Flexibility.....Issue

[kittycatcat5]

Hello Everyone!
As you gymnasts know, in gymnastics you need lots of flexibility and well let's say, I don't have it!
My bridge is HORRIBLE, I can do my right leg split, but not my left or box split. I lack shoulder flexibility and back flexibility, and I really want to improve my flexibility.
I am around a level 6 or 7 in america.
Please can someone give me tips or something to help me?
It's starting to interfere with my new skills.....
Please can someone help....somehow!
Either a website, thread-i tried but nothing helped, youtube video, or just explain an exercise here.
I will REALLY appreciate any help I get from you guys!
Thanks Guys!

 

[gymnastbeth]

There is no cure-all quick fix for flexibility. The best thing you can do is work at it every day.

 

[kittycatcat5]

There is no cure-all quick fix for flexibility. The best thing you can do is work at it every day.

Yeah, I know! But I meant exercises!

 

[gymnastbeth]

Yeah, I know! But I meant exercises!

Honestly the best exercises you can do for splits or bridges are to just sit in your splits, and push your shoulders over your hands in bridges. You can do bridges and try to push your shoulders into a wall. I wouldn't recommend trying to gain back flexibility but instead work on increasing shoulder flexibility.

 

[Kiwi]

Have a look at the Ballet Blog website by Lisa Howell. She is a physiotherapist who works with dancers, who has some interesting approaches to flexibility. She has some products you can buy - I bought her Front Splits Fast program, it was expensive but I've had a lot of value out of it. She also has some youtube videos.

My DD has flexibility issues and I have taken her to see a St John Neuromuscular Therapist who has done wonders for her flexibility. Sometimes, lots of static stretches of the muscle you think is the problem is not the answer. Everything is connected - by fascia, nerves, and also muscles that work together - and sometimes you can improve flexibility in one area by working on a different area! You also don't always need to do stretches, as muscles can be helped to release by massage and other release techniques (such as tennis balls, etc.)

For example - for shoulder flexibility, it can help to work on the pectoral muscles - do pec stretches and massage in that area. For bridge, restriction can sometimes be in the abdominal muscles, so work seal stretches (and massage).

For splits flexibility, you can massage the soles of the feet, the calf muscles and the neck and scalp (see Lisa Howell's Youtube video showing the massage of the sub-occipital muscles at the back of the head). My DD has improved her hamstring flexibility by stretching her quads and hip flexors, because gymnastics conditioning trains quads and hip flexors a lot, which can shorten them, leading to the pelvis rotating forward and stretching the hamstrings, putting strain on the hamstrings, and actually reducing their flexibility. You could also try stretching your side splits first before front splits, as stretching the inner thigh muscle first seems to help improve hamstring flexibility.

These are quite unconventional approaches, I suppose, but they have worked well for my DD when conventional stretches, as she did at the gym, were not very effective at improving her flexibility.