Is Stretching a Waste of Time?

[FearlessFreep]

Why do you think most physical activities(sports, martial arts) seem to get them out of order?

Lack of education

For the original question, I'm at a point where, cold, in my living room, in street clothes, I can throw a front kick to my head-height and sidekick or roundhouse nearly as high, so if need be I can count on just about any technique in a pinch, at least once or twice...

But that's the result of a lot of stretching/flexibility work in class and in my life. So the turn about to "if I can't do it cold, it's not worth doing" is "the more you work flexibility/stretching properly, the more you *can* do cold"

 

[Kacey]

We do a lot of joint rotations during warm-ups, along with jumping jacks, jogging in place, punching, and rising kicks. There are some static stretches, but they're mixed in with everything else, and not the majority of the warm-up.

 

[Grenadier]

Students should do some warmups (light stretching) before the class starts.

Whenever I teach a class, I assume that they've loosened up a bit, and start out with some moderate intensity streching excercises for a few minutes. This way, they can stretch "warm" muscles.

This helps reduce the chances of someone pulling a muscle or ligament. While some people will claim that stretching doesn't prepare you for a realistic situation, I'll simply counter with this: you can't practice for a real situation, in a realistic manner, if you're on the sidelines with an injury.

 

[exile]

Students should do some warmups (light stretching) before the class starts.

Whenever I teach a class, I assume that they've loosened up a bit, and start out with some moderate intensity streching excercises for a few minutes. This way, they can stretch "warm" muscles.

This helps reduce the chances of someone pulling a muscle or ligament. While some people will claim that stretching doesn't prepare you for a realistic situation, I'll simply counter with this: you can't practice for a real situation, in a realistic manner, if you're on the sidelines with an injury.

This line of thinking makes a great deal of sense to me. Sure, you have to be able to fight cold, but just how limber you are 'cold' can be greatly improved by consistent incremental improvement. I can now go a week without doing any stretches at all and still perform techs with vastly better flexibility than when I first started doing TKD five years ago. 'Cold' now is a lot warmer than 'cold' was then, in spite of that added half-decade of what would normally be continuously increasing stiffness.

 

[Adept]

What are others thoughts on this?

I very much agree. If I need special pants, shoes, and a half hour warm up to execute a technique, then that technique is worthless to me.

Having said that, the more effectively you warm up and stretch, the greater your 'cold' flexibility will be.

 

[chinto]

gkygrl posted a question about stretching machines - and in my response I made a comment along the lines of: "If I can't do a Martial Art movement cold, I can't do it."

At some point in my training, I decided that if I needed to spend time warming up and stretching out to adequately execute a technique, then it was a technique I would not be able to do (or not be able to do without injury) when the chips were down... That if something was going to be useful for self defense, I had to be able to just do it cold off the street... Cause that is when it will be needed.

What are others thoughts on this?

if you stretch regularly you will be able to do things you could not otherwise. ... However I would not suggest for instance ever kicking above the waist .. or even the groin in an actual altercation.. personaly I would kick the ankle or mayby the knee... no higher!

 

[Josh Oakley]

if you stretch regularly you will be able to do things you could not otherwise. ... However I would not suggest for instance ever kicking above the waist .. or even the groin in an actual altercation.. personaly I would kick the ankle or maybe the knee... no higher!

That was actually Bruce Lee's belief about kicking, as well. Then he started training with Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris's response was. "Well, yeah, generally it's a good idea to keep kicks below the waist, but it's nice to be able to kick higher if the opportunity is there."

In general high kicks are not often going to be useful or available, and from a self- defense standpoint can put you at a disadvantage. However, there are times when a roundhouse kick to the face makes an excellent counter-attack. A front kick to the solar plexus is useful on MANY occasions, as well. There are other examples, as well. I wouldn't totally cut out high kicks.

 

[Josh Oakley]

To respond to the original post, it's obvious that an attacker on the street is not going to allow you to warm up and stretch before a confrontation. But there are a lot of things we do in practice that we do not in the street: pull punches and kicks, simulate bone breaks or eye gouges... bow.

All these things, are beneficial, even essential to training. I've heard of instructors who don't incorporate workouts into their training either. Fact of the matter is, a limber, well stretched, and fit individual is more likely to survive a confrontation than a fat guy who can barely get his kick higher than knee level, all else being equal.

Furthermore, the view expressed in the original post takes the concept of self-defense, in my opinion, too narrowly. What's the point of surviving a mugging if you die of a preventable heart attack two weeks later? The concept of self-defense, on a broad scale, is not only about extending the days of your life (though stretching and working out arguably accomplishes this goal as well), but also enhancing the quality of life. When I'm 90 I want to be loke my former tai-chi instructor: surprisingly agile and flexible, healthy, with a zest for life. It's far preferable to my grandma: dead at 76 from diabetes.