training for l-sit and v-sit

Hi everyone, I am trying to train for l-sit and later on a v-sit but the problem is I can't hold my body in the l-sit positioning due to the lack of flexibility in my lower back and hamstrings. How can I make them both more flexible ??? Can anyone get more flexible or does it depend on the person, because I've never been really flexible?

thx in advance

http://gymnasticbodies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=624

Stretch the pike position.

Can you sit on your butt with your feet extended and raise your arms to vertical without pain?

If you can, you can train an L sit. A v-sit will require more active flexibility.

Can you hang from a bar, tuck your knees up and hold this for more than 10 seconds?

You could also just have weak hip flexors right now as most mature beginning aspiring adults tend to be when starting these and doing gymnastics.

It's important to warm up your back before training pikes. I get a lot more performance if I do some Sun salutations ( a yoga pushup that curves down then up ) or stick deadlifts. I also like to do tucked or piked candlestick rocks to loosen my back up before training my aspiring V.