In September, I had 2 exercise-related goals to accomplish; these are the results.

Goal 1: Increase Middle-Splits Range To 160 degrees

Following my failed 30-day attempt to accomplish a full middle splits and the lessons learned from that experience, I decided to gradually increase my middle-splits range to 160 degrees in September.

The plan was to train 3 days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays).

I started well and was able to complete the first 5 trainings; unfortunately, I ended up getting sick for about 30 days during which my body had ample rest with little/no exercises.

During this period, I missed about 3 training sessions and apart from horse stance and light hamstring stretches, I skipped all the other stretches.

When I eventually returned back to training, I felt I had lost some flexibility and had some lost ground to cover.

During all the trainings, I didn't push myself too hard. The goal was to enjoy the training sessions so I could keep performing them.

I also had to ensure I wasn't hurting myself.

The Result

The final training was last Monday (a couple of days ago) and on this day, I had already made a mistake of skipping gym.

When I also got into the splits session, I warmed up a little bit, but not as much as I normally do.

Unsurprisingly, that session wasn't my best. I felt my hip flexors were more tense than normal and I didn't reach my max range of motion in that session.

So, in today's training (another goal for a new month), I had ample warm-up drills, both during gym-time and before the middle-splits training session.

In the session, I actually went so low that my thighs rested comfortably on the lower flat side of the yoga block I used for support.

Taking a picture of the pose and measuring my angle, it was

162 degrees!

Woohoo! I exceeded my goal!

I wasn't sure I was going to accomplish the goal during the month, but I kept going because I didn't want to abandon my middle splits goal.

I'm close to the end now and if I can accomplish the same in October, my butts would touch the ground in a middle splits by the time November rolls by.

That would be insanely great!

Goal 2: Water Treading For 30 Seconds

In September, I decided to learn water treading for 30 seconds with my face above the water.

The plan was to swim & practise on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Unfortunately, I was sick for about a week after the 2nd session.

After I got better and because the weather had changed from summer to autumn (with the water colder than it used to be), I haven't been in the water since.

So, not only didn't I accomplish this goal, I haven't swum in about 3 weeks!

That's a little sad :(

Renewed Goals

On my renewed goals,

• Apart from the first 2 days of the month, I actually walked more than 17k-steps-every-weekday; so, I consistently met this goal.
• I had about 50-75% success rate on the 4k-steps-every-weekend
• I have not achieved my muscle-up yet; while I'm much stronger and able to complete about 8-rep pull-ups (with subsequent pull-ups afterwards), I'm not yet strong enough to convert a pull-up into a muscle-up. I haven't really spent much time on this goal.
• My handstands, headstands, and backbends are much better; I'm beginning to hold about 2 - 3 seconds hold on handstands (with wall support) since my arms, hands, & wrists are much stronger. I'm able to hold more than 60 seconds on headstand while making various shapes with my lower body. As for backbends, I"m strong enough to complete 3 backbends in succession without any wall support.