Want to touch your toes? This helps. This stretch targets the hamstrings and calves to improve flexibility, reduce soreness, and relieve pressure on the lower back. You can use this to warm up for a workout, relieve soreness the day after a workout, or loosen tight muscles after long periods of sitting.
Half Split Pose Target Areas
- hamstrings
- calves
Half Split Pose Benefits
- Promotes quick lower-body recovery
- Reduces lower-back pressure or pain caused by hip tightness
- Reduces risk of hamstring injury
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How to Do Half Split Pose
- Start in Low lunge with your left knee above your ankle and your right knee and foot resting on the floor, toes untucked. Place hands on hips to ensure hips are level.
- Hinge forward to rest your fingertips on the floor on either side of your heel. Inch left foot forward 4 to 6in (10–15cm), then shift hips back.
- Flex the toes of your left foot toward your shin, and press your left thigh toward the floor until you feel a stretch through left hamstrings. Relax your neck. Hold the posture, inhaling as you lengthen the spine, and exhaling as you deepen the stretch in the hamstrings. Repeat on the other side.
Cues for Half Split Pose
- Square hips
- Flatten back
- Shift left foot forward
- Pull chest forward
- Maintain flat back and engage core
- Press right thigh forward
- Actively press left thigh downward
- Flex left foot
WHAT YOU SHOULD FEEL
- Stretch in left hamstrings and calf
WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T FEEL
- Pain in left thigh; if you do, bend knee as needed
- Rounding of back; if so, bend left knee and lift chest
- Head sinking toward knee; if it is, pull chest toward toes
Half Split Pose Pro Tip
To make the pose more active and improve hamstring mobility, make sure to engage your lower-body muscles. Squeeze the back thigh forward, press front hamstrings downward, and squeeze hips toward each other.
Half Split Pose MODIFICATION
- If you cannot flatten your back with your hands on the floor, rest your hands on blocks placed on either side of your front shin.
About Dean Pohlman, Founder & CEO of Man Flow Yoga, Author of Yoga Fitness for Men, Expert on Yoga Fitness for Men.
Dean Pohlman is an E-RYT 200 certified yoga instructor and the founder of Man Flow Yoga. Dean is widely considered to be an authority on Yoga for Men. He has worked with physical therapists to create yoga programs for back health and spinal recovery. His workouts and programs have been used by professional and collegiate athletes, athletic trainers, and personal trainers; and have been recommended by physical therapists, doctors, chiropractors, and other medical professionals.
Dean is a successfully published author through DK Publishing (Yoga Fitness for Men), selling 35,000 copies worldwide in English, French, and German; in addition to being a co-producer of the Body by Yoga DVD Series, which has sold over 40,000 copies on Amazon since its release in 2016.
Man Flow Yoga has been featured in Muscle & Fitness Magazine, Mens’ Health, The Chicago Sun, New York Magazine, and many more major news media outlets.
