How to sit on a twine, if you are already over twenty

How do the splits. Video from the Lifehacker

Of course, not everyone will be able to sit on the splits from the first time, someone may need a week or a month. But regularly repeating these exercises, you will improve your stretching and strengthen your muscles:

If the twine – something more symbolic than yoga

For someone, twine is nothing more than a good stretch, healthy ligaments, an exercise from yoga. But for me, as for the man who grew up on the rebels of Jackie Chan, Van Damme and Donnie Yen, this was something much more important and symbolic. Already in my student years, I reproached myself for the fact that in the seventh grade, when I went to the hand-to-hand fight, I did not show due diligence to sit on the twine. And when I was 20 years old, it seemed that the time had passed, that I was old and that I should not even try to sit on the splits.

A miracle happened – right after university I went to study in China. In this university was a very strong school of Wushu, whose adherents regularly take first place in the All-China Wushu competitions.

It’s one thing when you live in a world of pedestrian office workers who do not particularly ask questions about stretching, but it’s quite another matter when you get into the training hall where flips are twirled, flats and everything else, even children, sit on the twine. In this environment, being the greenest, oldest and nontechnical student, one starts to stretch out somehow. This aspiration, as well as the advice of the Ushuists, helped me to sit on the cross-strand in less than a year of training. Their knowledge and experience I have drawn up in the list of recommendations for those who want to sit on the twine.

How do the splits. Instruction from champions of China on Wushu

1. Forget the timeline. There are no “for the New Year” or “for two months”. Hurry in the matter of stretching necessarily leads to injuries.
2. Less heroism. Better slow and systematic advancement to the goal for half an hour daily than the rare, but percussion drills for several hours at a time.
3. Know your body. Although we are all anatomically similar, each of us has its own peculiarities: the structure of the hip joint, the elasticity of the muscles and ligaments. For example, with varus deformity of the femoral neck, a person simply can not physically sit on the transverse string. Therefore, if your brother-acrobat came up with one method to sit on the string, it is by no means a fact that the same method is suitable for you. During training, you must determine your own problematic places, which do not allow you to sit on the splits. For example, I had no problems with popliteal ligaments, they stretched well. But the ligaments at the hip were as wooden. So I paid more attention to them.
4. Drink more water. When you drink enough, the connective tissue slides over the muscles, but when there is not enough water, the fascia can stick to the muscle fibers, reducing the range of motion.
5. Begin workouts gradually, gradually increasing the frequency of stretch marks. I started with one workout in two days and reached up to three workouts a day.
6. In the evenings, our joints and muscles become 20% more elastic, which reduces the risk of injury and allows for better results. In the mornings, you can perform dynamic stretching to remove the feeling of rigidity and enslavement after sleep, but do not strive for feats immediately after awakening.
7. Before stretching, you must warm up the leg muscles: run, perform air squats and regular warm-up exercises for 10-15 minutes. Stretching on the heated body, you reduce the risk of stretching.
8. Distribute the load. When you sit in a string, there is a temptation to walk closer to the floor at the expense of the knees. Remember: if during the stretching you have knee or back pain, you are doing it wrong.
9. There are two types of twine: dynamic (when you wave your foot – twine in shock) and static (sitting on the floor). It happens that a person can wave his foot to the state of twine, but can not sit on it on the floor. It happens the other way around. These two types of twine complement each other, so you should develop them in parallel. Dynamic stretching should be fully controlled, without sharp, jerky movements, otherwise mahi may result in trauma.
10. When stretched, then Sock should be pulled to itself, and not from myself (as in ballet).
11. When you are in static, you do not completely freeze, but continue to light vibrational movements – up and down like a string – with a convenient frequency for you.
12. Think about how to let your feet slide on the floor. It can be like a socks on linoleum, and shoes on the spittle of the ushuist.
13. Be extremely careful, when third parties offer you to “help”. No one but you can know what condition your ligaments are in now. The coach is not a psychic. How many stories have I heard about a trainer who “accidentally” tore a bundle to someone there. As for me, all these pair stretch-banners with the help of a partner pursue one goal – to make the process more interactive and complex. By and large, you do not need anything for the twine, except for the legs and the floor.
14. Relax. For the body, stretching is unnatural. When stretched beyond the usual range, the muscles automatically contract to prevent injury. Learn to relax and breathe evenly during stretching – this will help you to deepen the twine faster.
15. Stretch every day. Unlike strength training, after which you need rest and recovery, stretching does not require such interruptions. To quickly sit on the twine, stretch every day, without days off.
16. Use a hot shower. After a hot shower your ligaments will be more malleable for stretch marks.
17. Use the timer. Sitting on a string, put a stopwatch in front of you. Start small, for example with 30 seconds, and gradually increase the time. These measurements will also help you to more clearly feel your progress. Instead of a timer, you can use your favorite music, in which you are guided either by words or by the beginning of the chorus.
18. Sign up in any section where the twine is valued. For example, acrobatics, yoga, breakdance or martial arts. It does not matter if you can sit on a string or just work in this direction. Man is a social being, therefore any “public” trainings, and even more so in a circle of like-minded people, will morally support you and give you additional motivation.

Each person can have his favorite and more effective ways for him to stretch: someone will sit in the “butterfly”, and someone will wave their feet more – that’s why I did not describe any exercises here, they probably know you. And if not, then you know where to find them.

Most importantly – remember that with due perseverance people sit on the splits in both 30 and 40 years, the main thing is to believe in oneself. When a few months later I finally managed to sit in my cross-twine, our main ushuist smiled at me and said: “功夫 不负 有心人” – which means “if you work hard, you will surely achieve success”.