FLEXIBILITY - PANCAKE (LEVEL 1-3)

FLEXIBILITY - PANCAKE (LEVEL 1 -3) INTRODUCTION The pancake stretch is one of the most useful stretches and it pays to spend effort on it. The pancake enables the kind of flexibility that will be useful for daily functions, calisthenics skills, handstands etc. LEVEL 1 - STANDING OR ELEVATED PANCAKE Test yourself by siting on the floor with legs apart and straight. See how far you can go down. If your body is about 90 degrees or slightly less to the floor, its best to practice the pancake either standing or with the bum slightly elevated (e.g. with a yoga block/s). In this position you can utilise gravity to help you go further down. LEVEL 2 - FLOOR PANCAKE Once you can pass about 45 degrees, it’s time to practice on the floor. Make sure the back is kept straight and hinged at the hips to avoid strain to the lower back. Use your hands to control the stretch and to also pull your further into the stretch. The aim is to get the stomach to touch the floor and NOT the head. LEVEL 3 - MOVING NON ASSISTED PANCAKE Once you are flat on the floor, it’s time to develop active flexibility but going down and up using purely your muscles without the assistance of the hands. This requires you to stretch and contract the muscles at the same time, which develop both strength and flexibility. PRACTICING You only need to spend about 3-5 mins on the pancake stretch to improve. Ideally 4-6 times a week. Higher frequency of practice will see faster improvement and you can even practice twice a day. However, when you first start, take it slow and easy. HOW MUCH TO PUSH Once you get used to it, you need to try to feel how much you can push safely. Too little, you won’t progress; too much you might get injured. So it’s very much an internal feel you need to develop yourself. The people who improve very fast, have very good body awareness of how much they can push. This is something I can tell you about, but very difficult to learn. ASSISTANCE If you have a partner to help you, the partner can help press you further down GENTLY. You need to give feedback to your partner as to how much pressing is appropriate. If you need to stop, the partner must release the press softly and gradually. MAINTENANCE Once you reach your desired level and its very stable, you probably can get away with less practice. Stable means that you can go flat down without any extensive warmup. I can maintain my flat pancake with only twice a week practice, 3 mins each session. NEXT LEVEL 4 - PANCAKE INTO SIDE SPLIT Beyond the flat pancake, Level 4 is where the pancake can be opened up pass 180 degrees and transit into a side split. I find this more effective to get into a side split that from lowering into a side split. This will be shown in another video. But most people will take quite some time to get to this level.