Streching Techniques

[BenjaminSLKF]

I've come to the conclusion that I need to strech more. I of course strech out before working out or practicing but I am not as flexible as I wish to be. I would love to be able to quickly do a split etc. Any advice on how I can train myself to become fairly flexible?

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I should be practicing right now.

[SifuAbel]

try this :

Find a slick floor(tile wood etc.) Do a deep horse stance for 1 1/2 minutes. Make sure you are wearing socks. Let youself go into a standing split(hands on floor) for 2 minutes. Repeat this 5 times. Do it everyday and you'll be in split in no time.

[matrixninja]

Sifuable can you explain more: I would like to learn how to do splits also but I am not in kungfu yet. Please tell me more on how to get my self able to do splits. I kinda know what a horse stance is.

[SifuAbel]

The above is a stress to relaxtation technique. A horse stance:

http://members.aol.com/sifuabel/mabo.jpg

[Good, better, Me]

I found it very hard to make that "horse" thing. When I started stretching I used the good 'ol football stretches and I beleave they have worked. But I really need to know how I can learn to fight someone, not having to stretch before it. It would be really stupid to start stretching on the streets before fighting... http://216.219.234.88/forum/roundtable/confused.gif

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If there is fighting. There is me.

[Jaguar Wong]

Good,Better,Me:
the more flexible you are, the less you will have to warm up before hand. If you are not all that flexible, there may be a good chance of injuring yourself when you try to do something your body is not ready for.

If you're flexible, then your body doesn't need as much (if any) warming up to do something, but it is always a good idea to warm up and stretch before working out, so you don't cause any unneccesary injuries. In a fight, you don't have much choice, so it's always good to be flexible, just in case.

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Jaguar Wong
www.superaction.com (http://www.superaction.com)

[matrixninja]

Thanks SifuAble for the info.

[matrixninja]

Thanks SifuAble for the info.


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"Without order there is chaos & Without chaos there is no order"

[Paul Skrypichayko]

Good, Better, Me : standard stretches like the ones you learn in phys. ed. class will help you, but the key is to do this everyday. You also have to practice kicking everyday. The idea behind training is to have your body ready to fight at all times....doesnt matter if you're warmed up or not, what clothes you're wearing, etc. If you have good training, you should be prepared.

I can't do a split, but depending on the day, I'm anywhere from 2 inches to 6 inches off the ground. Because I practice regularily, I can kick well above my head without warming up at all.

[Good, better, Me]

I have to stretch once a day to be able to kick high, but I do it 15 times a day anyway.
But I haven't find a good excercise for making high jumps, which is essiental when making a jumping spin-kick. It's about the only "everyday" move I can't do. There is nothing wrong with my kick, because it hits the target where it should but I never have enough of time to make the kick, because I land on the ground so soon.


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If there is fighting. There is me.

[snaken]

I have made my own stretching program which takes about 45 minutes to do...
I do it everyday.

Warmup: If i have time i run for a few minutes to get the blood going.
Then i start warming up my groin mussles.
Stand in a horse stance and go to side from side trying to keep your head at the same level. After sometime you can deepen the stance and/or move your feet out. Do this until you feel that it does not hurt when you move.(usually takes 1-3 minutes)

Stretching:
First i put up my legs in a 90 degrees angle
and start to move my legs down to the floor. It´s an ordinary split upsidedown. Lay there for 5 minutes, then rest for 1 minute and do it again for 3-5 minutes.
Now your groin mussles should be pritty loose. So now i do a little bit of PNF stretching. I do a stance that looks like you are sitting in the air with your legs in a 90 degree angle. Almost like a horse stance but in this stance you put your knees in front of you. Then put your elbows at your knees and start to press your knees against the elbows (20sec) then use the elbows to press your knees out (30sec) to do this as many times you can without standing up. Then i usually do another PNF stretch but it's to hard to explain how to do it.
So as a finish i put something slick under my feet and try to do a split stay down for 2 minutes (i know it hurts) and do it one more time. Oh yeah, i almost forgott you can do a bit of dynamic stretching as well...
just swing your leg right out to the side as far as you can 12 times.
After all stretches you should do some kicking. I start out with some slow roundhouses and sidekicks and then i do them quick and high.

and that's it folks!