whats the best way to learn a split without going to a gym? or doing gymnastics/cheerleading/dance?
930860
stretch your legs one at a time for 30 sec holds\nthen position them differently and stretch for 30 sec\nthen put one leg in front of you bent and the other leg straight    \n    behind you, slowly move the front leg more straight and hold it\n    as long as you can tolerate it \nAslo do the split for as far down as you can go and hold it for a  \n    min, once you get it far enough, balance yourself and put your \n    arms on your front leg and push down and hold as long as you \n    can\nDo stretches before and after splits\nstretch as often as you can
226659
train muscles half the time (squats) and right after do vertical jumps. You will have the impression you are flying without those pesky weights
531430
Use Plyometric training....see the info at:
834927
It takes about a month to get a split. Stretch in a pike position (legs outstretched in front of you, reach for your toes). And all you have to do is just slide down, that's all I can really tell you. You won't get very far the first few times, but when you are practicing every day or so, you will see improvement and become closer to the ground.\n\nTo do a back flip, you should know how to do a back handspring and things similar to that. \nStart standing. Bend your knees a little bit, then start to lean back. While you are leaning back, you should be ready to push your feet off the ground as hard as you can. Jump up, back, spin around, and tuck your legs into your stomach REAL TIGHT. You should be rotated over by now and landing on your feet.\n\nIt is really hard to tell you how to do this over the Internet, so it might sound confusing, but just practice and have to instructors help you and spot you.\n\nYou won't be learning back flips until later after you have cartwheels, splits, back bends, back walkovers, front walkovers, handstands, round offs, back handsprings...\n\nGood luck and have fun in gymnastics!
65595
most gyms (as in places where you do gymnastics, none of that YMCA junk) offer classes to help cheerleaders. if you can't do that then i would recomend just working on your flexibility and stomach, leg, and upper-arm strength.
740764
I found this site with a lot of gyms in Colorado. http://www.usgyms.net/colorado.htm\nCheck it out and call around to find out if anyone's willing to let you jump on the trampoline and into the foam pit with or without the board. The safest way to do it is with the gear on but you can try without, the only problem is your body won't accept it as easily when you try without the stuff attached. Gym classes are pretty important unless you go during the off hours like during the school day. Another safe way to try is after you get comfortable on the trampoline, try to do in on the ground without the board. That helps you get used to the shock of the landing.
1168100
The best answer i can give you is maybe going to the nearest gymnastics facility and asking the owner or a coach to see if you can come in and work out a little.\n\nFYI: this is coming out of a gymnasts mouth
1023407
there is no easy way to do the splits if it doesnt come natural to you. . .all you have to do is stretch. . .TRUST ME!!!!. . .dont worry, ive been cheering for a little more than 3 very long years and this year i was even an all star, and i JUST hit my splits last year. . .EVERY DAY i stretched!. . .work your way down, dont just go right into them. . .sit into your splits untill it hurts - you dont have to go all the way down JUST UNTILL YOU FEEL IT!!!!. . .please do not let yourself be forced to do something you cant - you'll suffer from injuries that can last forever. . .if you can only go down a little, thats fine. . .make sure your knees aren't bent and if they are, fix it (you'll feel it) and hold the splits for at least 5-10 seconds. . .i stradle out my legs and put my body to the left then slide into my splits untill i hit the ground. . .if you go to gymnastics or cheerleading, they will show you how
826027
1. Stretch thoroughly before you begin. Otherwise, you may strain or tear a muscle. This can be very painful, so be careful!\n   2. Make sure you have a trained coach who can support your body weight and is certified in gymnastics, acrobatics, or cheerleading.\n   3. Listen to your coach. He will probably help you with a few basic drills to build up to your back tuck. These could include jumping backwards onto your back on a mat, or using a wedge or cheese mat.\n   4. You need to be able to confidently perform simple moves such as a forward roll, backwards roll, handstand, cartwheel, round-off, front walkover, back walkover, and back handspring. These skills provide you with the strength and balance needed to perform a back tuck.\n   5. Begin on a good trampoline. It's best to wear a leotard or a t-shirt and cotton shorts. Jump as high as you can, pushing off through your toes. Keep your arms down by your sides, or slightly out in front of you. To get a feel for this move, stack mats five feet high behind you. Jump as high as you can, pushing through your toes, keeping a straight body, and having the correct arms position. Jump onto your back, tuck tightly, and do a backwards roll. Once you are comfortable with this, move to the next step.\n   6. Jump high, with the body position discussed in Step 5. When you have reached a good height, raise your arms up quickly and tuck tightly. Hold your knees. Pull your body over, and land erect, absorbing shock by bending your knees.\n   7. Once you are confident with this, try piecing this together in the simple tumbling pass round-off back-handspring back-tuck. Eventually, you will progress to a standing back tuck.\n   8. Good luck, and have fun!
937632
Start by standing on a box, or bleacher steps, preferably with another box or platform a few feet in front of you.  Jump off and when you land on the floor, immediately jump up again onto the box or platform.\nThis essentially "pre-loads" your calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus muscles).\nIt's called "plyometrics".  Easy does it at first!\nLook on the web for more plyometric exercises.\nGood luck on your future dunks!
526758
you should definately consider getting a membership at the gym if you dont have a weight set at home. just doing pushups and pullups just doesnt cut it. if u do have a membership and weights, you wanna create a weekly 4 day split.\n\nmonday= chest (incline, decline, and flat bench)\ntuesday= back (pullups, reverse curls, pulldowns, rows)\nwed=rest\nthurs= legs (squats, leg press, extensions, curls, calve raises)\nfriday= shoulders and arms (military press, lateral and front raises, bicep curls, dips, tricep pushdowns)\n\neat calorie dense foods and a lot of protein. for a lot more info than i can give you here, read some articles on www.bodybuilding.com good luck.
286599
Gradual progression...everyday do some stretches, if you specifically want to be able to do the splits then do them to the best of your ability, without over-doing it, each day you'll notice you can stretch a little further. it will take some time but keep at it. When in any stretch position do not bounce, this is pointless and may lead to injury!
255749
you need to do a split every day and each day do a little more than the day before eventually you will do it.. don't do much or you pull a groin or  a muscle. also you can get streched professionaly but that cost money.. my brother did for zen do kye.. like in van dam movie .\nbut just do the day by day thing.
203354
Its tough to learn on your own, but there are a few websites that have some basic moves.  I'm sure there's a class in or near your city.  I found classes everywhere from San Francisco to Nevada City (pop 2500)
1051648
Damn. thepaladin38 recommended the stuff that I was going to. \n\nThere are a FEW people out there who will never be able to do the splits, but not many. Try this: put one leg up on a chair to your side so that it's about 90 degrees to your body. Then do it with the other leg. If both legs can go to 90 deg, then you have the potential flexibility in each leg to be able to do the splits. There's noting connecting each leg to the other, so there's nothing preventing you from doing that with both legs at the same time but proper stretching  and strength training to train your body to do it.
1001768
Try going to some open gym classes at a gymnastics plce and they could help you\n concentrate on it! \nMake sure to spot \nGet used to doing backbends\nmaybe start w/ backwalkovers and pick up the speed until it becomes a backhandspring\nHope it all works out for you!
191812
Thats easy. All you do is put a few Gymnastics mats infront of u, and run, lunge put ur hands on the mat as if u were doing a really fast hand stand bridge pull up. ITs really easy. warning: dont try this w/o adult supervision and do not try this w/o a trained gymnastics teacher.