Overdid it while stretching for splits?
Depends person to person. When I strain my meniscus it sometimes does not go away for 3 months. This past time it went away after about a month probably because i exercised it more after it was injured. Let it heal up and don't try exercising for now. Once you can do the stretching without pain take it slow and do a lot more lower body work outs. This will strengthen your lower boy and cause less healing time in the event it does injure again.
How to go into the splits without stretching first?
I wish I could do the splits. I've been in martial arts for close to 20 years and still can do a full split. I've learned to compensate. So back to your question. Your muscles should be warmed up before trying to do the splits. Some people stretch in order to warm up their leg muscles but stretching isn't the only thing you can do. Any kind of activity that uses the same muscles can be used as a warm-up. For example, some light running in place or jumping jacks might also be effective. So might leg lifts, especially leg lifts to the side. There are some people that are so flexible, they can drop right down into the splits without warming up. However, that's not the norm. Most of us need to get the muscles warmed up and blood flowing first. The second part of your question dealt with soreness. The best treatment I've found for soreness is to first try to prevent it by warming up before you engage in whatever activity you're doing. If that isn't enough, or if you're not allow to warm up properly (because of stupid school, for example), then your muscles will probably be sore the next day. This is usually the result of micro-tears in the muscle tissue, also known as muscle strain. If it's serious (major sharp pain, not being able to move the muscle, etc), then see a doctor. But if it's just soreness, you can treat it at home. First, take something to reduce the inflammation. Aspirin or ibuprofen are good. Second, use the RICE treatment: R - Rest the muscle I - use Ice packs to reduce any swelling (15 min on, 15 min off) C - use light Compression, like an Ace elastic bandage E - keep the limb Elevated All of the above are designed to reduce any swelling and/or inflammation caused by the muscle tears. The soreness should go away or be significantly reduced after 2-3 days. If it doesn't, you should probably see a doctor. Hope this helps! Hiram The Balanced Health Guy Certified Fitness Nutrition Coach and Personal Fitness Trainer (NESTA)
What will happen if I stop stretching for a while and then start again?
The longest I've ever gone without stretching is when I broke my collar bone, I couldn't move anything related to my shoulder for for 2 months and it took me 4 months to get back the flexibility I had. Honestly your mileage may vary, some people are naturally flexible and can get away with minimal stretching, but you won't be getting any more flexible.I wouldn't recommend going more than a few days at the most without stretching if you're serious about it. Even 10–15 a day is better than nothing. If you can't take class do lots of cardio and work on core strength (can't emphasize enough how important core strength is as a dancer.) When I'm off of dance I like to sit around and do nothing all day so I force myself to go to the gym at least 2 hours a day and around 30 minutes of that is . You don't need to go to the gym but you need to do something everyday.Additionally, consider auditioning for some summer intensives to further your training in the summer. Many schools even offer scholarships so it would be little to no cost for you.
If I stretched everyday, how long does it take to be able to do splits?
It really depends from person to person.How genetically gifted are you and how bad do you wanna achieve your goals.Always remember hard work beats genetics, no matter what you can always change your genetics with dedication-drive-discipline-determination nothing is impossible, everything is achievable as soon as you put your mind and hard work to it, when your mind burns your body follows, you get controlled by your mind, so start working on them splits and stop thinking about it, stop thinking of how much time it is going to take you rather start making an effort about it a change.Stretch after your workouts always, not before your workouts, because if you do you will end up injured and you will lack your workout performance because of the micro traumas you cause on the muscle tissue by your stretches, which will hurt you in general.Some people genetically possess really high muscle elasticity they are hypermobile from their genetics, while others are hypomobile.It took me around 1 months to reach a full split, i was genetically gifted with high muscle elasticity and i was really hyper mobile.
How long will it take me to do the splits?
I got them in a summer. I would go jogging every night and then come home and do crunches, splits and kicks. I got them shortly before the beginning of drill team camp. Do NOT let anyone push you down too far or push you quickly because it can damage your muscles permanently. Shortly after I got my splits we were performing at a football game and it was cold, and when it came time to do my splits I hurt something around my hamstring area and had to sit out of things like that for a long time. Sometimes it still hurts and I never really got them back. My mother hurt herself because she went down too quickly as a teenager and actually tore her muscles. So don't let your eagerness damage your future in dance. Standing in a doorframe with your heel against the frame, you can lift your other leg up and slowly walk your hands back until you feel a stretch. Hold that for about four eight counts and then do the other leg. Make sure and do that when you are really warm. Other than that...make sure you do this daily!
Doing the splits cold?
You must keep stretching and stretching until it becomes the norm for your body. Right now, when you are on the floor doing them, your muscles are being forced to go past their natural elasticity. After you have stretched for weeks, your muscles with recognize this position as normal. It like when you start out with a new hairbow. When you first tie it on, it may only stretch enough for two loops and when you take it out, it will go back to its normal position. But after a week or two you can visibly see that it has been stretched out many times and now holds a stretched out position. But you do need to warm up before you stretch, this is purely for your safety. Imagine if you were stretching while cold and you got hurt, then you wouldn't be a ble to do a split at all. Be careful and good luck!
Why does it hurt in my hip when working towards the splits?
Hmm. This is a tough one. I want to say that when stretching it is natural for things to hurt. But you said the sides of your hips hurt, which is leading me somewhere else. When doing a split correctly you should feel it in the front of the hip of the back leg (the hip flexor), and the back of the thigh of the front leg (hamstring). What you seem to be saying is that you're having pain in the side of your hip, not the front. When there's pain here you're actually doing the split a bit crooked,where the back knee/leg is not straight on the ground but instead facing sideways. A way to test this is in the picture below, if when you bend your back leg, it bends to the side and not in line with your body, your split is crooked. Here are two ways to fix this: 1 visualize your hips as headlights. Start on your back knee with the front leg outstretched and straight. Then slide down into a split trying to keep your hips both facing forward. Another method is shown in the below photo, but stead of another person, you can use a wall. Position yourself with your knee in the joint of the wall and the floor, your foot facing the ceiling, your front leg outstretched. Then slide into your split as far as you can go without letting the back foot slide down and become crooked. If your toes stop pointing towards the ceiling, you know you're going crooked. Stretch as far as you can with your hips straight, and train that split. It will be painful but hopefully in the front hip flexor and the hamstrings, plus your split will be all correct and it might even allow you to go further.