Matthewismith

Matthewismith I talk about mobility for performance
Coach to Olympic gold
Train with me in the Mobility & Flexibility Toolkit

02/03/2026

Your calves might be the real villain.🦵

Do the test in the video - for most the difference is surprising

And yes… the calf doesn’t cross the hip.

But it can STILL limit your hip mobility. Here’s why:
⚡️ Sensory overload
⚡️ Fascial connections
⚡️ Sciatic nerve tension

Stretch smarter, not harder.
Save this for later + send to a friend who thinks their hamstrings are “tight.” 😉

13/02/2026

Ever noticed how a standing forward fold and a hanging leg raise are basically the same shape - just flipped upside down? 🤔

Same shape - with a completely different training stimulus.

Develop both - passive and active - to truly own your range.

05/02/2026

Your sciatic nerve runs from your toes all the way up the back of your leg, in some people even through the piriformis, and up to your head. When it gets compressed it can cause pain, electric tingles, or silently block your flexibility → stopping progress without you even knowing.

The good news? Many cases can be improved with targeted stretches, nerve glides, and soft tissue work.

24/08/2021

We spent the first 6 months of 2021 working with pro climbers on the world cup competition circuit, national team coaches as well as industry leaders Lattice Training.

They coached our climbing. .jchandler and I coached their mobility & flexibility.

We made a couple of videos with Team GB climber , and from aimed at a more beginner level. They can be found on the Lattice Training youtube channel.

Thanks everyone for the incredible sessions full of pro tips 🤙

---

For the more elite level, here are some interesting observations for climbers to consider about the side split (these are stereotypes based on an elite population climbing 8a or higher):

• I call them "crabs" because they're amazing at everything sideways but shocking at everything front-back → pike/pancake is a notable weak point and correlates with lacking the hip flexion to tilt the pelvis enough in a side split. This limitation can cause a bone jamming sensation when using the feet flat position.

• Climbers are very active in holding their ranges of motion but can lack the strength to lift → train with gravity resisting.

• Some of the worst I've seen for being able to relax and let go of tension in a position → train passive and/or contract-relax.

• Being good at tailors pose seems to be standard among those climbing higher grades → this correlates with the 'frog pose' often used by climbers but has much greater programming and loading potential.

• Side splits can allow you to break the beta and/or find extra rests.

• This split is often used on the wall with back leg like a side split and front leg the same as in a front split. We've been calling this version the "climbers split".

One of the many beauties of practices such as climbing is its ability to maintain your range of motion without you having to do much extra work. The range you gain in your side splits and squats will be relatively easy to keep through using it when you climb.
Once you develop your range with the strength to control it = more time climbing, less time stretching.

Full article can be found in the Mobility & Flexibility Toolkit. Link in bio.

05/11/2020

Ever wondered why so many people seem to hit a plateau in their side split training despite their best efforts?

The side split is a technical position. Get the wrong alignment and your progress is likely to stall.

Learn how to overcome this roadblock, along with many others in

The Mechanics Of A Side Split, now available on youtube. Link in bio.

16/09/2020

How often should I train flexibility?

If you're looking to gain range of motion, I structure training frequency through two types of phases: standard and specialist training phases.

The standard phases should make up the majority of your flexibility training. For most people each position is best trained every 3-5 days. Those with superior recovery and the available schedule can push it with even more frequency, whilst others will find that once a week is the maximum training dosage for them. Whatever YOUR body responds to best is what you should do.

Once you stop making progress, and you've tried modifying the variables, it would be time to write a new training phase; this plateau typically happens every 4-6 weeks. The new phase would include different exercise variations and loading parameters but still using the same schedule.

Every 3-6 months of flexibility training like this, I recommend introducing a specialist phase. Here we dramatically reduce, or even stop, the standard training and focus entirely on a single attribute everyday or every other day for 1 to 6 weeks. You might recognise these as your 'protocols' or 'challenges' that can work incredibly well if done in the correct dose at the right time. Despite their great results, they're often highly taxing and only address one specific area. These specialist phases should therefore be used more sparingly as they're not sustainable long-term - but are certainly worth it every so often.

There is definitely a time and place for both of these flexibility training types. If you're wanting to improve your split for example, start with 1-2 times per week and tweak from there to keep progressing each session. After a few phases of this, change it up with a specialist phase where you target a single attribute intensely, often everyday. Ultimately it comes down to experimenting to find your personal sweet spot with each to make it sustainable long term, as you arn't the same as the person sitting next to you.

This is a complex topic that requires much more than an instagram post to explain. Hopefully this gives you some insight into how to combine the contrasting approaches.

When first learning the basic handstand, progress can feel slow. There are a few key components to address, including th...
04/08/2020

When first learning the basic handstand, progress can feel slow. There are a few key components to address, including the fear of falling, teaching the body to make rebalancing corrections and learning to kick up. Each is no easy task and until they come together, it can be frustrating.

Once the handstand starts to hold for a few seconds, it follows a relatively linear progression that largely relies on being able to grind through repeatedly falling. Each time you kickup, make a few corrections and fall, you give your nervous system a little bit more experience in coordinating the body upsidedown.

Sessions will vary wildly in terms of consistency but over the course of several weeks, maybe months, there will be a distinct upward trend.

Then progress explodes.

Once you can hold a basic handstand for roughly 15s you have options. The addiction of chasing the small wins is set; I don't know anyone who truly quit after this point. Holding shapes, switching between them, longer holds, better position, fancy kick-ups. All these possibilities open up.

The push continues towards reaching the 60s and tuck milestones. I don't care much for the minute itself, it's a somewhat arbitrary number, but I get all my students to reach it at least once. A minute means average holds of 30-40s+, which is where you can start taking the attention away from balancing and focus on subtler details.

The tuck is the beginning of underbalance: fighting with the upper back and controlling the shoulder position. Tucks are not easy but essential and often overlooked.

Now you have a solid foundation to set your own direction and pursue what interests you.

Pressing, advanced shapes and much more.

A select few will then combine some of these key elements to set up for one arm. The journey becomes linear once more, progress elusive. It starts again.

The Handstand Skill Tree marks the key checkpoints in this journey. Over the past year of using it, we’ve seen that the vast majority of people will find their path follows it. Those that skip stages often need to go back to dial in the basics. You can see the Handstand Skill Tree in full detail, link in bio.

Where are you on your journey? @ Sumberkima Hill

15/04/2020

The goal of the basic kickup is to find a consistent and efficient entrance to the handstand. This means quickly identifying a point of balance, limiting the variables at play and doing so whilst also keeping it relatively effortless.

To achieve this I recommend kicking into split legs. Firstly, it lowers the center of mass compared to legs together and allows you to gain balance sooner. This gives you more room for error as you have more time to react and press into the floor with the fingers. Moreover, it is also far less volatile than trying to kick straight up into legs together.

Secondly, split leg also reduces the number of travelling vectors. All too often I see the following leg join too fast without any established control of balance. Typically sending the whole structure over in ‘overbalance’. When kicking up legs together each leg travels at a different speed, whilst split legs move more in unison and are therefore easier to control. This limits the variables by having the legs as one moving part instead of two.

We can isolate the transition from split leg to legs together by lifting the bottom leg and bringing back the top leg towards the centre. With practice this results in a seamless transition from split leg to legs together. Ultimately, this leads to a kickup that looks like it goes straight to legs together but actually the balance is caught in split leg AND THEN transitions to full, despite looking like one.

This results in the best of both worlds catching the balance early and consistently in split leg and then with full control of the legs in space, transitioning to the top.

The full length tutorial is currently free in the Handstand Toolkit. Link in bio.

12/01/2020

Mix up your handstand kickups with the cartwheel to handstand.

There are few instances that a handstand isn’t entered head on, opening the doors into soft acrobatics and more creative uses of a handstand rather than just getting really good at staring at the floor ;)

The trick is to place the hands slightly behind the line of the feet. The feet start and end on one train track whilst the hands are placed on the other. Similar to split leg balance for the basic kickup, straddle is much easier with this move for very similar reasons.

Eventually it can be slowed down into a side on entrance to an easier press. When pressing to handstand in this manner, the more straddle flexibility you have the easier it will be as the top leg counterweights the press. For the more flexible people this can become almost effortless as the top leg is shifted over enough to take most of the weight away.

For more detail on the cartwheel to handstand and other creative ways of entering the handstand. Checkout the Handstand Toolkit, link in bio.

Address

Sheffield

Website

https://www.matthewismith.com/mftk-masterclass-opt-smo

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