My Best Leg Stretching Tip

I get questions all the time about stretching the legs. Even though I’m not known for doing full splits, I’ve already made two videos on how to improve your flexibility.

The first one covers the PNF stretching technique, which helped me a lot back in my high-kicking days.

The second gives you a few tips on how to make flexibility training part of your everyday life, which I highly recommend. But there’s still one more piece of advice—I’d say it’s my best advice—on how to get more out of stretching.

You can either play the video below or scroll down for the transcript. Happy stretching!

My Best Leg Stretching Tip

Wait! Before I give you my best tip, let me ask you a question…

Why do you want to do a full split?

I mean, if you want to be in movies, okay. If you want to impress your friends, all right. But maybe you should find less shallow friends. I just want you to know that if your goal is to take care of your body or even take care of a bad situation, you don’t need to do a full split.

Yeah, yeah—I know. Splits look cool. But if you only have a couple of hours to train per week, I’d rather see you spend that time hitting stuff than stretching stuff.

That said, if you insist on the splits, here’s my best tip…

Stretch your mind before you stretch your body.

Stretching is as much mental as it is physical. Yet I see so many people trying to stretch with a tight mind. They say—

• “Ow! This sucks.”
• “I’m too old for this crap.”
• “My back is killing me.”
• “It’s genetics—my whole stupid family is stiff as a board.”
• “Stretch, you BLEEPING piece of BLEEP!”

See the problem? A tight mind leads to tight muscles. A negative attitude leads to negative results.

The trick to getting the most out of your stretch—whether it’s static or ballistic—is to apply a little love. You heard me—love. Instead of yelling at your body like it’s your enemy, try talking to it like a child.

“You’re such a good little boy. Yes, you are!”

No—not like a baby. An older child, maybe 9 or 10. If you try to teach a 10-year-old by screaming, insulting, or telling them that it’s hopeless and they can’t do it is not going to help. You’re just going to do damage.

You’ll get better results if you just tell the child what you expect and then guide them with a little patience or even humor.

Sound silly? Of course it does! But try it anyway.

• “Okay, buddy—ready? Let’s see if we can go a little bit farther.”
• “You got it, my friend. Long and strong.”
• “Wow! Look how tough you are today! I’m gonna get you a sticker.”

Uh, no. No stickers.

• “Good job! You’re getting there. Keep going.”
• “Little by little. Take your time.”
• “Hey! That’s better than yesterday. High-five!”

Did I just high-five my leg? YES, I just high-fived my leg. Just remember the big idea…

You will stretch farther by getting your mind to work WITH your body instead of AGAINST it.

One more tip: no matter how you talk to yourself when you stretch, at some point, your body will always say OW. That’s okay!

Remember—that pain is actually your body trying to help you… to protect you! Your body hasn’t seen you stretch that far before, so it tightens up to stop you from hurting yourself.

So, when your body says, “Whoa! Stop! Are you okay? Did you slip? Are you drunk?” your brain has to be ready to say YES. I mean, no, I’m not drunk, but YES, I’m okay and I want to keep going.

Those are the two steps to a good stretch: tell your body what you want and then be ready to say it again when it asks for confirmation. When you say OW, turn that into “OOWWl right! I’ve got this!”

One last piece of advice—give yourself time.

Developing muscles and connective tissues can take months or years, but you can change your attitude in a second—so focus on stretching your mind first. Happy stretching!