No Partner? No Problem! How to Use PNF to Stretch for Splits
No Partner? No Problem! How to Use PNF to Stretch for Splits
It seems like all the cool kids these days are talking about active flexibility and using PNF as a stretching technique - and for good reason! Active flexibility is what keeps our muscles strong while they’re in an extended (stretched) position which protects our joints and leads to greater passive flexibility in the long run. All good things!
Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (say that five times fast…), or PNF, is a specific stretching technique that alternates passive and active stretching to recruit your muscles to work (contract) while they are being stretched. Studies have shown that when done consistently post-exercise, PNF increases your passive range of motion - aka your flexibility!
A general PNF “routine”would look something like this:
Passive Stretch: Find a comfortable passive “starting stretch” for your target muscle, positioned in a way that it can hold tension against some immovable object (ex. against a partner’s hands, the wall, the floor, a yoga strap, etc.)
Active Stretch: Contract the target muscle by pushing/pulling against your support object/buddy while your object/buddy holds it in place. This is called an “isometric” contraction - your muscles are working but they are not actually moving anything through space. Hold for 5-10 seconds
Relax: Release that active squeeze/contraction - let the tension go!
Back to Passive Stretch: Relax back into a full passive stretch. You have the option to try and make this a deeper stretch, you might already notice your range of motion improving. Hold this passive/relaxed stretch for 10-30 seconds
Lather, Rinse Repeat: Continue these rounds of Passive-Active-Passive stretching two to three more times. Revel in your newfound range of motion (and in how strong and your flexy muscles are!)
How can we apply this to stretching for our front splits? The easiest way is to lie on your back and have a partner hold your leg in place and help gently squish your leg into a deeper stretch during the passive/relax phases. Partner PNF stretching is great because your stretching buddy can help double-check your alignment and provide plenty of encouragement or distracting dad jokes while you’re in the hardest part of the stretch. But you can also do plenty of PNF work all by yourself - no partner required!
Solo PNF Stretching for Front Splits
Just like any other flexibility work you do, make sure you’re properly warmed up before you start (that’s at least 10 minutes of movement that gets your heart rate up and your blood pumping). Personally, I like to do this routine after I’ve already done some other flexibility work as well to really get into that end range-of-motion, but some people like to do it as conditioning earlier in their training session to help activate their muscles and establish a mind-muscle connection. Give them both a try and see if you like using this earlier on or later in your practice.
To start, lie on your back with one leg straight out on the floor and the other leg straight, pointing up to the ceiling. Use a strap to “lasso” that top foot and gently pull it (keeping your leg straight) towards your face until you start to feel a stretch in your hamstrings. This will be our starting position.
For the diagrams below, the blue arrows represent our arms pulling, and the red arrows represent our legs pushing.
Passive Stretch (10s) - Pull your foot gently towards your face until you feel a stretch in your hamstring (in the back of that top straight leg). Hold this comfortable stretch for 10 seconds (or longer if you’d like!), making an effort to keep the bottom leg on the ground.
Active Stretch (10s) - While continuing to hold your foot in place with your strap and your arms, actively press your foot away from you into the strap, trying to press that foot to the wall/floor. Hold this constant pressing of the leg for 10 seconds. You should feel your hamstring of that top leg engage as it tries to pull your leg away from your face. Keep your bottom leg pasted into the floor as well, we don’t want to let that leg/foot float up to hover.
Relax (3s) - Let go of that active pressing motion in your top leg and let it relax. Give your body a couple of seconds to adjust before pulling your leg into a deeper stretch.
Passive Stretch Round 2 (20s) - Using your strap, pull that top leg/foot a little closer into your face. You may find that even after just one round of your active stretching you can already pull it closer than when you started. Hold this passive stretch for 20 seconds and take some deep breathes to help your body to relax into the stretch. If your top leg is shaking that’s totally OK!
Repeat whole sequence 2-3 x - Repeat engaging your leg (pushing your top foot away from your face while you hold it in place with your strap) and relaxing and pulling your leg deeper into the stretch another two or three times.
Two common things we want to avoid when doing this exercise are 1) pulling that top leg to the side so that it’s no longer hovering over our torso - keep the top leg aligned over your ribs and chest, making a straight line up from your hip to your shoulder and 2) letting the bottom leg float off the grown (shown below). Even in your rounds of “passive” stretching you may have to intentionally push that bottom leg into the floor to keep it from floating off the ground.
Seriously, what a lazy bottom leg! It thinks it can get away with this sloppiness?
And that’s all there is to it! This whole routine takes less than five minutes to do on both legs so it’s super easy to tack on to any flexibility work you’re already doing. Give it a try for a couple of weeks and you’ll soon notice you’re able to sink deeper into your splits!
