Maybe a silly question and its anecdotal to what I see. I work in dance (not as a dancer, just do stretching in my free time) and I notice its so much more common for people to be able to a side split than a middle split. I’m fairly naturally flexible and can naturally do a middle split but can’t do a side split! I maybe trained 2 weeks to get all the way to the floor but was able to get close naturally. I have been working on my side split for a long time with way less success and much slower progress.

Dancers I work with are impressed by my middle split and say they cant do theirs but they can all do amazing side splits! I thought middle splits also take less muscles to actually get there? And maybe its just people I personally interact with but it seems to be a trend

Sorry if this is a dumb question but was just curious!

EDIT: I messes up wording, I meant why are front splits (one leg in front of you) more common than middle splits (legs straight out to sides at 180 degrees)

Hello, I am looking for advice for how to improve tightness kn my left leg. It doesnt feel tight unless doing my middle splits or left splits, particularly if I do not square my hips. I used to dance, and had both of them lower than now, but never fully there. It just has not really gone away even after stretching for a few weeks. It‘s a different tightness than usual stretching though, it hurts and its kind of in one area. Any advice or similar experiences? I have also had a minor hyper extentsion of my left knee, but I am not sure if thats related, I was not stretching at the time very much so I do not know if it got worse after or not. Does it just need to be strengthened? I have tried a bit, but maybe not consistently enough to see a difference.