The Splits Challenge

On Saturday 9th February I was at home watching Cirq du Soleil with Katy and Robert and was amazed at the flexibility and strength of the performers, so I posed the question on Facebook if people thought it was possible to learn how to do the splits at the age of 49.  Most people were positive and told me that anything was possible.  Someone suggested it should be my party piece on my fiftieth birthday.

I decided to Google it to see if there were any online tutorials on how to teach yourself to do the splits.  I wasn't disappointed, and found quite a few.  All of them assured me that with the right stretches and some dedication I should be able to do the splits within about six weeks.  Now I'm not very good at dedicating myself to anything unless it's eating, so this would be quite a big deal for me, but challenge accepted.

Day one stretching and I can't hold any of the positions for more than ten seconds.  I did lunges, making sure my knee and ankle were in a straight line, and then straightened my front leg and brought my head down towards my knee.  One of the stretches to do is to sit against a wall and stretch your legs out.  The aim is to get your body flat against the wall.  On day one my body is still 50 cm away from the wall with my legs stretched as far as was comfortable.

Day two and I did the same stretching as yesterday, but I also discovered something.  I am no good at pointing my toes and it gives me cramp, so I am going to try and fix this in the time honoured tradition of good toes naughty toes. Challenges now equals two; pointed toes and the splits.

Day three and I've been helped along by my sister in law who sent me a link to some really good stretching exercises.  Today I managed to hold some of my stretches for 20 seconds.  One of them required me to use a block to support my front leg while I stretched my back leg.  My jewellery box came in handy for this. I hope it survives the next few weeks.  I stretched until I smelt pancakes cooking.

Day four and short of time so stretching was done this morning while drying my hair.

Thought I'd better post a photograph of my current lack of flexibility so that I can chart my progress.

The Start

Day five.  Valentines day.  Didn't stretch.  Ate chocolate and ice cream instead.

Day six.  Had every intention of stretching today as I had a day off work and my only plans were to wait in for some furniture to be delivered and then have lunch with my sister in law.  Furniture was delivered by 08:30 so my next stop was the gym, then home for a shower and out for lunch.  As it turned out, lunch started at 12:30 and didn't finish until 17:00.  Obviously we weren't eating all this time, we were chatting, but it kinda put a big dent into any stretching time.  Also, I was full of this.....

When the waitress brought this to the table she said "my hand kinda slipped and it's bigger than it's supposed to be.  I had to sneak it past my boss so he wouldn't see what I'd done".  My sister in law and the people on the table next to us expressed their doubts about my ability to eat all of this and how long it was going to take.  The man said "we come here every week, so I'll see you soon".  It took me a while but I managed it.  Anyway, between lunch being rather extended and my extremely full stomach, stretching did not happen.

Day seven.  Today I stretched.  I think I've made a little progress. I could hold my deep lunges a little longer and they didn't leave my muscles complaining quite so much, and I could get my forehead a little closer to my knee.  This was done just after having a shower, so I hadn't been downstairs yet.  Ususally when I first go down the stairs in a morning, I feel a little stiff and I have to hold onto the bannister and the wall on the other side.  Today it was much easier.  Maybe there's something in this stretching lark.

So this is the end of week one. Hopefully next time I will be able to report further progress.