How to Do a Full Split in Less Than a Year
If you think you’ll never be flexible enough, think again
Two months ago, it finally happened. I touched the floor, if only for a few seconds. Then I did it again the day after. And the day after that. I have days when I can’t do a full split. But I’ve mastered the winning stretching routine and position to have finally achieved it. So, only up from here. I now want to train to do a side split and a standing split, and each day I stretch I feel closer to those goals.
The science of doing a full split is pretty standard. But there are a few things that might surprise you. First of all, flexibility is a mindset more than anything else. The tension we feel in our muscles when stretching is only there to signal a perceived danger of injury. You’re not really as tight as you think. What happens to your body when you stretch beyond your limits, much like any other kind of pain, is, in most cases, not so much a physical barrier, but a mental one.
So, why do people actually get to do the splits after persevering with stretching, if the barriers are in our heads? Don’t get me wrong, stretching and exercise do have a clear physical impact on our bodies. They do make our tendons more elastic, our muscles less tense, and our joints more resistant. But flexibility training is as much about…
