It’s been a good amount of time – over nine months – since I started trying to get the splits in July 2015. So I thought it was time to check my progress.
This is the result of stretching 2-4 times per week.
Right Leg Splits. Top: June 29th, Middle: Sept 28th, Bottom: July 1stRight Leg: This doesn’t look much, but I feel way more comfortable in my right leg splits now. My toe is starting to point and my hips are much more relaxed.
Left Leg Splits. Top: June 29th, Middle: Sept 28th, Bottom: March 1stLeft Leg: I am not very happy with the progress here. Even though it’s another few centimetres closer, I really should be on the floor by now!
Centre Splits. Top: March 29th, Middle: Sept 28th, Bottom: March 1stCentre Splits: I’m so close!! Hooray! It’s a bit hard to see but I actually think I’m closer to the floor here than on my left leg splits. In fact, I have started practising an “upright” centre split with my feet turned up.
The Routine: Calf stretch, standing hamstring stretch, standing hip flexor stretch, standing pike stretch, straddle (“pancake”) stretch, kneeling hip flexor stretch, kneeling hamstring stretch, lying on the floor and using a theraband to pull my leg to my head, and finally, just holding each split as long as I can. I also use a lacrosse ball to do trigger-point release around my hips.
Ballet Bun is challenging herself to get her middle splits by Christmas and it reminded me to check up on my progress. I really thought I was getting nowhere with my splits, but I was pleasantly surprised!
Right Leg Split – Above: June 29, Below: Sept 28
This is probably the biggest and most noticeable success – I’m on the floor on my right leg split! It still doesn’t feel comfortable like it used to, but I’m happy to be finally fully split. Now to work on that toe point…
Left Leg Split – Above: June 29, Below: Sept 28
Although this looks far less impressive, I’m actually more proud!
I pulled my left hamstring when I first started ballet in March, and as anyone who has had hamstring problems will tell you, it took it’s sweet time getting back into gear. It was so painful, in fact, that I went to the physiotherapist just to make sure I hadn’t done anything terrible. Oddly enough, it turned out that the trouble was actually coming from my RIGHT hip! Apparently my psoas muscle is so tight that it is causing me to overcompensate on my left leg, which is in turn, causing undue tightness on that leg. A daily regime of holding this hip-flexor stretch and a bit of foam rolling has helped more than actually stretching my splits.
(As a side note, before starting ballet I knew nothing about the psoas muscle, despite about 14 years training in gymnastics up to elite international level. This means I have trouble isolating and using it, which also explains why my developpés are still so low despite apparent strength and flexibility. I plan to do another post on this, but if anyone else out there is experiencing hip or turnout problems, this muscle is where to start!)
Middle Leg Split – Above: June 29, Below: Sept 28
And finally, the dreaded box splits! I haven’t been working on my flexibility in this area at all, so I was extremely surprised to find it had improved without me really trying. I think this is just proof that any flexibility is good flexibility!
GOAL: Given how I’ve improved in three months without concerted effort, I think I should definitely aim to get my left leg splits by Christmas and at least another few inches on my box splits!
Left: My point in June. Right: My point in September.
I’m so happy! I thought I’d try replicate a picture I took of my point in at the beginning of June to see if there had been any discernible progress. I honestly didn’t expect a thing, so I was so surprised to see how much I had come on! My ankle is noticeably more flexible and I think my toes are pushing harder as well. It’s odd, because I haven’t focussed on stretching or working my feet at all.
I still have a long way to go, but it’s nice to see that progress is happening.
My fifth, however, is something I really have been consciously working on. And now it really is less terrible! I was worried about pushing my feet this way, because I initially felt it in my knees and I knew that was a sign I was pushing too far (and in the wrong way.) I did some research and found I had to concentrate on pulling my turnout from deep within the back of my hips (the “external rotators”)… although I honestly didn’t think it was working. But there you go! You really can improve anything about your body if you are passionate about it!
For me, what really helped was stretching with a theraband. I lie on my back and lift one leg in the air, keeping the other leg flat on the floor and my hips squared. I put a theraband around the foot in the air, flex it, and pull the theraband tight. From there, I focus on using my external rotators only to turn my foot out. I push hard, hold it, push harder, hold it and push harder again. Then relax, let your hip turn back in, and start again. (Make sure you are warmed up before you do this.)
Still, it’s one thing to do barre work with a nice fifth position and quite another to be able to dance that way on the floor. I have particular difficulty doing a tendu backward, of all things! But I’m happy. ^_^
So here’s to the little, itty-bitty incremental improvements! Kind of reminds me of that corny advertising slogan, “it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!”
I’m pretty new to ballet, but it’s already obvious how important it is to be able to “turnout” your feet and hips. Trouble is… I’m just terrible at it! To make matters worse, one side is clearly much worse than the other and I have no idea how to redress the balance.
As you can see, currently I’m at about 150˚ and have a long way to go before I’m fully turned out in first position – let alone third.
The best resources I’ve found for understanding this have been at The Ballet Blog turnout section, which I’m sure most of you have already read. The most important discovery I’ve made is where turnout actually comes from. Isolating those muscles – which are deep in the glutes, not the hips – has already helped me understand where I need to focus when I’m practising in class.
Now that I know where to pull for turnout, I’ve noticed that my left leg really strains and it reminds me that I did tear that hamstring when I was about 16. I hope it’s not too late to rehabilitate this injury and I hope I can do it safely! If anyone has any tips or recommendations, I would be so interested!
I stumbled across this on Instagram today and I knew it was my calling: A 30-day challenge to get the splits!
You can read the original post on Blogilates, but basically you do the first five stretches for 30-60 seconds on each side for the first five days, then after that you start adding a new stretch every day as pictured.
It officially starts on July 1st, but I had a sneaky go at the first five stretches and found them to be really good! In fact, just simply using a timer for stretching instead of my unofficial “yep that seems about good” method of timing already feels so different. I’m going to go for the full minute for each, every day.
To track my progress, I quickly took some pictures today. (June 29th.) Firstly… HOW ARE PEOPLE DOING THIS it’s so hard to use self-timer to takes pictures of the splits! I pressed the button and then had 10 seconds to whip my legs apart as far as possible, ahhh! Pain! Not to mention awkward fail pics I hope nobody ever finds on my phone!!
Anyway, I’m glad I did because it’s really interesting. The flexibility difference between my right and left leg is CLEARLY affecting my middle splits. You can actually see how high my left hip is compared to the right!
Hopefully this challenge will help fix this. Who’s with me!?!?!
ballet rookie 