For Coaches How long to get your split straddles?

[littlekateskate]

Just a general idea. My daughter who just started seems to be naturally flexible. She has never stretched before and is decently close.

Does it typically take a year, can it take much less? Is it harder for younger kids or is it harder for older kids.

Is there really any standard behind this lol

Another age old question I have. Is can anyone become flexible. I have heard so many people say with enough stretching anyone can become flexible. Then i have heard the who you cant bend a toothpick.

 

[gymdog]

I have never been particularly flexible at straddle splits...I can get down or at least close, but only after I do oversplits now. My hip flexors are pretty tight.

There's not really a standard because it does depend on individual composition to some extent, but for a child starting off with some natural flexibility and stretching regularly, I would roughly guess (not having seen the child or knowing how they are stretching both dynamically and statically) that it would take less than a year most likely. If she is already close then it could be fairly soon. On the other hand it can be hard to tell because I've seen people who are naturally pretty flexible with R/L splits but not middle (I have good R/L flexibility and bad middle). So if flexibility is being judged by the back or shoulders or even forward legs/pike, it might not indicate middle.

Everyone can improve their flexibility by stretching regularly, but like anything else not everyone is going to see the same results even if they do the same exercises the same amount of times, you know? For people of any age, there are going to be varying factors that affect their results...but all will likely see some improvement assuming it is a good faith effort and they are pushing themselves. In general you'll probably see more/easier improvement at a younger age, although on the other hand, an older child may be more dedicated or focused due to greater maturity so of course that would be a factor, if we aren't generalizing about this in a vacuum