How long to achieve full splits plus bridge

[Domenic Palazzolo]

I've purchased stretch series 5 months ago and love the workouts, making great progress so far.  I was just wondering if anyone has achieved full splits or bridge, using the series or not, and how long did it take you.  

[Jason Dupree]

It will take different times for different people. It takes as long as it takes. That said, here is my progress over the past year following the TB series. 

Each picture represents the best I could do without feeling pain in my lower back. Each is roughly 6 months apart. 

I don't have good progress pics for the split series as I didn't keep good track of them at the beginning. But after 6-12 months, I am able to bury my face in my shins in pike, and nearly to the floor in pancake. Splits themselves are a ways off. I started just as stiff as any desk patrol zombie, though perhaps not the stiffest guy out there.

[Domenic Palazzolo]

Great job!!! Thanks for replying.  I'm about a foot away from my pike (At the end of the workout) and maybe around a foot + half on pancake.  Bridge is coming along nice too.  Pike / hamstrings are becoming more flexible than other muscle groups.  

I just can't wait to achieve splits.  Hopefully in another solid year of dedication.

 

[Domenic Palazzolo]

Also want to add that since using this series and only stretching three times a week making this progress is awesome.

I've always heard that the only way to get really flexible one had to stretch everyday for hours..lol nope three times a week for only 40 minutes or so I love it..

[Oussama KHELLADI]

its different from one to another and how stiff you are we all like to rush but the reality is like an old coach told me you are not in a competition to worry about time 

 

enjoy the journey

[Fabio Pinna]

21 hours ago, Domenic Palazzolo said:

I've always heard that the only way to get really flexible one had to stretch everyday for hours..lol nope three times a week for only 40 minutes or so I love it..

This is a common misconception based on the fact that up until around 20 years ago, nobody had the slightest idea on how to train for mobility. Sadly, this kind of "unknowledge" get trasmitted for a long time, because it's easy to remember.

Luckily for us, it's all a bunch of crap, and we know better. With the right method you can gain flexibility/increase mobility like just any other skill, and at unexpected speed.

[Briac Roquet]

Thing is, the stretching everyday part is not completely wrong, just incomplete. Here, we generally differentiate between stretching and limbering so there's no confusion, but in a way you could very well 'stretch' everyday. And should, once you build enough working capacity.

 

But yeah, I get your point and it's nice not to stretch 2 hours everyday. 

[Laine Rinehart]

On ‎3‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 2:58 PM, Fabio Pinna said:

This is a common misconception based on the fact that up until around 20 years ago, nobody had the slightest idea on how to train for mobility. Sadly, this kind of "unknowledge" get trasmitted for a long time, because it's easy to remember.

Luckily for us, it's all a bunch of crap, and we know better. With the right method you can gain flexibility/increase mobility like just any other skill, and at unexpected speed.

Is it really complete crap? Some of the most flexible people stretch and stretch often(contortionists). I think it depends on your priority I've made tremendous gains in mobility over the past 3 years because I chose to focus on it, my flexibility has also increased more rapidly because as I've gotten more comfortable I've stayed longer in certain stretches(chest stands, ankle catches, ect) in order to access different parts of the spine. Granted I've probably sacrificed gains I could have made in say strength based movements but there's no doubt that I have made improvements there as well.

 

To OP: You could probably achieve a good bridge and splits more quickly if you focus on it within the appropriate range of your ability more ofteb. If you can afford the time commitment to stretch more often do so, if you want to progress overall in whatever other movement based goals than work on those.

[Fabio Pinna]

1 hour ago, LaineRL said:

Is it really complete crap? Some of the most flexible people stretch and stretch often(contortionists). I think it depends on your priority I've made tremendous gains in mobility over the past 3 years because I chose to focus on it, my flexibility has also increased more rapidly because as I've gotten more comfortable I've stayed longer in certain stretches(chest stands, ankle catches, ect) in order to access different parts of the spine. Granted I've probably sacrificed gains I could have made in say strength based movements but there's no doubt that I have made improvements there as well.

Be careful and pay attention to who we are talking about: advanced practitioners DO train for hours everyday, and that applies to both contorsionists and gymnasts and olympic lifters. But they do have access to so many more skills to train, and have had a lot of time to gradually increase their training time. Those many hours are a consequence of that. When you're a beginner, your options are greatly limited, and spending three hours every day on body holds, or hip flexibility, or empty barbell triple extensions, is not going to be of any benefit for you, and in fact there's a strong possibility that it could actually limit your progress or even be dangerous. Not to mention the risk for burnout from the "too much, too soon" approach. There IS a reason why the Foundation program has you only practicing 7 skills at a time.

One of my favourite quotes regarding flexibility/mobility is that (paraphrasing) "people try to imitate a flexible person and hope they get flexible like them, while they should focus on working on their own limits instead". So chances are that how a contortionist trains is not a good measure of how you yourself should train.

Focusing on anything is obviously going to do you a lot of good - not only because you're putting time into something, but also because that time is going to bring you knoweledge, that will let you improve the quality of the time you spend on the something, and so on. But spending more and more time in the same stretch is not necessarily a way to improvement - just like doing 200 every day pushups is not really conductive to doing planches. Key is progression as usual. But I digress.

My point about flexibility is that the urban legend says "oh you need to stay two hours every day in a middle split if you want to have a full split". And this is utter and complete cattle excrement. Focusing on your individual characteristics (limits, weaknesses and strenghts), applying proper, scientifical and proved method and principles, and building proper progression, is going to make you improve so much faster than just blindly investing time in things - and that was the point of my post.

Of course, once you can do all of the above, the more time you can invest in the practice the better, but there's a point of diminishing returns, and as a beginner there's a strong possibility that stretching for three hours every day is not going to bring you much benefit over doing it for one hour every two days - and if it does, you're not going to get much benefit to really justify the time investment. You invest one and get five, you invest two and get seven, you invest three and you get eight, etc

This only applies to direct benefit to the practiced skill, of course. If practicing four hours each day makes you feel somehow better and lets you relax and unwind from a stressful day, then by all means do it and enjoy it. But don't be surprised when somebody else, who trains with more brain instead of more time, makes the same progress as you do, or more.

Lastly, all of the above is not an excuse to train 10 minutes a week and be happy. There's a sweet spot between too much (boring, unnecessary and dangerous) and too little (completely ineffective), and when you're a beginner at least half of the job of a good coach is making you find that sweet spot.

Usual solution applies: do what you studied, and study what you're doing.

Edited March 16, 2016 by Fabio Pinna
spelling

[Laine Rinehart]

I agree entirely that smart progression is better than holding one position for hours and hours at a time. I didn't start by flopping into a chest stand right off the bat but now that I am at the point where I can work on the finer details I will spend the time to do so. I still think the brain must make neurological adaptations though the longer you can "sit" in a particular position, I am not saying hours per say but you know. I agree if one is starting off to find that threshold of where you can safely advance mobility.

[Domenic Palazzolo]

Thanks for the replies.  I enjoy reading all your inputs