Middle SplitsPose Reference
Camera angles
Middle splits seats the wooden figure on the floor with both straight legs out to the sides, torso upright and both palms down between the thighs.
Tags: yogasplitsstraddlefloorflexibility
How to draw the Middle Splits pose
three-quarter view 
side view 
back view 
high-angle view
Both legs open to roughly a straight line through the hips, kneecaps facing the ceiling and toes turned up. The pelvis rests on the floor at the centre of that line and the torso rises vertically above it, shoulders level and head centred. The arms hang straight down in front of the body so the palms meet the floor between the thighs, adding two short supports to the long base. The result is a symmetrical inverted T: a wide horizontal of about 175 cm crossed by a short upright, with the head only around 71 cm above the ground. Gymnasts call it a side split or straddle split, and in yoga it is Samakonasana.
The middle splits pose is easiest to read from the front and back, where the whole span of the legs stays visible. In the side view the near leg points straight at the camera, so it shrinks to a stubby shape in front of the hips while the far leg is hidden; that view is a strong foreshortening study. The high angle spreads the legs across the frame and shows how the hands sit just ahead of the pelvis. The low angle makes the torso look tall over a narrow strip of floor, which is not shown in the render.
More on angles and common mistakes
The usual mistakes are legs that angle forward into a V straddle, knees that roll toward the floor, and a torso that leans back to compensate. Hands placed far ahead of the pelvis change the shape into a forward fold. Check that the line from foot to foot passes through the hip joints rather than in front of them.
It suits gymnastics and dance illustrations, martial-arts flexibility scenes and stretching guides. In Edit this pose, tilt the spine forward toward the floor to turn it into a straddle fold, or lift both arms out to the sides to echo the line of the legs.
Free to use (CC0). The pose images on this page are released under CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication). Use them for drawing practice, commercial illustration, reference sheets or AI image generation; no attribution is required. A credit to PoseMaker is appreciated but optional.
Middle Splits pose prompt
Copy a prompt for your AI image generator. Pair it with the OpenPose skeleton in ControlNet so the generated character matches this exact pose.
General prompt
A person sitting in a full middle split on the floor, both legs straight out to the sides in one line, knees and toes facing up, torso upright and centred, both arms reaching straight down with palms on the floor between the thighs. Full body, plain background.
Midjourney
full body person in middle splits, legs straight out to the sides along the floor, knees facing up, upright torso, palms on the floor between thighs, symmetrical, front view, plain background --ar 3:2 --style raw
Stable Diffusion
1person, full body, middle splits, side splits, straddle, sitting on floor, legs spread wide, straight legs, knees up, upright torso, hands on floor, symmetrical, flexibility, gymnastics, front view, plain background
Negative prompt
bent knees, legs angled forward, knees rolled down, torso leaning back, forward fold, uneven legs, extra legs, missing hands, twisted pelvis, fused fingers, distorted feet, cropped toes, nsfw
OpenPose skeleton for ControlNet
Load the PNG into a ControlNet OpenPose unit (preprocessor: none), or import the JSON into an OpenPose editor.
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Upload it to Photo to Pose. We detect the pose in your browser and put it on the mannequin, ready to adjust.