How to Do the Splits in a Week or Less

How to Do the Splits in a Week or Less
2 Touch your toes. Touching your toes, from both a seated and standing position, helps to stretch out your hamstrings and lower back. To do the stretch while sitting down, sit on your bottom with your legs together and your toes pointing up towards the ceiling. Lean forwards and try to touch your toes. If you can't, grab your ankles. If touching your toes is too easy, try wrapping your hands around the soles of your feet. Hold this stretch for 30 to 60 seconds. To do the stretch while standing up, stand with your feet together, then lean down and try to touch your toes. Avoid bending your knees and try to keep most of your weight on the balls of your feet instead of on your heels. If you're really flexible, try to get the palms of your hands on the floor. Hold the stretch for 30 to 60 seconds. 5 Stretch your quads and hamstrings. Your quads and hamstrings are two of the most important muscles involved in the splits, so it's important to get them as flexible as possible. Here are two more useful stretches for these muscles: To stretch your quads, kneel down in a lunging position, using a pillow to support your back knee if necessary. Keeping your back straight, reach back and grab the foot of your back leg and pull it towards your butt until you feel a good stretch in the quadricep. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds, then repeat on the other leg. To stretch your hamstrings, lie down with your back on the floor and your legs propped up against a straight wall. Keeping your lower back on the floor, reach towards your toes until you feel a good stretch (but no pain). Hold for 30 seconds. 2 Practice for 15 minutes, twice a day. You have to practice twice a day, without fail, for about 15 minutes at time. If you can get a third 15-minute session in (without pushing yourself too hard) then that's even better. Try to accomplish other tasks while doing your stretching to make the time go more quickly. Listen to music, do it while watching TV, or while learning something for school—like spellings or math tables. 4 Wear the right clothes. Wear comfortable athletic clothes that are either loose and baggy, or stretchy and elastic (so they move with your body). Martial arts gear is also a good choice. One good tip is to wear socks while practicing your splits, as these will allow your feet to slide along the floor more easily, helping you to achieve a deeper stretch. 5 Know your limits. Achieving the splits in a week or less is a pretty difficult task, so it's important that you don't push yourself too hard trying to achieve it -- your safety is more important. You will slow yourself down if you are injured. A good rule of thumb is to only stretch mildly if you wake up sore. Wait a whole day or more if you totally bypassed your limits to do any intense stretching. Prevent needing this by taking it slow and always warming up. While you're practicing the splits, you should feel a good, intense stretch in your muscles, but you should not feel any pain. If you experience pain, this is a sign that you are pushing yourself too hard. Pushing yourself too hard can lead to strained muscles and other injuries, which will prevent you from achieving the splits anytime soon (if at all). Remember that it's better to take your time and achieve the splits safely, than it is to rush and hurt yourself. 5 Aim for an over-split. You may be perfectly happy once you achieve your splits and have no desire to go any further. However, if you want to keep going, it's possible to do an "over-split" (where your legs are split at a wider than 180-degree angle). This is a pretty extreme stretch so make sure you don't push yourself too far too soon. You should be 100% comfortable with the normal splits before you attempt an over-split. You can train for an over-split by putting a pillow under your front foot (or under both feet if you're doing a center split) once you're in the split position. Over time, you can gradually add more pillows to increase the stretch. Original article and pictures take http://m.wikihow.com/Do-the-Splits-in-a-Week-or-Less site