Splits pain?

I'm having pain doing the side splits with the

feet pointed foreward and knees bent.

I know that if you don't push your pelvis foreward

or turn your thighs outward you will experience pain.

I'm doing my splits like stated in the first sentence

and I'm pushing my butt out. Is that right?

Also, the pain I'm experiencing is only in my left

outer thigh, why isn't it in the right side as well?

I always stress to my athletes that flexibility training is NOT the same as conditioning. Where a high level of intensity, and the subsequent fatigue and discomfort, may be appropriate while conditioning, the exact opposite is generally true when stretching. There should be discomfort, but it should not be intense or edge up into actual pain; doing so indicates that you are stretching too hard.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

thanks for the reply coach. I've haven't been getting that

pain because I tilted my pelvis foreward, but I heard

something outrageous today and wanted some opinions today.

I've been told that with the right kind of stretching, one

can achieve the side splits in less than 6 months.

Is there truth to this?

In one of Pavel's books, I think it's called Instant Flexibility Through Mastering Muscle Tension he talks about a technique called "waiting out the tension" in which basically you hold the side splits (or whatever you're trying to stretch) for upwards of 10 minutes so that your body relaxes and tricks your Stretch Reflex into not existing. He also says some things in the book that contradict the post that Coach wrote so take them with that knowledge, he says you should be able to "tell the difference between pain and PAIN" and that some of the Russian troops he's trained scream in agony during this training. :shock:

Wow, that's hardcore Steven.

I've been hearing a lot about this Pavel

guy since I got into this forum.

I looked him up and saw that he had a few books

for flexibility.

Which one do you reccomend the most?

thank you for the reply coach sommer and steven.

pce,

-kombat

Kombat, training the middle split from scratch is a wonderful way to introduce yourself to lots of agony.

As well, I like to mix this up and train a pancake straddle split ( sit on the floor in a straddle and reach for the ground while keeping your legs straight and apart ).

You can also train a gravity split which is laying down on your back and allowing your legs to open. You'll look ridiculous but doing this one for 1-2 minutes is a good idea. Just do it when no one else isn't around.