Leg splitting is a practice widely used by both artistic and rhythmic gymnasts, dancers, entertainers, cheerleaders, martial arts and other similar trades or hobbies; to do this you need a lot of flexibility, in this case concentrated in the legs and hips. There are people who are born with their built-in flexibility and with little effort to manage to do this, but others will need more will and training; The most advisable thing to do to gain flexibility is to stretch all the extremities at least once a day, this will also help us to open our legs later on.
Follow the instructions below
Method 1
Step one
Begin to warm up your muscles well by doing some aerobic-type activity; it is important to do this before stretching; The objective of this is that the blood circulation of the muscles increases and in this way prepare them more for stretching, thus preventing some type of injury; you can jog or walk 15 minutes before starting a session.
Step two
Now it does start with the stretching: the first thing you should stretch are your thighs, exactly the front part, stretch the hamstring muscles well (the hamstring is a tendon that is made up of 3 muscles: semimembranosus, biceps femora’s and semitendinosus), all These join the ischium (bone where the buttocks meet, that is, the one that we support when we sit down), with the fibula and the tibia.
Stand in front of either a ballet bare, chair, or bench, and then lift your left foot up and onto it so it’s parallel to the floor, then walk forward with your torso toward your knee, stretching as far as you can. You can without hurting yourself, then hold your left ankle with both hands and stay like this for 20 seconds, the idea is that you reach 30, and then do the same process with your right leg. Intercalate each leg doing it three times with each one; for greater effectiveness, you should do this procedure twice a day.
Step three
It’s time to try spreading your legs, stand up and see that your feet are further out compared to your shoulders; begin to bend while you stretch your hands and slide your legs slowly, the ideal is to reach the floor but not at first, do as much as you can without going to the effort to avoid hurting yourself, you have to feel comfortable (or), you must make sure that all of your body weight goes into your hands as you do this movement; hold the position achieved for 15 seconds, do it 3 times and repeat 2 times a day.
Method 2 – we recommend following it
Step one
You must also do a previous warm-up; walk, jog, run or you can even jump without having to move from the point.
Step two
Now proceed to sit on the floor, extend your legs well in front of you, and bend over until you manage to grab your feet or as far as you can, the idea is that you feel a little pain but without hurting yourself. Before bending down, inhale and as you begin to bend over, exhale. To clarify the pain: feeling it soft is good because if it is not really stretching, but if the pain becomes acute it is because it is most likely that an injury has occurred and the exercise must be stopped; Once you are in the position grabbing your feet, keep stretching for 10 seconds, do this three times.
Step three
Sit on the floor, put your legs straight in front of you again and then extend them as far as you can stand to the sides, your hands should be above your head as a dancer does, then lean to the right, count 15 seconds and then get up, repeat the same thing only this time to the left side, then in the same position bend down going forward with your hands, to further stretch your legs; it is logical that you feel some pain; you should look for your chest or your elbows to reach the ground and not your head; stay in the position as long as you can; Logically, the longer you manage to last in the position, the easier it will be for you to be able to open your legs and the closer to the ground you will get when the time comes to try it.
Step four
Sit down and bring your right leg forward, it should be stretched, it’s as if you wanted to touch your forehead with it; You will have to leave the left leg flexed, leave the leg stretched for ten seconds, now change the two legs and do the same process; do it three times with each leg.
Step five
Does the movement of stretching your legs in front of you again then bend over and you will see that you can bend over more than the first time.
Step six
The time has come for you to spread your legs; you should stand up, then stretch your left leg forward, you don’t have to feel pain and you don’t need to stretch it too much, now put the instep of your right foot on the floor and start doing lunges. Now proceed to stretch, you will see how your groin and the back of your leg are at work, then change legs, bring the right one forward and the left one back.
Step 7
Get back in a lunge position, but straighten your front foot completely and then you should flex it up, the idea is that you try to touch the toes, then do the same procedure changing feet.
Step 8
Come back into the lunge position; put your hands on the ground so that you support yourself, use your own hands to raise your body a little and now start to open your legs, do it as far as you can, you don’t have to open up completely; stay in the position for 15 seconds, rest for a moment and then do it with the opposite side; repeat three times with each position.
With practice you will be able to stay completely on the open floor (a) with your legs.
Tips.
- This does not happen overnight, but it takes good practice, unless you were born with flexibility in you; you should do it as a routine, hopefully daily and if not three times a week.
- When you stretch you should feel pain but it can’t be sharp, you could hurt yourself.
- You can take advantage of stretching while watching television or talking on the phone.
- If you are a person who finds it harder to stretch, you could ask someone for help to achieve it, what they would have to do is push you gently, but being very clear that they should stop when you tell them to do so.
- Once you manage to spread your legs wide, you have to keep practicing, because if you don’t, it’s very possible that later on you’ll try again and you won’t be able to.
- Lunges should not be done if the hips are not at a right angle.
- Stretching as such should be done five times a week.
- If you feel that you hurt yourself, do not force yourself to continue your stretch, you should go to a doctor and tell him what has happened to you, do not try to stretch again until you feel fully recovered and stretch more gently.
- Complement with stretching in other parts of the body, it is good for the body.