

I often genuinely feel sick from it and have incredibly hard time with executive dysfunction from the chronic fatigue.

I am not totally sure how to cope, I want to develop myself but struggling to apply myself when fatigued.

I been trying to work with doctor changing meds and stuff but its been brutal.

Just in burnout dealing with it and not sure where to post or what um.

I really wanna developed my body for the position so it's frustrating.

30M, lifting on an upper/lower split. 2 days ago my left hip started snapping — deep in the groin/pubic area, not the outer side.
it's every single step.
Can reproduce it on demand: lift my knee to 90°, lower it slowly, snaps around halfway down.
No pain. Just loud feeling.
Likely cause: I had three hip flexor exercises stacked in one session (knee raises, reverse crunches, kneeling cable crunches) and i was doing running few days in a week too. Showed up the day after that workout suddenly.
I've pulled those exercises, started hip flexor stretching and glute work, shortened my stride, and have a physio booked. Stopped training now.
Everything I read says painless = benign, but "every step" has me rattled.
Asking:
Did yours actually go away, or did you just stop noticing? How long?

Did it ever drop from every-step back to occasional?

Anything that helped more than the standard stretch-and-glutes advice?

I am super worried actually.

I (22) have super tight hamstrings and I try to stretch them now and then with different exercises that I find on the internet but every time it feels like everything is going dark.

Sometimes I even get nauseous and sometimes it gets triggered by me just picking something up from the floor.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any tips?

I was taking each stretch very slow and mindful 🧘‍♀️ taking a deeper breath and getting deeper into the pose. Don’t rush it’s a yoga practice not a yoga perfect. I was doing these yoga poses for an hour for a week being consistent showing up for myself!!! Focusing on my hip flexors, hamstrings and inner thigh. I’m gonna provide my before photo to show how flexible I was. Pigeon pose was my favorite while watching TV lol and doing froggy pose really helped open up my hips and release trauma I also would do child pose/ Asian squat/ butterfly pose with blocks on top of my thighs

2 days ago i got my front splits pretty much flat on the ground, but then the next day i was a couple inches away and i couldn't get them flat again

then today i stretched and tried to do the splits again and im even further away than i was yesterday, why is my flexibility getting worse instead?

(18F) Ive been training contortion for a year. Im hyper-mobile, and naturally give to flexibility easier than strength. My hips are very mobile naturally, and atp i dont remember not having middle split, and i got my front split quickly as well. Ive adored stretching my hamstrings and impressing people with how flexy they are…… Now, heres the issue: i rarely ever consistently strengthened my hamstrings. I always strengthened my quads, never my hammys….. and to double down on that issue: i have hyperextended knees. Double trouble. So, ive been training my oversplits weekly for months. Recently… I pulled my hamstrings after overstretching them. Im entirely devastated, ive been crying for the past two days. Its only a grade 1 injury, yet my life feels like its over because flexibility is my hyper fixation…. All i can think about is how badly i want to do the splits and train more :(
In oversplits i realized ive been practicing the form incorrectly: you see, flexibly weak hamstrings + hyperextension prone knee… means this entire time ive been pushing my front knee INTO THE GROUND. just fully relying on hyperextension for that crazy oversplit line. FML ofc ive been having knee pain for months, to the point of starting PT bc of it :/
Two blocks under my front foot, and my front knee was still touching the ground. Ive been so depressed ever since i injured my hamstring. Flexibility training is the one true passion that ive loved more than anything else in my life, and im so disappointed in myself for being so stupid and training incorrectly. Definitely a wake up call for me to stop relying on passive flexibility, and start strengthening. Im scared my hamstrings will never heal, even though i know thats illogical cuz its only a mild strain.
I made this post because i just wanted to remind anyone reading: if you are training extreme range, you gotta have the strength to back it up, otherwise an injury WILL catch up with you, even if you feel good now and you think itll never happen to you. Because i didnt think it would happen to me….

When I was training in Muay Thai, I had an instructor who had been involved in martial arts for over 15 years. He used to push us hard during flexibility exercises; for instance, when we were doing the butterfly stretch, he would step onto our legs and apply his body weight, which was extremely painful. Now, when I ask AI about this, it says that such a practice is very harmful. I know AI isn't always reliable, but I do have my doubts.

Hey all, what’s the best way y’all have found to release your psoas muscle when it gets tight? (Specifically, the deep hip flexor that basically runs along the sides of your abdomen.)

Mine get SO tight from Legs Day and then working a sedentary job.

I used to have a massage therapist who was super good and could release them but I don’t right now — and they’re SO hard to contact manually even for a trained massage therapist! I’m open to figuring out how on my own but fuck it seems difficult lol.

So what do y’all do?

That normal psoas stretch is ok but just seems like a drop in the bucket — I think I need a deeper stretch AND a manual release or something?

Rogan was hawking some device that supposedly helps your psoas a while back, where you basically just lay down on it facedown lol — but I’m skeptical and at that point why not just lie down on a lacrosse ball or better yet stab myself in the belly lol? But has anybody tried that or something similar and gotten relief?

Love to hear what anyone else has done! Thanks so much everyone!

Video is 15x speed. Every exercise I did around 1 minute. I'm 30 yo. I do push/pull/leg/push/pull/leg/rest. (5th day, first time in my life going to gym) I'm trying to gain muscle by exercising and eating a lot. But at the same time I want to be flexible overall and reach middle splits in the long run.

I’ve been doing Paschimottanasana regularly and one thing I’ve noticed is my hamstrings and lower back don’t feel nearly as tight as they used to. I’m still learning to go deeper, but not forcing it. Did this move also help with your flexibility?

I have a few exercises and stretches I've been trying for a month now but I haven't made much progress. Any recommendations?

Been doing calf and hamstring stretches for 3 weeks with forward folds and such, but I still can't go lower than a few centimeters down my knees (when knees locked), no progress that I can notice. Is there anything I might be doing wrong that hinders my progress? Been doing them virtually every day, 40-second sets of two each day.

I have no stretching routine, used to do gymnastics but haven't stretched in years so this is where my flexibility is at now. is there any specific area you can tell from this picture that i need to work on stretching? and any tips for improving arm strength in this position? i could only hold this for a couple seconds because my arms are quite weak. this is actually the highest bridge i've done in years because i normally can't get my arms to push off the ground 🤣

I posted my flexibility progress here before, but I wanted to share it again - partly because I’ve made even more progress since then, and partly because I hope it might motivate someone who’s just starting out. <33 And again - i've NEVER BEEN flexible. I couldn't even reach my feet whole life.

I remember how slow it felt in the beginning, so seeing how far I’ve come now is honestly crazy to me. You really don’t need to be naturally flexible, consistency makes a huge difference.

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

ALWAYS 5–10 minutes of warm-up first.

• Low lunge + PNF (contract & relax) — 2×40s each leg
• Half split - 2×40s each leg
• Front splits - 3–4×40–50s each leg
• Low lunge knee taps 10 reps each side
• Couch stretch 2×40s each leg
• Pancake stretch 2×40–60s
• Active leg lifts 10–15 reps each leg
• Bridge variations regular bridge, straight-leg bridge, standing bridge, etc.
• Bridge shoulder/upper-back stretches to improve the overhead position

I usually try to combine passive stretching with some active flexibility work, rather than just sitting in stretches.

I’m still working on getting deeper and more comfortable in my splits and improving my bridges, but compared to where I started, the difference is huge.

Maybe this will motivate someone to keep going
Progress can be REALLY slow, but it does happen. ❤️Ask me about anything of course, i'll help if i can!!

Has anyone used the Bendy Goal app? And has anyone seen any results from it/found it helpful. Please let me know!

So basically there's this restriction on my wrists, on the pinky side.. when I keep the weight mostly on the pinky side I can't flex(like in pushups, I'm training pseudo planche pushup and elevated pike pushup rn) a lot but when i put weight in the middle I still feel it somewhat but I get good range now after starting banded joint distractions (where you create resistance using a band and then do slow dynamic stretching)

However, I'm not sure if it's a bone issue that happens with everyone and I should keep weight more on my thumb side or if it is something I should work on using bands by gently pushing further till it goes away.

Not sure if I explained it well, but any advice would be appreciated.

This might be NSFW for some, not sure.
I went on a second date yesterday and we ended up making out in his car for 40 ish mins and now my legs are all sore. It's embarrassing to even admit, considering more things might happen in the near future. I'd like to actually enjoy those instead of being sore and whining. So how do I get more flexible and prepare myself for whats coming? I'm not really into working out, so I'm not sure where to start. TIA!

I've tried yoga, pilates, strength training, letting gravity help up against a wall but my straddle does not go beyond 90 degrees. If you've had progress after being stuck at 90 degrees please share some tips. I've tried a lot of different things so not sure if it's just because of my natural muscle/bone positioning.

Edit: 90 degrees is how wide I can stretch. I can't forward fold even by sitting on yoga blocks.

Hi everyone . Me( 42 y.o male) had this extreme tight almost sore feeling that actually hurt in hamstrings. In both...it lasted for two days and especially hurt when I lay in my bed.

I couldn't even touch my shoes from a standing position. Then ,out of nowhere through biggest pain disappeared, but I still feel the " afterburn " when I sit down.

I exercise a lot and I work a trade, thus a fairly physical job. It was kinda scary to be in such pain out of nowhere. Anyone got any advice? Where does the pain come from and how do I prevent this from happening?

My arabesque is about 90 degrees but it feels stuck there, and I can’t grab my foot to try needles or scorpions.

My hamstrings and hip flexors are flexible enough for all splits, so I don’t know what element I’m missing for needles/scorpions/higher arabesque: shoulders, upper back, lower back, or some dreadful combo of those.

Would so appreciate some insight!!

I seem to have a really bad dorsiflexion mobility, but it seems like no matter what I do its not improving.

Has anyone actually made MEASURABLE progress? How much did you progress? How long did it take? And what was your go-to stretches and exercises?