Best Tips for Spread Eagle | Off-Ice Stretching || Coach Michelle Hong

Are you looking to do a beautiful spread eagle just like Allison's? Well you're just in time because I am working on stretches towards the spread eagle for today's episode of Stretch with Michelle. Love you all so much and I hope you enjoy. The first stretch that we're going to get into is the froggy stretch. So the first step to getting the frog is to get on our hands and knees and we're going to start to inch our knees apart while our feet behind us try to stay together. Okay so we're going to go inch inch inch you can slide and if your feet behind you separate a little bit that's okay and then we're going to get on our elbows and we're going to rock back and forth back and forth 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Slide all the way down to your chest reach forward breathe in through your nose out through your mouth and really feel that hip open up. Okay now I'm going to start to slide our hips back back back back back back back and try to reach them closer to your feet you'll feel a deeper stretch in the inner thighs try to stand up straight like this breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth awesome okay so that's froggy now let's go to butterfly we're going to keep our feet together and we're going to flap our wings we're going to go 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. If your knees are here just start somewhere we're going to slowly press these open open open open okay now we're going to create a pretzel like position so you're bend your right knee and you're going to stack your left knee on top and going forward breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth, breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth Ooh, left hip, not the best. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. I feel a tightness there. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Okay, switch it around. You're gonna bend your left knee and stack your right knee on top and really press down into your mat. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. What's interesting is that my left knee is more, or sorry, my left hip is more sore, but my right knee I feel like is higher in general. I prefer back pancakes and back, what else requires hip opening? Oh, like back I-spins and back V-spins. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Okay, fantastic. Now we're gonna go on to our backs. Bend your knees, open up, stretch, and straighten, and straighten, bend, and straighten. Okay, fantastic. Now we're gonna go down into a yoga squat. You're gonna breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. We're gonna press our feet towards the inner parts of our arches as our hands are pressed down like this. So I'm pushing my elbows and my crevice of my knee together. And if you can, you can lean forward and try to balance and across. This really opens up the inner thighs and strengthens those hip muscles. Fantastic. Okay, we're gonna rock from side lunge here and side lunge here. I'm placing my whole entire leg on the ground. Opening up my muscles. Forward fold, and switch. Great. Get on your hands and knees. We're gonna lift one free leg up to the side like this and slide down as we inch our way towards the middle split. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. In through your nose, out through your mouth. And then alternate. I like to put my foot on a superior surface and my knee on a groupier surface. So I can slide my foot out to the side. Breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. And now we're gonna open up into that middle split. So if you can try to put your elbows onto the ground as your feet slide up to the side, that's a perfect way to get into this position. If your butt's too high right now, that's perfectly fine. Just remember to measure your progress. So if I'm here and in three weeks I wanna get down to the middle split, I'll be able to document this process. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. I'm in pain, but I wanna hold it for at least 30 seconds for maximum progress. My teacher used to sit on me when I was younger when I did sport aerobics gymnastics. Ooh, it was painful. Okay, now you're gonna bend one knee to get out of the position and roll onto the left side. Fantastic. Then we're gonna go into that middle split one more time. Shake your feet out to the side. You can start it in a straddle as well and drop your feet forward. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. We're gonna bend the right knee. Fold this leg backwards and forward fold. Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth. Awesome. Okay, so now that our hips and our knees are opened up, we're going to go into the beginning stages of a spread eagle. So the beginning stages of a spread eagle will start in second position, technically like in ballet, but with our feet trying to be as in a straight line as possible. So right now I feel it in my knees. My knees really feel tense and tight. You could also lean against the wall for support. And I'm laying out my feet with the back of my mat to help me figure out if it's in a straight line or not. So now that my feet are in a straight line, I'm gonna bend my knees and I'm gonna straighten my legs. Bend my knees, straighten my legs. So I'm already doing a spread eagle right here, but I want you to try to strengthen the muscles that are holding yourself up. And I want you to get more familiar with how your knees feel, how your ankles feel, how your legs feel, how your hips feel. So by bending our knees and straightening our legs, you'll familiarize yourself with all the different muscle groups that need to be strengthened in order for this spread eagle position to be held on the ice. Spread eagles are a beautiful, beautiful asset to programs. You can do inside spread eagles. You can do big, giant outside spread eagles when that climax of the music hits. So it's important for us to try to open up all the different muscle groups and really figure out what is needed for us to succeed. All right, so there you have it. These are some simple exercises that you can start incorporating into your everyday practice for you to accomplish the spread eagle. So if this is simple for you on the ground, I think you're ready to do it on the ice. I love you all so much, and I'll see you in tomorrow's episode of Stretch with Michelle. Bye.