What is the best and safest way to do the splits for beginners?

Answer 1

If your a guy there is no save way. But I'd where some pads or a cup wouldn't want the jewels getting crushed.

Answer 2

Hi there

The safest way is to start by taking care of your muscles. When your first starting out always start with a warm up. Do squats or any exercise that warms up your hamstrings. Other exercises that open up your hip joints are important such as sitting on the floor and pushing your knees down. But the only real way is to perform the splits on your own. Each time you do them stretch for a little longer and push down more. If you do 5 Min's a day you should be able to do the box splits in a month or two.

Stretching should never be painful only uncomfortable. If its starting to hurt stop what your doing at once. Only participate in partner assisted stretching with someone you really trust.

If in doubt consult your Doctor or personal trainer.

You don't need no gimmicks or training aids its about putting the time in. Get into a routine like brushing your teeth. Just do 5 Min's a day. Once you can do them its easy to maintain.

Best wishes

idai

Answer 3

I know this is going to sound incredibly ridiculous but if you have a chance to practice yoga, try that. It is a good introduction into deep stretching, which is what splits are.

Lots of martial art schools jump right into splits which is horrible for everyone, even if you are very flexible. For a beginner especially, you always want to warm up with cardio (a jog is good) before you split so you don't hurt yourself.

Also, don't feel like you need to get it right away. If you go too hard you will hurt yourself and end up less flexible that you were before (and it will take you longer to get those splits). When you do the middle or side splits, you want to make sure you feel tension but not pain. Hold it for 10-15 second at a time (or less if you can't), and relax in between stretches. If you are doing side splits, make sure your back knee is rolled under towards the floor. A lot of people cheat and roll their back knee facing out, which is bad for your joints.

If you exhale on the slow slide down, you can get a couple more millimeters out of it, but don't overdo it. Also, in all three splits, try to sit up straight in them as much as you can. Good posture (though it will seem unnatural at first) will help you stretch.

Answer 4

I'm not sure why this issue of doing splits comes up so much, especially for beginners. Flexibility is the result of genetics and stretching. Some people can't do a split after years of stretching and some can do it with no stretching.

But who cares, other than to show off to your friends and say "I can do a split"? Do splits make you a better martial artist? I don't think so. Its good to be flexible, but I bet there are alot of people who can't do splits in whatever martial art you are in who are pretty good at what they do. So don't emphasize it so much and keep on practicing.

Continue to stretch daily, but don't hurt yourself. You should stretch until you feel the muscles and tendons warming up, and after a couple of weeks you should notice some improvements. Just stick with it.

Answer 5

The safest way is through constant stretching.

Although there are some people who are born with the ability to do splits, stretching gradually lets your muscles and tendons to adjust.

MAke sure to warm up first. Walk of jog a bit before stretching. Make sure to let your muscles rest and recover properly. Don;t over exert yourself!

Push to your limits and this will be uncomfortable but it should not be painful!

Answer 6

You can get some help from Tom Kurz's book Scientific method of stretching or his DVD from Stadion.com

It got good explanation on what to determine how flexible you are, test your potential flexibility if you will be able to do splits.

Of cos he also show what type of strength training to prevent injuries and how to arrange your strength and stretching routine.

I tried it and it helps alot.

Answer 7

definitely Tom Kurz or Synerstretch video.

Synerstretch emphasizes PNF stretching which is the safest method.

Answer 8

taking it nice and easy, I was as stiff as a board before I enrolled in Jiu-Jitsu and now I can almost do full splits. It took me about 8 months to get reasonably limber.

Answer 9

UTorrent is probably the best, demonoid is a good site for torrents in general too

Answer 10

slowly. do a few kicks to warm the muscle up , then stretch, then train, then stretch again. also , tongue on roof of ur mouth n breath out slowly thru ur nose as u stretch , inhale as you come up.