Many of us have “get full 180-degree splits” written down on a forgotten New Year’s Resolutions list or goals notebook somewhere. We talk about it to our friends, ask our yoga teacher for tips, and dream about that “someday” that your hips finally plunk on the floor.

But why do we care about splits this much?

Well, besides looking cool (which is totally valid!), here are a few reasons why working on this hip mobility is going to make your body super happy!

Reasons to work on Splits

Reason No. 1

Getting up & down off the floor. Having hip mobility allows you to be able to actually get in between your knees to quickly and safely go from standing to seated on the floor without the help of a nearby chair or handrail. Cheers to more years playing with our dogs and children in the grass!

Reason No. 2

Preventing & recovering from sciatica. Lacking full range of motion in the hips has an impact on the health of your sciatic nerve, given that you can compress or decompress it depending on how mobile your hips are. If you’ve ever experienced sciatic nerve pain, you might be present to what a relief it would be to recover from it!

Reason No. 3

Injury prevention for all sports. If you jog, run, sprint, jump, squat, play any dynamic game, throw (and try to catch) any sort of ball, climb, wrestle, you name it, having this kind of hip mobility is going to decrease the likelihood of pulling, tearing, or overstretching injuries in your sport.

Reason No. 4

Handstands. Turns out, the more open your splits are in both directions (front and side), the easier it is to get into, out of, and balance in, all arm balancing. Plus, it’s fun!

Great, now how can I work on this?

Glad you asked! We have just the class for you:

Front Splits, Side Splits, Lying Down, Oh My!

For this class, you’ll be face up the entire time as you work on opening up your splits! Grab two blocks, lie down, and enjoy!

Did you try the class? What’s your reason to work on splits?

Let us know in the comments below!