Question:

There is something to what you heard. Anatomy rules. However you & I can increase our flexibility through yoga, & perhaps alter alignment of our bones too. After all they are live tissue & reform ever all the time. peace, sandra

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hiya.       I’m about the most inflexible person alive.  I can’t even touch my toes. Yikes. Well, I’m 23 and lift weights 3 nights per week.  Is there anything keeping me from being able to do a "straddle" split (or whatever you call it)?  I have had some questionable information tossed at me from different sources.  They all tried to tell me that my hips need to be aligned correctly as a child, or else it will never work.       Sounds like hokey to me.       Thanks. Hi!         The most that you can stretch a muscle on any given day is to the maximum capacity of its **length** on that day.  By **length** I mean the number of muscle cells end-to-end in its fibers.  No visualization or technique, no matter how well done, is going to get you into the splits in one day (without damage) if your muscles aren’t long enough.  So if you want to achieve the splits you need to grow your muscles longer.  If you lift weights, then you already know that if you put in the work your muscles will grow wider.  Same thing with stretching and growing muscles longer. You must repeatedly and regularly stimulate the muscles to grow, and you must also provide the necessary nutrients and rest for growth to occur.         If you are familiar with the bodybuilder Flex Wheeler, then you know that you can have extreme muscular bulk on the legs and still achieve full splits.         If you stretch a muscle immediately after lifting weights with it (for example do hamstring stretches immediately after a set of leg curls), I predict that you’ll find that you can much more easily get the muscle very stretched when it is "hot" like this compared to when it is "cold". This is one way that weight lifting can help flexibility.  Another way is that weightlifting causes release of hormones which stimulate muscular growth.  I strongly suspect that these same hormones will enhance growth in length as well as growth in width, provided that the stimulus for length growth (i.e. a performed stretch) is present when the hormones are active [I haven't read a study confirming this, but it makes sense].         So I believe that if you are driven enough to discipline yourself to do consistent stretching, and patient enough to keep at it however long it takes, you can eventually grow your muscles to the maximum of your genetic potential.  How much is that?  Nobody knows your limit until you reach it, but my guess is that you CAN do full splits if you have the drive and discipline to really go for it.                         –Mark

   Yes, yes…what Mark says all sounds correct to me. I regularly do Yoga with weightlifting — intermixing the two. One trick is not to stretch a muscle immediatly after exercising it. Instead do a stretch that contracts the muscle and stretchs the opposing muscle. So if you exercise your quadricepts (thighs) then you can do a head to knee pose (which contract the quads) and so forth.  Later, you can stretch them out, but never immediately after. In fact, by contracting them, you will further the benefits of the weightlifting as well as get a wonderful stretch in the opposing muscles. Yes, I have found the energy released during weightlifting to be very invigorating for the Yoga stretches. Weightlifting really gets your kundulini stirred up. Its a great complement to Yoga. Of course whats his name did weightlifting and Yoga uhm BIKRAM…very muscular, very flexible. So the splits — legs sideways or front and back? Dang if I can do the one out sideways. I don’t think mens legs are made like that (don’t tell Claude Van Damm). I’d be careful with the legs out sideways split — it just don’t feel healthy to me (thats as much proof as I got). But the front, back split is really cool. THink of it as a journey, do a little every day (like Mark said — when your muscles are really hot) and you’ll be amazed how quick you get there. Weightlifting can tighten you up. But it don’t have to. In fact, some people who are proud of their flexibility are in fact merely weaklings. Their flexibility is derived of weak overly stretched muscles. THis is quite common in American yoga classes. People do a stretch againa and againa and again, the same way all the time, without doing proper opposing stretches or any strengthening and sure nuff their gonna develop weak areas. Ha! I remember one lady. Fierce about doing the Lotus pose. Did it religously. Only to find a year later, she had through the severity of her efforts, seperated some of her lower vertebrae. Funny how mental abberations express themselves in the body. Weightlifting would have prevented her calamity I believe.

Response:

Kavindra, this was an excellent post, and I have nothing to add but my praise.  Thanks!         …Rodney

Response:

I’m about the most inflexible person alive.  I can’t even touch my

toes.<<<<<         Try this website. It is fabulous! Brad Appleton’s Stretching FAQ http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/papers/rma/stretching_7.html Best of luck to you in your quest! ~V~ . My Essence is Vetiver Velvet. I seek to discover and celebrate my  Soul, while enfolding all around me in Unconditional Love. To email me, just replace the "Vtvrvl" with "VetiverVel"

Response:

Hiya.    I’m about the most inflexible person alive.  I can’t even touch my toes. Yikes. Well, I’m 23 and lift weights 3 nights per week.  Is there anything keeping me from being able to do a "straddle" split (or whatever you call it)?  I have had some questionable information tossed at me from different sources.  They all tried to tell me that my hips need to be aligned correctly as a child, or else it will never work.    Sounds like hokey to me.    Thanks.

Hi!         The most that you can stretch a muscle on any given day is to the maximum capacity of its **length** on that day.  By **length** I mean the number of muscle cells end-to-end in its fibers.  No visualization or technique, no matter how well done, is going to get you into the splits in one day (without damage) if your muscles aren’t long enough.  So if you want to achieve the splits you need to grow your muscles longer.  If you lift weights, then you already know that if you put in the work your muscles will grow wider.  Same thing with stretching and growing muscles longer. You must repeatedly and regularly stimulate the muscles to grow, and you must also provide the necessary nutrients and rest for growth to occur.         If you are familiar with the bodybuilder Flex Wheeler, then you know that you can have extreme muscular bulk on the legs and still achieve full splits.         If you stretch a muscle immediately after lifting weights with it (for example do hamstring stretches immediately after a set of leg curls), I predict that you’ll find that you can much more easily get the muscle very stretched when it is "hot" like this compared to when it is "cold". This is one way that weight lifting can help flexibility.  Another way is that weightlifting causes release of hormones which stimulate muscular growth.  I strongly suspect that these same hormones will enhance growth in length as well as growth in width, provided that the stimulus for length growth (i.e. a performed stretch) is present when the hormones are active [I haven't read a study confirming this, but it makes sense].         So I believe that if you are driven enough to discipline yourself to do consistent stretching, and patient enough to keep at it however long it takes, you can eventually grow your muscles to the maximum of your genetic potential.  How much is that?  Nobody knows your limit until you reach it, but my guess is that you CAN do full splits if you have the drive and discipline to really go for it.                         –Mark

Response:

   If you stretch a muscle immediately after lifting weights with it (for example do hamstring stretches immediately after a set of leg curls), I predict that you’ll find that you can much more easily get the muscle very stretched when it is "hot" like this compared to when it is "cold". This is one way that weight lifting can help flexibility.  Another way is that weightlifting causes release of hormones which stimulate muscular

  growth.  I strongly suspect that these same hormones will enhance growth in length as well as growth in width, provided that the stimulus for length growth (i.e. a performed stretch) is present when the hormones are active [I haven't read a study confirming this, but it makes sense].                    –Mark

        Re-reading the above, I see that I stated something improperly.  I said:  "…the stimulus for length growth (i.e. a performed stretch)…", when I should have said: " …the stimulus for length growth (i.e. from a performed stretch) is present when the hormones are active…"                         –Mark

Response:

Hiya. I’m about the most inflexible person alive.  I can’t even touch my toes. Yikes. Well, I’m 23 and lift weights 3 nights per week.  Is there anything keeping me from being able to do a "straddle" split (or whatever you call it)?  I have had some questionable information tossed at me from different sources.  They all tried to tell me that my hips need to be aligned correctly as a child, or else it will never work.         Sounds like hokey to me.         Thanks.

I have seen many weight-lifters who have damaged their bodies for cosmetic purposes.  If you’ve been lifting in such a fashion that you develop the big, bulging "muscle-man" look, this will seriously inhibit your felxibility. "Power-lifting," as well as doing reps to the point of strain, damages muscle cells.  Afterwards, the cells are built up larger and stronger. However, they become progressively more interlaced with a latticework of fibrous scar-like tissue.  It is this undesireable tissue that gives muscles definition even when they’re not being flexed.  It does nothing for increasing physical strength, but drastically inhibits flexibility. It can also be a repository of calcium oxalate crystals and other toxins. Ever see an old bodybuilder who’s let themselves go to seed?  You can see that their arms still hold the shape of the bulging muscles that they used to have, but are now flabby.  This is because their muscle cells are no longer so large, but the latticework of scar tissue is still in place. Most weightlifters maintain an achievement-consciousness when doing their reps- trying to build up to a certain number and weight. Combining this with the false "no pain, no gain" belief leads to the undesireable effects that I have described. Try to abandon this mentality.  Let your lifting be a meditation, and renounce the ego-gratification that comes from attaining goals and bulking out.  Close your eyes, move slowly, and pay attention to what your body is telling you while you lift.  Look for a weight & rep-number that makes your muscles feel invigorated and infused with energy.  If you sense any protest from your body at all, you’re doing too much. After completing a set of reps, relax and become still.  Keep your attention inwards, and feel how the prana flows back to the resting state.  Remain in this stillness for at least double the time it took to do the rep.  Then go on to the next one.  Upon completion of your workout, assume Shavasana- the corpse-pose, flat on your back, arms a little out to the sides with palms upwards, feet a little apart.  Alow yourself to relax completely and feel the flow of energy into your limbs.  You will naturally be drawn into a trance-state called Yoga Nidra, or Yogic sleep.  Remain like this for at least ten minutes. It should be noted that any session of asanas should also be concluded with ten minutes of Shavasana in order to reap the full benefits. In this way, your weightlifting becomes Yoga.  The benefits of doing it this way are enormous.  Instead of getting bulky, inefficient muscles, you will get compact muscles that greater in density and strength.  They will only bulge when in use; your physique will be lithe and graceful. Your endurance will also be greater. You will also experience an increase in mental clarity and calmness throughout your day.  The visions you will sometimes experience in the Yoga Nidra can also be psychoanalyzed and teach you a great deal about yourself.  As prana corrects the imbalances in your body through this practice, the unresolved psychological issues that caused you to create these imbalances in the first place will come to the surface in these waking dreams.  The analysis of these is called Swadhyaya in Yogic practice. Because you will also be training yourself to attune to the flow of prana in your body, you will also be able to listen to its messages better throughout the day.  Your emotions will become more pronounced, and serve as a source of moral guidance.  Your body will also be better able to guide you in your eating and sleeping habits. A common emotional issue among weightlifters is a fear of intimacy and vulnerability.  The development of big, bulky muscles is essentially a symbolic emotional coat of armor.  It can also be a compensation for having felt insignifigant as a child, creating a desire to appear big, powerful, and highly visible to others. There can also be issues of sexual egotism as well.  It is ironic that the biggest "muscle-men" are plagued with impotence because of the hormonal imbalances they have imposed upon themselves. If you combine this method of weight-lifting with stretching asanas, you will break down your own scar tissue and become quite flexible.  And practice the breathing exercises known as pranayama.  I can never emphasize this to my students enough:  PRANAYAMA IS THE BEST MEANS FOR INCREASING FLEXIBILITY!!! I have practiced weight-lifting in the manner I have described here, and find it much more life-enhancing than what I learned in high school gym class.  I surprise people with my strength when I help them move, etc. because they don’t expect to see such power and endurance in someone who is as lithe as I am.  They are also surprised when they see the massive amounts of food I consume every day without getting fat.  I have the muscle-to-fat ratio of a professional athelete, even though I haven’t done any lifting, or any other form of strenuous exercise, in about two years.  This is because Yoga increases the secretion of growth hormone, which counteracts the insulin which causes calories to be stored as fat.  Unless I fill my (very large)lungs to maximum capacity, I do not float in water.  I entertain friends at the swimming pool by sitting motionless in the lotus posture on the bottom of the deep end for long periods of time. I thank you for your post.  Recounting my own weight-lifting practice is now inspiring me to resume it.  I hope you (and any other weight-lifters in this group) have found this helpful.                                 Jai Bhagwan,                                 Kavindra

Response:

I’m about the most inflexible person alive.  I can’t even touch my

toes.<<<<<         Try this excellent resourse: Brad Appleton’s Stretching FAQ http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/papers/rma/stretching_7.html This is the section specifically for the "splits", but the FAQ covers much more. Be sure to proceed with caution, and best of luck to you! . My Essence is Vetiver Velvet. I seek to discover and celebrate my  Soul, while enfolding all around me in Unconditional Love. To email me, just replace the "Vtvrvl" with "VetiverVel"

Response:

Yes there is.  Flexability is a state of mind Jason.  That may sound far-fetched but it is also true.  As a yoga/qi-gong instructor I see your type of "inflexibility" everyday.  Its mental.  

        Well, cool.  I have some great visualizations accompanied by tactile hallucinations of what I hope to be the feeling of my inner thighs touching carpet at the same time. If you practice this split daily, or every other day with an open mind you will be able to do it.  Further, if you meditate, try to see yourself doing this pose – effortlessly.  Without pain or discomfort, see yourself in your mind’s eye doing this pose with strength and control.  Be patient, see it, practice it … it will happen.

        Thanks for the kind words, dude.  Inspiration rocks.  It really torques my honker when people tell me I can’t do something so basic as stretching.

Response:

From what I have read, lifting weights tends to reduce flexibility, making stretching that much more important as a regular routine. In addition, due to physiology, the straddle splits (legs out sideways) tends to be very difficult for males. You will probably find the standard splits (one leg forward and one back) easier to achieve, but even then it may be a long time before you do a complete splits. With that said, however, I would encourage you not so much to think of flexibility as a goal of yoga but rather accept it as a benefit. Emphasize the mind-body connection and just observe the changes in your body as you continue your yoga practice. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hiya. I’m about the most inflexible person alive.  I can’t even touch my toes. Yikes. Well, I’m 23 and lift weights 3 nights per week.  Is there anything keeping me from being able to do a "straddle" split (or whatever you call it)?  I have had some questionable information tossed at me from different sources.  They all tried to tell me that my hips need to be aligned correctly as a child, or else it will never work.         Sounds like hokey to me.         Thanks.

Response:

Jason wrote that he is <..I’m about the most inflexible person alive. I can’t even touch my toes. he also added that he is <..23 and lift weights 3 nights per week. he then asks <Is there anything keeping me from being able to do a "straddle" split (or whatever you call it)? Yes there is.  Flexability is a state of mind Jason.  That may sound far-fetched but it is also true.  As a yoga/qi-gong instructor I see your type of "inflexibility" everyday.  Its mental.   If you practice this split daily, or every other day with an open mind you will be able to do it.  Further, if you meditate, try to see yourself doing this pose – effortlessly.  Without pain or discomfort, see yourself in your mind’s eye doing this pose with strength and control.  Be patient, see it, practice it … it will happen.

Response:

Hiya.         I’m about the most inflexible person alive.  I can’t even touch my toes. Yikes. Well, I’m 23 and lift weights 3 nights per week.  Is there anything keeping me from being able to do a "straddle" split (or whatever you call it)?  I have had some questionable information tossed at me from different sources.  They all tried to tell me that my hips need to be aligned correctly as a child, or else it will never work.         Sounds like hokey to me.         Thanks.

Response:

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