How to do splits in a week

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What is a leg split? It’s a masterful skill that shows the body’s flexibility, which is useful for many activities, including ballet, martial arts, gymnastics, yoga, and everyday living. Doing splits can take months or even years, but it’s easy for some people. There is no shortcut to mastering this skill, so are you ready to stretch your legs? Splits are also a good move, it can be difficult to do but give it a try. The only thing you need to remember is to be patient and do regular leg stretches.

Table of Contents

Stretching exercises

V-leg extension, also known as sitting with legs apart. This stretch targets the hamstrings, inner thighs, lower back, and calves (but only if you can reach your toes). The V leg stretch is performed as follows:

Sit flat on the floor and spread your legs into a wide V. Press your feet against the wall if this helps to spread your legs wider.
Keeping your back as straight as possible, lean to the right and try to touch your toes. Don’t worry if you haven’t already – just try your best. Hold this pose for 30-60 seconds, then repeat on the left leg.
Next, straighten your arms in front of you, as far as you can. Try to touch your chest to the floor. Hold this pose for 30-60 seconds. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Touch your toes. Touching your toes from a sitting and standing position helps to stretch the hamstrings and lower back.

To touch your toes in a sitting position, sit with your feet pressed together, toes pointing toward the ceiling. Bend forward and try to touch your toes. If not, hold the ankle. If touching your toes is too easy, try making a fist around the soles of your feet. Hold this pose for 30-60 seconds.
To touch your toes in a standing position, stand with your feet pressed together, then bend over and try to touch your toes. Do not bend your knees and try to keep most of your body weight on the top of your feet instead of your heels. If you are really flexible, try to touch your palm to the floor. Hold this pose for 30-60 seconds.

Frog sitting. The frog sitting position works on the groin and inner thighs, which are important for splits.

Sit on the floor and bend your knees until they are facing out, and the soles of your feet are pressed together. Try to push your knees as close to the floor as possible (use your elbows if necessary), while bringing your heels as close to your groin as possible.
Sit with your back as straight as possible. Hold this pose for 30-60 seconds. To stretch more, place your palms on the floor in front of your toes, then try to stretch your arms out as far as you can.

Stretch your hips with a forward lunge. This move relaxes the hips, which is also necessary for a good split.

Get into a forward lunge position by stepping your right foot forward and bending both knees until your right thigh is parallel to the floor and your left shin touches the ground.
Place your hands on your hips and keep your back straight. Slowly shift your body weight forward until you feel a stretch in your hips and upper thighs. Hold this position for 30-60 seconds, then repeat on the other leg. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Stretch the quadriceps and hamstring muscles. The quadriceps and hamstrings are two of the important muscles involved in the split, so you have to train them as well. Here are two stretches that stretch these muscles:

To stretch the quadriceps, kneel in a forward lunge position, bringing your knees under your knees if needed. Keeping your back straight, reach behind your back and grab the foot of your back leg and pull it toward your butt until you feel a tight stretch in your quadriceps. Hold this position for 30-60 seconds, then repeat on the other leg.
To stretch your hamstrings, lie on your back on the floor and prop your feet up against the wall. Keep your lower back flat on the floor, reaching to your toes until it feels tight (but doesn’t hurt). Hold for 30 seconds.

Practice splits safely and effectively

Warm up before the split. Proper warming up is absolutely essential before stretching or splitting.

Warming up helps prevent muscle tension (which keeps you from moving for a while) and also helps you stretch deeper.
You can warm up any way you like, as long as the blood circulates throughout the body. Try spending 5-10 minutes jumping around, running around the block, or dancing wildly to your favorite music.

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Exercise for 15 minutes, twice daily. If you want to succeed in a split in a week, you have to be really determined to do it every day.

You must practice twice a day, for 15 minutes each time without interruption. If you can exercise three times a day, even better (but don’t overdo it).
Try to combine it with other things while doing stretches to make the time go by faster. Practice while listening to music, watching TV or studying – like practicing English pronunciation or learning math formulas.

Find your support. Any job is easier to do when you have a supportive and encouraging friend.

They can help you stretch and deepen your split by pushing your shoulders or legs down once you’re in the pose. But you must remind them to stop immediately at the signal, and they must be someone you completely trust!
You can also suggest a contest to see who splits first, which will motivate you to work harder.

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Wear suitable clothing. The right clothing helps you feel more comfortable and flexible while stretching your legs, and also prevents your pants from ripping during splits.

Wear loose or elastic sportswear (so it can move with the body). Martial arts clothing is also a good choice.
One piece of advice is to wear socks while doing your splits because they make it easier for your feet to slide across the floor, so you can stretch your legs more deeply.

Know your own limits. Doing splits in a week is quite difficult, so it’s important that you don’t push yourself too hard, safety is more important. Progress will be slower if you are injured. A general rule of thumb is to only do a slight stretch if you wake up that morning feeling sore. If you exceed the limit when stretching your legs too much, you should take a full day or more of rest. To prevent this from happening, you should practice slowly and always warm up first.

During the splits, you will feel a sufficient stretch in the muscles, but absolutely no pain. If you feel pain, this is a sign that you are trying too hard.
Trying too hard can lead to muscle strain and other injuries, keeping you from reaching your goals soon (or possibly never).
It’s better to work slowly to achieve a safe split, than to burn the stage and injure yourself.

Start doing splits

Get into the right posture. After each stretching session, you should spend some time doing actual splits. First, get into the prepared position:

If you want to do a split, kneel on the ground and extend your dominant leg in front of you, keeping your weight on your heels. Bend the back knee so that the shin rests on the floor.
If you want to do a side split, stand up straight and slide your feet apart to get into a standing position with your feet wide open, with your toes and knees pointing toward the sky.

Slowly lower your body. When you’re ready, begin to slowly and carefully lower into your chosen split.

Use your arms to support your body weight as you lower yourself. If you’re doing a split, place one hand on the floor on one side of the front foot.
If you’re in a split, place both hands on the floor directly in front of you, hands not shoulder width apart.
With your arms bearing the bulk of your body weight, slowly spread your legs wide by sliding your feet on the floor. Continue sliding until your legs form a 180-degree angle. Congratulations, you have successfully split!

Relax your muscles. If you can’t push down completely, take a deep breath and try to relax all the muscles.

Many studies show that relaxation techniques can make a huge difference to your flexibility, especially if incorporated into your daily stretching routine. ^{[3] X Research Sources}
In addition, releasing tension in the muscles can reduce the risk of injury during stretching exercises.

Hold the split for 30 seconds. Once you get into the split, you should hold it for 30 seconds. You should feel a deep stretch instead of pain. If you feel pain in the split, you should get out of the position immediately and continue stretching for the next few days, until you can hold the split without feeling pain at all.

More than 180 degrees of leg splits. Maybe you’re completely satisfied when you’ve mastered the split technique and don’t want to go any further. However, if you want to continue to work harder, you can try “more than 180-degree splits” (legs forming a greater than 180-degree angle).

This is a pretty intense stretch, so don’t try to do it too soon. You must be perfectly comfortable with a normal split before attempting to split more than 180 degrees.
The way to practice is to place a pillow under the front foot (or under both feet if you’re in a split) once you’ve entered the split. Over time you can add more pillows to increase the stretch.

Advice

Muscles need to be stretched for 90 seconds before they can be extended. Therefore, you should remain in the position of stretching your legs for at least this time.
Stretch while watching TV or a movie to distract yourself.
To warm up the legs, you have to contract the leg muscles not too hard, but enough to feel the tension in the muscles.
Film your splits and watch them back to see your progress.
You will feel pain the next morning when you wake up. Take a hot shower and start stretching to prevent muscle soreness and tightness.
Stretch every morning and evening. Finding a partner to exercise with is more motivating than exercising alone.
Be careful not to get into a split right away as there is a high chance of injury if you don’t stretch before.
Don’t try to split more than 180 degrees before mastering a regular split. You may have muscle tension and not be able to perform a normal split.
Practice the split for more than 180 degrees for 30 seconds and then split in the normal way, continue to practice alternating between these two ways.
You’d better get into a lunge first and start sliding your foot into a split.
Practice with a friend. Exercising with a friend makes for a more enjoyable experience, and they also support you.

Warning

Never perform a split without properly warming up first. You must feel really warm, even hot, before you begin a deep stretch to prevent injury.

Steps

Stretching exercises

Practice splits safely and effectively

Start doing splits

Advice

Warning

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