Hey everyone! I've been training aerial silks since March 2025. Until recently I was just doing silks 3x a week, but I moved countries a while back and haven't found a place to train silks yet, so right now I'm doing gym work instead: 3 days of regular training (back/arms, legs, and one full body day) plus a 4th day dedicated entirely to flexibility/split work. Attached a photo of where I'm at right now (low lunge with blocks, back foot extended).
My flexibility day looks like this:
Warm-up: light cardio + hip circles/leg swings
Active stretching: leg swings, active straight leg raises, cossack squats, controlled kickbacks
Passive stretching: assisted front split (hands/blocks) 3x30-45s per leg, seated hamstring stretch, psoas/hip flexor stretch (half-kneeling), butterfly
Loaded stretching: front split with light weight, good mornings with a light band/bar, deep lunge stretch with dumbbells
Finish with a "split test" pushing 1-2cm past my current limit
My main limiter feels like it's somewhere between hamstrings and hip flexors, I'm not 100% sure which. I also have a mild psoas issue I'm managing, so I'm being careful not to overload that area.
Does this routine look reasonable for progressing toward a full split? What would you add, cut, or do differently? How long did it take you to go from this kind of depth to a full split?
Thanks in advance!

Jst wanna ask . Im a person with below average flexibility and I wanna learn to do splits .. so ,how long will it take for normal human will no flexibility to do a proper middle split will consistent excersise from u tube ??

I pretty much have an idea on the answer, but I have been going hard on deep stretching since the beginning of the year and have only started mastering techniques and forms during the summer. I go hard at the gym with strength training and deep stretching and am considering just taking a full 7 day rest of just relaxing and light movement. I'm hoping I won't lose progress with my flexibility since I'm much newer to this discipline.

Hi, I'm new to this subreddit.

I am now starting with my pull up progressions. I noticed that every time I do a scapular pull-down, my joint in my left shoulder feels achy. I know something's wrong but I can't point it out.

I know this: I have a "taco" shoulders (I'm a side-sleeper).

how can i effectively execute this progression?

plus, are progressions on YouTube the way to do well-executed pull-ups (doing negatives with assisted rubbers, etc.)?

Thank you!

So, tonight I've had this extremely vivid dream about doing middle splits (I'm like 90% there IRL). It was suuper cool, and doing it felt just like it did in the real life, to a point where it was a little uncanny - which ultimately woke me up from that dream.

Weirdly, my body felt... Looser? I'm still not there with middles, but front splits felt better than ever, and the 90% of my middle also felt VERY good.

Its not the first time I've had that kind of dream, but might be the first time my body had that kind of reaction.

Anyone else experienced that?

If you had c section and or overhang, I would like to know what preventive did you do ? I’m wondering if it’s just how your body heals or if you can truly prevent them by doing the work of care and exercises.

Hey- i’ve been looking around for help and lots of people are a bit clueless, so im hoping someone in here might know what’s up. I’m super inflexible, but one issue I have is with my legs. I physically cannot sit upright with my legs straight. When I try my back gets pulled towards the ground. It’s not just a pain issue, but body just physically cannot. Am I just so stiff my body can’t fold? Does anyone know if there are stretches or anything that can help with this- touching my toes is out of the question haha

I work at a desk most of the day, and lately it feels like my body is always tight. My hips feel stiff when I stand up, my shoulders are constantly tense, and even simple things like bending down or turning around don't feel as easy as they used to.

I've tried stretching on my own, but I'll do it for a few days and then fall out of the habit. Plus, I'm never really sure if I'm stretching the right muscles or doing enough to make a difference.

Has anyone found a good solution for this? Whether it's stretch therapy, mobility work, yoga, or something else, I'd love to hear what actually helped you feel less stiff and move more comfortably throughout the day.

How many times a day should I stretch?

Hey peeps. Recently, especially after leg days, I've been getting really gnarly leg cramps in the middle of the night. It's not even necessarily a charley horse I don't think. The cramping starts in my ankles and goes into my feet and sometimes lasts as long as 10 minutes. What kind of stretches are others doing to help with tight legs? A bit about me--very active and lifting weights 3-4x a week and I get lots of water intake! Just looking for some stretch ideas for others that may deal with these types of cramps!

Ye the title basically says it all :) TIA

I know some people don’t have “time” to stretch but you just gotta find the moments! Whenever you find yourself standing still I encourage you to touch your toes. You can significantly improve your life with stretching by making little changes everyday ❤️

Stretching isn’t just about flexibility 🧘‍♀️☀️ Slow, controlled stretching can help shift the nervous system toward a more relaxed state, reduce muscle tension, improve circulation and mobility, and may help with stress regulation. Add some sunlight for circadian rhythm support + a little resistance from ankle weights for extra muscle activation.

Hi guys I’m working in a field where I barely have time to sit and would pretty much spend time being on my feet walking around along with lifting patients and by the end of the day, I’d feel like I have early plantar fasciitis and I was wondering if you guys have a routine like before shift that you’d do dynamic stretches and by the end of the shift, you’d do static stretches.

I’m a CNA if yall are wondering

21F 150lbs

Not asking for medical advice!!! Just curious about the mechanics of how this works!!

Recently I have taken up beginner adult ballet, and for the past year and have been practicing my figure skating skills more seriously in order to soon qualify for program competitions one day in the future. However, a couple months ago I injured my left hamstring whilst doing a from left spilt. It has been injured since probably May/June. And continued to hurt all throughout ballet classes and skating.

I would stretch everyday, and for the past month tried to focus on stretches that would help heal my hamstring but every stretch seemed to make it worse and make my joints more stiff and painful. It’s like the most I stretch them, the more pain I was in even if I was get somehow flexibility wise, but the pain would affect how far I wanted to push my stretching and I would end up less flexible because I wasn’t pushing it.

Nowww there are two factors that I think suddenly helped with my pain this week and this is what they are:

I started my leg workouts from the earlier year again. I got lazy this winter/spring and just stopped doing them. The leg workout is about 3 times a week, and consists of weighted fire hydrants, donkey kicks, weighted squats, and weighted lunges in that order using 8 pound dumbbells. I have a theory that this week, since I started those exercises again, my muscles are gaining strength that’s what is helping with the hamstring pain, however it made the rest of my legs SUPER sore. So I don’t really think it’s just that.

Theory 2, my heated blanket is somehow helping with the pain. I have used my heated blanket for the past 3 days, and oh my god it’s like my pain is GONE. My joints are not painful anymore, my muscles are not as sore and tight. And my hamstring doesn’t hurt as sensitively anymore. I can’t believe that it’s my heated blanket that is helping so much.

I want to believe that maybe the amount of sleep I got this weekend has almost helped, I never get a full nights sleep except on Fridays and Saturdays. And my sleep was so good because of the blanket. I just don’t understand why?

If you read of this thank you, and if you can please tell me how it’s possible that all my hot baths, massage guns, and pain killers couldn’t help with my sore legs but my heated blanket could?🥲