Most people train flexibility the same way: a few hamstring stretches here, a hip opener there, whatever turns up in a video that week.

The trouble isn't that those stretches are bad. It's that there's no clear target. When every session is a different mix of unrelated stretches, it's almost impossible to tell whether you're actually improving.

A better approach is to pick specific positions to work toward and come back to them again and again. Each one becomes a measurable target, so you can see exactly where you are and how far you've come.

Each of these positions asks your body to stretch in a different direction. Work toward all three and you're no longer training flexibility from one angle. You're covering it from several.

That's what makes them such useful goals. Together they give you a clear, well-rounded picture of your flexibility, and three concrete positions to progress toward.

Sit with your legs wide and fold your chest forward toward the floor. That's the pancake, and it's your forward, folded flexibility goal.

It works the inner thighs, hamstrings and lower back all at once. Rather than stretching one area in isolation, it asks your back and hips to work together as a unit to fold you forward.

Every centimetre your chest moves closer to the floor is visible progress. You don't need to be flat on the ground to know it's working.

One leg forward, one leg back. The front split is your front-to-back flexibility goal.

It works the hamstrings of the front leg and, just as importantly, the hip flexors at the front of the back leg's hip. Most people focus on the hamstrings and forget the hip flexors entirely.

And because you train one side at a time, the front split makes differences between your left and right sides easy to see, and gives you a clear way to work on them.

Legs out to the sides, hips lowering toward the floor. The middle split is your side-to-side flexibility goal, and many consider it the ultimate test of flexibility.

The full position takes your hips toward 180 degrees and lengthens the adductors, the muscles along your inner thighs.

It's the most demanding of the three for your hips, which is exactly why it makes such a rewarding long-term goal.

Pancake. Front split. Middle split. Three different shapes, three different directions. But look closely and they share one thing.

Every one of them depends on your hips.

In the pancake, your hips help you fold forward. In the front split, they move front-to-back. In the middle split, they open side-to-side. Each position asks your hips to move through a different range, in a different direction.

So working toward these goals isn't only about the positions themselves. It's also about how freely your hips can move.

If your hips are involved in all three positions, it makes sense to train them directly, not just hope they come along for the ride.

That's why The Ultimate Flexibility Bundle doesn't stop at the positions. Alongside the flexibility courses, it includes a full Hip Mobility course, built to deepen internal and external rotation, strengthen the stabilisers and unlock your hips safely.

It's one of the reasons the bundle is such a complete approach: you work toward the three positions and develop the hip mobility that supports them.

If you're reading this thinking “I can't do any of these”, good news: you don't need to.

The pancake, front split and middle split are destinations, not prerequisites. You don't need to have them to start working toward them, and nobody expects you to.

Even if your only goal right now is “I just want to be more flexible”, having specific positions to aim for helps. They give your training direction, and they give you concrete milestones to notice along the way.

That's why the bundle includes Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels for every position, plus a simple test to help you choose the right starting level. No flexibility or dance experience required.

Because you keep coming back to the same three positions, they double as progress markers. Reassess the same position every so often and compare how your range is developing.

And progress doesn't only mean a perfect, flat split. It can look like:

• Getting closer to the floor
• More comfortable range in each position
• A deeper pancake
• Hips that move more freely
• Less distance between you and the floor in your splits
• A smaller difference between your left and right sides

Everyone's body and timeline are different, so the goal isn't to compare yourself to anyone else. It's to see your own range moving in the right direction. The bundle builds this in with self-assessments and a bonus to track progress, test your current range and set goals.

Everything above comes together in one program. The Ultimate Flexibility Bundle gives you a full course for each of the three positions, plus the Hip Mobility course that supports them all:

• Pancake / forward fold: active and passive flexibility, with a focus on hamstring length for flat folds
• Front split: targeted hamstring and hip flexor exercises to safely build full front splits
• Middle split: progressive adductor lengthening and abductor strength for flat middle splits
• Hip mobility: deeper internal and external rotation, stronger stabilisers and freer hips

Each one has Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels, so you start from your current level and progress from there. It's a one-time payment with lifetime access, and these workouts have been used by over 20,000 people.