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Lift That Leg! 7 Stretches for a Higher Y Scale Leg Hold
General Lower Body Flexibility, Contortion Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) General Lower Body Flexibility, Contortion Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Lift That Leg! 7 Stretches for a Higher Y Scale Leg Hold

A “Y Scale” or a side leg hold is one of my favorite standing contortion shapes because it’s one of the first ones I ever learned to do. Most students tend to enjoy this shape because it looks cool (obviously!) and is typically easier to train than a “traditional” standing split or the even-more-complex needle scale.

Earlier this week I posted a quick how-to showing the basic mechanics of how to do a Y scale. Today we’ll be looking at how to make it look bendier (working on our flexibility to lift the leg higher, make it look split-ier, etc).

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Struggling to Keep Your Back “Flat” in a Forward Fold? 5 Tips to Hinge at the Hips
General Lower Body Flexibility Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) General Lower Body Flexibility Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Struggling to Keep Your Back “Flat” in a Forward Fold? 5 Tips to Hinge at the Hips

Earlier this week I wrote about why you may choose to keep your back flat (instead of letting it round) in a forward fold - but for many students that’s easier said than done! Like I’ve mentioned in previous posts, our body is really good at avoiding a challenging stretch and compensating by moving other joints (in the case of a forward fold, when the hips are tight that means we tend to try and round the spine to “fold” or reach farther). So for those of you wanting to practice your forward folds with a flat back, here are some of the best modifications and training adjustments I’d suggest.

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Is it OK to Round Your Back in a Forward Fold?
General Lower Body Flexibility Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) General Lower Body Flexibility Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Is it OK to Round Your Back in a Forward Fold?

Do I have to keep my back flat in a forward fold, or is it OK (and safe) to round it? Like with most flexibility-related questions, the answer is “it depends.” So let’s take a look at why you’re doing your forward fold, and discuss different situations where rounding-vs-flattening your back would be a better choice for your particular goals.

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4 Active Flexibility Drills to Strengthen Your Front Splits
Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

4 Active Flexibility Drills to Strengthen Your Front Splits

If you’re trying to get lower in your front splits - passive stretching is only part of the equation, you need to make sure you’re strengthening your muscles to support this unique range of motion in your hips (front hip flexion and back hip extension). These 4 drills help strengthen our hips to support both the front AND back leg stretches needed to flatten our front splits.

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What Muscles Do I Need to Stretch for the Front Splits?
Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

What Muscles Do I Need to Stretch for the Front Splits?

If you’re asking what muscles do you need to stretch for a front split - then congratulations on trying to train smarter! Understanding the basic anatomy behind stretches can not only help you choose better stretches to reach your goals, but it can also help you understand where you should be feeling the stretch, and how to stretch with proper form.

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Work Your Active Split Flexibility with Front Split Slides
Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Front Splits Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Work Your Active Split Flexibility with Front Split Slides

If you’re looking to train flatter (and stronger!) front splits, working on your active flexibility is a must - particularly working on strengthening your hamstrings and hip flexors while they’re at their end range of motion. These sliding drills below are one of my favorite ways to train active front splits because they strengthen our muscles across a pretty full range of motion, including the end range, helping increase our flexibility over time.

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Straddle vs. Middle Split - What’s the Difference?
Stretching - Lower Body, Middle Splits, Straddles Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Middle Splits, Straddles Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Straddle vs. Middle Split - What’s the Difference?

Having dabbled in the wide world of contortion training for 11+ years now, I’ve come to learn that there are some serious inconsistencies in naming conventions for stretches/poses. But when it comes to straddles and middle splits, all instructors can agree that these are distinctly different poses. Why does that matter to you? It influences what muscles you need to train to be able to do them, and informs the “proper” form for safely working on your hip flexibility for these shapes.

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10-Minute Middle Split & Straddle Routine
Stretching - Lower Body, Middle Splits, Straddles Danielle Enos (Dani Winks) Stretching - Lower Body, Middle Splits, Straddles Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

10-Minute Middle Split & Straddle Routine

This post is a long overdue follow up to my 10 Minute Front Splits Routine post from a couple of years ago. Below is a nice short stretching routine that’s a great foundation for working on your straddles and middle splits. Because both straddles and middle splits require inner thigh flexibility (quite a bit) and hamstring flexibility (straddle pancakes require a lot, middle splits just a little) - it’s helpful to work on them both at the same time.

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4 Active Hamstring Stretches for Beginners

4 Active Hamstring Stretches for Beginners

If you have tight hamstrings, you may have heard this could be because either “short” (which would imply you should stretch) or that they’re “weak” (which would imply you should strengthen, because stretching would only make them weaker…). So what’s a toe touching wannabe to do? The short answer: do both. Strengthen while your hamstrings are being stretched! These 4 hamstring stretches are my favorite active flexibility exercises for strengthening both your hamstrings and hip flexors to support a deeper hamstring stretch.

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