stretching and flexability

[KukSool-Alex]

i am actually just getting into Martial Arts and when I was in Highschool I was pretty flexable, well now im not by any means, can somebody give me some tips other then the stretching i do in class to help with my flxability

 

[Disco]

look into some yoga. They have a lot of really good stretching techniques.

 

[KukSool-Alex]

what about something i can do at home by myself and not take a class, like specific stretches

 

[Buffy]

buy Kurzs book / video from http://www.stadion.com.

He tells you how your body react to different types of movements - and how to develope the types of flexibility you need. It's a must have !

 

[redfang]

Do some warm up aerobic exercise like running for 20 minutes or so before you stretch. When you are warmed up you do your best stretching. You aren't very long out of high school, still young enough that you should be able to regain your old flexibility without too much trouble. Someone said yoga. Yoga is great for flexibility and balance.

 

[Nightingale]

does anyone have any more information? how do you improve your own flexibility? what's your stretching/training regimen?

 

[Marginal]

I bought Kurz' video about nine months back or so. I never really got into the full regimen he reccommended (a lot of equipment/time's needed), but I did manage to increase my flexibility to a fair degree with this watered down version.

Warmup

30 front snap kicks just alternating in place.

Dynamic stretching

10-15 Front, side and rear leg raises

Kicking drills/shadowboxing

Just went though my catalog o' kicks and worked combinations etc. Try to pace it so it wasted 30mins to an hour.

Final stretching

Front and side splits. Tense the legs like you're trying to push your knees together for about 10 seconds, then relax and try to deepen from there. Repeat that until you're down as far as you're gonna go then hold for 20 seconds. Front and side each get a set of three with a minute and a half recovery rest in between.

Kurz aside, a lot of people really like the book, Relax Into Stretch for improving flexibility too.

 

[pknox]

Originally posted by KukSool-Alex
what about something i can do at home by myself and not take a class, like specific stretches

You definitely can do yoga at home by yourself. Many people practice yoga and have never set foot in a studio. It's not like MA where you have to go to a few classes a week to see improvement and get new material. It would probably help to attend one or two classes in the beginning just to get on the right track, but after that you could practice on your own. If you were really unsure you were do something correctly, you could take a class every couple of months or so and have the instructor check you out; books and videos can also be pretty helpful. In addition to building flexibility, yoga will give you the added benefit of building or maintaining strength.

For a listing of specific stretching exercises, I would recommend Bob Anderson's book, Stretching. It's been around forever, and has stretches for various individual sports, as well as a general program. Here's a description of it over at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...9163046/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-7620178-0864744