stretching with my new workout?

[Ming Yue]

In addition to my monday and weds KF class, I've been doing 45mins to an hour of cardio 2x a week for some time, but have slacked recently and really want to see some changes.

I'm going to try cardio 3x a week (tue, thur, sat) (15-20 mins of HIIT on the stairmaster, 15 mins on the bike, 15-20 mins bust-a ss on the rowing machine) plus ading a short weight circuit on tues and thurs.

how often and when should I stretch? I've always stretched after my cardio, but now that I'm wanting to go harder and add weights I'm sore and tight. Should I be stretching before and after? what about stretching on off days?

Thanks in advance

-C

[chen zhen]

I will advise you to stretch your calves thoroughly before & after cardio, if it involves running/ jump-rope exercise.
I say that because I in this moment is sitting with a sore ancle after a Muay thai class.

Stretching is important before & after all exercises. By all means, do it!

[bodhitree]

Before and after everyworkout and first thing in the morning!

[Royal Dragon]

Silly question, but why are you doing seperate cardio classes? Your forms should be giving you all the cardio you will ever need, and your doing something where the body is moving in a very similar fashion to what you will need in a fight so it's much more efficient than hitting a stair master where you spend 40+ minutes at a time doing nothing related to your art. Heck, if you do your bag work right, it's good for cardio too, and your working your skills at the same time.

The weights I can see, and the rowing machine might help with extra strength, but why all the other non MA related stuff?

[Ming Yue]

I do other stuff I want to be stronger for in addition to Kung Fu - Mountain biking most notably. I just got a good bike in december, so it's pretty new to me. My boyfriend and I are talking about a road trip past Moab (kind of a mt. biking mecca) later this year and I want to have the endurance to really enjoy it.

I kind of like the mindlessness of my cardio circuit too. My day job is fast paced and it's nice to be able to pretty much meditate through a good hard workout. Not that I couldn't do that working on the bag, of course, I have done that many times...

I'm also seeing a difference in my appearance through the gym workout. BF% is down, getting some definition, getting markedly stronger which has definitely impacted my KF training in a good way...

and lastly, it's nice to do different stuff. I mean, I love Golden Grahams cereal, but I don't want to eat it at every meal. At least not after the first few days, anyway... Golden Grahams are pretty delicious.

[Royal Dragon]

I see, it's a variety thing then? I have a supplementary conditiong system in my Kung Fu. it's mostly modern stuff, but still, anytime I can do Kung Fu to achive a fittness goal, I prefer to do that as I'm working my art at the same time. For example, I really don't do squats in my weight lifting, as my stance training and Southern forms work gives all the lower body strength I could need. Forms however don't do too much for the upper body for the most part, so I lift a bit when I can squeeze it in, or add wrist weights when I hold my postures.

I get some cardio from bike ridiing too, but getting cardio is not the reason I bike. Crusing the paths in the woods for the scenery, and Terri's company are the primary motivating factors there.

[Ming Yue]

me too....I don't bike to get better cardio, I do cardio so I can bike more.

and I also dig the fear factor I get on some of the trails I've done.

[wall]

Light stretch before (10min), heavy stretch after (30min+), everyday of training.

W

[Royal Dragon]

Actually, you should do some light cardio to warm up before light stretching before you work out, but otherwise your right.