Stretching for side kicks

[Badger1777]

I keep trying to do stretching exercises at home, to supplement what we do in class. I can bend all my limps in all the usual ways and feel the relevant muscles and ligaments pulling and stretching. All good. Except stretching for side kicks.

If I raise a leg sideways, say on a chair or something, it actually feels like the outside edge of the top of my leg is pushing into my hips well before the muscles and ligaments on the inside of my thigh pull tight. Ok, I'm slightly overweight, and that's not going to help, but there must be more to it than that. Any thoughts? Tips?

 

[Touch Of Death]

Don't do that.

 

[PhotonGuy]

You might want to try one of those leg stretching machines. What it does is the machine spreads your legs as you turn a wheel and if you ever get flexible enough, you can turn it enough so that you're doing a full split. I would recommend trying one out, if your dojo has one you can try it or some gyms have it or a friend might let you use one that he has. Its a good idea to try it before buying it as they are expensive, about $200.

 

[drop bear]

Yeah it is still your groin though.
Look at how much lean the guy is getting. If you are upright your leg is only going to go so far.

And make sure that bottom foot is pointed in the right direction.

 

[PhotonGuy]

There are many different ways to throw a sidekick but I did read an MA article about making a T shape when you throw it. Another words, throw it at stomach level and have your upper body near parallel to the ground in the opposite direction so that you look like a T.

 

[Transk53]

I keep trying to do stretching exercises at home, to supplement what we do in class. I can bend all my limps in all the usual ways and feel the relevant muscles and ligaments pulling and stretching. All good. Except stretching for side kicks.

If I raise a leg sideways, say on a chair or something, it actually feels like the outside edge of the top of my leg is pushing into my hips well before the muscles and ligaments on the inside of my thigh pull tight. Ok, I'm slightly overweight, and that's not going to help, but there must be more to it than that. Any thoughts? Tips?

I have a simple three bar one like the image below. A bit flimsy in some respects, it can bend a bit if I am not careful, but it works and is cheap. You may also could give TRX suspension training a go. You can get home kits, but like the upper class leg stretchers as it were, in can get expensive. Like everything else I guess.

 

[oftheherd1]

What we used to do in TKD was stand up straight and raise one leg sideways as far as we could. We would start lower so as not to tear any body parts, and gradually increase how far up we could kick. We worked on keeping out toe pointed downward as well. If needed, we would hold on to the wall or something. That stretch, I found, is difficult and takes a lot of time to improve the stretch; but everyone is different. Being overweight, even a little, isn't going to help the mechanics of it either. You should work on that as well.

 

[Buka]

Badger, how old and how long have you been training/stretching? And how much of your workout time, or own free time, are you stretching?

 

[Badger1777]

Badger, how old and how long have you been training/stretching? And how much of your workout time, or own free time, are you stretching?

40, male, slightly overweight but not worryingly so. I do the leg stretching exercises several times every day. No real routine to it, just when I have nothing else to do. I will literal stand in the room talking to wife while one leg is up on a chair

Its not the ligaments pulling that's bothering me, I don't get to that point when stretching for side kicks, because as I mentioned, it feels like the top of my leg is pushing into my side before I get far enough to actually stretch the muscles and ligaments of my inner thighs.

 

[Touch Of Death]

40, male, slightly overweight but not worryingly so. I do the leg stretching exercises several times every day. No real routine to it, just when I have nothing else to do. I will literal stand in the room talking to wife while one leg is up on a chair

Its not the ligaments pulling that's bothering me, I don't get to that point when stretching for side kicks, because as I mentioned, it feels like the top of my leg is pushing into my side before I get far enough to actually stretch the muscles and ligaments of my inner thighs.

Lay on your belly with your legs spread, push up with you hands and leand toward one leg like a reverse hurdler streatch.

 

[Buka]

This link is a good way to learn about stretching. At the bottom of the page there will be a "next chapter", I think there's a dozen of them. Might be a good place to start, then we can get into "side kick specifics"....which ain't always pretty.

STRETCHING AND FLEXIBILITY - Introduction

 

[WaterGal]

Well, how are you doing the stretch, exactly? Because if you're just standing there with your toes forward and lifting your leg sideways, that's probably exactly what's happening. Your femur is probably rotating up and hitting the socket of the hip joint and limiting your movement.

Here's a diagram of how the hip moves, to illustrate. What you're doing, I think, is what you see in the middle-left drawing:

Instead of stretching like how you're doing, I'd recommend you practice by just putting one hand on the wall or something sturdy and doing a proper side kick as high as you can and holding it for maybe 5 or 10 seconds.

 

[Badger1777]

@Watergal,

That's some useful diagrams. I think you've hit the nail on the head. I've just stood up, put my foot on the chair, and tried to do my usual stretch while looking at the diagram and paying much more attention to how my body actually flexes.

I now realise exactly what's happening. First, as you guessed, my leg goes sideways as far as the joint physically allows, then simply locks at the bone. No pain or anything, it just wont go any further. As I push further over, all that is happening is my entire pelvis is moving, flexing on the bottom of my spine, until my pelvis will go no further over because of the flesh of my side bunching up in there.