Yesterday I had my first PT session with a guy who specialises in flexibility and stretching. I told him I want to get into the middle splits, so that's the only thing we train.
I've been doing passive stretching for a little over 20 years now, ever since I got into martial arts in my teens. Obviously though passive stretching hasn't been enough, even though I spent a few months recently spending 20mins per day in my leg stretcher machine.
So anyway our sessions involve exerting the muscles when they are near to their limit of range of motion. The training involves getting stronger at the extremes of range of motion. Supposedly this new strength at the extremes will be what eventually gets me into the splits.
I'm told that whether or not a person can do the splits is largely based on what their brain will allow -- rather than how long the muscles and tendons are. Having longer muscles and tendons I'm sure is a plus, but really the major factor is just how far your brain will allow the stretch before it invokes the 'stretch reflex'.
I was looking into getting a drug that inhibits the stretch reflex but they're all way too heavy and have a list of side effects. Diazepam would even help but of course it's habit-forming so I won't go there.
Last week I measured the angle between my legs at 134 degrees . . . so I need to get another 46 degrees from somewhere.
Anyone got any tips here? I'm totally obsessed with getting into thr middle splits and I'm willing to go to the PT sessions and also do the exercises myself at home.