In this post, I want to tell you about my story of how I achieved a perfect split in just seven days. During my education in Wudang, I was required to do the split or my journey would have come to an abrupt end. Achieving a split is absolutely necessary for lineage holders in San Feng Pai. I was required to accomplish the split in three months!
This post is telling a real story of how I achieved my split in seven days!
What are we trying to achieve?
The real Wudang split is when you are standing, and you slowly spread your legs and “sit” on the ground. Both feet are still on the ground like standing, this posture is better for your knees and will reduce the pressure in the joints.
- Get shoes with a flat sole! The sole should be as thin as possible to make your practice easier.
Prepare yourself for the perfect split!
The most common problem is that people have a fear of themselves. We are always looking for doctors or other professionals to take that responsibility from us. Once in your life, you should be prepared to take the lead in “exploring” yourself, breaking your limits and overcome your fear.
How I was before:
I practice martial arts since I am thirteen years old, but I never achieved a split before. My best split was 15 centimeters above the ground. The pain was there, and I was waiting for the pain to come when I was trying my split, preventing me from going lower. I thought I was flexible but nowhere near the requirements of a traditional Wudang school.
I put pressure on myself
I made a deal with my Shifu Yuan Xiu Gang and my older Gong Fu brother Xiao Yun. I told them in advance that I will achieve the split not in three months but in seven days. I told them another condition of my deal that I will not participate in the daily training during these seven days. The first impression from both felt a little angry and disappointed, and if I fail to do the split in seven days, there would be consequences. Thinking back I do not know what convinced me that I would actually be able to keep my promise to achieve a perfect split.
This was my schedule:
I woke up very early and practiced four times for fifteen minutes the split. I put both of my feet on a slippery matt to make it easier to separate my legs. I continued this interval training after lunchtime and in the evening. All in all, I repeated these intervals for one hour up to four times throughout the day.
Instead of doing it slowly, I was constantly pushing myself lower, rocking up and down to become lower every time. But I did not see any improvement after 4 days! During these days I could not sleep, I had a lot of pain in my hip, and I was hitting my mental and physical limits. Walking felt good and painful at the same time.
- Rock up and down during your split
- Do not sit or stay still, walk a lot!
I tried to avoid any kind of compression since I felt this was counterproductive. Try to avoid sitting and resting for a too long time, every time I did that my body would automatically become stiffer and try to become “tighter” in my hip.
After the sixth day, I was finally able to hit the ground, the change came very sudden like turning off a switch. From this time on I could always do the split, no matter what condition I am in.
What really changed:
I do not think that I changed much physically, instead, I believe it was more of a mental change. In this week the seventh day came closer and closer, giving me a tremendous amount of pressure. I prepared myself for five years to study finally in Wudang, and I would not want that to end all of a sudden, I came to Wudang to become number one. So taking my words back was not an option and during the last two days, I did not care anymore about what happens to me physically. In this second my body could relax, and I felt absolutely no pain when I accomplished the split! I understood the concept of internal conflict for the first time. From this moment on I feel like having a switch, which I can turn on to make my body relax instantly under stress.
Last words for those who want to try
Trying out is the wrong word, when you attempt this you must be determined to succeed. As I made my decision I was not even thinking, I had no time to think and I responded instinctively, but I knew exactly why I was here and what I want to achieve. Failure has never been an option when it comes to Wudang martial arts, if you want to be the best your mind must be endurable and your body flexible. Become self-responsible and learn to know your mind and body.
