Quick quesiton about splits training?

[Muskz]

Hi I was wondering if you were supposed to train for the side splits and the front splits at the same time, or if it's better to learn them separately? Thanks.

[Cole Dano]

There's no supposed to that I know of, it's a matter of personal preference and how much effort they take for you to do etc.

Personally I do them both together.

[Nic Branson]

With the interconnection of the two it makes sense to me to work them together.

[Aaron Griffin]

Personally I do them both together.

How are you training? I'm using contract-relax isometrics, and making improvements in the front split, but the side split is slow going.

[Cole Dano]

I've had the splits for many years, it's just maintenance work for the most part, though I actually enjoy doing it.

I gained most of my flexibility from yoga where we used a combination of long passive holds, and antagonist contractions for the most part.

If you want to try a passive way of working side splits, one that I used was to sit facing a wall in straddle and wait, move in a bit closer, wait until I was in as close as I could get.

The wall I used had attachments for straps, so I could pull my self in pretty tightly. You could do the same with stall bars, or even a doorknob if you had enough room to fully straddle.

[Aaron Griffin]

I've done a similar thing lying on my back with my feet up on the wall and letting gravity keep the pull going. I even read a book like that for 10-15 minutes before. Didn't seem to have lasting results though /shrug

[Cole Dano]

Not really the same thing, you need to have a bit more force on the muscles to produce lasting results this way in my experience. Laying with feet up is nice, but the amount of stretch is fairly minimal if your goal is full splits.

[Blairbob]

I've never been a fan of gravity splits. They are relaxing and awkward to do in public around people especially as you get older. Especially if you are coaching females that are of a teen or adult age in gymnastics or yoga.

For one you are not placing as much load on your splits than if you were to simply get into a middle split on your elbows or hands (if you cannot go all the way down).

I prefer to hit all 3 per day. I generally prefer to stretch middle/sides before front splits. And generally pike/seated straddle (piking in the hips effectively) before middle splits.

[Aaron Griffin]

So what sort of actual times/reps do you guys do? Are you just doing one long hold for 5 minutes? Multiple holds for 60s? What?

[Blairbob]

All depends on how much time we have with the kids. The answer always seems to be not enough.

I like 30/60/90 if I have enough time. 2 or 3 minutes is just a lot of time when you have to hit both R/L splits, shoulder, pike, and pancake stretching within 15 minutes.

In ballet, holds of 5-15 minutes are not uncommon. Probably similar in rhythmic as well.

There is some recent research that shows 3 sets of 30-40 seconds should be good enough.

It's hard to say really as there is conflicting data out there. Stretching programming is as complicated as picking which diet or religion you want to ally to.