How I got my splits as an adult
I thought I’d share a bit more about how I ended up in the world of flexibility training given I wasn’t a gymnast or dancer growing up, and mostly certainly wouldn’t have been considered flexible. Only now that I’m closer to 40 than I am to 30, I’ve developed what most people would call a decent level of flexibility.
I grew up in Germany where I did a bit of judo and played a little golf, but mostly spent my time horse riding (if you ask my parents, that’s all I did). At around 18 I dipped my toes into the gym world with little idea of what I was doing, not very strong and pretty inflexible. I spend some time doing Tae Bo (yes, random😅) and at 21 packed my bags for a year in Australia.
All year round at 6am the beach in Bondi would be buzzing with people exercising – quite unlike Hamburg where at 7am the streets are deserted. This active lifestyle here in Australia quickly rubbed off on me and I couldn’t help but get involved. I used to run to or from work, loved surfing (still do) and spent my Sunday afternoon playing touch footy in the park. Every now and again I’d throw in the odd HIIT or yoga class. At 30 I had enough of working as an event producer and decided to get into the fitness industry. I didn’t have much of a plan, but early on in this transition I was introduced to gymnastic strength training and was instantly hooked – especially on handstands. The idea to train for fun skills appealed to me and it was the first time I started going to the gym religiously and really enjoy it.
Not all too long before that though I had broken my wrist snowboarding – not ideal for handstands. Alongside trying to get my range of motion back in my right wrist so I could be upside down pain-free, I also realised pretty quickly that if I wanted to achieve my handstand goals I would have to improve my flexibility. Otherwise it would become a very frustrating uphill battle rather quickly. And this is how I first started flexibility training. It was a side project – a means to an end. I didn’t even dare to dream of splits or a nice backbend at that time, I just didn’t think my body was capable of that. I just wanted to have enough flexibility to have a nice looking straight handstand and maybe one day be able to straddle press.
I made some fairly ok progress and eventually felt called to really dedicate 6 months to seeing where I could take my flexibility. I still didn’t think that splits were realistic for me, side splits maybe but definitely not front splits. I got myself a coach, followed a targeted plan that was much more structured and showed up even on the days I didn’t want to and this really saw the progress roll in. Going all in during that time is where I discovered that flexibility training is my jam – not because it comes easy but maybe because of my struggles along the way. There are plenty of better coaches if you’re looking to lose weight, smash your running goals or get into weightlifting, but I do know a thing or two about flexibility after going deep into the topic, learning from great mentors, from my own training experience and from working with many different body types facing different challenges. And while I’m far from knowing it all as there is always more to learn, it’s the area where I believe I can really help people. So that’s what I’ll continue to do.
Nowadays I am mostly driven by my curiosity to see where I can take it to and the desire to learn as much as I can to be the best coach to my clients. But you don’t need to take it to the ‘extremes’ that I am going to in order to benefit from flexibility training. Just a little bit can make a big difference to how your body feels and moves. So don’t let the thought of ‘I could never do this’ stop you from getting started and miss out on all the benefits flexibility training has to offer. It’s a great teacher in many ways, and I’m here to help you if or when you’re ready to dip your toes in.
Stay flexy,
Kat