side splits

[joshthenoob]

i want to get a side split eventually, so i've been doing alot of stretching.
the only thing i have a problem with is doing a split as low as i can go and holding it for awhile. my muscles and hips feel ok when i do this but it feels like alot of strain on my knees and they're often sore afterward. I can deal with it all just fine, but i dont want to risk any long-term damage to my knees just yet. am i doing something wrong or do i need to work on strengthening my joints somehow? anyone have any tips on how to strengthen my knees or how to get a side split without messing up my knees? :ouch::juji:

[Papa Lazarou]

You could do knees-bent adductor stretches for a while.

Or do the stretch where you lie on your back, feet facing the roof, legs flat against a wall, then widen your legs and let their weight stretch your adductors.

[joshthenoob]

i'll have to try both of those, thanks.

[Bozzy]

You could do knees-bent adductor stretches for a while.

Or do the stretch where you lie on your back, feet facing the roof, legs flat against a wall, then widen your legs and let their weight stretch your adductors.

Can/Should you add weights to your legs to increase the intensity? When lying on back that is

[Happy]

I had the same problem for ages, so I just didn't side split. Its fine now, so I've been training and nearly have my side splits (I've had front splits for ages), but I'm sorry I can't be of any help - I have no idea what was different that I didn't get pain anymore. It just didn't hurt one day. Hopefully the same thing happens for you. Maybe you need more strength? Maybe the pain is muscles adjusting? I have no idea. Hopefully someone has the answer.

[joshthenoob]

i did the lying on my back thing for a while last night then moved to the normal side split on the ground and i feel fine with it now. i dont know what happened but it might have just been tension in the muscles around my knees. or maybe laying upside down magically made my knees stronger!!! yayyyy MAGIC!

[Theme]

Well... I have this same problem I think.

It's like a small bearable pain in the knee joints with a few stings of pain as you bend them again after stretching? Well back when I did gymnastics my coach told me it was normal and nothing to worry about, and I never had any problems other then sometimes aching up to 5 minutes after stretching.

Unless you have worse pains I would say that you could just keep at it. However I have not read enough on this topic (yet) so don't blame me if you go on and get an injury XD

Hope this helps.

ps: If anyone has the knowledge as to explain why the pain, I'd love to hear it.

[Daniel_W]

i have huge pains in my hips when i side stretch ;/ it really hurts

[Graber]

Man here is the thing with the side splits, u must do some stretching for adductors first and than isometrics (I do belive that without isometrics the side split will be for most of the ppl imposible to get). My best shit with the Side Split was a short training for about 5 min and than jumped into isometrics and did the full split. I want to say that i tried to Side Split wiht no warm up and looked imposible and than i stretched my adductors and i could do it easy.
U must stretch adductors for 2-3 months and than start to do isometrics i think in the begining will be hard with isometrics.
Have 4-5 strethces for Side split. Like butterfly the frog strech and some other shit.
I remember than was a time when i did butterfly strech (up and down) and frog strech for about and hour lol.
Ive understood from some ppl in here that they jump into isometrics from the start thats a shit is not the way.
I stretch for side splits in bed because i find it easier.
Man i like to say PENISSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from time to time.

[short gorilla]

Graber's right. Isometrics and warming up helps.

[Ashtar]

Can/Should you add weights to your legs to increase the intensity? When lying on back that isYou can add them. Kurz has crazy boots that he uses to do adductor flies in his movie. Those are flies though, not just kicking your legs up and zoning out. Doing them with added weight can save time, but it can also increase the chance of injury, so it depends.

It would make it harder to lift the legs back up if you needed to get out of the stretch, so that needs to be taken into account.

I think what most people do if they can't lift back up properly is to either crunch their upper back up and use hands to being legs together, or else bring their hips up and just let them come together (doing that shifts the tension to the hamstrings)

I think having a pair of nice long lever-sticks would be useful, that way you could use them to bring legs up without bending the smile. You could also use them to apply some isometric resistance at various points of the leg. It's an asset since our arms can't reach with a straight spine, and holding up to contort and stuff is uncomfortable.