The Big 7 of Flexibility ✅
I’ve heard the concept of the “Big 5” flexibility exercises from @BodyweightWarrior ; they are: the pike, the pancake, the middle split, the front split, and the bridge. I added 2 more to the list, which I’ll explain below.
The idea is that working on these exercises will give you enough flexibility for all other flexibility goals you may have. For example, working towards the bridge will take care of the hip flexors, lats, and chest, instead of having to think about these body parts separately as individual goals.
You will still work on these body parts separately. However, the intent of improving your bridge and focusing on a single position makes training “easier” and more straightforward than thinking of each joint and muscle in isolation.
1️⃣ The Resting Squat: This should be your entry point to flexibility work. It should become so comfortable that you could even eat in this position.
2️⃣ The Pike: Hamstring flexibility will serve you for a myriad of skills and even daily life activities.
3️⃣ The Pancake: Not necessary for real-life activities, but it will improve all compression skills like handstand presses, L-Sit, and V-Sit.
4️⃣ The Front Split: This one will take care of all the hip flexors and hamstring flexibility you might ever need.
5️⃣ The Middle Split: Arguably the hardest of the lower body exercises. Again, not directly applicable to real life, but extremely helpful for anything hand-balance related. It will ensure you have enough hip flexibility to spare.
6️⃣ The Bridge: This exercise will open your entire anterior chain (front of the body). Working on it will open the spine, shoulders, lats, chest, abs, and hip flexors to a great degree.
7️⃣ The German Hang: I added this exercise to the list to work the shoulders into extension, which none of the above exercises does.
📱 You can find Follow Along classes for each of these movements on my app!
I recommend focusing on 2 at a time, maximum 3, for the best results. Any other questions, ask below!
With Love, Gabo
the only seven flexibility positions you should focus on first is the rest squat we should be able to be comfortable here as it will open the doors for any other position next is the full Pike this will ensure that you have more than sufficient hamstring flexibility for more things in life and training next is the pancake not this the pancake stretch is not necessary for real life activities but will make all hands and presses easier if those are part of your goals number four is the front split working on this will get you more than enough hip flexors and hamstring flexibility last one for the lower body is going to be the middle split extremely hard I know if you're a hand balancer the better your middle split is the easier everything becomes number six is going to be the full Bridge shoulders spine and hip flexors at its maximum expression finally is the German hang to open the shoulders into the opposite direction shoulder extension of course you will choose the right progressions for each rather than jumping into the full movements working on this will open every single joint in your entire body making them