The Pancake
The pancake is a basic, beginner stretch. Most athletes work on their pancake without even knowing it somewhere in their routine.
Precise Position
In a pancake stretch your pelvic should be in the anatomical position. You are sitting on your seat bones with your knees pointing towards the ceiling. Whilst keeping this position you now want to lean or crawl forward. It is essential here not to round the back. Flip your hips into a slight anterior pelvic tilt if you can. The goal is not to get the nose on the floor but the belly button towards the front and then to the floor.
Traditionally in artistic gymnastics the legs should be in a 90 degree angle but depending on your precise goals you might want to open them more or close them slightly.
Muscles Stretches
The pancake mainly focuses on stretching the backside of your legs with the main emphasis being on the hamstrings. In all pancake stretches but especially when you flex your feet you will also stretch your calves.
Since your legs are open you are stretching your hamstrings in an unusual angle turning the pancake into an essential and unique stretch!
Common mistakes & Limiting Points
The main mistake that I see in Athletes working on their pancake stretch is a lack of focus. It is easy to sit around in a circle before or after the workout with your mates, hang out and hope to get a stretch. Especially in an exercise as “basic” as the pancake stretch it is essential to stay focused. If you lose the anterior pelvic tilt or your knees bend the stretch becomes significantly less efficient and could even injure you in places you last expect.
Variations & Progressions
There are countless ways to make pancake stretches harder or easier. A great way of decreasing difficulty is by elevating the glutes on yoga blocks.
On the other end of the spectrum the pancake stretch gets harder by elevating the feet allowing you to fold deeper than you’d be able just on the floor.
My 2 variations worth mentioning here both help getting into a deeper and especially longer pancake stretch.
Stand on a bench with a weight in your hands pulling you down low. Don’t try coming back up. We are not doing conditioning here. At the end of the stretch simply drop the weight to the floor.
For the second variation throw a towel, belt or elastic around a pole in front of you and use your arms to pull towards the front. This can help create a better APT and deeper stretch.
Pancakes in the wild
We can see pancake stretches or movements depending on pancake stretches in pretty much all disciplines. The take off moment for the press to handstand is the prime example. A stalder also heavily relies on the pancake and so does the Figas handstand.
The Middle Split
A good middle split is much rarer than a good pancake. Whilst theoretically easier and less technical than a pancake it requires a specific flexibility that is more difficult to attain for most.
Precise Position
I’m a middle split the pelvic has to rotate. Basically you want to be lying on your stomach with your legs out towards the side. Your seat bones should point towards the back and the knees in the opposite direction towards your head. It is essential that your knees are fully locked with the quads engaged.
Muscles Stretches
The middle split mainly stretches the adductors with some focus on the hamstrings and depending on your flexibility level even your calves.
Common mistakes & Limiting Points
The biggest mistake that happens when people train for the middle split is poor self judgment of level paired with a lack of progressions. When it comes to the middle split it is essential to actually train your progression. If the exercise is too difficult you can not train with correct form and the stretch won’t bring the expected results.
Variations & Progressions
Progressing when training the middle split itself is quite simple. Place pillows under your tummy until you find the right height where you can relax with some discomfort. Over time take some pillows out until you’re on the floor. Then start elevating the feet to make it harder
Unfortunately, it is of course not quite that simple. When you first start training your middle split you might not be able to straighten your knees fully. If your knees are slightly bent there is a huge risk for injuries and it is better to focus the hamstrings whilst training the middle split with both knees bent and on the floor to ease tension on them.
Another great variation of the middle split is on the back with the glutes, hamstrings and calves pushing against the wall. You can use angle weight on the knees or an elastic connecting your ankles behind your back to pull the feet down.
Middle Splits in the wild
Whenever you open your legs the middle split will be beneficial. In handstand every single straddle inversion depends on your middle split. In calisthenics you can create a mechanical advantage with the middle split. Straddle planches and levers will get significantly easier if your legs open wide.
Middle splits are extremely useful to make your practice beautiful, your handstands more stable and your calisthenics power moves much easier.
Comparing Pancakes &
Middle Splits
Now that we got an overview over the 2 let’s see how they compare. By now you might realize that they look similar but are actually very different. Most athletes who have good middle splits are often also quite flexible in their pancake stretches but this is not a given. The opposite on the other hand is not true. Just because you have a good pancake your middle split does not automatically have to be great!
The pancake as a prep for the middle split
The pancake will represent a significant step on anyones journey towards the middle split. Whilst the middle split does mainly depend on adductor flexibility your hamstrings will receive a good stretch as well.
In the pancake we fold forward. This means the hamstrings are the main target. Compared to a regular pike stretch we have our legs open during the pancake stretch which creates a unique stretch which is perfect preparation for the middle split.
For someone who is at the beginning of they flexibility journey and only getting to know their body building coordination the pancake is an excellent drill to do exactly that. Learning to lean forward whilst holding the hips in an anterior pelvic tilt is an important exercise that can be scaled to almost any level of flexibility.
The Swimmer
The Middle Split Swimmer is the ultimate exercise to highlight the strong connection between the middle split and the pancake. There are plenty of progressions of the Swimmer turning it into a valuable tool for athletes of all levels.
The goal of the swimmer is to slide from the pancake into the middle split. For this your have to internally rotate your legs in the pancake so your big toes touch the floor. Using the arms you will then pull your upper body towards the front to align the feet and hips.
This exercise truly shows how closely related both stretches are yet how different they are from each other.
Are the Pancake & the Middle Split the same thing? Absolutely not!
Could the two be any closer connected? Probably not.
The pancake and the middle split are both essential stretches in the tool box of any athlete. Both focus on the hips and when used correctly will bring tremendous results for their specific targets.
