splits

[Asylum]

i'm trying to learn how to do a split for a dance and need to do one ASAP. anyt tips?

[YesterdaysNews]

All you can do is stretch, it won't happen over night.

[Marcie]

Yeah, being able to do a split takes a while..
All you really can do is stretch. Try stretching every night before you go to bed and when ever you're just standing around. You can even stretch when you do homework. :-) that's what I do.

[honeybear]

yeah pretty much what they said....stretch the tendons and ligaments in your upper legs...I'm able to do them no problem with all the stretching I've had to do with swimming and running :) I love seeing people's faces when I do lol

[Asylum]

thanx guys, yup thats what i've been doing and its improving like i'm able to go lower then i have before.

[ErykaInspire.]

Run at a low speed for 10-15 minutes to warm your muscles up, THEN stretch them. It causes your muscles to expand and stretch out. Warming up your muscles before doing any form of stretching is more efficient than just stretching. After stretching, run at a low speed again for about 10-15 minutes. Then walk for 5 as a cool down.
If you just stretch your muscles without warming up or cooling down, they'll start to cramp when you try to do more exercises, such as dance.

[tyciol]

stretch the tendons and ligaments in your upper legs...I thought it was more about stretching the muscles?

To do a front split you need to stretch the hamstrings (calves too if you want the toe to point up instead of forward, which is nice) of the front leg and the hip flexors of the rear leg (quads too if you'd like to be able to point your shin back instead of down, which is nice).

To do a side split you also long hamstrings and primarily adductors. To do it requires either tilting the pelvis down (if you're doing a toes-forward) or rotating the legs out at the hip joint (knees pointing left and right, not forward) if you are doing the toes-up kind.