Gragh! Gimme My Splits!

Sometimes I have this wishful thinking that mom should have just sold me to the circus when I was two so I can have the strength and flexibility that I have always dreamed since I started pole dancing.

Anyway, there’s no use of whining and better focus my energy on dealing with the stiff hamstrings I have right now. Let's get over my frustrations and let me welcome you to my third #Ulog.

The Short Sad Story of the Lost Splits

For 6 months now, I have been working on getting my front splits back that I lost since November Last year. I tore my hamstring muscles after I pushed it too hard. The injury was so bad it took away the progress I worked hard for 1 year just to get my front splits.

Here are some of the split progress I've made way before I lost it last November:

Sometimes I cry ugly in the corner, missing my front splits

For the first three months after the injury the tear was so painful I could hardly reach the floor without bending my knees. I was advised by my physical therapist to avoid deep stretching exercises.

Yeah, I guess I was being too gutsy...but dumb. I learned my lesson and that's what matters. Now, it’s a lot better and my muscles are healing. For four months now, I’m back to trying to get my splits again. It sucks, but yeah, I have no choice but do it all over again from square 1.

My Go-To- Routine For My Front Split Stretches

Here, I am sharing a video (at the bottom of this post) of my go-to routine for my front split stretches. My stretching exercise would usually take 30 minutes. About 20 minutes of it is devoted just for preparation of the actual stretch. It usually look like this:

Warning: I just made up most of the names here so I would strongly suggest you refer to the video to know what I mean

I. Warm Up / Cardio

(this is to literally increase my body temperature)

• Jumping jacks - 1 minute
• High Knees - 1 minute
• squats - 40 rep
  -wide squats - 40 reps
• wide squat pulses- 20 reps
  I repeat if I am not sore enough. The goal here is to really warm my leg muscles

II. Dynamic Stretches

(I do this to loosen up the muscles and joints)

• forward and back lunges
• forward and back kicks
• side ward kicks
• hip joint rotation
• plank kicks
• rotate legs while-planking-whatever-that's-called
  Do 10 repetitions each, and do the same to the other side

III. Deep stretch

At this point, I'm ready for my deep stretch. I alternate flexing and pointing my toes as I go deeper in to the stretch. I contract my leg muscles and flex my toes before taking a deep breath and point my toes to extend further as I exhale.

So that's it for now. Thanks for your time. Click the image below for the video

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