how I RUINED my splits progress.

how I RUINED my splits progress in one day. This is why i never uploaded the the final video of my mini splits journey series. Don't make this mistake.

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Hi. I'm Isabella. On this channel, I share what I've learned about Haircare, Beauty, Lifestyle, and Life itself. I am most well known for my Hair Journey series, where I share new methods and research about haircare, using my own hair as a subject to experiment with. I hope my experiments and findings can help others in finding whatever it is they are searching for.

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[torrentraisin]

My advice as someone who did gymnastics when younger, not naturally flexible, quit due to injury:
1. Consistency is literally 99% of flexibility. You need to be consistent to reach your goal, but also need to keep practicing to keep your achievement. Literally no gymnast or ballerine did research on what is the most scientifically acxurate and fastest way to get flexible. They just do it all day, everyday. And although age is a matter as most start young, it’s just liteally bc our parents and teachers made us do this every day.
2. Do not pair your static stretching exercises with strength or conditioning workouts like lifting or using gym equipment. Use some type of cardio to warm up your muscles.
3. Do not stretch when injured, do physical theraphy to get back mobility.
4. The pain should feel kind of nice, never too much.
5. If you don’t have your hemstrings in a pretty good condition, I wouldn’t even go near split specific positions.
6. Getting too hung up on “splits” only is a bad vibe. You should be focusing all parts of your body and their flexibility to get long lasting resutls. Try a whole body stretching routine. Focus on how different parts of your body feel, how they’re conntected to the muscles that will allow you to do splits.

Hope this helps.

[wonderrxo]

from a ballerina 🩰

- make sure you square your hips
- make sure your hamstrings and nice and loose
- take deep, slow breaths while in the splits and try yoga for splits
- i highly recommend blogilate’s video 30min stretch for splits
- make sure you use cardio to warm up your muscles instead of weights :)
- it’s ok if you don’t get into the splits! it’s good that you’re pushing yourself but remember to be kind to your body and enjoy the stretch

i think it’s pretty amazing you’ve come this far and remember that everyone goes at their own pace 🤍 sending you love

[kaisanorma]

square your hips girl!!! your bellybutton needs to be looking at your toes. it’s a lot safer and helps to stretch the right muscles - ex gymnast

[hhannalinden]

Please read Isabella!!🦵 Your body is put under more stress when doing the splits not squaring your hips! Squaring your hips is anatomically so much better when doing the splits as it allows your body to take on the load of your upper body in a balanced way. You also don't necessarily need to flex your feet at 90 degrees, this does flex your muscles which is called active stretching. Active stretching is a faster way of getting your splits but it can hurt more. I'd look into passive vs active stretching if you haven't already. 💞 Keep going and you'll get your splits again. You've done such good research and tried so hard. Don't let it be for nothing!🗯

[MatjV]

So I'm a semi-professional dancer (do it as a side job to my standard 9-5). I'm naturally stiff and I started dancing at 13, so I was pretty behind in terms of flexibility compared to my peers and my starting split was definitely worse to where you are now. Since I only had dance class 3 times a week I knew I had to do the extra work to catch up and improve, which I did on my own at home. At the moment I'm 28 years old and since I've been 16, I am able to do an over split on both legs and my middle split is completely on the ground to the point where it isn't uncomfortable to lay in it for a longer period of time.
Over the years I learnt a few things...
1. Everyone with a normal range of motion can do the regular split, since it's only your muscles that are limiting you from sitting in one. Its a bit different with the middle split, that one definitely has a lot to do with the hip joints and some people will never achieve it, no matter how flexible they are in any other aspect.
2. Consistency is all it takes. I went from where you're at, to a full split in matter of 3 months over summer by stretching every single evening. I did a bit of rope jumping and a short leg warm up for 10 minutes, then did different lounge variation stretches for 15 minutes and then sat in my split as low as I could while holding myself up a bit, holding it for at least a minute, optimally more, while watching TV or something to distract me and make the time go by faster
3. You can do the splits by having your back leg turned downwards (gymnastics split) or sideways so the knee is facing the side (open ballet split) and sometimes stretching both ways helps!
4. It also helped if I put on several layers of leggings/long johns/even sauna pants at some point, to really heat up my leg muscles before/during stretching.
I hope some of this helps, but I would definitely recommend doing it a lot more often than you did even on the good months.
Also, I noticed riding a bike or doing any kind of exercise that strengthens the legs, makes me feel a lot stiffer when sitting down into a split.

[faeryfibers]

you need to square your hips to the front leg, not to the side. if you don’t have proper form you won’t be stretching your muscles. but instead your tendons/ligaments which will not get you your splits! I think focusing on proper form in addition to consistency is what will get you there 😊❤

[fatimandiaye]

I feel you girl, I also have quite a journey with my split. But consistency and patience are keys I’m sure we can get it! Don’t give up if you really want it.❤❤❤

[emmyennit]

The injury probably wasn't from pushing yourself too hard, it was probably due to form. It's important that you are facing forward and your hips are square otherwise you'll likely injure yourself. I noticed sometimes when you'd do the splits you'd turn to the side which I get feels easier but it's not the correct form and you're not really stretching in the right place. This is also probably why it's taken so long so see progress. Just for the future it's important that you're sitting straight like in the lunges before dropping into the splits which will make it a lot easier <3 /lh

[litnoregrets]

Oh, I so know what you are saying. I have been on a similar journey for years. I pushed too far one time and it really set me back. Now, months later, I am almost back to normal, but now the opposite side is better than the previous better side that I injured. I have a goal for the end of the year too. I think consistency is the key I am missing. Your previous video has really motivated and helped me. Don’t give up. Just take it easy and be consistent. I’ll try to do the same. Thanks.

[madisonsabsoluterandomness]

I’m sure you will get it Isabella! Just make sure not to over-push like you did ❤

[MyaWilliams]

Never give up!!! I used to not be able to do my splits, but i stretched and also did some Anna McNulty videos to get flexible and got my front splits. Before i started I couldn’t even touch my toes.

[PoppyThePupper]

Im a dancer, and its not good to let go of your hands when you arent all the way down. Its really not good for your legs and probably caused you to pull that muscle.

[TheTimHall]

Little and often is the key. Have a routine that lasts no longer than 20 minutes and do it every day after a warmup. I know its hard not to focus on progress, but just go to good tension in every stretch and hold for 30-60 seconds. I prefer 2 lots of 30 seconds per stretch per day. Some days will feel great and I oversplit. Some not so much and it's an effort to just do a basic split. Make it part of your day, rather than a challenge and it will just happen.

BTW I had the same injury as you recently. I backed off a little on that side and got a sports massage once a week for a few weeks. The massages were super painful, but the injury was fine after 3-4 weeks.

Good luck. You will do it.

[lauriepommier]

Dear,
I feel you so much, same scenario happen to me in February, injury is in a slowly healing phase. I reached my split sometimes on two side before my injury, now one is sometimes ok my injured side lost all flexibility work I have done. It has been hard to deal with but, this experience also have it's benefit face ;)
Rehab with resistance band has made the difference for me.
Reparaing the muscle fiber before going back to strech is key point.
When you feel your muscle has better strengh, add a bit of streching, stronger it become more strech you add.
That injury ruine a part of my aerial yoga training and my all physicals practices BUT it also teached me a lot.
I also work with fascia therapy wich is really helpful.
6 month now that you posted this video, I hope you have fully recover, if it is not the case, know that I am in the same healing process.

Send you love and strengh !

[blessedwaterlilies]

Don't give up! You were making progress when you were consistent. Be consistent again. AND TAKE YOUR TIME! practice makes progress and progress makes perfect. Keep going, record, and come show us your spilts when you get them. You got this! Be Blessed 🌸

[janetoyewole]

Learning to get depth with squared hips will definitely help you push yourself whilst being safe. Also using pillows to do an oversplit (with squared hips, ) can also speed up the process, by giving you a deeper stretch.

[rebecairazabal]

This video being 2 years old, i'm curious to know if you ever got the split (this vulnerability was refreshing to say the least)

[Sammybee]

I was born with hip dysplasia, which means my hips didn’t align in their sockets when I was born and for my first year of life I had to wear a brace. This can effect development stages in walking and running… and obviously being able to do the splits 🤪

It was always a passion of mine but noooo I could not do any splits no matter how hard I would work at it. Some bodies aren’t built that way x

[Latbirget]

This seems to be a valuable lesson for everyone not to push themselves beyond their limits so thank you so much for posting it. I think unless you are an elite person training a trillion hours a day then these things aren't achievable in a small amount of time. There are exceptions of course. I remember a girl at junior school who didn't do gymnastics or any form of exercise and yet she was able to do the box splits! I think her legs were just bendy haha.

[minyaye]

This kinda happened to me too. So I am able to do splits and I guess I did it too fast or something. I felt this excruciating pain. I couldn't run for weeks. I thought I had lost my splits because I hadn't done them in months, but in one day, I got them back. So everyone should be careful and don't push yourselves.