Hey guys! Thanks for the responses!
well been there and stil am to some degree, if you weren't very flexible at 22, then 20 years of tendons shortening themselves wont have helped much, as such im not sure tkd is the wisest choice.
Yeah TKD wasn't my first choice but being that I live in a very small town, both dojos are TKD so not a ton of options. Honestly, the driving factor in picking this school was for my kids anyway. Me joining was an after thought once I knew they were liking it. I am glad to hear that you have seen marked improvement in your hips after 3 years. Hopefully it doesn't take that long for me to see some improvement. I am not looking to do wildly flashy kicks, I'll be happy if I can just kick at belt level.
Stretching is very much a process that is easier for some than others. The best advice I can give you is to stretch every day, regardless of how much/long. It doesn't have to be a big formal process like you may do at the beginning of class. You can simply pick out the stretches you have the most trouble with and work on them. One thing I cannot stress enough its to get warm and get the blood pumping before doing any hard stretching. Dynamic (usually standing) stretching is the best way to start. Knee raises, lazy front/crescent kicks, soft punches/blocks, etc.... anything to get the blood pumping and working on range of motion.
I did not see how long you have been working out but know it typically takes a minimum of a year to see 'good' increase in flexibility. It will ebb and tide for a time as you work through natural muscle soreness and increase stretch in the joints and ligaments/tendons.
When I was a green belt (in TKD) I was very discouraged with my stretch to the point I was ready to quit. I decided if I did not see marked improvements in 6 months I was done. I started stretching every day and worked out 3 days a week. After a couple of months of daily stretching I could feel improvement more than I could see it.
I hope you hang in there. Keep in touch and let us know how things go.
Thank you for this. This, besides the warm up, is pretty much what I am trying to do. I havent been back at it for long, just a couple months but I definitely see the ebb and flow of it. Some days I feel like I'm improving, others I feel even less flexible. It is frustrating for certain. I will definitely incorporate the warm up before stretching though, it makes sense. I'm no quitter and am bound and determined to see this thru to the best of my abilities. Especially since this whole thing is more about life lessons, confidence and character building for my kids than anything else and I certainly do not want them to see Daddy quit.... fail? Sure, I'll fail and get back right back on the horse. Quit... never.
Hmmm, for a different perspective, I want to first congratulate you on not only getting your youngsters involved but joining them on the trail. How many and how old are they? You are going to be sharing some wonderful times with them, times that they will remember. Such lessons you will be able to apply to their lives as you share those lessons in training. Dad points!
The different perspective I would offer is, don't focus about your lack of flexibility rather focus on that your giving your kids a life lessons on how to deal with things you are not so good at, how to fail, how to keep going. They do not expect you to be able to do everything, HERO status will be earned by your being able to laugh at yourself while striving to improve, not so much by achieving your physical goal what ever that might be but by the striving towards it.
Take your time stretching, show your youngsters that you are keeping the trail and striving to get better, slowly. Praise them for being able to do things that youngsters can do. Get them involved in helping motivate you and your training. Get them to physically help you. Make it a tribe thing. Involve them on and off the mat.
Thank you as well Brian. They are brother and sister, 4 and 5 and the life lessons are by far the primary reason I decided to get them into this. I remember the change it made in me in my 20s and I wanted that same confidence and character building for them as well. I will definitely remember your words as well. Trying to remember to focus on the path ahead instead of the frustration of not being able to do when I feel I should be able to is sometimes hard to do. I love the idea of trying to involve them with helping me stretch. With them being so young, it might be difficult but I'm sure I can think of some way.
Ditto on what Brian and dvcochran says, with the addition that becareful with the squats/frog splits etc, at 44 and some years of inactivity, you enter the realm of ligament damage especially mensical tears, which can put you out for weeks if not months, so ditto on the warm up, take your time and enjoy.
Yes, I am taking it very slowly and trying to be as careful as I can. In fact, yesterday after posting this, I set up a chiropractor appointment to have him give my hips a once over and see if there's anything that has developed over the years that might be complicating things. I guess one of the things that makes it hard to remember to take it slow is the fact that no one else in the class has even close to these flexibility issues but then again... I'm the oldest one in there!! I feel like the frog splits are the exact stretch that I can work with since I can let gravity slowly pull me into position, but.. right now, I just look like I'm bowing to Buddah instead of stretching! lol
Once again, thank you very much guys for your suggestions. I will keep them all in mind as I work though this in any way that I can.
