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Do you dream of middle splits but dread the training? You are not alone. These splits are uniquely challenging because we are asking the very muscles that support most or all of our body weight to also “relax” and lengthen into a vulnerable position.

That’s a big ask. We are also putting lateral pressure on the knees and ankles, which is not always popular with them. Any instability in the hips, knees, or ankles can have unpleasant consequences.

I’ve written before about how just sitting in a split is a poor allocation of your training time if you want flat splits. This is especially true for middle splits, where so many different muscle groups need to be able to perform in some unusual positions. Pre-gaming that strength and range can make the goal position safer and more accessible.

If you’re new to the terminology, please start with this article and video about the difference between straddle and middle splits since they are often used interchangeably!

The primary muscles that need to lengthen in middle splits are the adductor group. The adductors are a collection of five inner thigh muscles whose main job is to squeeze the leg towards the midline of the body (think add the legs together).

All five of the muscles originate in the lower portion of the pelvis where they interact closely with the iliopsoas and the pelvic floor muscles. This is why I’m back to yammering about pelvic stability again, since an unsupported pelvis makes middle splits both less accessible and more dangerous.

Four of the adductor muscles attach to the inside of the femur, but one of them— the gracilis—passes the knee joint as well. The gracilis doesn’t even touch the femur, making it a very squirrely little muscle that often needs a lot of extra love and support during straddle/middle training in order to avoid putting pressure on the knee joint.

While the adductors are the muscles receiving the most stretch in a middle split, they are also the muscles bearing most of your bodyweight. A successful middle split provides as much support for the adductors as possible by also engaging the glutes and deep hip muscles that facilitate external rotation, the quads to protect and support the knees, all the muscles of the ankles, and the core for that vaunted pelvic stability.

This means that middle splits require a great deal of coordinated lower body strength. Without that strength the pressure on the adductors leaves benders in real danger of connective tissue tears in the hips and knees. Below are three skills that shore up both the adductors and their supportive friends that make middle splits safer and so much less miserable.

Firstly, the femur needs to be able to externally rotate in the hip socket. This is important because it moves the bony protuberance on the top of the femur—the greater trochanter—out of the way of the crest of the pelvis. If you don’t find some external rotation then those two bones will just press together creating great frustration and a feeling of deep futility.

The majority of folks I’ve worked with who were really stuck in their middle splits progress struggled with external rotation of the femur. For the most part, improving external rotation did enable more range of motion.

This is why I always, always start any straddle/middle training program with hip rotation, both external and internal. It is an often neglected plane of movement, even for people obsessed with glute strength. For healthy hips we want to be able to control and support about 30-40 degrees of internal rotation and 40-60 degrees of external rotation.

If you are a long way from this range, I recommend focusing just on rotation before jumping into serious straddle/middle training. I am a big fan of the humble clamshell exercise, which is a staple for a reason. It’s easy to cheat on this one so I made a quick tutorial to help you find the target muscles.

Pro tip: even though external rotation is what’s required for our goals, please don’t neglect your internal rotation. It’s never good for the body to only work movement in one direction, and many of the same muscles are involved in both external and internal movement so you will find more progress by training both.

It is a common misconception that the limiting factor in most flexibility poses is just tight muscles that can be gradually overcome with frequent stretching. While frequent passive stretching may lend a bit more range, its limits lie in the body’s protective measures to prevent our ambitions from causing us injury.

In middle splits, because those adductors are doing double duty as both lengtheners and supporters, you are much more likely to run into protective tightness. Practicing the stretch in straddle, where gravity is not bullying the adductors, is very important for safe progression. But at the same time we need to build dynamic stability and strength so that when we do dare to attempt that middle split our body feels safe enough to allow the inner thighs to lengthen out.

Ballet dancers and martial artists know this well. Beginners in both arts are immediately taught some version of the standing, knee bent version of a middle split: the ballet 2nd position plié or the martial arts horse stance.

Becoming comfortable in this position, including variations like cossack squats, good mornings, and sumo squats, enables you to feel supported and safe with lengthened adductors.

If you are new to this training, bringing the feet closer together and using minimal knee bend will allow you to feel the strength and alignment needed to comfortably support your body. Over time the feet can come farther apart and the knees can bend more, requiring more length in the adductors.

Because the knees are bent in these poses they reduce the danger to the knee and the tension on that squirrely gracilis muscle so that you can focus on the pelvis and the larger adductors.

One of the most common limiting factors in middle splits training is knee and/or ankle pain. Part of this is because of the gracilis stretching across the knee joint, but it is also because lateral joint stability is not often part of people’s training plan.

The dynamic adductor work in the previous section can help with stabilizing the inside of the knee, but we also want to make sure that the muscles on the outside of the hips and legs are doing their part to resist the sideways force created by middle splits.

A few years back I created this yummy little movement snack pack of exercises designed to strengthen this outside line of the lower body for middle splits. They target the glutes, quads, and the outside of the calves and ankles. Give them a try and see how you feel:

If you are brand new to training straddle and middle splits, I would recommend a training plan with short sets (2-3 sets of 10-12 reps) at least twice per week to get you started. Keeping the range small enough that you don’t get super sore or experience any irritation in your joints will ensure that you can keep your training consistent. Consistency beats high intensity for flexibility training, every time.

Once you are comfortable with these exercises, which could be anything from a few weeks to many months depending on training frequency and your specific needs, then you can progress into straddles, frog stretch, and finally middle splits.

If you’ve already been training straddle and middle splits and you want to feel how exercises like these combine to help you get deeper into your training with less discomfort, please join us for Intro to Contortion: Straddle/Middle Splits edition this Saturday! Again, if you can’t make it, the recording will be available on Monday morning for your enjoyment. The recording from the Front Splits session last week is in the catalogue if you’d like to check that out first.

I got so many great questions after the Psoas tutorial video went out a couple of weeks ago. Please bombard me with your thoughts and feelings about middle splits as well! I love hearing from you!

Happy Bendings,

Kristina

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