Welcome to r/flexibility!

I put on my shoes standing up, I just lift my foot & bend over to put each shoe on. The left side easy no issue. When I get to the right foot side it’s way more difficult to put my shoe on. I thought I was just getting fatter but then why would it only on one side?

Hi! Yesterday I tried grabbing my ankles while in a backbend and was able to catch them! The only problem is it’s difficult to hold with slingshotting back up to standing. Any tips? Hoping to eventually get to a point of straightening my legs fully!!

Feet out back straight

I also have sciatic tension so find it difficult to stretch hamstrings :/

where do you guys even start when both your psoas are dysfunctional where one seems to be more shortened and the other is more lengthened and they both can't function optimally.

I’ve been practicing splits for the past year—going from very inflexible to pretty flexible. The main goal I have is to be able to do a split. My question is, when I practice doing splits, is it more effective allow the back leg to bend to make the front leg get a better stretch (and me going lower to the ground, fig 1), or to make sure both legs are straight, even though I cant get as low that way (fig2)?

I could let my back leg bend enough to touch the ground giving the front leg even more of a stretch but it doesn’t really feel like working towards a split when doing that if that makes sense. Any input about which is better or splits tips are much appreciated!

I've been training contortion for about 1.5 years but in the past 4 months I moved to LA from NY and haven't been able to find a contortion class I really vibe with, so I'm mostly training at home. In NY I was making huge steps on my chest stands and I had a teacher who was great at giving a spot & sounding off adjustments. Now that I'm doing most of my practice at home, I've regressed and it's really bumming me out. I'm also kind of scared of getting an injury by myself tbh. I'm wondering if anyone has tips/youtube vids they could share to help with chest stands specifically? Also class recs in LA? Thank you!! <3

Question to the male part of the group, have you ever had long term pain in the testicle(s) and groin area from stretching? I have been working on a frog pose for a few months, I reached a level where I was almost flat on the ground and I think during last session (almost 2 weeks ago) I tried to push myself too much. During the stretch i didn’t feel anything wrong, but since the next day I’m having this mild pain in testicle that sometime can be felt in groin as well, it is nothing serious, pain is mild, but I can feel it all the time. I already consulted with urologist and ultrasound didn’t find anything wrong as well, bloodwork is okay with no signs of infection. Hernia is also ruled out. I stopped doing all lower body stretches and waiting how will things turn out, I’m just getting anxious that it will last for very long. Has any one of you experienced such long term mild pain? Any advices are welcome!

BTW this is my first post here, but I learned from this group so much! Thank you!

Ok seriously, she is 100% sedentary watching tv most of the day sitting down and only stands up when she is cooking and never goes on walks or anything. Yet, she can easily touch her toes or raise her leg up straight. So can my mom, who is also very sedentary.

My dad though, who does a lot of physical activity, cannot touch his toes or raise his leg straight. ME NEITHER. My hamstrings feel like metal rods. I try to stretch and I started going to the gym, but so far I’m still the same.

I guess genetics really play a massive part?

Hello

I consider myself to be uber flexible, but struggle with my hips. I used to be able to do boxer and traditional splits with ease but I'm now nowhere near the ground. When I sit cross legged🧘🏽‍♀️ my left hip raises from the ground. I have been doing pigeon, 50/50, frog and other hip openers for years but currently not able to do the splits. Any advice?

Is there anything I’m doing wrong that i should fix? Tips/tricks/suggestions welcome. Thank you <3

I've always had a very healthy body ever since I was young.

Everything changed when I stopped caring about my posture, and sat for 8 hours a day in terrible posture for over 10 months

Now every joint in my body makes clicking and popping sounds whenever I move it (my shoulders, elbows, knees specifically)

Now I am finally looking for a solution to healing my body back to it's normal state and I've came upon the egoscue method

From what I see the method fixes chronic body pain by helping re-align your body with exercises

If anyone here has experience with the egoscue method, I'm wondering if this method will fix my clicking/popping joints since I really don't know what to do to fix my body

Thank you for your comment, it means so much to me

How does everyone feel about holding stretches for 4+ minutes? I’ve seen a lot about how it really helps change tissue but could never really make myself do it. I’ve had nagging hip and lower back pain this week and forced myself to do (supported) frog pose for five minutes. The release after was crazy and I’m going to try to keep doing this one daily. Does anyone make a point of long holds and what stretches do you like for them?

I might be wrong but I feel like if i could do stuff like this on my bad shoulder it would feel a lot better. I’m not sure what to do for my shoulder so any advice is welcome.

I recently started working out again a month ago, use only dumbbells and lots of pushups/situps. Today I tried to do this stretch and could not bring my bottom arm up far enough for me to reach with the other arm. There isn’t any pain, Is it serious or should I just rest and stretch more for a few days? I also don’t stretch as often as I should so Im a bit worried. Thank you.

When I lie on my back and pull a knee into my chest, I can pull my left leg straight back towards me. But on my right leg, once I get about half way I cannot bring it straight back to my chest, it wants to angle or rotate off to the side. Upper right hip and lower back are super tight and I'm having trouble finding a stretch to really address this. Any suggestions?

Did you only do full body yoga videos/routines, or did you aim for 1-2 poses at a time, achieve them, then move on to the next? (Example: backbend, front splits, etc).

I personally need some structure in order to feel like I’m accomplishing something, and I’m not sure what “complicated” poses to aim for first.

I believe I have posterior pelvic tilt. Flat back case, tight hamstrings, weak/non existent glutes.

Whenever I do RDLs I feel such an insane stretch in the hammies which I can feel for days later.

Is this the best way?

Hi everyone!

For context, I've been doing martial arts training for about 2 years, and I struggle to get a side kick and roundhouse kick higher than waist height, when by this time, I should be able to achieve at least chest height.

I am wondering if my issue seems to be with my glute mobility (and not adductor flexibility). In the past, my hips would cramp up whenever I would attempt a side split or pancake, so for the past year, I've been working on hip mobility and hip strengthening. Now while I no longer cramp up, i still struggle to get a lateral leg raise past 45 degrees from the floor (standing foot externally rotated).

when I try to stretch on a barre or with a partner, i can go up to chest height, but i feel all the tension only in my hips - my adductors aren't even being challenged.

is this a common experience? is it a question of improving the range of motion of my glute medius? do i need even more glute medius strengthening?

Hello! I recently learnt that I'm hypermobile; my hips, ankles and knees being the worst. I'm doing light stretching every day and 2 x intense stretching routines a week. 1 of them being at a flexibility class. Despite being hypermobile, I'm not that flexibile.

Any middle split training is hurting in the tendons of my pelvis even if I feel like I'm microbending or tightening the muscles instead. My knees keep giving way when practicing front split and I'm overall just in a lot of pain through the week, but not in my muscles (I did originally but less now. Assuming that was DOMS). Its always in my joints.

Any advice on developing flexibility whilst being hypermobile would be greatly appreciated!

hello! recently I've been trying to work on my posture when walking but almost immediately this place starts hurting really bad. it stops hurting once I go back to slouching. am I doing something wrong? is it gonna get better? any good stretches for this? any tips on keeping good posture throughout the day? thank you.

Like probably everyone here, I'm considerable more flexible on one side than the other. My left split is very close to the floor whilst the right one is 10cm higher. For middle splits, I find my limit comes from the right left, whilst the left hip could go farther down.

Last week I decided to refocus on flexibility and got back to my routine. I was wondering whether it would be more beneficial long term to try to level the worst side up to the more flexible side to keep things balanced.

Does anyone have any experiences with this, or is it best to just train evenly and eventually it will average out?

Any advice on how I can make my split practice better? I’ve been working on them for a week now and I want to make sure my form is okay before trying to go deeper into the stretch

How often should you stretch for a chronically tight area? Which stretches would you recommend for a chronically tight hip?

Ive been to a physician and physical therapy. The only thing that's helped me honestly were the steroids. I do the pt exercises 3 times a day, sometimes skipping a day because of soreness. It's definitely my butt muscles, down through my hip, my hamstrings, and a little below my knee. It's likely an overuse injury. I was diagnosed with bursitis and general overuse / tightness. It's definitely on par with piriformis syndrome.

I'm just not sure if there's something else I should be doing instead, or if I'm just going to forever be tight. Are there any additional stretches you all would recommend? Thank you.

I have been facing this issue for a long time. My right shoulder is positioned more forward than my left. It also seems like my traps and back muscles aren’t effectively pulling my shoulders back. My neck makes a clicking sound, especially when doing face pulls. When I do machine fly or bench press when the right shoulder goes up . The right side always feels uncomfortable and doesn’t seem to sit properly. When I lean back in a chair, the right side feels off, and I suspect my right scapula might be misaligned.

I have been to many physios but no luck. What can I do to fix this?

Each time I post something there goes comments saying I should not be doing this. Yet they come from redditors that never post on this subreddit.

Hey guys! I was casually stretching daily for a couple months and had been able to get my forehead to my knees, and nearly do side splits. But I got very sick for the first three weeks of January and was unable to stretch.

Now that I am better, I've been getting back to stretching but I've lost so much of my progress. No where near side splits. I can't bend my forehead to my knees, but it feels more attainable than my side splits.

Is this much regression normal? I am so sad to feel like I'm starting all the way over again 😔