Welcome to r/flexibility!

I’ve been attending more stretch classes recently (front splits) and towards the end we do PNF stretching. Starting with the usual hamstring stretch on your back and later in a split. I’m finding my front leg feels tighter and starts to seize during PNF stretches. I’m aware I have sciatic nerve tension and assume this is the cause but not sure how to stop aggravating it with PNF!

I always do sciatic nerve glides before we start PNF stretches and keep my toes pointed during. I’ve tried foam rolling before class, focusing more on my breathing, bending the back leg and not taking my front leg into my full ROM. The class is all dynamic movement and active flexibility so I feel like my legs are sufficiently warm and loose by the time we get to the PNF stretches only to tighten right back up.

Everything I’ve found online has suggested nerve glides but I’m wary of over doing them. Is PNF stretching just not an option when you have nerve tension or is there another way to alter the movement? Wondering if it could be a weakness issue from somewhere else like hips or hamstrings? Any help is appreciated!

I usually have anterior pelvic tilt anterior pelvic tilt with an exaggerated lower back curve. I have been working with a PT on hamstring stretches etc.

I’ve been having really bad back pain and did a banana pose style stretch but more into the fetal position to help loosen up my back.

Anyway, after the stretch, I had the opposite problem! My pelvis is not tucked under and my lower back looks flat.

How do I undo this? My pelvis feels stuck in the tucked position. I do have a lot of issues with muscles locking up and refusing to relax. My PT does a lot of trigger point releases but he is out of town at the moment and I am struggling.

Can switching from one pelvic tilt to the opposite even possible? My hamstrings and hip flexors are very tight in general.

Hi guys! Love this forum and have already benefited tremendously, so far! (M33/ physical therapist) So I used to be extremely stiff and have been working on my mobility and flexibility for the past 3 years. Lifted heavy for 10 years. Started out after a bout of chronic back pain ( lasted for +- 2 years) and made some improvements but had some setbacks also, especially by agitating my left s.i joint while doing any form of couch stretch or loaded hip flexor stretch ( not every time, but quite regularly) Been focusing on my thoracic mobility( rotation and extension) and hip mobility. Being a physical therapist, I tend to think that I am using correct form and that I am using diverse exercises (meaning covering "everything") but of course that is not the case and since joining this community I learned some cool tips and gained a lot of ideas. So after a long introduction, I have this question for you guys: What can lead to my si joint issues while doing the hip extension exercises? What are some creative strengthening tips you guys could give me? Thanks in advance!

https://preview.redd.it/h1x5wbpidb0e1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e0c91463af9b0c2db47994dea48570bb87db09a

https://preview.redd.it/6kurxapidb0e1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4d40fdd2a4646b35d3d031d55ea9b896b6edb76c

It feels quite easy to touch them while standing however, I simply can't touch them when sitting down. I feel a great tightness just below the knee at the calf when setting. Does anyone know what is causing this? Is it simply tight calves? Feel free to critique my form in general.

Hey fellow redditers, I was wondering how many times a day do you stretch? Once in the morning or twice, once in the morning and once at night or 3 times a day?

I made a post recently on how I'm stuck and don't know how to go deeper. And from that, I've learned that maybe I know too little about it, so can some of you suggest some things I should do? Warm ups, stretches, strength training etc. And to avoid repetition from my current routine, which is quite consistent, my warm up is side squat 10x each leg. Then I repeat it but holding the squat for 3 seconds each 5 reps. After warming up, I do the sumo stance whilst pushing my knee out. Then finally doing the middle split. Fyi, I do taekwondo and, in my opinion, I've always been quite inflexible even while stretching twice a week for the past year. Please provide some suggestions

Hi y’all! I’ve been doing Strongman for about 4 years, have always stretched and warmed up properly and all that fun stuff. A tree fell on my parents house (May) , and I’m the only English speaker that can help them out when it comes to speaking with insurance, contractors, etc. so I had to move back to help them out. From then to now? I haven’t been able to find a nice gym in my hometown, so I haven’t been up with my workouts/been consistent.

Tonight is my first night after so long, I missed it. My coach assigned me to do some squats - and though I admit I knew I would get weak, I did not realize it until I squatted.

Every time I try to squat, my rectus femoris and vastus intermedius TIGHTEN on both legs (top of the thigh), and I can’t bend anymore because of both the tightness and the pain associated. I rolled it before, I warmed up properly - but is this just weakness that I need to work on again?

Thanks

Any advice to prevent low back pain when doing the frog pose? I heard it’s supposed to help it but I think it may be causing it.

I do much, much better sticking to a routine if it’s laid out in a daily way on an ap. Checklist, checklist, done for the day. I appreciate that the stickied post has a starting program, but I’d really like to find an ap to follow. Does anyone have any recommendations? I’ve been actively working out for a bit under a year but really no mobility regime to it, I’m turning 40 and sore and stiff as a board, so, I need to get cracking on it. I’m reasonably insensitive to cost on this if it’s a good setup. Would do coaching but just can’t fit it into my schedule.

When I squat, my knees start shaking and sliding back and forth which is limiting my progress.

I searched for exercise online with the help of gpt and it gave these exercises that I did today:

Terminal Knee extensions (resistance band)

Heel slides

Deep squats to heel raises

Toe to rocks

Step-ups

Hip flexor stretch

90/90 hip stretch

Seated knee extension

Standing leg swings

Some of these I already do for hip flexibility but it said that they may help with stabilizing the knee.

What I want is a safer way to squat and to avoid injury while building stability and flexibility for my knees.

I had a simmilar problem with my shoulders and it was so painful, but with doing external rotation and wall angles, band holds my shoulders have improved significantly and the pain wen away completely! I guessed that I should look to simmilar exercises to stabilize and improve ky knees.

If there is a routine or exercises I am missing on please let me know! Thanks in advance :)

When doing pigeon pose I get pain in the inside of my right knee when it's the forward leg (so the inside of my knee is actually facing upwards in the pose). I do not get any pain when doing it on the other side. Any ideas what might be going on? This is a new development. I have done this pose before without pain. It's kind of an achy stretchy feeling. Thanks!

I do MMA and when I try to do an high kick I feel like my gluteus medius is restricting my mobility I also can't lift it sideways and I don't know what could help me

I am starting out and is following along here https://www.reddit.com/r/flexibility/comments/9212b8/dont_know_where_to_start_click_here/ Using the Start to Stretch Video. When I try the Rear Hand Clasp. It feels like my arm is coming out of the socket. Is there any strength exercises I should be doing prior to getting into this exercise?

• Have you made any milestones in your flexibility recently? Feel free to share stories/pics/videos, anything (you can now upload photos in your comment)
• How about any other fitness accomplishments you've made and want the world to know about because your friends and family just don't get it?

Well, this is the thread where you get to share all that and inspire others at the same time!

20y old male, went to a physio for some shoulder bursitis/generally bad shoulder, and they recommended cortisone shot (done) and sleeper stretch twice a day for really poor internal rotation (less than 45 degrees)

I've made no progress on internal rotation, and every time I try the stretch the front of my shoulder gets extremely tight and I can't get any extra ROM. Any advice on increasing internal rotation?

Hello! I sit a lot during the day because of my work, I also do a lot of strength training. I want to be able to sit in a good posture. Why do I always tend to cross my legs or put them on the table or even press with my toes to raise them a little while sitting. I don't feel comfortable sitting with my feet flat on the floor. Is this because of hammstrings tightness I also think I have tight hip flexors. I just started working in IT after graduation and I sit a lot and I have to fix this problem so I can maintain good posture while sitting. Any ideas?

I’m working on doing elbow bridges and kickovers but I’m having trouble shifting my weight to my hands? I push my Chest forward like people suggest but I still feel all my weight going to my feet. I’d say my back is pretty flexible as I can touch my feet to my head so I don’t think that’s the issue?

I'm 25, and very inflexible. I wanna learn the splits. I've been doing a 1 hour stretching session (warm up, dynamic stretching, passive stretching) pretty much every day for the last 6 months and it got me basically nowhere. My calf flexibility inproved a lot but my back, hip and legs have barely improved at all. Additionally I'm in a constant state of feeling sore. Sometimes when the soreness is overwheling I take a day off.

I've been thinking about changing tactics and instead of doing one big stretching session every day to just do small 30-second stretches throughout the day. -mostly active stretches that go as far as I'm comfortable without a warm up.

Could that be an effective strategy?

Specifically for keeping my elbows together instead of them opening outwards. I find that when I go down to a bridge, my elbows tend to flare outwards. It’s the same if I go with “prayer hands” for some backbending exercises, my elbows tend to flare outwards and it feels impossible to get them together.

I am an amateur mma fighter, looking to adapt a mobility exercise program into my training week.

I know I would like to focus on my hips and open them up. I also started frequently getting tight on my hamstring during high kicks. What kind of stretches should I incorporate?

Would anyone kindly explain to me what that uncomfortable deep feeling in the groin area is? I’m a few months in flexibility and been getting some progress, but I don’t know if I understand the difference between the frog stretch and attempting the splits, if they’re the same muscles being stretched or not, because they do feel different.

i find that i have fairly open shoulders but they aren’t open in the right way for handstand. it looks to me like the shoulder exercises for handstand and backbends are different. wondering if anyone had any insight into this. kind of a bummer that they require different shoulder mobility routines.

edit: upon further review, it looks like handstand requires mobility while holding hollow body, which is different from a backbend.

hello! i just wanted some opinions and tips on how to improve my splits. so basically, i learned my splits by continously doing them, going lower and lower. i did not get them by stretching or such. my front splits are fully down, and i've been doing jump splits. however, i noticed that when doing jump splits, one of my legs is a little bent (i don't know if this is due to putting my kneecaps to the side but i heard that you need to do that to safely land a jump split) and i don't know how to fix it. any tips?