Supported bent-leg partial front splits
Channel: Kit Laughlin
Date: 01/12/2011

In our experience, this "cheating" approach to front splits is streets ahead of any other method, and there are many reasons for this claim.

First, this is the least uncomfortable way to get into this position (also called "Hanumanasana" in Sanskrit). Those of you who have tried front splits with both legs straight (the conventional approach) will know how scary, and painful that can be (especially for men). 

As an aside, what is the real restriction in front splits? Perhaps surprisingly, it is the hip flexors on the back leg. If you want to prove this to yourself, put your front leg up on something hip height: most people can do that, easily, and with good spinal alignment. But when the back leg is out behind you, it pulls the pelvis anteriorly—and the hamstring attachments (ischial tuberosities) are pulled away from the front knee in the process. The result? A super-intense hamstring stretch.

So, the second advantage of this version is that, by altering the trunk alignment to the floor, you can precisely alter the locus of the maximum stretch—front or back leg.

The third benefit is that, because the hamstrings are being stretched from the bent-knee to straight-leg position, the *apprehension reflex* is minimised. I named this reflex in the 4th edition of Overcome neck & back pain—it describes the massive increase in tension created in the body when it feels threatened. Front splits and side splits exemplify this response!

Try a long session on this exercise once a week: you will get doen to the floor relatively quickly, and safely.

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