Flexibility Hacks I How To Get The Splits Faster with @Miss Auti

All right, you guys, happy new year. I am so, well, I guess we already filmed a vlog. Well, this is the first vlog that I'm filming in 2019, so I'm very excited to be back, full force. Today we're gonna be talking about why you aren't getting your splits. So I've been getting a lot of DMs on Instagram, which I respond to every single one. It might just take me a little while. But I've been getting a lot of DMs about flexibility and you're frustrated because you're not getting your splits. So today we're gonna be talking about why you're not getting them and it has nothing to do with stretching. What? All right, guys, so something that's really important to getting your flexibility is foam rolling. So I'm gonna get real sciencey for a quick second. There are these things called adhesions and those adhesions attach to the fascia. So you're like, what are you saying? What I'm saying is your muscles have these little things that kind of stick like glue to them and they create these really dense masses. So those are muscle tension. Now, if you have muscle tension, flexibility is gonna be really, really tough to progress in. So that's where your handy dandy foam roller comes in handy. So I got this foam roller on Amazon for I think like $12. I have another blog where I tell you my favorite dance accessories and things to wear and this guy is in it. So I got the hardest one because I like to just be a tough cookie about everything. So what you wanna do is think about your own body and where you're the tightest. So your splits have to do with your hamstrings, your quads, your IT band, your hips, your booty. Yeah, so wherever you're the tightest is where you wanna be foam rolling. So getting that muscle tension out, think of it kind of like Play-Doh, I guess. I don't know, circa like 1993, I don't even know. You have this really dense ball of Play-Doh and the more that you play with it, the more flexible and warm and malleable it becomes and that's the same thing with this foam roller. So think of it as like you're baking, you're making a cookie, just one cookie, yeah, and you're rolling it out but that's how your muscles get softer and it gets easier for you to become more flexible because you're using something like this to get all of the kinks out of it. Oh yeah, that's nice, that's real good. Make sure you breathe. Hello, this vlog is about me. The pain! Water, you guys, you have to drink water. Now, I'm not here to tell you what to eat or exactly what to drink but I'm telling you to drink water. The reason being, think about it this way, water is essential to your body's health, okay? I'm not trying to sound like a mom but you have to hydrate for your muscles to be at their optimal performance level. So if you're dehydrated or you're not eating foods that are healthful, I'm not saying to diet, that's not what I mean at all but having a well-balanced diet and drinking a ton of water helps your muscles be at the healthiest that they can possibly be and with them being at the healthiest level they can possibly be, your flexibility will come faster. So flexibility has so many different parts with it. It's not just being like, and then being like, why can't I do the splits? That's not how that works, okay? Basically, just in order for your muscles to be able to be flexible and to do all those crazy flexibility tricks you wanna do, leg holds, tilts, leg hold turns, switch leaps, all of those fancy things, they have to be hydrated with water or else they're dehydrated and they're dry and I don't wanna use my noodle reference again but that's basically it. So think of your little piece of pasta, okay? And it's dry and you haven't cooked it yet. Try and bend that, right? That thing's gonna break in half but if you put it in water first and you allow the water to kind of get into the, this is me being a piece of pasta. When you let that water get into that noodle, it becomes more flexible and you're able to bend it and manipulate it into different shapes. So your muscles are the exact same way. Drink water so that your muscles become more limber and longer and you're able to move and bend them properly. So flexibility actually starts from the inside of your body with some H2O, baby. You guys, I'm about to blow your mind because I just learned something kind of recently which I kind of knew but I wanted to deny because your girl does not like lifting weights. But seriously, for a long time when I was younger, I was told that strength training and running particularly were bad for dancers because it shortens your muscles, it makes you less flexible, it keeps everything parallel. Because think about it, when you're running, your hips are turned parallel and all of dance is turned out so I was told for so long to not run and I was like, yes, I don't have to run, it's bad for me, ugh, you know. But that is not the truth so sorry to break it to you, babe but strength training and resistance training are going to help with your flexibility and here's why. When you wanna be flexible, you stretch and you stretch and you stretch and you stretch. So what happens is those kind of, the sockets that those muscles are coming from like your hip socket or even your shoulders, I have really weird shoulders, become so hypermobile and they become loose and then you don't have the strength to kind of hone in that flexibility so you get injured. So what you wanna be doing is you're stretching with your strength training. So I know you're like, what are you saying, lady? I'm gonna explain it to you and we're gonna do an example with your center split. Hey guys, thanks for joining me in my center split. So this is something that all of you guys probably do in class, maybe you do it at home but this is your center, right? So we're here, we're in class, we're beautiful, we're doing our stretches and all of that is wonderful. Maybe you're even doing your over splits where you put like a block or even a chair underneath your feet and you're hyper-stretching those muscles and that's great but what's happening is you're neglecting the strength of your hip rotators. So do these beautiful stretches, look gorgeous, have a good time, be excited that you have your split and you're working on it but at the same time, you also need to be doing your strength training exercises. So to stay with that example for your hips, we're gonna stand it on up and we're gonna do our grand plies which are gonna help with your hip rotators. So with your grand plies, you're focusing on your turnout while I'm already burning. These little guys from underneath, you guys get to see my butt a lot, low-key, yeah? But these little booty guys right here, that's what's burning from my rotation and I'm keeping a tall spine, a tall chin, my shoulders pressed and I'm focusing on the strength of these external rotators. So now I have the flexibility of that center split but I also have the strength to maintain that turnout and maintain that flexibility and that range of motion without kind of just being gumby and falling all over the place. Okay, we're gonna get a little sappy now. So now you have the stretches which I've gone through with you for the different vlogs. Watch my stretching vlogs, I have a center split one, I have your right splits, your left splits. We've gone through foam rolling, we've gone through hydration, we've gone through strength training with your static stretching but now your brain comes into it. Patience, dedication and repetition all in the text words right here, yeah? You need all three of those things. So getting your splits is such a big deal for dancers everywhere because it seems to be this like marker of being a great dancer and to be completely honest, you don't need your splits to be a beautiful artist but I know a lot of you guys wanna have that flexibility and you wanna be able to do these really cool tricks that you see and that's amazing, that's a great goal to have but with that goal, you have to lay the hard work down. So don't give up, you have to do these exercises every single day, a couple times a day. It has to become a lifestyle for you to be able to get those splits at least in the time frame that you wanna get them, right? You don't wanna get your splits in like 20 years and be like grandma and be like, I want my splits. You wanna be able to be like, yeah, okay, I got them in a month, I got them in six months. Whatever is good and healthy for your body, just go for it, okay? So repetition, patience and dedication. Remember those three things along with all the exercises that I taught you and I promise you'll be able to get your splits. We have a new like leaving line, outro line, like a new tagline basically because I'm so excited to be introducing a new series on my channel. It is called Dancer's Corner and that's gonna be out every single Monday. I think by the time this vlog's out, you'll have already seen the first one and hopefully you'll love it. But Dancer's Corner is gonna be just me, this little lady talking about everything that kind of goes through a dancer's mind and the lessons that I've learned along the way. So make sure you're watching those. So we have Dancer's Corner every single Monday, a new dance vlog every single Wednesday and a new choreography video the last Friday of every month. We're doing it all and we're so excited. You guys, we are growing and I love hearing from you and please keep finding me on whatever social media you use. I love getting messages from you guys. It's so much fun. I hope this vlog helped you and send me some progress updates on those flexibility moments, yeah? Love you guys, see you later. ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪