Pop culture moments on television shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and the eighth season of Love Island USA—where contestant Kenzie Annis quickly stood out by abruptly deploying the splits in moments of both delight and rage—often inspire viewers to try the move. Ramoni Overton, a yoga instructor and YouTuber based in Los Angeles, notes that seeing these displays makes people want to take on that challenge and push themselves to new heights.
However, doing a split may look impressive, but experts caution it should not be done without practice and it may not be for everyone. For most of us, casually busting out a split should not be attempted, as slamming your unpractised pelvis into the ground can result in serious pain and injury. If you are unsure, you should seek help from a qualified trainer.
To understand how to get started on the splits, it helps to know the two main types. Emmet Louis, an acrobat turned flexibility coach based in Ireland who is known online as the “Splits Wizard,” explains that the first type is the middle or centre split, where your legs go out sideways. This style primarily stretches the adductors, or inner-thigh muscles, while the glutes on the outside of the hip joint contract to help stabilize and pull the legs apart.
In the second type, the front split, one leg extends forward and the other back. The forward leg engages the hamstrings and calves, while the trailing leg stretches the hip flexors, including the psoas, iliacus, and rectus femoris, which are all muscles in the area of your pelvis and thigh.
Achieving the splits takes a lot of work, and how quickly you can do them depends on whether you have been working on your flexibility as well as factors such as age, genetics, and bone structure. David Behm, a kinesiology researcher at the Memorial University of Newfoundland who has written a book about stretching, cautioned that not everyone will ultimately be able to do the splits. Behm explained that people may inherit skeletal structures that limit range of motion, or they may inherit much stiffer ligaments. While muscles and tendons can experience substantial improvements in extensibility with practice, ligaments are much more difficult to adapt.
Louis added that people generally assume that splits should come easy, often expecting to achieve them in 30 days by following online instructions. However, even though splits are possible for many people well into their 50s or 60s, it takes a lot longer than you think. Louis always encourages people to think in timescales of 18 months to three years, allowing the body time to adjust to extending its range of motion, which is the distance that your muscles can stretch, while accounting for incremental improvements and plateaus.
Before you start, Behm suggested asking yourself why you want to do the splits, urging people to check in with yourself. Although they are impressive, doing the splits doesn’t have much to do with health. Behm compared them to running an ultramarathon or maxing out a heavy squat—remarkable achievements, but not magic keys to longevity and wellbeing. There are some benefits, as the splits require a lot of flexibility. Being more flexible will allow you to have more efficiency in your movement, and use less energy to go through the daily motions of, say, picking up a book off the floor or chasing your kid on the playground, Behm said.
Conversely, excessive stiffness is definitely disadvantageous to your health in terms of muscular injuries and tendon injuries. Yet, doing the splits does not provide greater benefits than just having a sufficient range of motion in most of your joints, said Behm.
To avoid pulling a muscle, Overton suggests warming up first before trying the splits or any deep pose. During her yoga lessons, she likes to start off with a seated butterfly stretch on a yoga mat, calling it a very gentle way to start opening your hip muscles, especially if you have been sedentary. From there, she recommends forward folds and lunges to pre-stretch the hamstrings and calves, which are central to the splits, stretching both the front and back of your hamstrings. Overton also suggests practicing some ankle flexation, as the ankles are often overlooked in their contribution to splits, and flexing them can help you get a little bit lower over time.
Additionally, Louis recommends a basic resting squat as a useful first step for your splits journey to increase flexibility and stability in your legs and pelvis. To do this, stand and then squat down low with your feet flat on the floor, arms in front of you, and your back straight, spending some time in this position daily.
Some discomfort is expected when stretching, but not pain. Overton explains that whenever you feel a sensation during a flexibility exercise, you are stretching your muscle. However, to achieve the splits, you do need to get used to toeing the brink of discomfort—very carefully, Behm notes. Behm suggested going to your initial point of discomfort and holding it there for 30 to 60 seconds, which is sufficient.
You shouldn't be going into severe pain in order to achieve the splits. If you catch yourself grimacing, holding your breath, or feeling that the sensation is too intense whatsoever, you must ease off. Otherwise, you run the risk of straining a muscle or a ligament, especially if you try to bounce or force yourself down.
To ease into it, Louis explains that for the front splits, you should warm up, then ease into an extended lunge, edging your front leg forward while your back leg stretches behind you. Behm noted that a successful front split would have the legs parallel to the floor. For center splits, start sitting with your legs in a wide "V" shape, then walk your hands forward and, over time, gradually develop the hip flexibility to eventually lay your torso down on the ground.
Once you have managed that, you can begin working on entering the move from a standing position. You can keep track of progress by monitoring the inches or centimeters between you and the floor week to week.
Ultimately, a successful split isn’t just about getting your legs flat on the floor, Overton said. It is about reaching the position with proper alignment, keeping your hips as square as possible, and feeling supported rather than forcing your body into the pose. Overton encourages students to stick to a realistic, comfortable pace and remember that success looks different for everyone, measuring progress by improved mobility, comfort, and control, rather than comparing themselves to someone else's flexibility.
