How to Do a Full Split: A Step-by-Step Guide
At the beginning of 2022, I made a list of goals. One of them was to perform a full split, Jean Claude Van Damme style, by the end of the year.
I know; I’m a man of lofty ambitions.
I started the year off by incorporating my splits practice into my pre-squat and deadlift warmups. I made it about halfway down, hanging on to whatever sturdy object I had in front of me and praying I’d be able to stand back up without medical assistance.
Fast forward 10 months, and much has changed. On October 7th, 2022, I did something that I never thought I’d be capable of doing: the “Van Damme Splits.”
I started the year inconsistent with my stretching, but as Parkinson’s Law reminds us: work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.
I gave myself until the end of the year to hit a full split, and so it wasn’t until the end of September — when I realized that time was running out — that I really started taking my stretching seriously.
Now, I’m no expert on stretching or mobility. I have the natural flexibility of the Tin Man. But I do know that once I began consistently…
