What Muscles Do I Need to Stretch for the Front Splits?
What Muscles Do I Need to Stretch for the Front Splits?
If you’re asking what muscles do you need to stretch for a front split - then congratulations on trying to train smarter! Understanding the basic anatomy behind stretches can not only help you choose better stretches to reach your goals, but it can also help you understand where you should be feeling the stretch, and how to stretch with proper form.
The two main muscle groups we need to be flexible to achieve flat, square (“square” = hips in a forward-facing position) front split are hamstrings in the underside of the front leg and hip flexors in the front of the back leg.
Simplified Video Summary: Hamstring & Hip Flexor Stretches in a Front Split
But because splits aren’t totally a passive stretch - especially if you are working to keep your hips square, there’s actually a bit more to it! A more comprehensive breakdown of what’s needed for flat front splits would be:
What ELSE You Need for Your Front Split
In the Front Leg…
Flexible (and strong!) hamstrings to allow the front leg to flatten to the ground with a straight knee. The hamstrings include your semitendinosus, semimembranosus, and biceps femoris
Strong hip flexors when the hip is flexed to encourage the front hamstrings to relax. When we talk about the “hip flexors” we primarily mean the psoas major and iliacus, but this also includes the psoas minor (for people who have one, only ~60% of people do), the rectus femoris (one of your quad muscles), sartorius, pectineus and sartorius
Strong quads when the hip is flexed to keep the front knee straight and protect the knee. Your quadriceps include the rectus femoris (which helps straighten the knee and flex the hip!), vastus lateralis, vastus medialis and vastus intermedius
A properly slide-y sciatic nerve to allow the front leg to reach straight forwards without discomfort
In the Back Leg…
Flexible (and strong!) hip flexors to allow the back leg to extend behind your hip and lower your hips to the ground (particularly your psoas, iliacus and rectus femoris)
Strong glutes (especially your gluteus maximus) when the hip is in extension to keep your hips square and relax your hip flexors
Strong internal rotators when the hip is in extension to keep your hips square and prevent external hip rotation (“turning out”) of the back leg
A properly slide-y femoral nerve to allow the front back leg to extend backwards without discomfort
You’ll notice a common theme of needing strong, not just flexible muscles - that’s not a mistake! For our body to become more flexible and achieve a greater range of motion in a joint, we need our muscles on both sides of the joint to be strong in that position, signaling to our nervous system that this is a “safe” position to allow us to go deeper. That’s why working on your active flexibility (engaging your muscles while you stretch) is so important!
Remember, when we think about training our muscles, especially strength training, “specificity of training” is important - meaning you train them specifically in the range of motion that you need for your skill. Thinking about training our glutes to support our front splits is a great example: all the squats in the world won’t help improve your front splits because squats strengthen your glutes while your hips are in a flexed position and your glutes are lengthened. In a front split, our back leg hip is extended, and our glutes are in a shortened position. That means you’ll want to choose glute exercises that focus on working your glutes while your hips are in extension so that they translate to your front splits (glute bridges and active lunge variations are both good options for this).
Suggested Stretches and Drills for the Front Splits
For the Front Leg (Hamstring Flexibility Focus)
Sciatic nerve glides (only if you have sciatic nerve tension - here’s how to check)
For the Back Leg (Hip Flexor Flexibility Focus)
Femoral nerve glides (only if you have femoral nerve tension - here’s how to check)
Kneeling active hip rotations (try to emphasize the internal hip rotation, aka the thigh-to-the-inside / foot-to-the-outside portion of the movement)
Advanced lunge rocks (only for folks who can comfortably pull their foot toward their butt in a lunge!)
For Both Legs Together!
Standing split (or three-legged downward dog) kicks (this does focus a bit more on hamstrings in the base leg, but still works the glutes to help stretch the hip flexors in the kicking leg)
Front split slides with torso lifted
Putting it All Together: A Front Split Stretching Routine
A good front split stretching routine should hit all those areas listed above. Lucky for you, I put together this free 10 minute splits routine a while ago that’s a great starting point because it has those bases covered (except for the hip rotation and nerve mobilizations - for those you can add them in if you need them)!
Pssst - looking for a longer, follow-along front split stretching routine? Check out some of these recorded, on-demand classes: 45 Min Starting Front Splits, 60 Min Split Clinic: Getting Flat Splits, 60 Min Square Yo’ Splits
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Recommended Class Recording
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Help! My Knee Hurts in a Lunge (this is also applicable if your back knee hurts in a front split!)
