Need help regarding hip hinge/straight leg mobility?

Question

Am 5 6" male 61 kg, fit and active.

I seem not able to stand straight and bend to reach my toes while keeping a straight back. I feel tight near my hamstrings and my back begins to round and I am only able to reach my palm to around my lower shin.

Even when I am sitting I am unable to reach my toes and experience the same problem when trying ab exercises like L sits and leg raises, I struggle to keep my legs at a 90 degree angle though with leg raises I can easily rep out with a small bend in my knees but it feels tight when straight leg.

Not sure if this is related, but I've noticed that I can't squat with normal stance ATG without raising my heels. I therefore do a semi-sumo width stance to get parallel but I have low ankle mobility too, so this squat issue might be a problem from both areas but not sure.

Any people faced the same issue or know any workaround? Or is it a genetic issues / proportion of my body that gives this problem?

Answer 1

When trying to learn the split often coaches tell trainees to open up their legs into an almost full split, and they are told to just wait...wait it up until their muscles fatigue and they collapse under their own weight and are forced into a full split. It often can take a full 10 minutes or more.

I suggest something similar,go down into a wide stance sumo squat but stop at midway down and hold the position.

Eventually your strength will fail you and you will go down into a full squat.

This should be the end result.

Also training the anterior part of your legs such as the iliopsoas, quadriceps and adductors will out-strength your back muscles and make it easier to do those feats of strength. Personally I was able to do my first V sit after starting to do split squats to train my adductors.