How To Do The Splits

Maybe once upon a time, when you were a kid, you could do the splits, but try doing it now in your stiff teenage body. Ugh. It hurts and it seems impossible to get pass the 90 degree mark. That is your limit, you decide. That's it. I can't do the splits. Not anymore.

BUT THERE'S NO NEED TO FEAR. All may not be lost.

I'm 18 and I can do around 200 degrees of splits.

Right, you say. You've probably been doing it all your life. That's no help at all.

But will it help when I say I only started doing the splits when I was 15 years old? Yeah. I started doing the splits in my stiff teenage years when I could only do 90 degrees worth of splits. Maybe even less and that is no exaggeration. I couldn't even do a full split when I was a kid either. I sucked at flexibility.

So how do you manage to do the splits when you're as stiff as a board?

Step One: Stretch before doing it

Doing the splits is going to put a lot of strain in your muscles and it is not a good idea to just suddenly do the splits without warming up your muscles first. This step is especially important in the winter when your muscles are all scrunched up. Getting a muscle strain is not fun. You could also take extra precautions and put leg warmers on.

Step Two: Practice it every single day

Don't miss a single day or else you'll end up not being able to do the splits. One way that helps you remember to do the splits every day is picking a time to do the splits. I personally did it at night, but any time of day is absolutely fine. On the floor, practice your splits. Go as low as you can and stay in that position for 15 seconds. I heard staying in the position for 15 minutes is the right way, but who the heck can do that? Just do 15 seconds. Every single day.

Step Three: Be persistent

I'm serious. Doing the splits is going to hurt like crazy. But it's not only the pain you need to deal with. You need to persist through time as well. It took me over a year to get the 180 degrees splits right. Keep your goal of accomplishing the splits in mind every single day and persist through everything! That's the only way to actually manage to reach your goal.

What are you doing still on the computer. Go practice and claim a victory over the impossible splits!


-Barista Mia-

Image: klndonnelly