Amazon.com (Firm) - Even the stiffest people can do the splits: a 4-week stretching plan to achieve amazing health

JAPANESE PROVERB

How Low Can You Go?
(Explanation of the Amazing Forward Bend Stretch)

Light the Fire of the Splits in Your Heart
(Explanation of the Amazing Pair Stretch)

Push Forward on Your Own Path!
(Week 4 Explanation and Practice)

After some practice, you can be flat like this book.

When I was in my twenties, I worked as an aerobics instructor. Over time my interests shifted to yoga and I decided to try to become a yoga instructor. There was one thing that bothered me back then, though: I wasnt very flexible. I suffered from backaches, and yoga movements were difficult for someone as inflexible as I was. Most of all, though, I wasnt much of an example for my students. I mean, if I were looking for a yoga teacher, I certainly wouldnt choose someone who wasnt flexible. Thats when I launched a plan to remake my body.

Being able to do a pancake split, where you bring your upper body down flat to the floor while doing a middle split, is a symbol of having a flexible body. At the time, I could spread my legs out pretty well but I didnt have the flexibility to bring my upper body down to the floor. So I started doing research to identify what stretches I needed to do in order to be able to achieve the pancake. As long as I was at it, I wanted to develop a method that was reproducibleone that other people who struggled with flexibility could use, too. I tried all sorts of things day after day. The method I came up with proved really popular among my students. Before long, those who had said they were so inflexible they were embarrassed to come to yoga class were talking instead about how their newfound flexibility had changed their lives.

People in the media found out and I started getting offers to promote my method with a video. I was completely shocked when the video I made describing my method for the splits was viewed more than 6 million times. Who knew so many people wanted to be able to do the splits?

And now Ive been given the opportunity to put out this book. What a surprise! After all, its unheard of to have a whole book dedicated just to doing the splits. When the editor Seiichi Kurokawa made a special trip down from Tokyo to see me, I couldnt help but ask if he was sure he could really make a book out of my method.

But if we were going to make a book, I wanted it to be a good one. I wanted people who may have developed an inferiority complex because they were inflexible as kids to savor the sense of joy and exhilaration that comes with being able to do the splits. I wanted them to experience how smooth their everyday movements could become.

While making this book, I further improved my method for learning the splits so that now its possible to achieve the pancake split in only about four weeks. By following the Splits in Four Weeks program, which Ill be introducing shortly, even people who have been inflexible since they were children and people whose bodies have stiffened up as theyve gotten older ought to be able to do the splits. The program changes a little bit each week so you can stick to it without getting bored. Being able to really feel a difference should also boost motivation.

After the Splits in Four Weeks program, the book includes a short story called How Are You Going to Achieve Anything If You Cant Even Do the Splits? Its a heartwarming story about Makoto Oba, who has had low flexibility ever since he was a child, and his colleague, Ai Umemoto, who has been looking for a new challenge to break out of a rut. They team up to try to achieve the pancake splits shown again within the pages of the short story, broken down week by week for easy reference.

The story is very realistic because it was written based on the experiences of people who have actually tried the Splits in Four Weeks programwhat was a struggle, what was troubling, and what felt good. Im sure reading it will boost your motivation.

Sure, its only the splits. But its so much more than the splits.

When you sweep away your inflexibility complex, youre going to want to congratulate yourself. The confidence that comes from getting over it is sure to suddenly make the rest of your life a little brighter. Please experience for yourself how refreshing it feels to do the splits.

Okay, lets get started.

Eiko, the Queen of Splits

If you can put both of your elbows on the floor, youve done it!

If you spread your legs wide while keeping your knees straight, lean your upper body forward, and touch the floor with both elbows, youve achieved the splits.

I started going to Eikos studio at the age of 70. At first I couldnt spread my legs at all but I practiced what I had been taught every day while watching television and after about two months I surprised myself by being able to do a split. My body felt lighter and more mobile and I could run up the stairs to the third floor of my house without even getting winded. My waist tightened up and I was able to wear pants that I couldnt fit into before. Now Im more limber than my 53-year-old daughter!

I was 63 when I first started going to Eikos studio. Until then I couldnt lean forward at all when my legs were spread, but now I can bring my upper body down flat to the floor. My friends are all amazed. I even lost 11 pounds, and although I used to go to the hospital regularly for back pain, now it hardly bothers me at all. My knee joints used to hurt but theyre much better now, and I can go up and down stairs without any trouble.