Day 336 – Attempted the Splits

November was a busy month for me as not only did I write an actual book, I also learned to do the splits! Well, kind of.

At the beginning of November, I mentioned to a friend that I’d like to try and do the splits. She decided to join me, and each day we would virtually egg each other on as we would go through the days of training on our app. I’ve never held a deep desire to do the splits, but after seeing Mayfaring mention it on their blog, I became inspired and added it to my new thing list.

The training started off relatively simple at first, building muscle and increasing flexibility in our hips, hamstrings, and inner thighs. There were a few exercises that I used to dread coming up, such as the frog pose and a very deep runners lunge that we would hold for a minute on each leg. I was also doing regular yoga during this time, and even though my friend and I would complain that nothing was happening, slowly but surely my heels stayed on the floor during downward dog, and I definitely felt more flexible.

It wasn’t until we were over halfway through that we started practising the splits, using a yoga block. It soon became clear that I was more flexible in my left leg than the right, and I began to see a little improvement each time the exercise came up.

I’m so glad my husband was around when I was doing this, as more than once I managed to stretch a little too far and get stuck! Thankfully I never injured myself. I was a bit apprehensive when the last day of the challenge rolled around, but I was determined to give it my best shot, and although I didn’t quite make it, I was also way closer than I ever thought I’d get.

I think with another few weeks of practice I might be able to get all the way down, but I pushed myself so far in the above picture that I was in tears! I’m really pleased with how far I came, but I think I’ll give my body a bit of a break before I try anymore.