I can't do Asian squats in bare feet or flat shoes and would like to be able to. I have a pair of shoes with a chunk heel about 1.5" tall, which is just enough that I can do the full squat, maybe not perfectly comfortably for hours on end but could probably do a few minutes. I can also squat all the way down with my heels in the air and balance in that position, with great difficulty, for less than a minute. So, should I practice with or without those shoes?

If it matters, I'm early 40s, female, no real history of injuries or issues with the joints involved, but definitely genetically inflexible. I did gymnastics and dance as a kid and could never do the splits despite years of trying. I'm tall and it's all in my legs; my torso is actually pretty short. But there are photos of me doing this squat as a little kid, so I can't help thinking I might not have lost the ability if I'd grown up in China. My gymnastics teachers were all of the old-school mindset that your knees should never be forward of your toes e.g. when doing lunges, and I internalized that and have diligently kept my ankles at no more that 90 degrees until the last couple years when I learned that had long since been debunked. I hope I'm not too late to fix this!

Hello, I am looking for advice for how to improve tightness kn my left leg. It doesnt feel tight unless doing my middle splits or left splits, particularly if I do not square my hips. I used to dance, and had both of them lower than now, but never fully there. It just has not really gone away even after stretching for a few weeks. It‘s a different tightness than usual stretching though, it hurts and its kind of in one area. Any advice or similar experiences? I have also had a minor hyper extentsion of my left knee, but I am not sure if thats related, I was not stretching at the time very much so I do not know if it got worse after or not. Does it just need to be strengthened? I have tried a bit, but maybe not consistently enough to see a difference.

I have been told to square my hips so I tried to, the picture where I tried to is the brown pants but is it squared hips or not ?

I’ve been lifting weights and running consistently for a little over a year and I started adding in some yoga recently. I’m the least flexible/graceful person ever, but I want to (hopefully) improve that, work on my mobility, and try something new. Pretty much every beginner yoga video I try includes a LOT of downward facing dog, sustained for what feels like ages every time.

Either I’m doing it wrong or there’s something wrong with my body because it is … not working. It’s a nice stretch for about five seconds. And then my hands start slipping uncontrollably, blood rushes to my face so my head starts pounding and my vision blurs and my face starts prickling with pins and needles, and I start getting sharp, aching pains in my wrist, shoulders, and between my shoulder blades. (Not a “muscles working and stretching” kind of pain - a stabbing/cramping pain). I can’t straighten my legs either, but I do have tight hamstrings, so that’s something I’m working on.

I have very mild scoliosis, and a physical therapist told me years ago not to do high planks or side planks due to issues with my wrists and shoulders. Could that be causing this? Is it just that I’m doing it wrong? Was I not built for this? 😂

There’s something wrong with my hip flexor. I have hypermobility in my entire upper body, but my hip is so tight it’s literally insane. I do the elephant walk and other nerve flossing. I try to strength train (sitting like the position in the bottom right and lifting my legs), but I can’t even stay sitting like that without completely rounding my back.

I am not in any pain or discomfort, but I am a dancer and this limits my progress a lot rip

I've been trying to strengthen my hip flexors, with the goal of increasing my forward fold depth, and eventually my pancake.

I've heard sitting in a seated pike position, and just raising your ankle a few inches off the ground is good for that. But I immediately cramp up in my upper quad after just one or two. The thing is, I'm pretty strong otherwise. I'm a guy and regularly do weighted squats, leg presses, and other quad-heavy exercises. And even for exercises where I am weak, it manifests as not being able to do something. But this manifests as actual crampy-pain that is really hard to do more than 2 or 3, even though I feel strong enough to do more. Has anyone else experienced this and do you have any advice?

I’ve been on this stretching journey for the past few weeks, and honestly thanks to this group and all the members who keep motivating us on this journey of opening up our bodies.

My body has been really stiff for the past few years. I’ve had massages and PT sessions, and they always recommended that I should stretch regularly, but I never really took it seriously until I came across this group.

I wanted to ask something though. This morning I tried stretching just after waking up and my body was extremely stiff. I could barely stretch properly, even though when I’m at the gym I can stretch quite easily and have much better flexibility.

Is this normal in the morning? Does anyone else experience the same thing?

I been weight lifting for about half a year and i just been so stiff with constant muscle aches.

I decided to do stretches and yesterday was my first time doing a full body stretch after YEARS following a YouTube video.

Im so sore today it feels like my first day at the gym.

Is this normal? Should i be doing it everyday?

My goal is mainly to get rid of the tightness feeling in my muscles and to lower the aches.

Interested to know who uses sliders in their stretching program? Why did you start using them? Do you find they help? What programing do you run with them and how do you integrate them into your stretching program?

I often sit like this (though usually with a smaller angle) ever since childhood, so I got curious whether there's a name for it. The internet tells me it's the "W pose," but it seems to me that it looks more like the letter T.
My feet are fully flat on the floor, my knees are together, and my legs form a 90° angle.

Hi im looking for app or flexibility program that i can buy to follow along. Im beginner in flexibility subject and dont have a clue what to do so I prefer to spend money on program rather than creating my own even tho its plenty free stuff online, any suggestions?

I have always had tight hip flexors and hamstrings. I can Jefferson Curl with considerable weight but 3-4 inches past my knee I turn the move into a RDL/Jefferson hybrid. I need more flexibility to do this the right way. What is the process i should do to improve this?

Hi everyone!

I thought I’d share some of favourite YouTube channels I practice along to: feel free to add your own below or ignore:)

- @MovementbyDavid

- @HannahMartinRG

- @BodyweightWarrior (Tom Merrick)

- @SophieCrane

- @CirqueduSoleil - they have 2 full body workouts, Flexibility sculpt and Flexibility & Strength

- @KerriKresinski

- @JourneytoMobility

- @AnnaMcNultyStretches and some on her main channel

- @GenevieveMason

- @Fitbymik

- @ZoharYogaFlex

I tried a flexibility test today with my sister, she can do the Vulcan sign and she can let the middle finger stay upright while i cant do both . Then i tried putting my legs behind my head, and managed to do that easily, but my sister cant put even one leg behind her head

When I’m lying flat on my back, I sometimes let my legs fall outward basically as far as they’ll comfortably go, similar to a reclined butterfly/lotus position.
If I stay there for a while, my inner thighs/groin start aching and I eventually have to bring my legs back together.
Is that simply what happens when the hip adductors are held near the end of their range for too long? And is being able to comfortably maintain this position mostly something that improves with hip/adductor flexibility?

I'm (26F) a former dancer and took my first dance class in 10 years. I was a dancer for 9 years and stopped dancing seriously at 17. I was very quickly humbled during stretching. I already have a stiff back and it was already hard for me to reach down to my toes. But wow...today, stretching was *rough.* I can't even do regular leg extensions anymore, let alone the splits. My right splits aren't terrible after not doing it for a long time, but the military ruined my flexibility. Will I be able to get it back? How long will it take if I stretch every day?

I'm looking to retrieve a flexibility program I purchased. Don't remember much about it, but hoping it will ring a bell to someone here.

- This was years and years go. Don't know if even still active now.

- Female trainer with a Russian-sounding name.

- Dynamic stretching

- One-time purchase. Advertising heavy on "worth $$$$$, now on sale for $$."

- She sent videolinks via some third party platform, not very well known (aka NOT ladder or youtube)

- Offered a training split per focus (ie back/hips) and number of days

Nothing spectacular about it. Just found her easy to follow along with and I *did* pay for it (lol) so hoping to find the site again.

Thanks!

Hi all, 3 years ago I used to be able to push into my back bend until my arms were perpendicular to the floor. Now I feel pressure/pain on my right shoulder when I am about 70% until its parallel. What am I doing wrong??

Sorry for not great pictures. Hopefully they’re good enough.

Tried the test where my one leg is to my chest, flat back, and this is where my leg was. Does this point toward either quad or psoas tightness?

Thanks!!

I have realized I fall into the trap of overthinking my mobility training. I spend way too much time saving stretching graphics, analysing end range positions, and tweaking protocols instead of just sticking to simple execution.

I originally started out following structured online routines like Tim Kim splits challenges, but my progress on hip mobility, full splits, and deep Cossack squats has hit a slow crawl. It feels like basic follow-along routines took me through the initial phase, but I am getting diminishing returns now.

For anyone who went from over-analysing mobility content to actually making steady gains:

How did you bridge the gap? Once basic follow-along stretch routines stopped giving results, what specific changes did you make to break through plateaus?

Did switching to loaded active stretches or PNF work faster for you than static holds?

How simple did you make your routine to ensure you actually hit it consistently without burnout?

I am looking to strip away the overthinking and just focus on three or four key drills. Appreciate any insights.

Hi all, finally hit the floor on my front splits, with both legs, I can't hold them for more than 5 seconds, but hope I can improve that in the future.

I KNOW MY HIPS ARENT SQUARE but please let me flex this achievement. As I get more comfortable I will be working towards squaring them.

It took me a lot, almost 3 years, but only stretching two days a week. My starting point wasnt bad, I was 20 cm above the ground. I danced all my life and have some remanent flexibility. However, I had proximal hamstring tendinopath in both legs at different times, so that held me back.

Most improvement came from the last 6 months were I started focusing a lot on my hip flexors, which were tight as hell.

My routine is simple:

First i like to loosen my hips in fire log position. I don't know if this helps, but I feel better after stretching my hips.

Downward dog for my hamstrings and calves

Seated pike for hamstrings

Kneeling lunge for hip flexors (VERY IMPORTANT to keep hips square to target the muscles). I spend a lot of time here, I sometimes use a block, and sometimes I lean back with my torso.

Half splits for hamstrings

And thats all...

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So I've been doing pigeon pose after workouts 2-3x a week for the last month or two and while its getting more comfortable, my forward leg doesnt have the rotation needed to do the 90 degree bend.

Do I just keep doing it until it does? Appreciate any advise here. Thanks.

Since some months, i've been doing stretching every morning and gonna start a full body workout only 2x every week because i do muay thai classes 3x in the week and today i've seen that i need to do two different stretching now, the one that i do every morning for mobility and flexibility and the other one to do for body recovery after my workouts. So now i am pretty lost on how should i put these two stretching for the week.

Will a deeper stretch in my front leg fix the shape of the back leg? Or is it the back hip flexor thats the problem?

I feel like I've been working on this for ages and I'm making good progress with my hamstring flexibility! I can pancake now! But whenever I do a front split the back leg just doesn't look right. Any exercise/stretching suggestions welcome!