I Need Help With Stretching Center Splits. Joint Problems

How often do you need to do static stretches to maintain flexibility?

I'm 45.  I have been stretching in various ways since I was 13, that's 32 years.  I have experience as a nationally competitive ski racer, part time yoga enthusiast, and as an older man trying to recover from arthritis.  I stopped ski racing at age 23, and during that time, I stretched nearly daily so that I could improve my hip angulation capacity while skiing, aiming to be the best in the world.  I have learned so much more since then.  About 2 years ago, my older friend felt like he was dying, and could barely walk with a cane, and was in a lot of pain.  He wanted to turn things around, and wanted to try to start exercising again, with my help.  I agreed.  Since he lived alone, I figured he was probably not eating enough greens, and so, I decided to bring him a green drink, and help him just start easy with some isometric stretches.  And that's when the magic happened.  In a month, after 4 stretching sessions, he was able to briskly walk over a mile, with no cane needed, and nearly all his body pain vanished.  In thinking about it, here's my theories on why this was so successful.  First, greens are both chelators which removes minerals, as well as providing minerals.  Minerals like excess calcium in the joints might cause arthritis and stiffness.  Second, greens and apples, both contain boron, which helps arthritis.  Third, the joints and tendons that attach to the bones are like the bones, they take a long time to heal, such as 8 weeks.  Thus, they might not respond well to high frequency training and stretching, which can lead to pulled muscles, which is what happened to me more frequently with daily stretching.  Fourth, we were vigorously stretching with a strong isometric stretch with a 6 second hold.  Fifth, our sessions started out 15 minutes, and as we continued, our workouts lasted for as long as an hour or more.  In conclusion, we did this for about 6 months together.  Then, I started lifting weights again.  These days, I stretch anywhere from twice a week, to twice a month, which, which I combine it with greens, appears to be more then enough to "maintain" my flexibility and remain pain free and flexible.

What kind of stretches are good if you want to do splits fast?

TL;DR - Getting a good gymnastics or martial arts coach and having them guide you through the right stretches is the fastest and safest way to learn to do splits.  Otherwise read on....Back when I was training for my black belt in Tang Soo Do I did a lot of splits.  I also grew up doing gymnastics and learned a lot of flexibility training.  Unfortunately, you can't do splits overnight.  It takes incremental daily practice, patience, and a very tuned sense of your own body.Even though I achieved my black belt in just under a year and a half, I never mastered the full center split to the floor.  A Center Split is when both legs are straight to your sides equally, and you are facing forward.  I always experienced too much hip pain to do a full center split, so I believe this was a biomechanical limitation of my pelvis and hip joints.  However, I could do a right front split to the floor regularly.  A Right Front Split is when your right leg is directly in front of you and your left leg is directly behind you with your body perpendicular to the floor (vice versa for the Left Front Split).  These splits are safer because you can always just bend the knee on your rear leg to relieve tension in your muscles.Doing these splits everyday after a good warmup of your muscles and joints is the best way to increase flexibility.  Trying to do a bunch of different, individual stretches on specific muscles will not get you to doing the splits faster.  Doing the splits will.DO NOT BOUNCE or stretch beyond strong discomfort.STOP IMMEDIATELY IF YOU FEEL SHARP PAIN, tearing, or popping.  Hold stretches for about 60 seconds then relax for 20 seconds.  Repeat 3 to 4 times on each split, trying to get a tiny bit lower each time.

Why do my hips hurt so much when I stretch in a side split?

Now, I am going to try my best to explain these exercises so I hope they make sense. I went mental trying to find ever piece of info I could and tried a few things but this is what has worked the best although I have only been doing it for about 3 weeks it is working for me.It is not the alignment of the hips it is the nerve endings in your hip rotors. Try these exercises and see how they work.I have been doing stretches on and off for over 10 years now and the pain in my hips have ruined my progress so much. Now, I think I have found the answer. I have dropped further than ever in my side splits now and with little if any pain. I also need to keep doing these following stretches until my body has loosened up my hip rotors also.1)Get into the position of a floor hip flexor stretch with the left leg’s shin parallel but lean forward so you can place your hands on the floor, one on each side of the leading leg.Now, try and keep your body and hips in that same or similar position and lean to the left slowly until your left knee and shin rests on the floor. Play with the position of your right leg, I like to put mine into the position as it would have in a front split. So let it come around so that your left thigh and rear leg make a straight line but your left shin is pointing your left foot out to the right. I place my left hand for support on the floor just out from my left thigh and my right hand rests in the middle of my left shin. You should feel he stretch right in the area that hurts when doing a straddle or side split.2)Lye on your back with your knees bent so that your feet are flat on the ground. Place the right leg over the left leg into the position when a lady crosses her legs. Now try and keep the shoulders flat and the hips as flat as possible as you bring your left knee down to the right side towards the floor. Having the right leg over your left adds to the weight and position. Again feel the stretch in the side of the hips.3) Using a table or bench about the same height as the bottom of your hips place the left foot on the support in front of you. Play with the angle to feel the stretch in different areas of your buttocks as you let your left knee drop to the left side and lean forward as if stretching your hamstring. This hits the butt perfectly and also works to help the hips.

Why do I get pain in my hamstrings when I stretch my legs to perform splits?

You get pain in your hamstrings because you are… stretching your hamstrings!When you stretch to do the splits you mostly stretch the hamstrings: biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus. In the frontal split (what you call “side split”) you also stretch the pelvis. In the sagittal splits (what you call “center splits”), you also stretch the quadriceps femoris.Don’t overstretch. Don’t stretch if you are not well warmed up.Don’t stretch in a cold environment even if you are very well warmed up: I injured my semitendinous doing that.Keep in mind that when your muscles are warmed upthey are temporarily much stretchable than usual (if they get cold while you are stretching too much, you can harm yourself)pain sensations are reduced (you may think you are doing less work than you are actually doing and overstretch)When you don’t feel very well or if you have to work in a cold environment, it’s much better if you perform dynamic stretching instead of static stretching, because you keep yourself warm and it’s harder to overstretch.Take your time. If you just need one week to get full splits, it’s ok. If you need a couple of years or more, it’s ok too.That said, some pain in your hamstrings is normal.Thanks for the A2A, William.

When learning the side splits, should I have my toes pointing forward or up?

Like someone else said here, there are more than just two options on how your feet can be positioned, but I didn't have to look it up to give you an answer because I have actually been teaching Taekwondo for the past 39 years, and this is common knowledge among genuine Taekwondo instructors.You should do the splits with your feet in each of the several positions - - up, forward (down), extended, flexed, and cocked sideways. Each position stretches different muscle groups, and allows for more free range of movement while kicking to rotate from one hip position to another, and from one kick to another. You should stretch slowly, and to a point of slight discomfort, but not pain. The front and side splits should be practiced, as well as rotation between each position for greater agility of the hip sockets, but strengthening exercise are equally as important to reduce the risk of injury, overly loose joints, and to give you better control, accuracy and power with your kicks.I have participated in several stretching seminars with 'Superfoot' Bill Wallace, and he provides many DVD's on the subject. I don't usually recommend learning anything about the Martial Art from youtube videos, but Bill Wallace is a trusted source and has several videos uploaded to youtube that you can search.