Knee pain during side split

Hey everybody

I'm trying to achieve the front and side split. I read the book stretching scientifically by Thomas Kurz so have been using a combination of dynamic, isometric and relaxed stretching almost everyday. For anybody who's not heard of them, isometric stretching is where you lower yourself into a side split say, nearly as low and you can go, then tense/contract the muscle like you trying to pinch the floor, then lower some more, tense, repeat until at max stretch, last tension is 30 sec.

My main problem is I get knee pain during side split stretches. I've heard this is because my muscles could be week but I go gym and do full body workouts 3 times a week performing sqauts, front squats and romanian deadlifts.

I'm not sure what else I can do to stop the knee pain

Does anybody have any advice?

Hi Daniel,

The issue could be your frequency but only a physio will be able to diagnose you properly. I suggest visiting a physio ASAP. 

I've always had a pretty strong discomfort/pain on the top inside of the right knee (most likely the gracilis tendon), whenever I tried to train for middle splits. However, after following the MSS course once a week, the pain went away after 8-10 sessions, where I also moderated myself and did not go overboard with the intensity. 

That took care of the problem for me, so I would guess that it's a matter of easing into it, and not going too hard right out of the gate.

6 hours ago, Mikkel Ravn said:

I've always had a pretty strong discomfort/pain on the top inside of the right knee (most likely the gracilis tendon), whenever I tried to train for middle splits. However, after following the MSS course once a week, the pain went away after 8-10 sessions, where I also moderated myself and did not go overboard with the intensity. 

That took care of the problem for me, so I would guess that it's a matter of easing into it, and not going too hard right out of the gate.

Which one is the MSS course?

Middle Split Stretch course