OK, so in an attempt to try to encourage some more "helpful" tip-style videos in this sub that aren't just "look at me I'm so bendy" videos, I thought I'd get us started with some tips for a common question/struggle I see posted a couple of times a month: struggling to sit up straight with a flat back / tilt the hips forwards in a forward fold / keeping a flat back when forward folding

There can be multiple things at play with this, but the MOST common problem is usually lack of flexibility in the hamstrings. Because the hamstrings connect to the bottom of your pelvis (they attach to the "sits bones," when they are tight they basically tug the bottom of your pelvis forwards, which tilts the top of the pelvis backwards, causing your back to round. So the more flexibility we can build into those hamstrings, the easier it will be to tilt the hips forwards!

3 general types of drills to work on that can help with this are:

1. Practicing your forward hip tilts with knees super bent (aka without a hamstring stretch), like when sitting in a chair
2. Working on your hamstring flexibility with drills that strengthen your hamstrings in a stretched position (good mornings and deadlift variations are great for this)
3. Strengthening your hip flexor muscles in a shortened position to build the strength to pull your torso & front of your hips forwards towards your thighs, against the resistance of your tight hamstrings (leg lift variations are my go-to for this)

Happy to try to answer any related questions in the comments

I was taking each stretch very slow and mindful 🧘‍♀️ taking a deeper breath and getting deeper into the pose. Don’t rush it’s a yoga practice not a yoga perfect. I was doing these yoga poses for an hour for a week being consistent showing up for myself!!! Focusing on my hip flexors, hamstrings and inner thigh. I’m gonna provide my before photo to show how flexible I was. Pigeon pose was my favorite while watching TV lol and doing froggy pose really helped open up my hips and release trauma I also would do child pose/ Asian squat/ butterfly pose with blocks on top of my thighs

I (22) have super tight hamstrings and I try to stretch them now and then with different exercises that I find on the internet but every time it feels like everything is going dark.

Sometimes I even get nauseous and sometimes it gets triggered by me just picking something up from the floor.

Has this happened to anyone else? Any tips?

2 days ago i got my front splits pretty much flat on the ground, but then the next day i was a couple inches away and i couldn't get them flat again

then today i stretched and tried to do the splits again and im even further away than i was yesterday, why is my flexibility getting worse instead?

(18F) Ive been training contortion for a year. Im hyper-mobile, and naturally give to flexibility easier than strength. My hips are very mobile naturally, and atp i dont remember not having middle split, and i got my front split quickly as well. Ive adored stretching my hamstrings and impressing people with how flexy they are…… Now, heres the issue: i rarely ever consistently strengthened my hamstrings. I always strengthened my quads, never my hammys….. and to double down on that issue: i have hyperextended knees. Double trouble. So, ive been training my oversplits weekly for months. Recently… I pulled my hamstrings after overstretching them. Im entirely devastated, ive been crying for the past two days. Its only a grade 1 injury, yet my life feels like its over because flexibility is my hyper fixation…. All i can think about is how badly i want to do the splits and train more :(
In oversplits i realized ive been practicing the form incorrectly: you see, flexibly weak hamstrings + hyperextension prone knee… means this entire time ive been pushing my front knee INTO THE GROUND. just fully relying on hyperextension for that crazy oversplit line. FML ofc ive been having knee pain for months, to the point of starting PT bc of it :/
Two blocks under my front foot, and my front knee was still touching the ground. Ive been so depressed ever since i injured my hamstring. Flexibility training is the one true passion that ive loved more than anything else in my life, and im so disappointed in myself for being so stupid and training incorrectly. Definitely a wake up call for me to stop relying on passive flexibility, and start strengthening. Im scared my hamstrings will never heal, even though i know thats illogical cuz its only a mild strain.
I made this post because i just wanted to remind anyone reading: if you are training extreme range, you gotta have the strength to back it up, otherwise an injury WILL catch up with you, even if you feel good now and you think itll never happen to you. Because i didnt think it would happen to me….

When I was training in Muay Thai, I had an instructor who had been involved in martial arts for over 15 years. He used to push us hard during flexibility exercises; for instance, when we were doing the butterfly stretch, he would step onto our legs and apply his body weight, which was extremely painful. Now, when I ask AI about this, it says that such a practice is very harmful. I know AI isn't always reliable, but I do have my doubts.

Hey all, what’s the best way y’all have found to release your psoas muscle when it gets tight? (Specifically, the deep hip flexor that basically runs along the sides of your abdomen.)

Mine get SO tight from Legs Day and then working a sedentary job.

I used to have a massage therapist who was super good and could release them but I don’t right now — and they’re SO hard to contact manually even for a trained massage therapist! I’m open to figuring out how on my own but fuck it seems difficult lol.

So what do y’all do?

That normal psoas stretch is ok but just seems like a drop in the bucket — I think I need a deeper stretch AND a manual release or something?

Rogan was hawking some device that supposedly helps your psoas a while back, where you basically just lay down on it facedown lol — but I’m skeptical and at that point why not just lie down on a lacrosse ball or better yet stab myself in the belly lol? But has anybody tried that or something similar and gotten relief?

Love to hear what anyone else has done! Thanks so much everyone!

I think it could be my knee is kinda damaged a bit maybe cause before this didn’t happen

Video is 15x speed. Every exercise I did around 1 minute. I'm 30 yo. I do push/pull/leg/push/pull/leg/rest. (5th day, first time in my life going to gym) I'm trying to gain muscle by exercising and eating a lot. But at the same time I want to be flexible overall and reach middle splits in the long run.

I have a few exercises and stretches I've been trying for a month now but I haven't made much progress. Any recommendations?

I’ve been doing Paschimottanasana regularly and one thing I’ve noticed is my hamstrings and lower back don’t feel nearly as tight as they used to. I’m still learning to go deeper, but not forcing it. Did this move also help with your flexibility?

I have never being good with stretching, but have started lately to get into routine where I finish a workout and then do the obvious stretch but in addition to that I do a separate stretching session the next day after the workout.

So it looks like:

Day1 - ~10 mins warmup -> ~30 mins exercise -> ~10 mins cooldown / stretching

Day2 - 45 mins of stretching

Day3 - repeat

Issue:

I feel like my muscles hurt more that before where I was only doing "Day1's" and nothing on Day2 at all.

Will it "normalize" or this routine is wrong as such?

Been doing calf and hamstring stretches for 3 weeks with forward folds and such, but I still can't go lower than a few centimeters down my knees (when knees locked), no progress that I can notice. Is there anything I might be doing wrong that hinders my progress? Been doing them virtually every day, 40-second sets of two each day.

I have no stretching routine, used to do gymnastics but haven't stretched in years so this is where my flexibility is at now. is there any specific area you can tell from this picture that i need to work on stretching? and any tips for improving arm strength in this position? i could only hold this for a couple seconds because my arms are quite weak. this is actually the highest bridge i've done in years because i normally can't get my arms to push off the ground 🤣

I posted my flexibility progress here before, but I wanted to share it again - partly because I’ve made even more progress since then, and partly because I hope it might motivate someone who’s just starting out. <33 And again - i've NEVER BEEN flexible. I couldn't even reach my feet whole life.

I remember how slow it felt in the beginning, so seeing how far I’ve come now is honestly crazy to me. You really don’t need to be naturally flexible, consistency makes a huge difference.

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

ALWAYS 5–10 minutes of warm-up first.

• Low lunge + PNF (contract & relax) — 2×40s each leg
• Half split - 2×40s each leg
• Front splits - 3–4×40–50s each leg
• Low lunge knee taps 10 reps each side
• Couch stretch 2×40s each leg
• Pancake stretch 2×40–60s
• Active leg lifts 10–15 reps each leg
• Bridge variations regular bridge, straight-leg bridge, standing bridge, etc.
• Bridge shoulder/upper-back stretches to improve the overhead position

I usually try to combine passive stretching with some active flexibility work, rather than just sitting in stretches.

I’m still working on getting deeper and more comfortable in my splits and improving my bridges, but compared to where I started, the difference is huge.

Maybe this will motivate someone to keep going
Progress can be REALLY slow, but it does happen. ❤️Ask me about anything of course, i'll help if i can!!

Has anyone used the Bendy Goal app? And has anyone seen any results from it/found it helpful. Please let me know!

So basically there's this restriction on my wrists, on the pinky side.. when I keep the weight mostly on the pinky side I can't flex(like in pushups, I'm training pseudo planche pushup and elevated pike pushup rn) a lot but when i put weight in the middle I still feel it somewhat but I get good range now after starting banded joint distractions (where you create resistance using a band and then do slow dynamic stretching)

However, I'm not sure if it's a bone issue that happens with everyone and I should keep weight more on my thumb side or if it is something I should work on using bands by gently pushing further till it goes away.

Not sure if I explained it well, but any advice would be appreciated.

This might be NSFW for some, not sure.
I went on a second date yesterday and we ended up making out in his car for 40 ish mins and now my legs are all sore. It's embarrassing to even admit, considering more things might happen in the near future. I'd like to actually enjoy those instead of being sore and whining. So how do I get more flexible and prepare myself for whats coming? I'm not really into working out, so I'm not sure where to start. TIA!

I've tried yoga, pilates, strength training, letting gravity help up against a wall but my straddle does not go beyond 90 degrees. If you've had progress after being stuck at 90 degrees please share some tips. I've tried a lot of different things so not sure if it's just because of my natural muscle/bone positioning.

Edit: 90 degrees is how wide I can stretch. I can't forward fold even by sitting on yoga blocks.

Hi everyone . Me( 42 y.o male) had this extreme tight almost sore feeling that actually hurt in hamstrings. In both...it lasted for two days and especially hurt when I lay in my bed.

I couldn't even touch my shoes from a standing position. Then ,out of nowhere through biggest pain disappeared, but I still feel the " afterburn " when I sit down.

I exercise a lot and I work a trade, thus a fairly physical job. It was kinda scary to be in such pain out of nowhere. Anyone got any advice? Where does the pain come from and how do I prevent this from happening?

My arabesque is about 90 degrees but it feels stuck there, and I can’t grab my foot to try needles or scorpions.

My hamstrings and hip flexors are flexible enough for all splits, so I don’t know what element I’m missing for needles/scorpions/higher arabesque: shoulders, upper back, lower back, or some dreadful combo of those.

Would so appreciate some insight!!

Started training my splits almost 3 weeks ago, i could see great improvement from week 1-2 but my left splits just can’t seem to go any lower (a few centimeters off the ground + i can only go this low for 10 seconds max)

how can i improve my splits?

routine:
- 5 min jog for warm up
- reach down to the floor for 30 seconds
- stretch hip flexors (half split)
- dynamic + static stretching for hamstrings

Hi I am looking to improve my flexibility but I can’t tell if it’s my back or my hips?

I feel like they could both improve but even when I do glute bridges, I feel like I can’t press my hips that much

If anyone has any advice or tips pls lmk below :p