Splits, Van Damme Style

[TrueKnight]

Hey,

I'm new so first off I want to say "Hi" to everyone...

Alright, what type of exercise or exercises should I do to get really flexible? I've been checking out these Van Damme movies, and I see how he easily does these splits. I also noticed that women really dig that...

I'd like to easily do splits, what path must I take to become that flexible?

If anyone knows the answer, thanks for your input.

[getgot211]

stretch

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=639853
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=640906

[firer0ck]

Hey,

I'm new so first off I want to say "Hi" to everyone...

Alright, what type of exercise or exercises should I do to get really flexible? I've been checking out these Van Damme movies, and I see how he easily does these splits. I also noticed that women really dig that...

I'd like to easily do splits, what path must I take to become that flexible?

If anyone knows the answer, thanks for your input.

are you serious?

[Guy Fawkes]

I think he is.

[Mr Lee]

Well pavel says that your muscles are already capable of doing the splits, it just doesn't know it. When you train to do the splits you aren't actually trying to stretch the the actual muscle fibres. The reason you cannot do them naturally is becuse your cns is not used to that position so it will tighten the muscles as it attempts to protect the body from injury. What you are trying to do is train your cns to be able to relax your muscle fibres enough to do the splits. In other words the body has to learn that the split position is not going to injure it.

[Slump]

http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masrjb/Stretch/stretching_7.html
http://www.extremefitness.com/forum/...ad.php?t=34372

I recently got interested in learning how to do the split in order to increase my overall flexibility. I've supplied two links which I found googling.

[Shortfuze]

best way to do the splits, is by actually doing splits for long periods of time.
For example, do a split to the point where you feel a strong stretch(and not a sharp shooting pain). Hold that position for 5 minutes. Next workout, do the same thing, and hold the position for 6 minutes as so on. Once you can hold the position easily for over 10 min(you'll need music or something to keep from getting bored), go deeper. You'll notice over time, you'll be going deeper and deeper into a split and achieve your goal. Also do split variations, like forward split and side split and hold the positions for 5 min at first and increase your time.

p.s Did you know some sumo wrestlers can easily do the split??

[Vadim Beliaev]

No one mentioned a very effective method for gaining flexibility, i believe its called neuromuscular facilitation. What u need to do is isometrically contract the muscle ur trying to stretch as much as u can, then stretch it as much as possible (but not to the point of pain!), contract it again, and u will find that the muscle will now stretch a little further than before. Do those on regular basis and u will gain flexibility much faster than with a conventional stretch.

[Mr Lee]

No one mentioned a very effective method for gaining flexibility, i believe its called neuromuscular facilitation. What u need to do is isometrically contract the muscle ur trying to stretch as much as u can, then stretch it as much as possible (but not to the point of pain!), contract it again, and u will find that the muscle will now stretch a little further than before. Do those on regular basis and u will gain flexibility much faster than with a conventional stretch.

Yeah, you just stretch the muscle out and contract it hard for a certain amount of time, then you relax and quickly try to increase the stretch, repeat that a few times.