Get down on both of your knees. Put one leg out in front of you, placing your foot on the floor and your knee at a ninety degree angle. Make sure that you aren’t stiff. Gently lean forward towards your outstretched leg. Keep your body and hips straight as you stretch forward. You’ll feel the stretch in your thigh of the leg you are kneeling on. Hold this position for about 30 seconds. Repeat the motion on the other leg.
Stand upright and straight. You may want to stand next to a chair that you can grab onto for stability. Bend one leg at the knee, grab the ankle and bring the foot up behind you. Keep your torso straight as you pull the foot and leg upwards. You’ll feel this stretch in the thigh of the leg you are pulling up behind you. Hold this position for around 30 seconds. Repeat the same stretch on your other leg.
Find a door frame to use for the stretch. Lay down on your back, parallel to the wall. Your hips should be next to the edge of the door frame. Raise the leg closest to the door frame straight up into the air. Rest your heel on the inside of the door frame. Gently straighten the leg against the door frame and hold it for about 30 seconds. Lower your leg back down and repeat this stretch on the other leg.
Keep your knees about hip width apart. Your feet and shins will be laying flat on the floor. Do not try to turn you legs in by force in this position. This can lead to injured hips. Keep the rest of your body upright and straight.
At this point, your rear leg will still be in the kneeling position. Your front leg will kept as straight as possible.
Try to get both of your legs flat against the ground. At this point, there should be no bending in either knee. Never force the stretch beyond what you feel is comfortable. If you can’t do the full front stretch yet, go as far as you feel you can. Try to hold the stretch for 30 seconds. If your hips aren’t square, you are not doing a proper split. If you have no idea whether they are square or not, can you turn to the side? Is your non-dominant hip going back with your back leg? If you answered yes, your hips are not square.
To get better at splits, you have to do more splits. [10] X Expert Source Adam ShutyCertified Strength & Conditioning Specialist Expert Interview. 26 August 2020. Practicing front splits can help you move onto middle splits or over-splits. Make sure to practice other types of leg stretches that focus on all the muscle groups. Don’t over train or hold splits for more than 30 seconds to help avoid injury. [11] X Research source
Spend at least 5 minutes warming up. Doing gentle stretches can get your muscles ready for deeper movements. Try something like jogging in place or jumping jacks to gently get your heart pumping.
Never wiggle or bounce any stretch. You should only steadily hold a stretch to avoid injury. Don’t force any motion. If you don’t feel that you can move further into a stretch, stop the motion where you do feel comfortable.
Never push through pain. If notice any pain that persists for a long period of time, talk to your doctor as soon as you can.
