Forward Fold Half Split Slides
Forward Fold Half Split Slides
Muscle Group Stretched: Hamstrings
Muscle Group Strengthened: Hamstrings
Type of Stretch: Active Dynamic
Difficulty: All Levels
Suggested Prerequisites: none
If you feel most of the stretch in the underside of your front leg (in your hamstrings) in a front split, then this drill is for you! This exercise helps strengthen our hamstrings through their mid and end range of motion, helping them get stronger in their stretched position.
Wondering how on earth this drill can be beginner friendly? Just keep it small! Don’t worry if it doesn’t look very split-y.
How To
You’re going to want to be able to slide your foot for this exercise, so wearing socks or using sliders can be helpful.
Step 1
Start in a half split forward fold: from kneeling, extend one leg straight forwards, and forward fold with a flat back until you feel a stretch in the back of the front leg thigh (in your hamstrings). It can be helpful to practice with your hand on a chair or yoga blocks for balance.
Step 2
Keeping your flat-back forward fold, slide your front foot forwards out into your deepest version of a square front split (that means both hip bones pointing forwards). It’s OK if your hips are nowhere near the ground! If you get any knee discomfort, you can slightly bend your front knee.
Step 3
Once you’ve slid out into your forward fold front split, press the front foot into the ground and feel your hamstring muscles contract (you should feel extra tension in the back of your thigh) as you slide the foot back to start. You can push into your hands as much as you need to to help shift your hips back to their starting position stacked over the back knee.
Repeat for 8-12 reps.
Modifications
Need to make it easier?
Keep the forward fold small, as long as you’re feeling a stretch in your hamstrings, that’s what we want for this drill!
Keep your front split shallow, don’t worry about sliding out to the deepest split humanly possible.
Practice between two chairs so you can use both hands to press to help slide your front leg and hip back to start.
Want to make it harder?
Add a deeper forward fold.
Slide out without hands. Try sliding out into your split without your hands on a chair/blocks (no support!), then bring your hands back to your support when you slide back to your half split.
Do the whole movement with no hands. If doing just the slide out without hands is easy, try pulling your front leg back without pushing into your hands - that’ll up the challenge for sure!
