Stretching

[Snipes]

I'm fairly new to the martial arts and I'm studying Gun Fu with grandmaster archibeque in olympia, washington. He has these wierd stretching tecniques he performs and they don't really work. Does anyone have a good stretching workout that will make me extremely flexible and will allow me to do the splits, perform high kicks, and all the good stuff. Thanks.
-Snipes

 

[Shinzu]

each individual might have their own stretching techniques. if you find that they are not working for you, perhaps you could approach him and ask him the meaning behind these certain stretches.

i always start with my upper body and work my way down to the lower body. the best advise i could give is stretch, stretch, stretch. unfortunately it takes time and alot of repatition to achieve any flexability.

you might want to keep this in mind also. stretching before a workout gets the blood flowing to your muscles and joints, while stretching after a workout actually adds to your flexability.

 

[Snipes]

ok, but all i want is some example of something that i can revise to make my own. i know each workout for each person is different however i just want an example so i can make it mine. it just sounded like you didn't know any stretches that would be good for that, however if i am wrong please correct me by showing me some stretches/stretch workouts (s) to make me become more flexible and be able to perform the splits. sorry if i come across as a jerk but thats what i'm looking for. the information you gave me was good, just wasn't what i wanted .
-Snipes

 

[theneuhauser]

you might want to keep this in mind also. stretching before a workout gets the blood flowing to your muscles and joints, while stretching after a workout actually adds to your flexability.

careful, shinzu, youre only half right there. stretching in general is not a good way to facilitate blood flow, or "warming up". dynamic stretches are ok for a pre workout stretch, but they really should follow some sort of heart rate raising excercise. (i like jumping rope). static and passive stretches are really bad from a cold start, now that im getting older, i really notice the injury potential there.

so snipes, even if youre young, get a practical stretching regimen that you will feel comfortable using when you get older too. im actually only 25 years, but i have a broken back so i treat my warmups more carefully than i used to 5 yrs ago.

here is a great resource if you want to learn alot about stretching and flexibility. http://www.enteract.com/~bradapp/docs/rec/stretching/stretching_9.html

alot of the info on that page comes from tom kurz, if you want a good book on the subject, kurz is a TKD guy and i think that his book is called stretching scientifically

 

[Snipes]

I'm not all into the scientific stuff. I just want to stretch ya know what i mean. can i just have some good stretches and then i'll add as need be. thanks for your help though, good advice.
-Snipes

 

[FUZZYJ692000]

First off you're going to want to listen to theneuhauser when it comes to making sure you do a light warm-up before you start to stretch you will feel a world of difference when you do. Here are a few things that I and others in my dojo do for stretches.

After warm-up (light kicks, short running laps, ex...)

1. put your legs in a V-shape position, reach for your foot,
making sure you blade your foot, if you can't reach you foot
pull on your pants leg and pull yourself down. Do this to both
sides, 20 sec. count, including the middle. Put one hand
behind you and one in front and push yourself forward and
repeat about 3 x's. If you slide forward and your V does not
get wider try setting on the ground and put your feet against
the wall and push yourself forward.

2. 2 people stretches are great. stand w/your back against a
wall and put your foot on the persons shoulders as they begin
to raise your leg up. go until you can feel it burn then push
down on their should for a count of 10, and then lift 2 more
x's. Do this with both legs, then put your should against the
wall, put your foot on their shoulder and do like the same
thing as above.

3. you may also sit on the ground with another person and have
them put their feet about at your knees or inner thigh area
and push your legs out into a V and pull you forward.

4. you can also put one leg in front of you and bend the other
almost to a 90 degree angle next to or even behind you
depending on your flexibility. Lean forward and try to put your
chest to your leg. then lean toward your other leg that is
bent, finally lay backwards on your back. If you have bad
knees don't bend your knee so far back.

I hope this helps, I can think of numerous stretches. Just to give you an idea, I'm barely 5 ft. 1 in and we have 6 ft. plus people in my class and I can normally get my kicks up to their heads even on a really tight day. also after class do some light stretches too to help relax and losen those muscles that you just got down working on. Have a nice day


:asian:

 

[Wertle]

1) When you go down to the middle in the V stretch that Fuzzy described, be sure not to tilt your feet forward also. That rotates your hips forward, and you may reach the ground easier, but you're missing out on a lot of stretch. Keep your toes pointed up, and be sure to sit on the proper part of your pelvis and not back on your tailbone.

Another good place to focus in your stretching is your hips and gluteus. They often get overlooked, but sometimes they can cause a plateau in reaching full splits.

The stretches are difficult to describe, but one includes sitting in butterfly stretch position, picking up and cradling a leg, then hugging it towards you. You can really feel the stretch through your gluteus. Here's a handy stretching article...

http://www.kiyojuteryu.org/soke/articles/lastinch.shtml

 

[Klondike93]

Wertle, interesting reading. Some of the stuff I have done in the past, just kind of forgot about them.

With the V stretch, are you just sitting on the floor with your legs apart as far as possible? Like doing the side splits then sitting when your as far apart as possible?


:asian:

 

[Wertle]

Klondike--glad I could provide something useful ^_^

I think the V-sit is just when you sit on your bum, then spread your legs out with your body facing forward. At least, that's what I thought was being talked about.

Yeesh! The limitations of text! ^_^

 

[Shinzu]

Originally posted by theneuhauser



careful, shinzu, youre only half right there. stretching in general is not a good way to facilitate blood flow, or "warming up". dynamic stretches are ok for a pre workout stretch, but they really should follow some sort of heart rate raising excercise.

i never stated that heavy stretching should be done before a workout. my point was that the best time to increase your flexability would be to stretch after your workout.

snipes, sorry if i didn't give you what you wanted, but if you are looking to do all that "stuff", you are going to have to do many hours of stretching. i have many exercises and stretching techniques that i do to keep myself limber, i didn't think you needed a step by step manual... guess i was wrong.

 

[FUZZYJ692000]

Originally posted by Klondike93

With the V stretch, are you just sitting on the floor with your legs apart as far as possible? Like doing the side splits then sitting when your as far apart as possible?

Klondike, yes the V-stretch is on sitting on your bottom and basicly trying to attempt to do the splits. After I do this stretch I like to go into the butterfly and help release the tention that I just put on my inner thigh and hip area. When doing the butterfly I will either push down on my knees, roll forward to where I am on the outer portion of my feet and ankles (don't recommend if have bad ankles or knees), or I'll sit against a wall in the butterfly and have someone stand on my thighs just above my knees and lift a couple of times. I normally get a good pop that way, not a bad pop . Hope that's more in detail for you.

Jani :asian:

 

[Snipes]

Shinzu I was asking for a step by step thing from the beginning but its good to know that you improve flexibility best after the workout instead of b4 thank you for that. All I want is a hardcore step by step stretching workout that I can revise to make my own. Thanks for replying tho (I'm a kid I'm supposed to make adults mad at me).
-Snipes

 

[Snipes]

thanks FUZZYJ692000 and Wertle thats what I asked for. If you know any other stretches feel free to share.
-Snipes

 

[Klondike93]

Thanks for the explanation Fuzzy


:asian: