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Why would anyone want to do it for a couple hours? You could over stretch and weaken some muscles. I don’t think it is necessary at all for gymnastics. Ten to 15 minutes in an over split will accomplish the same thing as doing it for a couple of hours. You are better off doing this 10 minutes every day instead of two hours once in a while. Add a few powerful leg lifts and you’ll get beautiful split jumps.
10 minutes is also way too long. Research indicates there’s a neurological process where the muscles will tighten up in order to protect your body. Go to Shift Movement Science and you can read more. https://shiftmovementscience.com/ultimategymnasticsflexibilityguide/
I didn’t read the article but I do agree that 10 mins is too long even. When I teach ballet I have never had my students stay in a static stretched position for even more than 1 minute. We stretch for 10-15 minutes on the floor but constantly shifting positions (i.e., straddle with straight back, straddle with chest on floor, right split, right split with chest on knee, other side, splits with arching their back, straddle with side stretches, etc). We maybe hold those positions 15-30 seconds.
But I’ve seen gyms and coaches have their gymnasts hold split positions longer. I do believe if there is pain while doing a stretched position it should not be held static for more than a minute. One can also increase intensity gradually.
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