Exercises to improve straddle, plus one exercise for shoulder mobility

I've tried to improve my straddle off and on, in antipation of eventually practicing the straddle variations of front lever, handstand, planche, etc. It's just been too easy to give up, since accomplishing any variation of a handstand or planche does not seem likely for me in the near future.

Then, I advanced to Phase 2 of Geoff Neupert's Sore Joint Solution mobility/movement restoration program, which includes a straddle sit. Geoff advises sitting on yoga blocks, a chair, or whatever you have if you cannot sit on the floor with your legs straight. I then switched from practicing SJS to practicing Geoff's Systematic Core Training for Kettlebels program. I thought I would prioritize core work over working on hamstring and adductor mobility to improve my straddle, thus putting off straddle work for later.

Then, this video by GMB inspired me to try working on the straddle again - just one minute a day. I lack the mobility to sit in straddle with both legs completely straight but here Ryan of GMB says its ok to sit with the legs bent:



While searching around for info on improving straddle, pancake, or slide split, I came across this video. He has some interesting opinions. He does not recommend loaded stretching because of possible soreness afterwards, which is pretty much the reason I haven't explored this approach to stretching. I'm doing Kettlebell Burn now, and have been doing The Giant before that. When I do high volume kettlebell exercise, I have to be mindful of activities that might affect recovery from a high volume KB workout, and I suspect loaded stretching might be one of those activites. The seated pancake stretch is one of his favorites.



I'd watched some videos from the Movesmethod Youtube channel, so this video popped up on my feed. The coach here found a fitness beginner, identified her mobility issues, which are the same I would like to work on: 1. Limited mobility for pancake stretch and 2. Not being able to touch the wall in the shoulder mobility test. None of the exercises recommended for this beginner are in the S-tier list, in the opinion on the coach who made the splits video above, but I think they'll be fine to practice, with some sensible scheduling around whatever other activites you might also be doing. The exercise the coach teaches here for shoulder mobility is bridge rotation on a wall.