Standing Front Split (over Head)

How to do it

1. Stand straight facing a chair.
2. Hold the band with your right hand, wrapping it around your wrist once.
3. Take the other end of the band over your right shoulder and loop it around your left foot.
4. Hold onto the chair with your left hand.
5. Lean forward toward the chair, slightly arching your back.
6. As you lean in, let the band gently draw your left foot upward — only as high as you can control while keeping your pelvis square and your standing leg stable. Never force the foot toward your head.
7. Slowly lower your left foot back to the ground while bringing your torso back to a standing position.
8. Hold at your controlled end-range for twenty to thirty seconds while concentrating on your breathing and the muscles you are stretching.
9. Repeat two times.
10. Switch sides and repeat.

Form cues

• Caution: This is an elite, advanced gymnastics/contortion movement. Do not attempt it until you can already sit comfortably in a flat front split with a level, square pelvis.
• Caution: Never yank on the band or force the leg higher — move only into a range you fully control, and stop immediately at any sharp pain in the hamstring, hip, or lower back.
• Keep your standing knee soft, your pelvis square, and your spine long rather than collapsing into your lower back; use the chair only for balance, not to haul yourself deeper.
• Equipment: a gymnastic strength band, yoga strap, or resistance band all work — use whichever you have.

Dosage

• Hold 20–30 s
• repeat 2× per side

Muscles worked

Stretches: hamstrings, hip flexors

Target muscles

Related exercises