Pancake/Pike struggles: Vastus medialis or Semitendinosus

[Wes Clawson]

Hello! First time posting, so if I've formatted incorrectly or put this in the wrong spot, please let me know!

I've been working pretty heavily on both the pike and the pancake and have some progress in the pike that I'm quite excited about (like being able to consistently forward fold and touch toes while standing). However, I think I'm stuck a bit on certain aspects of the pancake and the seated pike seems to be giving similar trouble.

Essentially - any time I try to fold forward in either position my legs externally rotate, especially at the end of my range. I was messing around today and noticed that I think the my biceps femoris has really loosened up after all the work I've done, but either the vastus medialis or semitendinosus are still extremely stuck.

For example, I'm able to get quite deep (but not so deep as shown) in Ex 87: Partner floor hamstring and lower back from (S&F 1.3), but near my end range my legs turn out. If I think about pulling them back in at that deep position I push my partner away from me. I assume that a solid way to work on this is to do the stretch less deeply while focusing on slight internal rotation, but I wasn't sure if there was a better approach for working out those inner thigh muscles. In the pancake position, even elevated on blocks, it's the inner thigh that gives me the most trouble and eventually any of that strain works its way into my lower back, high buttock area on the right side.

I've tried elephant walk both shoulder width and wide (which are incredible), but I can't find positions where I feel like I'm working that inner thigh.

Anyone worked through something similar?

Best,

Wes